I hear people frequently complain that CFL's don't cast off as 'natural' of light. That may have been true for the earlier models, but now nearly every single bulb casts a much nicer hue of light.
If you don't believe me, check out this study that Popular Mechanics did earlier this year on the color temperature and subjective quality of light bulbs.
For their subjective part of the test, they put in 3 interior designers in color-neutral rooms and had them comment on what they thought about the light sources. Going into the test, the designers said they did not like the quality of color from CFL's, but by the end every single designer rated the CFL's higher than the incandescent bulb. To say the least, they were surprised and have changed their out-dated CFL hating ways.
Also, here's some tips I've learned from installing hundreds of CFL's:
-Don't buy the cheap ones, they frequently buzz. Go with name brands like Phillips or GE, I have yet to have a problem with them.
-Don't install bulbs on dimmer switches, unless they're specifically designed for dimmers - they'll last only a couple weeks.
-Some large CFL's can't be mounted upside down, beware.
-CFL's don't play well with motion sensor activation - they will burn out in months.
-IKEA recycles CFL's for free! (and batteries too)
-The vanity light shaped CFL's currently have a fairly long warm-up time, about 30 seconds. I hope they keep this, as I don't like blinding light first thing in the morning. The gradual warm-up is nice at 5am.
Wow, you couldn't be more wrong. This is a feature that is built into Acrobat by Adobe to protect PDF's with sensitive information, and is enabled by the author of the original document. It has nothing to do with Microsoft's Vista. If you were to try the exact same thing with any flavor of Windows, OSX or even linux (if it would run), you would have the same message pop up.
This is just another example of a person who has no clue what they're talking about, jump up and blame all their computer 'problems' on Vista.
Vista has been rock solid in my personal laptop and workstation for 10 months now. Same goes for 6 workstations I've had operating for 6 months. I've found administering and setting up new users on the Vista machines connected to our domain to be nearly fully automated. All I have to do is give the user their name and password, whereas before on XP I had to manually point the outlook client and default printers manually. Vista honestly has saved a lot of time for me.
When equipped with modern hardware (ie new systems), users find that they can get their CAD work done quite a bit faster on Vista too. With the pre-caching of frequently used software, AutoCAD and Photoshop fully load in less than 4 seconds now. XP takes 20-30 seconds.
If run as administrator, nearly all of our legacy software works - you just have to set specific users with rights to certain programs. I know, a bit of a pain in the ass, but it does work. The only problem I've come across with compatibility is our older print tracking software from technesis. The program hardly works with XP, although they 'offer' a newer version that works with Vista.
Also Cisco has had Vista compatible VPN client software since June. We use it without trouble. If you take a look at Vista again, and understand how to administer the software, it's really quite easy to use in a business.
I have an honest question that no one seems to have answered. What is so exciting about 'time machine?' It is being extolled as new and groundbreaking, but I don't see much, if any of a difference with the 'previous versions' option within Vista, or 'shadow copy' which can be used in a network environment with XP and server 2003.
Both of those windows-based solutions, which have been out for quite some time, allow you to restore an individual file or folder from a wide range of dates. My setup backups files at midnight and 9am everyday, and I can any version of a file going back nearly 3 months. If I were to reduce the backups to once daily, 6 months of version changes on each file is plausible.
The only arguement I can find about why Time machine is innovative is comparisons between it and system restore on the PC. Since these are two entirely different functions, I don't understand why its brought up.
Unfortunately I can't deduce the total sampling pool of this website, but this group does post extremely useful numbers to see an honest representation of browser and OS statistics.
They display over 4 years of trends by month, and from everything I've read, those numbers accurately mirror the internet/world as a whole for usage (the trends are identical for my company's website). If you take a look at the latest numbers, the amount of Apple users are actually decline statistically. An article I read this week from the AP says that the PC manufactures are now selling more PC's than anytime in the past two years. While the Apple decline is a.2% overall change, and only for a two month trend, when you only max out at 4% of users, it's fairly large number.
Also take a look at the numbers of Vista use has increased by nearly 20% in one month (all while minimally affecting XP usage). It appears that people are switching to Vista from Linux and OSX and not the otherway around. I'm beginning to tire of all this pro-apple BS/studies being pushed by Slashdot & Gizmodo, when the actual numbers don't add up.
