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Solar Shingles

sun dollarThis article, which was published last week in the Tampa Tribune, really caught my eye.  I have been monitoring the prices, specs, and lease options on rooftop solar for a while.  I haven't pulled the trigger on an install yet for several reasons, but highest among them is that next year I need to replace my roof.  There is no point to installing panels over a roof that will soon be replaced.  I would prefer something like the shingles described in this article over traditional panels, but there are several factors I would like answers to first.. That said, here are my issues:

  • Not to sound negative towards an obviously happy customer, but I'm not sure the woman written about researched this as thoroughly as she could have before making a "$30,000 to $40,000" investment.  There are several manufacturers (or at least experienced installers) of this type of solar shingle in Florida, and they have been doing it for some time now.
  • The cost is still pretty high, and in my opinion, is teetering on the edge of reasonable payback.  Let's go with the $30K price tag to be fair.  For a twenty year lease, that is $125 a month before fees (the leasing company needs to make some money off of this too).  I am assuming (based on the attached photos of the control system) that there is no storage system for dark or cloudy periods, which means she will only be getting the benefit of the peak sunny times times on cloudless days - or about eight hours a day of usage.  In Florida, the average electric bill is generally above $300 per month.  Her savings therefore, would come much closer to 33% rather than the 60% she is hoping for.  Also, keep in mind that solar panels efficiency tends to degrade over time, further depressing the formula.
  • If she paid out of pocket for this system, her payback will be closer to the industry claimed 16-20 years.  It is also reasonable to assume the panels and associated electronics will require maintenance over the payback period, making it stretch out a little more.
  • If she leased the system, it can be written into the lease that all maintenance costs would be borne by the leasing company,  This seems like a good way to go for most homeowners.

Don't get me wrong; I sincerely hope that this happy homeowner gets everything out of the system that she anticipates, but I remain skeptical.  When I make the move, I prefer it to be a sure bet.

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Affordable Solar?

sunProbably the biggest barrier to more widespread use of residential solar panels is the tremendous outlay it take to get started.  For the past eight or ten years, the conventional wisdom has been that it takes about twenty years to achieve payback from your solar investment, making it hard to justify.  Sure, you will have lower electric bills, but you will also have that loan payment you took out to finance it, or for some, the out of pocket expense you are trying to recoup.  Now, there may be hope for those that are heliotrope inclined.  According to an article in Investors Business Daily, the affordability of a solar installation may be within the reach of many of us.  According to the studies written about in this piece, the payback may be as little as ten years now.  This is largely due to the dropping price of the panels, government subsidy programs, and rising electricity prices.

All that is great, but the 2013 price for a 600 square foot panel array, with inverter, electric company tie-in, and installation is still about $55,000.  The option that makes this affordable for many now is, the availability of a 20 year lease of the system.  If you can install the system, and not have to worry about maintenance or additional costs, why not go solar?  Initial studies are showing that the homeowner will benefit from the net-even lease versus electric bill ratio due to the projected rising costs of purchased energy in the future.  Watch for the next two or three years to make this even more affordable or even lucrative, as the price of the system components drop.

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LED Closet Light

The light in one of the closets in my house went out recently.  Usually, this isn't a big deal, I just go to my local home improvement store,buy a new one, and all is good.  My house is about 16 years old now, and the last closet light that went out ended up having a bad ballast in the fixture itself, so the new fluorescent tube was did no good at all.  That time, I ended up having to replace the fixture itself.  I chose to replace the aging 24 inch fluorescent fixture with a modern Light Emitting Diode (LED) fixture.  Why?  Even though it was more expensive than a new fluorescent fixture, and a new fluorescent tube, the payoff came in two ways.  First, the old fixture drew 17 watts of energy, which was not much, but I knew I could do better.  Second, over the last sixteen years, I've had to replace the tube at least three times, at about 7 or 8 dollars a pop.  The new LED fixture draws about 7 watts, and I will probably never have to replace it in my lifetime.

