We need to quit drilling for oil and pour every cent into solar, nuclear

[screembloodymurder]

and electric cars. We've got to cut CO2 emissions now!!!

[knowbody0]

1. I have a very simple mind

and it's bothered by the vacuum left in the earth when the oil is extracted.

[Parisle]

2. Some additional suggestions,......

---- Solar is great,... nuclear is cheap, but still a disposal problem. And you didn't mention wind farms, which are a necessary part of the mix, as well. And for that matter, we aren't doing nearly what we could be doing with hydro-electric on the small scale,...

---- But the real culprit is our pattern of usage. Every home built today has either a 200 amp service panel, or a 400 amp service panel. That should not be necessary. I have built several homes with combined passive solar-assist and geothermal assist,.. homes which do not require air conditioning unless the outside temperature hits 100,... and which do not require heat unless the outside temperature dips below freezing. What's really embarrassing is that these homes are relatively inexpensive to build. A 100 amp service panel should be all that is required for a normal residence.

---- And I agree with you about the CO2 emissions,..

[hunter]

3. I've lived very well in an old home with 30 amp service.

We had a little window air conditioner in the bedroom for the nights the heat was unbearable.

We don't need air conditioning where we live now, and we use gas for water heating, cooking, and drying clothes, so I could probably run this house off a 30 amp service and nobody would notice. As it is, we have a 90 amp service, and it's a fairly new house.

[Parisle]

4. Bravo, Hunter !

---- The passively self-maintaining homes I've built each had a "back-up" A/C window unit and a single, centrally-located 48" electric baseboard heating unit. Those features register an "either-or" drain of 20 amps when in use. Super insulation is a given, and the bulk of the passive heat comes from a south-facing "Trombe wall," extensive masonry and accompanying sun space,.. and from the fact that the house is three-quarters underground. That fact also accounts for the cooling function in summer. Hot water came from an attic-mounted solar-heated tank fed from an additional unheated tank which "pre-warmed" the water just to ambient room temperature. The kitchen still ate up a lot of amps, but we settled on a "hybrid" configuration with a small, super efficient refrigerator, a 2-element electric range, a single gas-burner and an electric oven. And a microwave, of course. But a back-up woodstove operates one of the flues in the twin-flue chimney, and an efficient fireplace utilizes the remaining flue. There was still 30 amps of current to direct to household lights and electronics. Roof-mounted photovoltaic panels power a 12V back-up emergency system of lights, radio and TV. If the power went off, you would have no problem continuing to live in the house.

[jpak]

5. There are several earth-bermed solar "thermal mass" homes in central Maine

http://www.mainesolar.com/Showroom2.htm

http://www.mainesolar.com/Showroom3.htm

[bhikkhu]

8. When we remodeled our house, code required 200 amps

I wasn't too pleased. In subtle ways like these government encourages consumption.

[bhikkhu]

6. Forget electric cars.

At least for now, you will probably be juicing that car up with power from a plant burning coal or natural gas. The cumulative power transmission and efficiency losses alone render this a net waste of energy and a greater polluter than an efficient gas powered car.

[bhikkhu]

7. Not to mention, if we all went out and bought electric cars,

the stresses upon the power grids would require more generating plants to be built. As far as I know most current plants - planned and under construction - burn coal. Not something we want more of.