Good timing on this story. I'm in the final phases of installing a 10kw solar array at my workplace in Seattle, Washington. It's one of the largest privately financed projects in the state. I just created a gallery for the pictures of the install. The payback time for the array is about 7 years. It was pretty easy to do, and just looks cool.
http://www.jbdg.com/gallery/solarinstall/index.htm l
No intellectual merit? This film teaches me quite a bit. #1. Jersey toll roads are dangerous. Having a seizure on Jersey toll roads near a tool booth is 100% more dangerous than having a seizure on any of my state's non-tolled highways. #2. Whatever make of car he has is dangerous. I wish I knew what make it was. I'm quite sure a BMW or Mercedes wouldn't have blown up in a fireball like that.
Under your interpretation of a 'snuff film' you would also have all the footage of 9/11 confiscated. Complete rubbish.
You're comparing the price of a base civic (manual trans, windows, etc) with a decked out hybrid version, with navigation, sunroof, power everything. Compare apples to apples, a Civic EX and the hybrid version, and you'll come out with a price difference closer to $2k. Using the above math, it'll pay off a little over 2 years. Sounds like good sense to me.
Umm, the 8core Mac Pro "Shipping for months" isn't quite correct. Apple released the 8-core mac pro on April 4th; 21 days ago. As the article said, these 8-core systems were showcased back at CES in January.
You don't have to believe me, but the companies must be lying then! Cingular doesn't offer 3G in Denver right now - here is there coverage. Well over 100 cities in total.
I was using my Sprint phone on a business trip while in Denver. If the whole list is a sham then both Cnet and I are lying !
I have a 3G capable phone (Cingular 8525, best phone out there), and the 3G network works nearly everywhere I've been; 50 miles surrounding Seattle, all of LA, all of Orlando, and in Denver it works great. In the past 4 months, I've haven't come across a metropolitan area that doesn't have a 3G network. For the couple of times I've been out of the faster network, it friggen sucks! I;m used to streaming 128k shoutcast audio feeds to my phone, while checking traffic. If the iPhone lacks 3G, it will royally suck.
I have a feeling though that Apple with make a *big* announcement just before launch that it features 3G.
BTW, check out MS's deepfish project: looks like the web/touch interface Apple is touting so much was in development for Windows Mobile long before the iPhone was unveiled. It went public beta yesterday.
It has windows mobile, quad-band, bluetooth, 802.11b, 3G, Divx capable with TCPMP, Mp3, expandable microSD, 2 megapix cam, and GPS via bluetooth (ok so it's two devices).
With this, you can browse the internet/post to blogs, listen to your music, watch movies, never get lost (via gps and google maps mobile), make calls via quad band, it fits in your pocket or bag easily, and I wouldn't shed a tear if it was stolen or lost (with cheap cell insurance). All-in-all, a great travel companion. Just make sure to bring extra batteries and power adapters, it will suck the battery empty in 5-6 hours if you're using wireless/bluetooth. I feel completely lost without mine.
I absolutely love my installation Vista Ultimate. That said, I hate the way certain vendors (Autodesk) are treating Vista users. Their software will simply not let you install AutoCAD on a Vista machine. It'll give you "this is not a supported version of windows" message. That doesn't mean AutoCAD 2005 won't work though. If you update an XP machine that already has AutoCAD, with Vista, the program will load just fine, it's only the installation on new machines where it gives errors. The reason? "Our new AutoCAD 2008 will be Vista compatible."
Yeah right. When it comes out in several months, I get to run out and purchase 30 new AutoCAD licenses at $4,000 a pop. All this because Autodesk wants to make a buck. If you guys think Microsoft is bad, just thank your megabytes you don't have to deal with Autode$$$k.
I understand that they may not be 'certified' but that doesn't mean they don't work under Vista. I have the entire suite of Adobe products running on my Vista Ultimate 32-bit machine: the video production suite 2.0 and the creative suite 2.0, along with dreamweaver and flash 8.0. They all work without a hitch. I also have Symantec antivirus which also gives no problems. Plus am typing this on the latest version of firefox 2.0 without issue.