So, the new closet light was in a larger closet.  This fixture was 48 inches long.  Before replaing the bulb, I took a look at the ballast.  It was swollen and had leaked some tar-like substance.  I figured it had to go, with the assumption that it would not last more than a year or so, if that..  A new replaceent LED fixture was a little pricey; $60-70 depending on wattage/brightness.  I decided to try something different.  Using parts on hand from other projects, I reworked the existing fixture into an LED model.  My estimated cost was about $15-20.  Read on to see how I did it.

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The Ultimate Wireless Energy: Lightning

LightningI've always heard that West Central Florida was the lightning capital of the world.  Living in the region, one could easily be convinced that is true.  On a warm summer evening, using unassisted, ground based observation only, you would be hard pressed to keep count of the flashes in just a single hour, let alone an entire evening.  Just how much lightning does strike in a region?  Can you determine when it is going to strike in your area?  The answers to these questions are not as easy to come by as you might think.  Both the National Weather Service (NWS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have strike maps, data, and even some real time detection networks.  They have funded studies at a number of universities and even some commercial contracts to get the answers to these questions, but it is very difficult to find any real time data for "where I am right now", that is easy to use.  There are plenty of commercial sites if you look long enough, such as local TV stations, and even a handful of regional government funded sites for certain city/county/regions, but nothing on the scale of the commonly available temperature or weather maps that we are accustomed to.   Read on through to the end to find one solution that may trump them all.

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The Secret Life of Your Cable Box

cableTVI have become my dad.  I can recall countless times during my youth, that I heard my father say, "Turn off that light, no one has been in that room for half an hour!"  Or, close that door, I'm not air conditioning Overland Park!"  He had many other sayings related to the same subject, which was the conservation of our energy use.  My kids are now the recipients of this banter, and I imagine that the reaction I often receive is similar to those of myself and my siblings.  These days, it is not so simple as turning off a light in an unoccupied room or closing a door.  We have so many gadgets plugged in now that most of us would be hard pressed to put a number to them without walking throughout our homes.  More often than not, I'm now asking that they unplug unused power supplies, or to turn off the game console.

I've read a lot lately about various devices around our homes and the amount of power they use, even when they are not in use or turned off.  There have been many terms coined to describe this usage, such as "energy vampires".  This refers to devices that continue to draw power even when the device is turned off, or the device being charged is no longer connected.  The examples most cited are mobile phone or tablet chargers, or cable set top boxes.  I started wondering just how much energy does go to waste for devices not in use.  Since our televisions in my home all have working "on" switches, but apparently have defective "off" switches, I thought I would start with the humble cable Set Top Box (STB).  For some reason, the TV gets left on and the cable box gets turned off or eventually times out due to inactivity, and goes into "standby mode.  My initial intent was to determine how much one could save by making sure the cable box was turned off when not in use.  I was also curious to see how much power the set top box used while 'powered down'.  

 

What was tested

I'm a Verizon FIOS customer, and have been for a number of years.  My original setup was one HD DVR STB, and one non-HD STB for an older TV.  Since my original install, my original DVR died, and I now have a newer model with greater capacity.  I've also upgraded my TVs to newer HD models and gained one additional TV, for a total of three.  This required the addition of one new HD STB.  Verizon offers multi-room DVR access, so there is no need to have a second or third one for the additional TVs.  What this leaves for me to test is a newer model HD DVR STB, an older HD STB, and one newer HD STB.  Here is the line-up:  

 

 QIP7100 1 HD

This is a basic High Definition Set Top Box, the original older model I started with.  It is a larger form factor, and has a LED clock display on the front, which is always on, even when the set top box is powered off.

QIP7100

 

 QIP7100 2 HD

This is the newest HD Set Top Box Model model availble at the time of this writing.  It is not a DVR model, and just acts as a standard cable box.  It is advertised as a low energy model, It has a relatively small form factor, has only a small white LED on the front to indicate it is powered up.

QIP7100 2

 QIP7232 2

This is the replacement DVR, the newest available at the time of this writing.  While the fom factor is slightly smaller than the model it replaced, it is still a near full sized Set Top Box.  It has a white LED clock display that remains on regardless of the power status of the box.

