Ocean City Maryland Blogs - Save the Wales by Tom Lloyd

SOURCING OUT A SOLAR SYSTEM

2010-07-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

Ah, solar power! Free energy! It sounds too good to be true and you know what they say about things that sound too good to be true.

Case in point: anyone who has ever really looked into solar power has already experienced that severe, high-voltage (albeit eco-friendly) shock that comes from adding up all the out-of-pocket costs for a residential solar installation.

In fully half the country, a solar system capable of providing all the electricity needed for an average American home can easily set you back close to $60,000.

Sure, sure the folks selling solar systems claim that homeowners can recoup the cost of going solar in anywhere from seven to ten years…and if you happen to live in certain parts of Florida or California, there’s a chance the hucksters are right.

There are, however, two BIG problems.

First, assuming you do live in one of those areas of Florida or California, a payback time of seven to ten years is just too damned long to motivate all but tree-huggiest amongst us.

Secondly, while a residential solar system in Florida might cost $10,000 and pay itself off in less than 10 years, a system in Minnesota or Michigan could easily run up to and beyond $60,000 and require two, three or more decades to break even.

Even when federal and state tax credits are taken into account (and not all states have them) the costs are still well beyond the reach of the average homeowner.

The solution? Instead of offering federal tax credits for solar installations, the Dept. of Energy should consider placing massive (and I do mean MASSIVE) orders for solar panels. This would cause the per-panel price to plummet. After all, just two or three years ago, a flat panel TV set retailed at well over $2,000. Now one can be bought at any WalMart or BestBuy for less than $400. That’s an 80% price drop!

Solar panel manufacturers would hire more workers, which is great for the economy, and if the panel price drops a comparable 80%, then solar installation companies will pop up everywhere, employing still more people. Moreover, with an 80% price cut, solar would suddenly become affordable for millions more than it is today.

Even die-hard conservatives with there “free market” mantra would have to embrace this concept. Using the buying power of the federal government to drive down prices while creating jobs and lessening our dependence on fossil fuels and foreign imports is the ultimate win-win energy plan!

THE TWILIGHT SAGA COMES HOME

2010-07-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

You wake up in the middle of the night. Twilight has long past. Slowly and carefully you inch your way down the pitch-black hallway until it hits you. Up ahead, glowing vermilion dots, like menacing eyeballs, seem to be tracking your every move…

They are.

It’s not Edward Cullen, the young and sexy vampire of the Twilight Saga films. It is, in fact, a totally different and even younger clan of vampires that are spying on you and they have far more insidious intentions than Edward ever had towards sweet, little Bella Swan.

They're the ENERGY VAMPIRES. Vampires that you, yourself, brought into your home…and they’re sucking you dry.

Welcome to the world of phantom energy loss.

From your microwave oven to your computer monitor to the glowing charger for your cell phone, if you’re like most folks, you have a virtual coven of energy-sucking appliances already in your home that are busily consuming power even when they’re turned off.

You may think this power drain is relative chump change, but you’d be wrong. Each year these energy vampires suck up over 60 billion kilowatt hours of power. In simpler terms, fully five percent or more of your monthly electric bill is probably going to items you have turned off. What’s more, in order to provide that power, about 90 BILLION POUNDS of carbon dioxide are pumped into the atmosphere each year.

Fortunately, you don’t need a wooden stake to stop these vampires. All you need to do is unplug them. Or, place the offending appliances on a power strip and turn the strip on or off at your convenience.

Speaking from experience, I can tell you that it works! Simply by switching off the power strips on two battery backups (attached to two computers) and unplugging assorted other common household appliances, (coffee makers, microwaves, TVs, electric shavers, etc.), I trimmed a whopping 8% off my own home electric bill!

Don't be a victim of vampires. Pay for what you use, not what you don’t use!

You may not live forever and you'll probably never look a thing like Robert Pattinson, the actor who played young Edward Cullen in the "Twilight" movie, but you will live better and and you will save money!

(Oh, and for the record, none of the energy vampires in my house have been harmed in any way, shape or form in the writing of this blog.)

DON'T LET THIS TAX BREAK GO UP IN SMOKE!

2010-07-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

Don’t let up to $1,500 go up in smoke! This December, a Federal Tax credit of up to $1,500 for the purchase of residential biomass heating devices, commonly known as wood and/or pellet stoves and inserts, will fly out the window.

The stoves must be for an existing primary residence and must have an efficiency rating of 75%.

The term 'biomass fuel' means any plant-derived fuel available on a renewable or recurring basis, including agricultural crops and trees, wood and wood waste and residues (including wood pellets), plants (including aquatic plants), grasses, residues, and fibers.

For more information, go to www.irs.gov and search Residential Energy Credits.