A little off-topic but if you have any questions about why to use the ultimate edition, just look up Dreamscene. It came out as an extra last week, and it is absolutely awesome to run HD video as a background image without using any processor or ram. It offloads all the work to the idle GPU. Very impressive eyecandy and gets co-workers to stop in the tracks in awe. Yes, I am a geek.
After startup, and while no intensive programs are running, Vista will max out its RAM usage to re-index the hard drive for the instant search feature. Once you start using applications, it'll redirect the ram to those programs. It's just trying to make the best use of underutilized resources/clock cycles. It will work with 512MB without problem - indexing just goes slower.
I'm sure all those people have roofs. How about instead of deserts, make a larger push for solar panels on their own buildings. If we can pull it off in perpetually cloudy Seattle, it should be a snap in California. Most systems pay for themselves in less than ten years even without subsidies. I'd put money that solar hot water in CA would save billions of dollars a year. . . we should know, our state is the one who has to bail you guys out in the summertime with our excess energy.:)
I haven't taken a hard look into registering the array as an independent power company, but I know for our small sized business it isn't feasible. One of the main reasons we're doing it is because it'll drop our company out of the consumption range and rate of a 'large business' in the eyes of Seattle City Light. This will save us a lot of $$$. We already have motion sensors on many of the lights, and use CF bulbs everywhere. We're also renovating our HVAC system to cut our electrical use by half. A PV looks cool, is good for the environment, is a substantial building improvement, and simply makes financial sense for us.
As for wind power, don't tell that moratorium to our state's energy producers. A recent state bill passed requires them to use 15% renewable energy by 2020.
Also don't tell Kittitas County, as they have one of the largest wind generation plants in the county and more on the way.
Nuclear corresponds as mutually harmless? I take it you don't live in my state, Washington. If you did, you'd have a much better understanding of how 'clean' and 'harmless' nuclear power is at the most polluted site in the world - Hanford, WA.
From wikipedia:
"More than 40 billion gallons (151 billion litres) of contaminated water were dumped directly onto the soil and there have been radioactive leaks from storage ponds and tanks. They have to dig up ten million tons of contaminated soil and dispose of some 54 million gallons (204 million litres) of radioactive waste from 177 underground tanks of which about a third were reported as leaking in 2001. Cleanup to a nationally accepted level will likely take until 2030 and cost $50 billion at least."
If we can't clean up our current waste, how are we going to deal with tons more? And if you haven't heard, the long-awaited and much heralded vitrification plant at Hanford is decades behind schedule, over budget by billions of dollars, and now has halted construction because they didn't take into account a fault runs right under it. How many solar panels could that billion tax dollars buy? By the best estimates, the clean up will still take 30 years, and before then, the waste has a very good chance of contaminating the Columbia River for hundreds of miles. It is a massive problem that the nation ignores. Even pebble bed reactors have waste. It doesn't seem like a sound solution (or faith) to me.
This is info I posted a couple days ago on a different thread, but even more apt for the conversation:
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding over the concept of 'netmetering' and getting money from the utility. Now keep in mind I don't work for an electric company, but I have asked quite a few questions on this subject.
Under netmetering you will never get a check back from the utility. It's impossible to reduce your electric bill to $0. Why? Most utilities will not let it happen. Under netmetering, the utility has to accept the extra energy you put back into the grid. They are required to reduce your bill to by the equal amount you put back. Notice I say reduce the bill. Under net metering, if you produce more energy than used, the utility gets to keep the excess energy for free and sell it back to consumers for a profit. They will only credit you to the point where your bill reaches zero. The net metering rules do not require them to compensate you for any more than that. As for bringing your bill to zero - it may show your electrical use as 0, but they still charge their connection fees, etc.
Now I say most utilities because I have come across one that is willing to purchase excess electricity at wholesale rates. They are the exception because it its a very unique small town where all the utilities are city owned. It is the city of Ellensburg, Washington. The city is amazing to work with. In October they finished construction of a publically owned solar array. For $1,200 per kilowatt, the city has residents to buy into their array, and help expand it. That is CHEAP! So far it's in the 50KW range, but has many acres to expand. The city will cover all insurance and maintenance for 25 years, and will deduct the amount from your bill. They do all the work and you get all the benefits. If only the utilities worked as easy.