QIP7232 2

 QIP7200

This is the original HD DVR Set Top Box (HD) that I started with.  I'm including it for comparative purposes only; since I traded it in for a newer model, I no longer have it available for test.  It is similar to the 7100 model in form factor, and has an amber LED clock display that stays on all the time.

QIP7200

 

 

How the testing took place.

For measurement purposes, I used a P3 Kill A Watt model P4400 Electricity Usage Monitor.  I have other test gear that works great for instantaneous readings, but I always find myself going back to the Kill A Watt for one reason; it monitors that actual usage over an extended time period.  It is easy to use, and it gives your various readings as of the moment as well.  The way it works is you just plug it in, then plug in the device you want to measure into the Kill A Watt meter,  Leave the device under test plugged in for about a day, then come back and read the hours and minutes under test, and the kWh used during that time period.

For each STB tested, I ran it for about a day in each mode (both powered up and in standby/off mode).  I then calculated the devices kWh per hour.  Once I had that, I determined how much that cost at my electric companies rates to get an hourly cost for the device.  My electricity provider charges one rate for the first 1000 kWh, and a second, higher rate for usage above 1000 kWh.  For this test, I averaged the two rates.

 

Results.

 For the results, I expected a little more data than this.  The reason there is only one line of data per model is that each of these STB's use the exact same amount of power whether they are powered up or "turned off".  See the chart for the power usage by model, and the annualized cost for my electric company whose blended rate is $0.10187 per kWh.

 

Model

Power Req.

Hrs

Kwh

Usage rate/hour

Cost/hour

Cost/year

QIP7100 1

21W

21.15

0.46

.021647

.0022051

$19.32

QIP7100 2

16W

23.766

0.38

.0159892

.0016288

$14.27

QIP7200

30W

       

$25.40*

QIP7232 2

24W

39.083

0.89

.022772

.0023197

$20.32

*The QIP7200 results were estimated based upon a comparison of the listed power rating to the other STBs tested.

All of the boxes tested have a time-out feature that either blanks the screen or displays a bouncing logo.  This may save some power on some televisions depending upon the technology used to light pixels, but it does not save even the tiniest amount of power used by the STB.  Some televisions have the ability to detect the lack of a video signal, and go into sleep mode, which uses less power. A little research turns up the purpose behind keeping the box completely active and powered up despite the outward appearance.  Keeping the box up and running allows cable companies to perform updates and other maintenance at any time.  Also, if the STP is a DVR model, and it is accepting and acting on program recording instructions, it must stay active to do so.  If it is set up to act as a multi-room DVR, it also must act on other remote instructions.  Despite all this, for some reason I still have to wait for the STB to update itself if I turn it on after it has been unused for a few days.

These result are based only on these particular STB models as configured by my cable provider.  Other providers and equipment are likely to have different results. 

 

Conclusions.

Although I did not get some of the results I thought I might, there are still some take-aways to consider:

  • Getting the latest model of cable box can save you about $5 a year in electricity, but unless you are already heading to the cable company's store, you would be lucky to recover your gas money.  If you have three, like I do, it might be worth it to save the $15 a year.
  • If the television attached to the STB is an old CRT based model, or a plasma based display, configure the time-out feature to blank the screen instead of using the bouncing logo.  These type of TVs actually use less power if the screen is black, or blank.  LCD TVs use the same amount of power regardless of what is displayed.  Also, setting it to blank the dislay may actually trigger the TV's sleep mode.
  • Some STB's have a power plug feature that allows the user to plug the TV directly into the STB, which will cut power to the TV when the STB is powered down, or goes into sleep mode.  This can save some power.
  • It is unlikely that cutting power by unplugging or by a power strip to the STB box would be a tremendous benefit. Even with the highest usage STB, the DVR model, the annual cost is only about $20.  All three of mine together come to about $61.

Lastly, if none of the above points apply to your particular use, don't worry about occasionally leaving your STB on, it certainly doesn't cost you any more.

 

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Go Transit Yourself!

