CHUCK IN A BOX

I suppose I SHOULD focus on the fact that we used 1, 127 LESS kWh of electricity this January billing compared to the same period last year but, I’m still a bit pissed that my electric bill was only about $28 less expensive.  I guess with the 18% increase that was approved last year for Dominion Power by the Virginia General Assembly I should be glad it was less at all but, I was expecting a bit more of a savings for using considerably less electricity.

So, it seems that some of our energy saving ideas and practices are actually working.  We’ve swapped out most everything to CFL bulbs; we’ve got our programmable thermostat set to 68 while we’re home and awake and goes down to about 62 when we’re not home or asleep; we’ve hooked up all our little energy vampires to surge protectors that can be turned off when we are not using them (at work or while asleep); we’re paying more attention to what we leave on when we aren’t in a room; we’ve put an insulating blanket on our hot water heater; and we’ve vented our dryer indoors to help offset heating costs (as well as adding some moisture to the air and some nice smells – YAY dryer sheets!)

Keith really wants to go ‘off the grid’ and have solar, wind, etc. but that isn’t too realistic living here in Petersburg.  Eh we can’t even get curbside recycling pickup (Colonial Heights, Chesterfield, Richmond, Henrico, Hanover, etc all have it) so I doubt the city would offer any assistance converting to alternative sources of energy.

JUST so people don’t think I’m totally consumed with being some type of gay activist or something – switching gears =P

Yesterday Keith and I went to Richmond to have lunch at Bottoms Up Pizza with Ashley (our daughter), Ian (our son), Nicky (our daughter-in-law) and of course Audrey (our granddaughter) after we had our fill, we decided to walk up the street to see what was new at LaDifferance (LaDiff).  

Bottoms Up Pizza

Its possible to be TOO wired ya know!

'Pickle' playing with toys in LaDiff

After walking around the store for a while, it became apparent that Audrey was a bit overdue for her nap so we left but, I bought this neat little book called, ‘How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint 365 Simple Ways to Save Energy, Resources, and Money‘ by Joanna Yarrow.  

Great little book - very worth reading

I have to say, I read a good deal of it last night just before bed – some of the things in just seem like common sense things but others are like ‘Wow…REALLY?!?!’  I was really happy to see that some of the things Keith and I have recently started doing were in the book.  Like changing out the incandescent bulbs for CFL (Compact Flourescent Lights); installing a programmable thermostat; putting an insulation blanket on the water heater; composting kitchen scraps; installing weather stripping and draft protection and other little things.  There is still more that we can (and plan to) do but, it’s a start.  It was really sort of eye opening when the book explains that

“the average European emits around 11 tons of CO2 per year while the average American emits over 22 tons – more than 5 times the world average (4 tons).  In contrast, in sub-Saharan Africa the average footprint is less than .08 tons per person.”

that was pretty sad, in my humble opinion.  I was also amazed to read that every two (2) minutes the sun gives the Earth more energy than we use in a year.  Why aren’t we doing more to take advantage of this free energy?  Keith says the big two should really be solar and wind because on days the sun isn’t out, its typically windy and on days when there is no wind, its typically sunny.  He REALLY wants to, as he says, ‘go off the grid’ to the point where we even give back energy and get credit for it – that, I don’t think, will happen here in Petersburg – least not in this house LOL.

I’m also reading the third book in the Inheritance trilogy by Christopher Paolini called BRISINGR.  

3rd book about Eragon & Saphira

I really liked the first two and this third/final chapter in the series is proving just as good.  I’ve even got my nephew, Alex, reading the second book in the series – Eldest, he said they’d read the first book -Eragon in school and he wanted to read the next book.  If he likes it I’ll make sure to let him borrow Brisingr as well.  I cannot imagine having all of this stuff (the material for the 3 books) floating around in my head at the age of 15 when he wrote the first draft of Eragon.  Wow – what a talented young man and a really good auther.  If you like fantasy, it is definately worth the read.

So I read on CNN the insipid campaign chant ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ has begun….and right here in good ole Virginnie.  Looks like they are going to start drilling about 50 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, VA and we’re talking about 2.9 MILLION acres.  According to the story, Randall Luthi, Director of Interior’s Minerals Management Service states, ”Our best guess is that area could contain about 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.” 

Now, color me crazy but, is it REALLY worth the potential environmental damage for what amounts to about 4.5 days worth of oil from OPEC (113 million “potential” barrels divided by 24.845 bpd quota)?  There are about 68 million acres of land offshore and onshore in the United States that have already been leased by oil companies to drill on but have not yet been used. If oil companies tapped the 68 million federal acres of leased land it would generate an estimated 4.8 million barrels of oil a day – six times what ANWR would produce at its peak.  Current inactive leases could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day.  Which would in effect nearly double total U.S. oil production, and increase natural gas production by 75%. It would also cut U.S. oil imports by more than a third.

I guess my point is more-or-less, shouldn’t Big Oil look for resources in places they already have rights and not worry about acting like some kind of greedy fat German kid?

Hmmmmm Oil, *nom,nom,nom* Soooo Yummy!