I was told by an energy efficiency agent from Seattle City Light, that the utility sees private solar & customers who generate their own power as competition, and won't help with any suggestions or ideas on PV arrays. I'm leading a project with my company to put up a 10kw array. The cost is $93,000. Factor in the 30% Federal tax rebate, and 5 year accelerated depreciation for businesses, that cost is closer to $60K. When all is said and done, the array will pay for itself in 7 years. Mind you that is in Seattle. The payoff is much quicker in Arizona or California.
My revolutionary phone from Cingular has an 'innovative' touch screen interface with onscreen keyboard (plus a slide out keyboard). It is a 'breakthrough' internet browsing device capable of browsing webpages at high speed. I too can make a call by simply pointing my finger at a name or number in my address book. It features bluetooth connectivity, has the ability to watch divx movies and store thousands of mp3s, uses a simple to use interface, and has the ability to view word, acrobat, and excel documents.
I does everything an iPhone can, except costs hundreds less, has a removable/upgradable battery and memory, a much faster 3G connection, 1,000's of 3rd party aps, and is available now. Instead of being called the iPhone, it's called the Cingular 8525, it's a great phone.
As much as the 6 month away iPhone looks cool, and no matter how much Apple hypes it up as being revolutionary, it isn't exactly groundbreaking. I don't mean this as FUD but I can't believe how much hype is generated (15 billion dollars worth in a stock jump) over a product that, according to its published stats, is already outclassed by current offerings. The one feature I find about the iPhone that looks to be innovative is the ability to use the GUI to listen to specific voicemails without having to hear the others - that would be awesome.
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding over the concept of 'netmetering' and getting money from the utility. Now keep in mind I don't work for an electric company, but I have asked quite a few questions on this subject.
Under next netmetering you will never get a check back from the utility. It's likely even impossible to reduce your electric bill to $0. Why? Most utilities will not let it happen. Under netmetering, the utility has to accept the extra energy you put back into the grid. They are required to reduce your bill to by the equal amount you put back. Notice I say reduce the bill. Under net metering, if you produce more energy than used, the utility gets to keep the excess energy for free and sell it back to consumers for a profit. They will only credit you to the point where your bill reaches zero. The net metering rules do not require them to compensate you for any more than that. As for bringing your bill to zero - it may show your electrical use as 0, but they can still charge their connection fees, etc.
Now I say most utilities because I have come across one that is willing to purchase excess electricity at wholesale rates. They are the exception because it its a very unique small town where all the utilities are city owned. It is the city of Ellensburg, Washington. The city is amazing to work with. In October they finished construction of a publically owned solar array. For $1,200 per kilowatt, the city has residents to buy into their array, and help expand it. That is CHEAP! So far it's in the 50KW range, but has many acres to expand. The city will cover all insurance and maintenance for 25 years, and will deduct the amount from your bill. They do all the work and you get all the benefits. If only the utilities worked as easy.
I was told by an energy efficiency agent from Seattle City Light, that the utility sees private solar & customers who generate their own power as competition, and won't help with any suggestions or ideas on PV arrays. I'm leading a project with my company to put up a 10kw array. The cost is $93,000. Factor in the 30% Federal tax rebate, and 5 year accelerated depreciation for businesses, that cost is closer to $60K. When all is said and done, the array will pay for itself in 7 years. Mind you that is in Seattle. The payoff is much quicker in Arizona or California.
I work as the IT and marketing manager for a medium sized architectural firm. When I first got here, everyone had pretty nice workstations (and top end quadro video cards), but only one 19in monitor per station. Since then, I've upgraded everyone to a second matching 19in monitor and I've heard nothing but great comments. Architects can now have a clean cad drawing on the right, while on the left side keep all their toolbars and email client on screen. This alone has noticably sped up reply times to our clients (since our employees see their emails waiting for them until they reply), which is always a good thing. And the workers here are a great deal happier. Not a bad improvement for only $250 per work station.
Of course in all of this, I've been able to aquire dual 24in monitors and I've never looked back. Seeing everything in 1920 x 1200 times two is awesome. Now everyone here wants to go with dual widescreens. As soon as the dell 24in screens go below ~$500, I'll start upgrading everyone again.