Tampa TransitI have always been interested in studying the efficiency of any system, regardless of the scale of the system.  I have played numerous "sim" games over the years, including ones that built railroads or even entire municipalities.  I've always really liked the ones built on railroads, like the old "railroad Tycoon" games.  One of the challenging aspects of these games was that you have to find the right balance to be successful.  If you overdevelop your infrastructure, you can't afford to finish it, but if you don't put in enough, you don't get the return revenue to support it.  You get the picture.  Wouldn't it be great if you could put together your ideal map based upon the community in which you live?  Maybe now you can...

Recently, I came across a site that I couldn't wait to share.The site is called Tansitmix.  I live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, and this community has struggled with transit issues for some time.  I've seen various maps drawn up, published in the media, and debated time and again.  I usually look at the maps and say to myself, "What are they thinking?  I could do better than that!"  Now I can put it to the test!  Click here to see a quick map I created on the site.  It plots bus routes for whatever city you choose, and allows you draw your own transit system.  This was one of my first attempts, and I'm including it here for demonstration purposes.  I have since played around with some other areas and have really had a lot of fun with it.  So far, I have not hit any limits on routes.

Using it is pretty simple.  Once you have selected your city, you start adding routes.  It builds out a beautiful color coded map that includes all of your routes, how many buses it would take to support your route, the number of miles and the cost per year.  I like that you can go in, remove routes, edit them, and play around with your design.  If you like, you can even design an express route that goes right from your house to where you work.  It doesn't list ridership data, population of areas served or any of the other hard stuff that city planners actually have to do, but hey, it's good to be the king!  Perhaps you want to sketch out a design to send to your local transportation officials as a proposal.  Once you have completed it, simply click on the share link, and you have a ready made map to send right to whomever you want.

 I sketched out a small, four route system, that probably wouldn't win any community achievement awards, but I just wanted to get an idea of how it would look.  Here is the result:

G4G transit

As far as efficiency and public good is concerned, I quickly realized the implications of even a subtle route change.  I gained a new understanding and appreciation of how difficult it must be to decide where to put the long haul routes, the express serviceroutes, and transfer stations.  Even though there is no game element such as reaching certain achievements, I did enjoy trying to make it run more efficiently, or at least at a lower cost.

I don't know if there are plans to add rail, or other transportation options, but I sincerely hope so.

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Give it away now!

tesla flagFor some odd reason, the lyrics of that Red Hot Chile Peppers song kept dancing through my head, "Give it away, give it away, give it away now!"  Why?  Because of the actions of uber geek Elon Musk today.  Today, Tesla Motors decided to release the patents associated with their Tesla roadster, and the Supercharger charging stations.  That's right, they are giving them away.  For free.  He goes into the reasons on their press release, and I believe it is shrewd and even edges into altruism.  The bottom line is it will be good for his business, and great for the industry.  If we get more zero emission cars on the road, we all benefit.  If many or most of them utilize lithium batteries, and Tesla designed charging systems, it is all good for Tesla's proposed giga-factory, where the batteries will be made.  Yes, Tesla does stand to profit mightily from that, but the short term benefit desired, is a jump starting of the all electric vehicle movement.

And for what it is worth, the "all your patent are belong to you" reference is priceless.  It is kind of a geek thing.

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How Much Energy Do You Use?

TED 5000cI don't know anyone who doesn't wish their power bill was a little less.  I often hear people talking about high their power bill is, but they don't really know how to reduce it unless it is making sure lights aren't left on all night.  Some will say that they adjust their thermostat by one degree or more to conserve energy.  These approaches are reasonable, but the problem is, the result can only be seen thirty days down the road, when the power bill arrives.  Even then, one has to think back and wonder, "Did I really save that month, or was the weather just a little milder than usual?"  

 

Where Does the Power Go?

