Title: Ed Begley, Jr. Loses Control Over ClimateGate Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Nov 25, 2009 Author:Ed Begley Post Date:2009-11-25 09:39:36 by Jethro Tull Ping List:*Leftwing Loon Alert*Subscribe to *Leftwing Loon Alert* Keywords:None Views:1526 Comments:59
It has to hurt a psychotic like Begley when all he believes in has been exposed to be a lie.
Here are five things Begley suggests you start doing this holiday season:
– Replace every conventional light bulb in your house or apartment with an energy-efficient LED bulb. “That includes your Christmas lights,” Begley notes. “They’re definitely cost-effective and use a whole lot less power.”
– Weather-strip your doors and windows. “You can go to Home Depot and get this done in less than a day,” Begley says. “You’ll start saving money on your first energy billing cycle.”
– Get yourself an energy-saving digital thermostat. “And don’t forget to program it,” Begley says. “Set it to your home habits, so it knows when you wake up and when you sleep. And don’t waste money heating your home when you’re not there.”
– Keep the car in the garage, especially for short trips for whip cream and eggnog. “Ride a bike when weather and fitness permit,” Begley explains. “Or use public transportation.”
– Stay grounded. “I think we fly too much,” Begley states. “There are a lot of emissions that go along with flying at 31,000 feet. I know I fly too much. I just recently drove up to Portland, Oregon and back in a hybrid car. That’s the way to do it.”
– Replace every conventional light bulb in your house or apartment with an energy-efficient LED bulb. “That includes your Christmas lights,” Begley notes. “They’re definitely cost-effective and use a whole lot less power.”
– Weather-strip your doors and windows. “You can go to Home Depot and get this done in less than a day,” Begley says. “You’ll start saving money on your first energy billing cycle.”
– Get yourself an energy-saving digital thermostat. “And don’t forget to program it,” Begley says. “Set it to your home habits, so it knows when you wake up and when you sleep. And don’t waste money heating your home when you’re not there.”
Actually, those are sound pieces of advice (the ones quoted). LED Christmas lights are gorgeous, no real heat and use like 10% of the energy. Nothing wrong with that. Normal house lighting still needs some work though, the LED bulbs are just now starting to give out reasonable light compared to normal bulbs, I suspect that we'll need a year or two to have them up to 60W bulb lumen output. That said, at 7W compared to 60W, the cost savings is huge, especially given the like 100,000 hour lifespan of LED lights.
The other two items are just common sense, and they help out on your utility bills as well.
You don't have to be an eco-religionist to see the cost benefits of those basic items I'd think.
Begely, fwiw, at least practices what he preaches. More than can be said of most eco-religionists whose sole goal is to change how *you* live. But yes, he is a nutbar. :)
The other two items are just common sense, and they help out on your utility bills as well.
You don't have to be an eco-religionist to see the cost benefits of those basic items I'd think.
Agree.
The largest energy saver that we've done was to have Radiant Barrier paint sprayed on the roof decking (in the attic). The last electric bill was $68 and change. Low-flow toilets, and timely rains, brought our water bill down to $18 and change.
Turning the computer off in the evening saves 350 watts of juice. A bunch of little things will add up the savings.
#12. To: Lod, Jethro Tull, SonOfLiberty, all (#10)
There's no shortage of energy here where I live. It's all hydro-powered. I buy fluorescents because they they last longer and save on the hydro bills. Feel kinda bad wondering what all that mercury will do to the environment, though. I get LED flashlights because the batteries last longer.
What's curious is getting a flyer in the mail that comes with the hydro bill saying we should use less hydro.
So I'm thinking, wouldn't they want us to use more?
So they get more money?
Then within a year after getting the flyer, we're getting charged extra for using TOO MUCH hydro.
They substantiate with some sort of a 'green tax' or some ridiculous mind ****.
They're charging us for using more of something there's absolutely no shortage of here.
What makes it more maddening is that most people don't even question it. They lap it up like it's a good thing.
Because the TV tells them it is.
And I get accosted by a pseudo-hippy at the grocery store handing out free tickets to a rally for 'climate change' wearing a snorkle to protest how the ocean's gonna rise twenty feet soon.
And if y'all did use less, as a community, they'd charge you more as a maintenance upkeep charge on the system. I've seen other utilities pull that crap. Either way, you lose.
I'm in one of the only parts of Texas which decided to opt out of Governor George W. Bush's electricity "deregulation" schemes of the late 1990s, which were cooked up in cooperation and consultation with some of his closest political allies — the late, great swindlers who operated Enron.
Since then, other areas of Texas, in spite of the new "competition" supposedly introduced into the electricity-generation business, have experienced rising electric rates while our regulated industry up here still has the lowest rates in the state.
I point this out just to illustrate that doctrinaire "free market" economic policy doesn't always work as advertised.
What you can also count, though, on is the fact that the doctrinaire "free marketeers" will always point out that you didn't follow EXACTLY what they would have prescribed to do and so will disregard the rest of your arguments.
I note from this that Austin also is still regulated.
#31. To: Sam Houston, SonOfLiberty, christine (#28)
I point this out just to illustrate that doctrinaire "free market" economic policy doesn't always work as advertised.
That is because they were not truly deregulated. Which with our current antiquated system of poles and wires is not really feasible. All that was deregulated was generation - not distribution.
True deregulation would allow for technology supporting independent generation at the user level from a variety of technologies and companies.
This is prevented by regulation and suppression of technology. None of the big players really want deregulation. They want to create the PR impression of deregulation without any real risk of being put out of business by new and better technology.
Why do you think Pons and Fleischman had to flee to Europe to continue their research on Cold Fusion? They were receiving Death Threats here.
Our Electical System is sooooooooo controlled.
And The Austin Electric Utility Department DOES NOT generate their own electricity, they buy it on the open market at the cheapest competitive rate, AND they receive HUGE tax breaks by virtue of being a "Publicly Owned Utility". As well they get a huge price break in buying from Feral Government facilities such as TVA and Bonneville.
What you can also count, though, on is the fact that the doctrinaire "free marketeers" will always point out that you didn't follow EXACTLY what they would have prescribed to do and so will disregard the rest of your arguments.
You didn't let me down.
In my area of the state, which is not on ERCOTaka the Texas Grid, the utilities ARE privately-held and own lignite coal-fired generating plants all over the region, but are still subject to regulation.
Our GOP state senator at the time took an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach to this issue. He became interim lieutenant governor around the time this was being debated and was able to exempt us from deregulation. Good move, in retrospect. All the "free market" think tanks laughed at him, but the fact is that the deregulated areas now have even higher rates, while ours, which were already lower than average, haven't risen much at all.
The Chimp's deregulation schemes, in retrospect, were just a giant gift to the so-called "late" Ken Lay and Enron. There are very few things the Chimp or his daddy, Chimp Sr., ever did while holding political office that didn't involve graft and corruption in some way.
What you can also count, though, on is the fact that the doctrinaire "free marketeers" will always point out that you didn't follow EXACTLY what they would have prescribed to do and so will disregard the rest of your arguments.
You didn't let me down.
Well that's pretty convenient isn't it? He's right, it's not like they did a small thing wrong, they did a big thing wrong. A really big thing. There was no free market present. Calling it "deregulation" or "free market" doesn't mean that it is.
Or put another way, you go into a restaurant and order a filet mignon dinner. The waitress brings out a hot dog and fries. You look at her and say "this isn't a filet mignon dinner". Gum smacking in her mouth she says "Sure is, we call this plate the filet mignon dinner. What, are you going to say it's not just because we didn't EXACTLY follow the recipe for filet mignon? Just what I'd expect".