It's great to hear that the price/performance ratio of macs are becoming more competitive but why is apple so slow to adopting to Intel's Core 2 Duo? Apple touts the 'new' xeon mac pro as being x times faster than before, but the xeon hardware is nothing new for 90% of the rest of computer users. It seems that a great deal of hype surrounds Apple's latest products, but no one notices that they're months behind on the latest hardware. I'll put a bet down that once they go with the Core 2 Duo (guessing in 4-6 months), Apple will say it is 40 to 70% faster than any other Apple. All the while, PC users will say, "Welcome to the club. That was half a year ago for us, we're using quad core chips (aka Kentsfield chips) now." Why such the slow development cycle?
Slashdot Mirror
If you don't believe me, check out this study that Popular Mechanics did earlier this year on the color temperature and subjective quality of light bulbs.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/4215199.html
For their subjective part of the test, they put in 3 interior designers in color-neutral rooms and had them comment on what they thought about the light sources. Going into the test, the designers said they did not like the quality of color from CFL's, but by the end every single designer rated the CFL's higher than the incandescent bulb. To say the least, they were surprised and have changed their out-dated CFL hating ways.
Also, here's some tips I've learned from installing hundreds of CFL's:
-Don't buy the cheap ones, they frequently buzz. Go with name brands like Phillips or GE, I have yet to have a problem with them.
-Don't install bulbs on dimmer switches, unless they're specifically designed for dimmers - they'll last only a couple weeks.
-Some large CFL's can't be mounted upside down, beware.
-CFL's don't play well with motion sensor activation - they will burn out in months.
-IKEA recycles CFL's for free! (and batteries too)
-The vanity light shaped CFL's currently have a fairly long warm-up time, about 30 seconds. I hope they keep this, as I don't like blinding light first thing in the morning. The gradual warm-up is nice at 5am.
Wow, you couldn't be more wrong. This is a feature that is built into Acrobat by Adobe to protect PDF's with sensitive information, and is enabled by the author of the original document. It has nothing to do with Microsoft's Vista. If you were to try the exact same thing with any flavor of Windows, OSX or even linux (if it would run), you would have the same message pop up. This is just another example of a person who has no clue what they're talking about, jump up and blame all their computer 'problems' on Vista.
When equipped with modern hardware (ie new systems), users find that they can get their CAD work done quite a bit faster on Vista too. With the pre-caching of frequently used software, AutoCAD and Photoshop fully load in less than 4 seconds now. XP takes 20-30 seconds.
If run as administrator, nearly all of our legacy software works - you just have to set specific users with rights to certain programs. I know, a bit of a pain in the ass, but it does work. The only problem I've come across with compatibility is our older print tracking software from technesis. The program hardly works with XP, although they 'offer' a newer version that works with Vista.
Also Cisco has had Vista compatible VPN client software since June. We use it without trouble. If you take a look at Vista again, and understand how to administer the software, it's really quite easy to use in a business.
Both of those windows-based solutions, which have been out for quite some time, allow you to restore an individual file or folder from a wide range of dates. My setup backups files at midnight and 9am everyday, and I can any version of a file going back nearly 3 months. If I were to reduce the backups to once daily, 6 months of version changes on each file is plausible.
example: http://www.steveallwine.com/images/previousversions.jpg
The only arguement I can find about why Time machine is innovative is comparisons between it and system restore on the PC. Since these are two entirely different functions, I don't understand why its brought up.
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp
They display over 4 years of trends by month, and from everything I've read, those numbers accurately mirror the internet/world as a whole for usage (the trends are identical for my company's website). If you take a look at the latest numbers, the amount of Apple users are actually decline statistically. An article I read this week from the AP says that the PC manufactures are now selling more PC's than anytime in the past two years. While the Apple decline is a .2% overall change, and only for a two month trend, when you only max out at 4% of users, it's fairly large number.
Also take a look at the numbers of Vista use has increased by nearly 20% in one month (all while minimally affecting XP usage). It appears that people are switching to Vista from Linux and OSX and not the otherway around. I'm beginning to tire of all this pro-apple BS/studies being pushed by Slashdot & Gizmodo, when the actual numbers don't add up.