I live in Florida, where I worry much more about the magnitude of my cooling bill in the summer than I do about the heating bill in the winter.  Typically, my monthly energy costs are about two and a half times higher in the summer than spring and fall.  Only during January and February do my winter energy costs creep up a little, and it is usually by a much smaller amount.  Since my heat comes from natural gas, and it is a less expensive source of energy where I live, the dollar amount is negligible.  This pattern makes it relatively simple to see where most of my energy spend goes - cooling my house.  This works just the opposite for my friends up North - heating their houses in the winter time.  This makes sense when you stop to think of the devices that use the most power - motors and devices designed to produce heat.  Heat pumps and air conditioners use at least three motors each to pump heat into or away from living spaces.  For houses heated by electricity alone, add in the heating elements, and you are looking at a whopper of an electric bill.

Removing heating and cooling from the equation, what else uses the most electricity?  Again, look to the motors and things with heating elements.  An electric clothes dryer employs both a motor and a heating element.  Electric water heaters are constantly cycling to keep the water a constant hot temperature.  Modern dishwashers save water and electrically heated water overall (over hand washing and rinsing), but still pull down a lot of juice.  Electric coffee pots, ovens, cook-tops, and toasters all use a lot of power for the short time they are on.  Even electric hair dryers are big users of electricity; again, they use both a motor and a heating element.  Surprisingly, lighting takes significantly less power than heating and cooling.  There are a few caveats however.  For example, if you do leave a lot of lights on, and they are of the older incandescent variety, they are less energy efficient and add to the heat load of a space you might be trying to cool.  Older appliances like old style washing machines and refrigerators can also draw a lot of power.

 

Stop Guessing!

The only way for certain, to know where your energy is going, is to actually measure it.  You could go outside to your power meter and take a reading, then go back an hour later to see the amount of energy you have consumed.   You could even count how many rotations that little disk has made in a minute.  All you really know though is, the faster that disk spins, the more electricity you are burning. Believe it or not, it is much easier to measure it than you might think.  One way to measure your usage is to install a whole house energy monitor.  There are a number of them on the market, and they vary greatly in cost, complexity, and features.  Some are so simple to install, that they literally are a ring you slip over the outside of the power meter on the outside of your house.  Some are wired directly into your power panel and may require an electrician to install.  Regardless of the type you choose, what you will accomplish is a real time read of how much power you are using right now.  Why is this important?  For one, you no longer have to wait until the power bill comes to see if you have saved any money.  Second, you can start turning things in your house on and off to see what is really eating up the juice, and see the results immediately.  Below is a listing of some of the more popular models:

Efergy Elite Whole House Energy Monitoring System

Blue Line Innovations

Simple Energy Works

The Energy Detective

The prices range from around $60 all the way up to hundreds, depending upon options, display devices, and accuracy.

 

How it Works

I chose the TED 5000c from The Energy Detective to try out.  It was about $200, and came with the monitoring sensor, a wireless gateway device, and a wireless portable monitor.  It was relatively easy to install, and I was up and running within about an hour.  This particular model has a couple of current sensing loops that clamp around the two phase power leads that come into most homes.  It can be done without an electrician, but if you aren't comfortable around electrical circuitry, it would take less than ten minutes for a qualified electrician to install it.  It should only be installed with the main power turned off, and if you have any doubts, just hire a pro.  It is a small job.

5000Cimage 2

Once you have followed the installation instructions for the other unit, which plugs into a normal outlet elsewhere in the house, you can configure it for publishing to the internet, or just to a local browser in your house.  I chose to include the display unit with my purchase, and am glad I did.  I placed it on the kitchen counter where it is seen many times during the day.  This alone has caused much of our savings as a family.  Just seeing the current spend actually makes us think more about our energy usage, and reminds us to turn off non-essential items.  

Our findings:

