[Danny Richie]

Electricity is cheap in the US and clearly we can afford to pay a little more in order to be cleaner.

That's okay if it is a choice by the consumer. Unfortunately it is not. Tell the low income family that is unemployed that their electric heating bill (that they already can't afford to pay) is going to double or triple. They might have to go without heat....

[Danny Richie]

Word is that they got 13" in Dallas yesterday. That might be a new record for them.

[ebag4]

Word is that they got 13" in Dallas yesterday. That might be a new record for them.

Danny, has this weathered affected the anticipated arrival of the V-1 bass drivers?

Thanks,
Ed

[Danny Richie]

If the vessel that they are on is on time then they arrive in the LA port today.

[corndog71]

I hope they're not already sold out.  I'm finally moving to a bigger place and think I can  squeeze in some OB subs.  Maybe even upgrade them over time to V1s!

Gradually of course.  I just can't drop a couple grand anytime I want.

[mikeb]

In 1981 (I think) we had a summer that took us above 100 degrees 40 days in a row. We even got up to 117 one day. And we haven't seen anything even close to that ever since.

That was actually 1980 and I remember it well. I just moved to Tx and moved into a little frame house out in the country..... with NO AC     I think I made it until July before I bought a few window units for the house I was renting .... didn't do much good though. We were half way through those 100 degree days by then.

[Danny Richie]

 You know, that might have been 1980. Now that I think about it, it was my freshman year of high school.

Oh, and no worries Corndog. I have 200 of them coming in.

[nickd]

Good news on the V-1 woofers coming in today (hopefully). I dont care if the Ice age "envormental experts" promised in the 80's is coming . As lond as the roads from Iowa park to San Diego stay open for the UPS driver.

By the way Danny, here in So Cal, The 80's were crazy hot too. I lived 40miles from the coast and 105-110 degree summer days were all too common. We have had mild summers here for the last couple of decades. This winter has been mild for us with lows in the 50's at night and 60's to 70's in the days. However we suffer from some of the highest electricty rates in the world and even with out using the heat. Its common for us to have power bills well over $200.00

That cool Dodd battery powered gear looks better and better as time goes on. I just need my v-1's up and running so i can make the switch  

[Bear]

how about solar power to charge batteries for dodd?  any ideas?

[HAL]

Solar charging  the Dodd 12VDC battery is a big option.  It just depends on how big the battery is and how fast you want a recharge.   

I am still waiting on the new NanoSolar cells to be available.  Should be around $1/watt for CIGS technology cells that are printed on big printing presses.  Rated efficiency is between 11%-16%.  That is pretty good.

They just need more printing presses as they have already sold their entire production to the original investors.  They are in Germany. 

Hope for more info this year.

[dvenardos]

Double or triple? We are clearly talking about completely different things. Eliminate the subsidies for oil and gas and alternative energies are already competitive. Solar power already pays for itself, it just takes time to payoff the initial investment.

Just curious does anyone heat from electricity? We use natural gas out West.

That's okay if it is a choice by the consumer. Unfortunately it is not. Tell the low income family that is unemployed that their electric heating bill (that they already can't afford to pay) is going to double or triple. They might have to go without heat....

[dvenardos]

Woa, who is your carrier? Mine goes up to a max of $85 running AC in the summertime and working from home.

However we suffer from some of the highest electricty rates in the world and even with out using the heat. Its common for us to have power bills well over $200.00

[m-fine]

My gas and electric bills are often in the $300-$500 range. Until I have alternatives, taxes will do nothing but make my bills bigger and suck more money out of the consumer economy.

The bigger picture is about global competitiveness. The federal debt plus unfunded obligations is already something like $650,000 per person. The only way we can afford that is if our economy has massive growth, and any extra tax burden on businesses, whether for health care, the environment, or any other cause, is going to reduce business growth and drive jobs and entire businesses over seas. We already have some of the highest business taxes in the world, and massive levels of debt compared to GDP so if the question is could we afford to pay 10% more, the answer is a definite no over the long term.