Good timing on this story. I'm in the final phases of installing a 10kw solar array at my workplace in Seattle, Washington. It's one of the largest privately financed projects in the state. I just created a gallery for the pictures of the install. The payback time for the array is about 7 years. It was pretty easy to do, and just looks cool. http://www.jbdg.com/gallery/solarinstall/index.htm l
No intellectual merit? This film teaches me quite a bit. #1. Jersey toll roads are dangerous. Having a seizure on Jersey toll roads near a tool booth is 100% more dangerous than having a seizure on any of my state's non-tolled highways. #2. Whatever make of car he has is dangerous. I wish I knew what make it was. I'm quite sure a BMW or Mercedes wouldn't have blown up in a fireball like that.
Under your interpretation of a 'snuff film' you would also have all the footage of 9/11 confiscated. Complete rubbish.
You're comparing the price of a base civic (manual trans, windows, etc) with a decked out hybrid version, with navigation, sunroof, power everything. Compare apples to apples, a Civic EX and the hybrid version, and you'll come out with a price difference closer to $2k. Using the above math, it'll pay off a little over 2 years. Sounds like good sense to me.
If you didn't look at my reply: I use a Spring phone while on business; Verizon and Sprint have 3G in the Denver area.
You don't have to believe me, but the companies must be lying then! Cingular doesn't offer 3G in Denver right now - here is there coverage. Well over 100 cities in total.
I was using my Sprint phone on a business trip while in Denver. If the whole list is a sham then both Cnet and I are lying !
I have a 3G capable phone (Cingular 8525, best phone out there), and the 3G network works nearly everywhere I've been; 50 miles surrounding Seattle, all of LA, all of Orlando, and in Denver it works great. In the past 4 months, I've haven't come across a metropolitan area that doesn't have a 3G network. For the couple of times I've been out of the faster network, it friggen sucks! I;m used to streaming 128k shoutcast audio feeds to my phone, while checking traffic. If the iPhone lacks 3G, it will royally suck.
I have a feeling though that Apple with make a *big* announcement just before launch that it features 3G.
BTW, check out MS's deepfish project: looks like the web/touch interface Apple is touting so much was in development for Windows Mobile long before the iPhone was unveiled. It went public beta yesterday.
With this, you can browse the internet/post to blogs, listen to your music, watch movies, never get lost (via gps and google maps mobile), make calls via quad band, it fits in your pocket or bag easily, and I wouldn't shed a tear if it was stolen or lost (with cheap cell insurance). All-in-all, a great travel companion. Just make sure to bring extra batteries and power adapters, it will suck the battery empty in 5-6 hours if you're using wireless/bluetooth. I feel completely lost without mine.
I absolutely love my installation Vista Ultimate. That said, I hate the way certain vendors (Autodesk) are treating Vista users. Their software will simply not let you install AutoCAD on a Vista machine. It'll give you "this is not a supported version of windows" message. That doesn't mean AutoCAD 2005 won't work though. If you update an XP machine that already has AutoCAD, with Vista, the program will load just fine, it's only the installation on new machines where it gives errors. The reason? "Our new AutoCAD 2008 will be Vista compatible."
Yeah right. When it comes out in several months, I get to run out and purchase 30 new AutoCAD licenses at $4,000 a pop. All this because Autodesk wants to make a buck. If you guys think Microsoft is bad, just thank your megabytes you don't have to deal with Autode$$$k.
I understand that they may not be 'certified' but that doesn't mean they don't work under Vista. I have the entire suite of Adobe products running on my Vista Ultimate 32-bit machine: the video production suite 2.0 and the creative suite 2.0, along with dreamweaver and flash 8.0. They all work without a hitch. I also have Symantec antivirus which also gives no problems. Plus am typing this on the latest version of firefox 2.0 without issue.
A little off-topic but if you have any questions about why to use the ultimate edition, just look up Dreamscene. It came out as an extra last week, and it is absolutely awesome to run HD video as a background image without using any processor or ram. It offloads all the work to the idle GPU. Very impressive eyecandy and gets co-workers to stop in the tracks in awe. Yes, I am a geek.
After startup, and while no intensive programs are running, Vista will max out its RAM usage to re-index the hard drive for the instant search feature. Once you start using applications, it'll redirect the ram to those programs. It's just trying to make the best use of underutilized resources/clock cycles. It will work with 512MB without problem - indexing just goes slower.
