energy
New Power, Old Lines, New Problems
When gas spiked above $4 per gallon in Portland last summer, the city’s already bustling bicycle boulevards clogged with new riders, creating unprecedented bicycle traffic issues. As reported in the Oregonian, it appears the same basic problem has hit the power grid, with Eastern Oregon’s new wind turbines butting up against an antiquated power grid. [...]
Leave A Light On For Me
In 2006, I received a packet of neighborhood watch information from the Office of Neighborhood Involvement (a division of the City of Portland), which included an interesting report on home burglaries and night-time illumination. Essentially, the report indicated that a nationwide survey of police department records showed that in those cases where a break-in was [...]
Use Less, Savor More
This was a big week for the Towsey-French household as we not only completed the second phase of our heating system upgrade (the first phase occurring in 2007), but we also added a major insulating blanket directly above the majority of our primary living space. We hired a highly recommended firm, Air Tight Insulation, who [...]
Bear Bricks Back in Action
We’ve been burning bear bricks on and off for about two weeks now (mostly in the late evenings), so we were able to warm up most of the house to about 72 degrees today without ever tapping into our B100 biodiesel. This is fortunate because today is the day that we replace our furnace heater [...]
The Daily Environmentalist
The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices is just as valuable today as ever. The value of this book lies in its deceptive simplicity. The authors somehow manage to clearly provide the necessary insight to help anyone get a grasp on their environmental impact, and then make a simple plan for effectively reducing said impact…
Spring Energy Update
The milder temperatures have certainly benefited us in helping reduce energy consumption the past couple of weeks. Regardless, we still want to make sure we have plenty of fuel on hand, so we made the decision to split a pallet of bear bricks with Keri’s dad, who also wanted to take advantage of those keen [...]
Home Heating Fuel Update
As posted on January 21, 2009, we’ve been using bear bricks as our preferred wood fuel since that same day. Since that date we’ve consumed 61 trays of bricks (12 two-pound bricks per tray). In 49 days we have used 732 total bricks, or approximately 1.24 trays (apx. 15 bricks) per day. As stated in [...]
Electrical Consumption and My Carbon Footprint
Leave it to a Portland energy geek to ponder the electrical impact of his family’s wood stove –as if thinking about the carbon impact of burning wood was not enough. Whatever the case, that’s exactly what’s been buzzing in my bonnet these days. Heating your home requires fuel, and in most cases, a means to [...]
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