[HAL]

Double or triple? We are clearly talking about completely different things. Eliminate the subsidies for oil and gas and alternative energies are already competitive. Solar power already pays for itself, it just takes time to payoff the initial investment.

Just curious does anyone heat from electricity? We use natural gas out West.

We heat and cool from electricity.  Have a geothermal heat pump with electric backup.

Typically for this all electric house our bills run from $150 - $320/mo.  This is for about a 4000sqft house.

My sister has a standard heat pump with electric backup and for a house of similar size there electric bill is double ours.

[S Clark]

Word is that they got 13" in Dallas yesterday. That might be a new record for them.

I drove from Abilene to Dallas in the middle of that mess, and had to be on the road again in it the next morning for a funeral.  It was building up on the interstate faster than the big rigs could melt it out.  I have never seen so many Ford Mustangs in the ditch in my life.  There must be something in the Mustang owners pysch profile that includes a tendency to run way too fast on snow and slush.  I read that the only state that did not get snowfall Thursday was Hawaii. 

[Bizarroterl]

Last year my power bill was $50.  Why?

1st, I live in northern CA and we don't see extremes.  Cold here is 40deg F.  Hot is 105deg F.

About 7 years ago we decided (instead of buying a new car) to have a solar array installed.  4.5KW for ~$40K, of which the state paid for ~$15K and we saw a ~$3K in fed tax break.  I tell people I bought a $23K car that lasts for at least 25years, has no maintenance (other than a wash a couple times a year), no insurance costs, it pays my power bill, and increases my property value.   

It is tied into the feed from the power company. When the sun shines the meter goes backwards, and when it's dark it rolls forward.  I'm charged $5/month to be connected and I get my yearly true-up bill in January.  This year it was <$50.

This weekend we're going to see temps in the mid 60s.   

[dvenardos]

We don't need taxes, what we need is a level playing field (I would like to see a simple tax code and make all subsidies go away for personal and business), a little ingenuity, and some determination.
Solar City will install a solar panel on your house that you lease for the current cost of electricity from your provider, you pay them for the amount of electricity produced by the panels instead of the electric company. It is a matter of ramping up production to meet demand so that they can service a larger area.
http://www.solarcity.com/residential/solar-lease.aspx

My gas and electric bills are often in the $300-$500 range. Until I have alternatives, taxes will do nothing but make my bills bigger and suck more money out of the consumer economy.

The bigger picture is about global competitiveness. The federal debt plus unfunded obligations is already something like $650,000 per person. The only way we can afford that is if our economy has massive growth, and any extra tax burden on businesses, whether for health care, the environment, or any other cause, is going to reduce business growth and drive jobs and entire businesses over seas. We already have some of the highest business taxes in the world, and massive levels of debt compared to GDP so if the question is could we afford to pay 10% more, the answer is a definite no over the long term.

[m-fine]

Besides the total lack of sunshine here 8 months out of the year, solar panels are still a far cry from clean if you look at the full life cycle. 

[Danny Richie]

I tell people I bought a $23K car that lasts for at least 25years, has no maintenance (other than a wash a couple times a year), no insurance costs, it pays my power bill, and increases my property value.   

At 23K it would take about 20 years for it to break even for me not counting interest on the money spent.

If they can get it down to about an 8 year break even then they are on to something.

[nickd]

I intend to install a couple of 60-80 watt panels on the roof of my listening room to charge a couple of 140 amp hr 6 volt golf cart batteries. I use that set up in my RV and i always have tons of 12 volt power on tap. Down side is the complete set up runs about $1000.00

I figure that will power up a couple of Dodd amps and a buffer for years of off grid enjoyment .

I have some bad news for you guys invested heavy in solar panels though. They don't last 20 years in my experience, and where some of us live, you have to wash them way more often than twice a year. I do like the technology however.

I recently did some work for a start up solar company here in so cal. They have a new patented prism solar array. It floats in a tank of water and amplifies sunlight by 5000 times. Trials are underway but they developed the interest of some major utility companies out here.

Nuclear power plants (lots of them). Thats my idea of clean power