I'm sure all those people have roofs. How about instead of deserts, make a larger push for solar panels on their own buildings. If we can pull it off in perpetually cloudy Seattle, it should be a snap in California. Most systems pay for themselves in less than ten years even without subsidies. I'd put money that solar hot water in CA would save billions of dollars a year. . . we should know, our state is the one who has to bail you guys out in the summertime with our excess energy. :)
I haven't taken a hard look into registering the array as an independent power company, but I know for our small sized business it isn't feasible. One of the main reasons we're doing it is because it'll drop our company out of the consumption range and rate of a 'large business' in the eyes of Seattle City Light. This will save us a lot of $$$. We already have motion sensors on many of the lights, and use CF bulbs everywhere. We're also renovating our HVAC system to cut our electrical use by half. A PV looks cool, is good for the environment, is a substantial building improvement, and simply makes financial sense for us.
As for wind power, don't tell that moratorium to our state's energy producers. A recent state bill passed requires them to use 15% renewable energy by 2020.
Also don't tell Kittitas County, as they have one of the largest wind generation plants in the county and more on the way.
Nuclear corresponds as mutually harmless? I take it you don't live in my state, Washington. If you did, you'd have a much better understanding of how 'clean' and 'harmless' nuclear power is at the most polluted site in the world - Hanford, WA.
From wikipedia:
"More than 40 billion gallons (151 billion litres) of contaminated water were dumped directly onto the soil and there have been radioactive leaks from storage ponds and tanks. They have to dig up ten million tons of contaminated soil and dispose of some 54 million gallons (204 million litres) of radioactive waste from 177 underground tanks of which about a third were reported as leaking in 2001. Cleanup to a nationally accepted level will likely take until 2030 and cost $50 billion at least."
If we can't clean up our current waste, how are we going to deal with tons more? And if you haven't heard, the long-awaited and much heralded vitrification plant at Hanford is decades behind schedule, over budget by billions of dollars, and now has halted construction because they didn't take into account a fault runs right under it. How many solar panels could that billion tax dollars buy? By the best estimates, the clean up will still take 30 years, and before then, the waste has a very good chance of contaminating the Columbia River for hundreds of miles. It is a massive problem that the nation ignores. Even pebble bed reactors have waste. It doesn't seem like a sound solution (or faith) to me.
This is info I posted a couple days ago on a different thread, but even more apt for the conversation:
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding over the concept of 'netmetering' and getting money from the utility. Now keep in mind I don't work for an electric company, but I have asked quite a few questions on this subject.
Under netmetering you will never get a check back from the utility. It's impossible to reduce your electric bill to $0. Why? Most utilities will not let it happen. Under netmetering, the utility has to accept the extra energy you put back into the grid. They are required to reduce your bill to by the equal amount you put back. Notice I say reduce the bill. Under net metering, if you produce more energy than used, the utility gets to keep the excess energy for free and sell it back to consumers for a profit. They will only credit you to the point where your bill reaches zero. The net metering rules do not require them to compensate you for any more than that. As for bringing your bill to zero - it may show your electrical use as 0, but they still charge their connection fees, etc.
Now I say most utilities because I have come across one that is willing to purchase excess electricity at wholesale rates. They are the exception because it its a very unique small town where all the utilities are city owned. It is the city of Ellensburg, Washington. The city is amazing to work with. In October they finished construction of a publically owned solar array. For $1,200 per kilowatt, the city has residents to buy into their array, and help expand it. That is CHEAP! So far it's in the 50KW range, but has many acres to expand. The city will cover all insurance and maintenance for 25 years, and will deduct the amount from your bill. They do all the work and you get all the benefits. If only the utilities worked as easy.
I was told by an energy efficiency agent from Seattle City Light, that the utility sees private solar & customers who generate their own power as competition, and won't help with any suggestions or ideas on PV arrays. I'm leading a project with my company to put up a 10kw array. The cost is $93,000. Factor in the 30% Federal tax rebate, and 5 year accelerated depreciation for businesses, that cost is closer to $60K. When all is said and done, the array will pay for itself in 7 years. Mind you that is in Seattle. The payoff is much quicker in Arizona or California.
My revolutionary phone from Cingular has an 'innovative' touch screen interface with onscreen keyboard (plus a slide out keyboard). It is a 'breakthrough' internet browsing device capable of browsing webpages at high speed. I too can make a call by simply pointing my finger at a name or number in my address book. It features bluetooth connectivity, has the ability to watch divx movies and store thousands of mp3s, uses a simple to use interface, and has the ability to view word, acrobat, and excel documents.