A GREENER CUP OF COFFEE

2010-07-17T07:05:00.000-07:00

We can all wake up and smell the coffee…but did you know that you can make that coffee taste better and be a good deal more eco-friendly at the same time?

The greenest way of preparing coffee is to use what’s commonly called a “French press” coffee maker. (It’s an odd name, given that the device was originally patented by an Italian inventor named Attillio Calimani back in 1929, but that’s a story for another time.)

Anyway, the French press uses less energy, less water and creates less waste than any other coffee maker out there. More to the point, it also makes better tasting cup of Joe.

For starters, unlike that Mr. Coffee machine on your kitchen counter, the French press doesn’t plug in to anything. It also doesn’t have one of those little built-in LED clocks that blinks annoyingly after a thunderstorm cuts your power. In fact, it doesn’t use any power at all except the power of your right arm. (Okay. Your left arm if you’re a southpaw.)

Moreover, the French press doesn’t require paper filters or plastic pods. It can’t short out and cause a fire, either.

You simply boil the amount of water you need in an energy-efficient electric kettle or on your cook top. Then, put one spoonful of coarsely ground coffee for each cup desired into the French press, add the boiling water and let the coffee sit for two-to-four minutes. Finally, you press the plunger down, trapping the grounds at the bottom, and sit back and enjoy the best-tasting coffee ever.

The coarser grounds, steeping in the French press, release more essential oils and flavor than any drip coffee maker on the market. So, wake up and smell better coffee and do it in a much greener way!

CONFESSIONS OF A HONDA HYBRID OWNER

2010-07-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

In May of 2005, I bought a Honda Civic hybrid. I’m still driving it today.

The Civic is actually my second hybrid vehicle. Prior to 2005, I’d sped (?) around town in one of the original, two-seater Honda Insights and the truth to be told, I didn’t care then and don’t really care now that both cars were in the “ultra low emissions” category. I elected to buy and drive these cars because I’m cheap.

Now, before you whip out the calculators and preach to me about how I could have bought a base model Civic with an EPA mileage rating of almost 30 mpg and saved a fortune, let tell you as politely as I can where you can shove those calculators. Shove them into your pocket. After all, I’ve been shoving all the money I’ve saved on gas into my pocket for years now.

I live on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Specifically, in the resort town of Ocean City whose unofficial motto is “Spend your money here because if you go any further east, you’ll be in Portugal and they don’t take dollars. We do.”

As in any resort town, prices skyrocket during the tourist season and the price of gas is no exception. It’s the kind of town where you don’t just pay a premium for an oceanfront hotel room, you pay a premium for everything.

In that atmosphere, the Insight averaged a whopping 62 mpg.

I’d have kept the Insight if it weren’t for Ben. Ben is my rescue Rottweiler and at 120-punds, he was just too big to ride in the passenger seat of the Insight. So, I bought the hybrid Civic and gave Ben title to the entire back seat.

Compared to the Insight, the Civic is a gas-hound but none of my friends have a drop of sympathy for me. So far it’s averaging a mere 46 mpg, but compared to most other vehicles on the road, that ain’t too shabby and….with 120 pounds of Rottweiler in the back seat, I never have to worry about someone carjacking my ride.

Anyway, I’ve done the math. I’ve tracked the price of gas and I’ve double-checked my numbers. The “ultra-low emissions” thing is nice, but being cheap, the savings have been PRICELESS!

KILLING TWO (OILY) BIRDS WITH ONE STONE

2010-06-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

So, how do we deal with BP's gulf oil mess?

Well, for starters, Tea Party people should stop reading now because they won't like this any more than they like facing any other fact.

That said, the answer is simple and it will kill two birds (so to speak) with one stone.

Congress must enact a new tax on all oil-drilling companies. NOW!

One percent of the value of all oil taken from public lands should more than do the trick.

That money should then be sent to the Department of Labor and used to to hire, train, relocate and house upwards of one million currently unemployed Americans from across the country to handle the cleanup efforts in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and any and everywhere else this mess goes!

Yes, it is shades of Franklin Roosevelt's depression era jobs programs but there is one essential difference. The money to fix the problem will come from the people who caused the problem, not from the American taxpayer!

Congressional oversight will need to be in place to keep the oil companies from trying to hike prices to offset this new tax, but right now oil companies ain't exactly the darlings of the American public, so that oversight should be relatively easy, politically.

More to the point, putting one million unemployed Americans back to work will finally put the nation's economy on solid footing!

Big oil is responsible for this mess and big oil should pay to fix it.

This time it was BP. Last time it was Exxon-Mobil. Nonetheless, all the oil-drilling companies benefit from off-shore and public land drilling and are making billions in profits.

