Electricity

Electricity is a wonderfully complex part of our daily lives. Of course electricity isn't just sourced from one fuel, but employs a mix of fuel sources to create the currents that power our modern homes and offices.

We've been learning about the rolls that energy mixes play in my Sustainability classes. Last week it caused me to look up the fuel mix of SRP and APS.

It turns out that both APS and SRP source 6% of their fuel from renewable resources (mostly hydro-electric). The national average is above 8% of renewable sources. Most of our electricity comes from burning coal. Which is a cheap way to make electricity without giving a damn about the environmental effects that throwing that much CO2 into the atmosphere will create.

I just looked up Seattle City Light (Seattle's electricity provider) fuel mix. City Light sources 94% of it's electricity from renewable resources! 3.25% of that is from wind, which is a lot. Only 0.85% of Seattle's electricity is generated by coal. Compare that to SRP's 40%!

I suppose all of this is expected.

Phoenix's Renewable Electricity: 6% (mostly water; no substantial solar investments)
Seattles's Renewable Electricity: 94% (a lot of water; large investments in wind energy)

October 3, 2008 11:07 AM

Keeping busy

Tonight:
read article for pup 301, highlight key areas

Later tonight:
mind map structure for pup 301 paper

Tomorrow:
write paper on eco foot print results
read aph 300 book sections
study for aph 300 exam 1 (at three roots - with cody?)
write intro and body beginners for pup 301 paper

Thursday:
create notes on Australia's water situation
finish pup 301 paper
complete pup 301 paper check sheet

These are things that I'm keeping busy with thanks to school. My schedule is PACKED, but I'll be in Tucson tonight having fun at the Hot Chip show. I can pull it all off, and then I'll be amazed with myself. Just you wait.

September 23, 2008 12:32 PM

Finances and the economy

The signs have been clear for a while. The national financial system has been tumbling into a destructive meltdown for quite sometime. Over 7 months ago I predicted that we'd be in such a situation at some point during 2008. Unfortunately - with events such as the largest bankruptcy in US history - that prediction has come true this week. It's gotten so bad that the US government is stepping in with the largest market interceptions it's engaged in since the aftermath of the Great Depression. Some estimate that will cost the fed one trillion dollars. That's almost 8% of our GDP, and over 10% of the current national debt. These are huge numbers.

With all this happening, I've created a new goal that will be relatively easy for me to meet. I am going become debt free (excluding my school loans) by 2009 and stay out of debt the entire year. I've been cutting more and more of my random spending, and I'm trying to get rid of the habit all together.

Anyhow, I hope the markets are better when I actually go looking for a job.

September 19, 2008 1:37 PM

Google's web browser (Chrome)

I really like Google's web browser. I think it has the absolute best interface of any web browser I've seen on Windows. That's saying a lot, since Firefox has been quite the revolution. However, I have never been impressed with WebKit (the underlying open source rendering engine from Safari), and I'm sad that Google Chrome is built upon WebKit. I'd rather see it using Gecko. But, it is still very nice. Although this blog doesn't render 100% correctly in it. Turned out to be Flickr broke their photo badge code.

September 8, 2008 9:16 AM

Last night's storm

Last night's storm was beautiful. But I could have been hurt or killed on multiple occasions. That's what made it so enjoyable. I was at ASU West waiting for Angie to get out of class when the storm rolled in from the East, and the rain didn't hit until we were on the I-17 and it intensified enough for us to get off at McDowell. There was then flooding, no electricity, various malfunctioning train and traffic signals plus emergency vehicles all causing mayhem. We made the most 4-way stops I've ever seen during one ride. When we finally got to it, Angie's drive way was flooded so we couldn't park and had to park next door. Then we had to brave the storm to get to her studio. As we walked through dark bushes we disturbed terrified sparrows and grackles that ran away from us on the ground while trying to fly, but they couldn't because they were soaked. Some just stayed put - too terrified to do anything at all. It was the saddest part of the whole thing and made me realize how powerful nature can be.

Damage was everywhere. Last night and this morning I saw excessively flooded streets, miles without electricity, countless downed trees (uprooted and all, many in the middle of the road including palm trees snapped in half), a dozen damaged/malfunctioning/destroyed traffic signals and malfunctioning train signals, tons of damaged buildings (ASU's Sustainability Institute's wind turbines were destroyed), 4 destroyed billboards (one was still in the ground with it's metal support beams bent in a curve and another was Monti's Steak House's 30 year-old sign), 2 completely destroyed buildings and 1 palm tree in a car.

All this was caused by a storm that had brief gusts of 100 mph winds. How horrible would it have been to be in Katrina? That storm had SUSTAINED winds of 175 mph.

August 29, 2008 10:00 AM

Do any top experts in sustainability education know what they're talking about?

Seriously.

August 27, 2008 12:07 PM

Jakob and Justin on the state of online music from IFC

I am so missing muxtape!

10:41 AM

Thinking of the environment

I am about to invest in a large purchase of rechargeable batteries. I've picked out what promises to be the best choice. The batteries can be recharged 1,000 times and they also do not discharge nearly as fast as most other rechargeable batteries. Discharge is when a battery losses some of its life while it is being stored or not frequently used. Anyway, I am spending $40 on 10 batteries and their charger. This seems like a lot, but 10 x 1,000 = 10,000 regular batteries worth! Regular batteries should cost around 50 cents each when you find a really good deal; that's $5,000 worth of batteries for $40. I'll be saving 9,990 batteries from going in the trash and myself $4,960. Check out this kit to start off.

August 22, 2008 11:52 AM

---

Blog Archive:

May 2004,  June 2004,  July 2004,  August 2004,  September 2004,  October 2004,  November 2004,  December 2004,  January 2005,  February 2005,  March 2005,  May 2007,  June 2007,  July 2007,  August 2007,  September 2007,  October 2007,  November 2007,  December 2007,  January 2008,  February 2008,  March 2008,  April 2008,  May 2008,  June 2008,  July 2008,  August 2008,  September 2008,  October 2008, 

---

Contact