I does everything an iPhone can, except costs hundreds less, has a removable/upgradable battery and memory, a much faster 3G connection, 1,000's of 3rd party aps, and is available now. Instead of being called the iPhone, it's called the Cingular 8525, it's a great phone.
As much as the 6 month away iPhone looks cool, and no matter how much Apple hypes it up as being revolutionary, it isn't exactly groundbreaking. I don't mean this as FUD but I can't believe how much hype is generated (15 billion dollars worth in a stock jump) over a product that, according to its published stats, is already outclassed by current offerings. The one feature I find about the iPhone that looks to be innovative is the ability to use the GUI to listen to specific voicemails without having to hear the others - that would be awesome.
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding over the concept of 'netmetering' and getting money from the utility. Now keep in mind I don't work for an electric company, but I have asked quite a few questions on this subject.
Under next netmetering you will never get a check back from the utility. It's likely even impossible to reduce your electric bill to $0. Why? Most utilities will not let it happen. Under netmetering, the utility has to accept the extra energy you put back into the grid. They are required to reduce your bill to by the equal amount you put back. Notice I say reduce the bill. Under net metering, if you produce more energy than used, the utility gets to keep the excess energy for free and sell it back to consumers for a profit. They will only credit you to the point where your bill reaches zero. The net metering rules do not require them to compensate you for any more than that. As for bringing your bill to zero - it may show your electrical use as 0, but they can still charge their connection fees, etc.
Now I say most utilities because I have come across one that is willing to purchase excess electricity at wholesale rates. They are the exception because it its a very unique small town where all the utilities are city owned. It is the city of Ellensburg, Washington. The city is amazing to work with. In October they finished construction of a publically owned solar array. For $1,200 per kilowatt, the city has residents to buy into their array, and help expand it. That is CHEAP! So far it's in the 50KW range, but has many acres to expand. The city will cover all insurance and maintenance for 25 years, and will deduct the amount from your bill. They do all the work and you get all the benefits. If only the utilities worked as easy.
I was told by an energy efficiency agent from Seattle City Light, that the utility sees private solar & customers who generate their own power as competition, and won't help with any suggestions or ideas on PV arrays. I'm leading a project with my company to put up a 10kw array. The cost is $93,000. Factor in the 30% Federal tax rebate, and 5 year accelerated depreciation for businesses, that cost is closer to $60K. When all is said and done, the array will pay for itself in 7 years. Mind you that is in Seattle. The payoff is much quicker in Arizona or California.
I work as the IT and marketing manager for a medium sized architectural firm. When I first got here, everyone had pretty nice workstations (and top end quadro video cards), but only one 19in monitor per station. Since then, I've upgraded everyone to a second matching 19in monitor and I've heard nothing but great comments. Architects can now have a clean cad drawing on the right, while on the left side keep all their toolbars and email client on screen. This alone has noticably sped up reply times to our clients (since our employees see their emails waiting for them until they reply), which is always a good thing. And the workers here are a great deal happier. Not a bad improvement for only $250 per work station. Of course in all of this, I've been able to aquire dual 24in monitors and I've never looked back. Seeing everything in 1920 x 1200 times two is awesome. Now everyone here wants to go with dual widescreens. As soon as the dell 24in screens go below ~$500, I'll start upgrading everyone again.
Specifically, why is the 'extreme edition' of the Core 2 Duo is excluded from the apple line up?
It's great to hear that the price/performance ratio of macs are becoming more competitive but why is apple so slow to adopting to Intel's Core 2 Duo? Apple touts the 'new' xeon mac pro as being x times faster than before, but the xeon hardware is nothing new for 90% of the rest of computer users. It seems that a great deal of hype surrounds Apple's latest products, but no one notices that they're months behind on the latest hardware. I'll put a bet down that once they go with the Core 2 Duo (guessing in 4-6 months), Apple will say it is 40 to 70% faster than any other Apple. All the while, PC users will say, "Welcome to the club. That was half a year ago for us, we're using quad core chips (aka Kentsfield chips) now." Why such the slow development cycle?