It's time some of those billions went to getting America working and to cleaning up this environmental disaster.

BRANDING: IT ISN’T JUST FOR CATTLE, ANYMORE!

2010-02-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

Build a better mousetrap, the saying goes, and the world will beat a path to your door.

Unfortunately, in today’s business world, building that better mousetrap usually takes a back seat to building a better mousetrap “brand.”

In the modern world, marketing has replaced innovation and innovation is not always synonymous with improvement. Today’s business is all about building a brand.

So, pity poor Ralph Waldo Emerson! A philosopher, poet and essayist, Emerson is generally credited with coining the ‘build a better mousetrap’ phrase, but in today’s world, his words would probably have never seen the light of day. At least, not if a modern marketing department and its battery of focus groups came into play.

“Let’s face it,” they’d say, “a name like “Ralph” is not going to attract that all-important 18-25 year old audience of today and as for “Waldo,” well, the only Waldo with enough name recognition to dent that demographic group wears a red and white striped shirt and likes to hide in crowd scenes inside children’s books.”

Sure, sure. Those of us who grew up before Blu-ray replaced DVDs; (which replaced video cassettes, which replaced Super 8 movies, and so on and so on); would like to think that Emerson’s basic concept was correct: build something better than anyone else and you will succeed…but today…businesses want to build their brand even BEFORE they build an actual product.

Take, for example, Rachel Zoe. Please!

A borderline bulimic fashion stylist in California, Zoe cashed in on a burgeoning crop of cable TV clothing shows such as “Project Runway,” “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style,” and “What Not To Wear,” by first landing her own show, “The Rachel Zoe Project.”

It was only after Zoe’s show had been in near-perpetual reruns on Bravo TV for almost a year that the famished-looking fashionista actually created and launched a product line. Now she can be seen all over the cable shopping networks, hawking her wares.

Are Zoe’s clothes any better than anyone else’s? No, but because she had a brand, she was able to attract the money to finance the manufacturing and promotion of a product.

So, let’s have a moment of silence for poor, old Ralph Waldo Emerson. If he had it to do over, I bet he’d change his name R.W. Emerson and advise us all to forget about building mousetraps and start working on getting our own cable TV shows.

ONE WHALE OF A CLONING CONCEPT

2010-02-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

Here at Save the Wales, we will now don our favorite pair of genes and wade into the quagmire of cloning.

Why?

Well, mostly because it’s a Friday afternoon and, frankly, we’ve got nothing better to do.

Then, too, the National Weather Service is currently forecasting about a bazillion inches of snow for later today, so no matter how much we tick anyone off, the odds are good that no one will be dumb enough to get into their car and drive all the way out here to pummel us!

Anyway, this whole cloning thing came to light back in the mid 1990’s when a group of Scottish scientists succeeded in cloning a sheep named Dolly.

Of course, the real surprise here was the revelation that the term “Scottish scientists” is apparently not the oxymoron that most of us might have imagined it to be.

Until Dolly came along, it was generally accepted that the sum total of Scotland’s contributions to the world had been the invention of bagpipes, scotch whiskey and haggis: a bizarre culinary concoction consisting of assorted internal sheep organs boiled inside a sheep’s stomach lining.

While that is not exactly the holy trinity of scientific (or epicurean) accomplishment, it is clear that all those inventions were inter-related.

After all, unless you’d consumed an incredibly large amount of scotch whiskey, you’d never voluntarily listen to the bagpipes, let alone go anywhere near a steaming plate full of haggis.

By successfully cloning this particular sheep, those Scottish scientists not only averted any possibility of a worldwide haggis shortage, they also provided mattress manufacturers with a ready-made cast of characters for TV commercials that are still running today.

(It’s anyone’s guess as to whether it was those commercials or the prospect of a virtually limitless supply of haggis that drove even more people to drink, but let’s face it, the price of a bottle of scotch has nearly doubled since Dolly made her first appearance in 1996.)

Here in the United States, however, the cloning debate rages on.

Some folks rail against it on religious grounds while others question the process on more sectarian ethical grounds.

Save the Wales, however, is wildly in favor of cloning.

For example, our homonymous cousins, the whales, could certainly benefit from a cloning campaign.

Granted there are blue whales, gray whales, right whales, pilot whales, beluga whales, killer whales and even humpback whales out there, but not in the numbers there once were.

(Meanwhile, before any of you Clint Eastwood fans bring it up, there are not now nor have there ever been any Josie whales out there in the ocean, so give it a rest!)

Here at Save the Wales, we believe that if a bunch of whiskey-soaked Scottish scientists can come up with a way to clone a sheep, good old American know-how ought to be able to take that process a few steps further and start cloning something a good deal more important than a walking, bleating ingredients list for a plate of haggis.