  • We had seven recessed can lights in our kitchen, each of which had a traditional 65 watt floodlight installed.  Even though the lights were on a dimmer, people entering the room would just turn them up all the way.  Seeing the spike in the energy usage encouraged everyone to pick a lower setting.  I have since replaced some of the bulbs with LED models, and replaced the dimmer with a digital one, for further savings.  As far as lights go, these were among our heaviest hitters.
  • Outdoor lights, on either side of our garage were often being left on.  So were the interior garage lights.  The problem is, both sets of lights are not visible from within the house, so it was not apparent when they were being left on.  The energy monitor read a little higher, showing that something was left on.
  • A glance at the power monitor before leaving the house pointed out other things that were being left on - curling irons, fans, and other items.
  • We had a lot of so-called "wall warts"  Those little plug in power bricks that power laptops, mobile phones, tablets, and all kinds of other gadgets use for recharging.  They don't draw a lot of juice individually, but all of them together over a course of a month can be costing $5 to $10 or more a month.  They are easy to forget that they are plugged in, and use electricity whether their device is attached or not.
  • The included web interface showed us trends for the day,month, billing cycle, or even just for the past few minutes.  This helped with the decision to raise or lower the thermostat.
  • Turning various lights and appliances on and off gave us a sense of how much they draw.  We found that our refrigerator was actually not the energy hog we thought it was.
  • Turning breakers on and off led us to the discovery that one of our light switches to a stairway light, was leaking energy constantly, whether it was on or off.  Replacing it saved us about four dollars a month - the price of the switch.

 

Conclusion

All told, just those items have saved us from $45 to $100 a month in electricity savings.  This easily justified the cost of the monitoring gear, and even the cost of an electrician had I used one for the install.  I'll do a product review of the TED 5000 another time, but for now just wanted to point out the benefits of any whole house monitoring system in general.  Measurement is the first step.  If you can't measure your results, how do you know if you have made any progress?  Could you benefit from one of the smaller single circuit anergy monitors that you just plug in?  I'm sure you could, but your view would be limited to one device at a time.  To get the maximum benefit, my recommendation is to measure the whole house.

 

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Death Star Lamp

DeathStarLamp smNot too many science fiction movie images last longer than that of the Death Star in the original Star Wars movie.  While walking through my local IKEA recently, I came across a lamp that reminded me of that very thing.  As I stood there admiring it, I realized it was not just me that made the association.  I heard at leat a half a dozen people exclaim, "Look, it's the Death Star!"  It gets better.  I noticed two small cards hanging down from the bottom, and at the end of each one was a small version of the larger lamp above etched into the plastic surface.  Pulling on one of the cords makes the lamp expand, or explode.  The other cord colapses it back into a sphere.  See a video of it in action here.

I had my family with me, and we were actually looking for some hanging lamps at the time, but not exactly this style.  We needed downlights for over our bar.  Did we go home with a Death Star?  Yes we did.  This lamp comes in two colors - a kind of a lime green, and an electric orange.  The color is on the inside, as you can see from the video.  The outside of both lamps is a kind of matte, eggshell white.  I installed this over our breakfast table, and no one has been able to keep their hands off of it yet.  We did get separate lights for the bar - another story for another day.

That is the fun part, but the geekiness does not end there.  IKEA has been on a push lately to convert all their lighting products over to LED lighting.  While this lamp will take a standard incandescent 40 watt bulb, it does far, far better with a 60 watt equivelant LED bulb installed.  Even though LED bulbs (especially the clear ones) are high on the glare factor, this lamp does a superior job in blocking the glare, and providing remarkably even diffused light outward, and a little bit brighter up and downward.  So, here is a stylish, if not iconic lamp, that puts out as much light as a standard pendant lamp, but it only uses 9 watts of power.  Thats barely more than the old C7 style incandescent Christmas bulbs (each).  The lamp comes with a standard sized mounting plate that wires into a standard sized hanging light electrical box.  This is a huge improvement for IKEA lamps, as most of their hanging lamps do not have standard mounting packages.  Many come with just a regular plug, as if we have all our recepticles mounted in the ceiling.  I have a digital dimmer on mine, which allows me to dial down the brightness if I so choose, but the lamp could just be opened and closed to increase/decrease the illumination from it.

I have to admit, there is a part of me that wants to paint the outside of it black, and stencil on a circle for the dish that destroys planets.  Who wouldn't love to have their own personal Death Star?  In their kitchen!

The lamp is about 14 inches in diameter, and has a ceiling mount with about a five foot cord.  Once I converted my existing can light to a standard electrical box, it took me about 20 minutes to hang it, and assembly of the globe itself only took about ten minutes.  It comes in only two interior colors, green and orange.  I paid $69.99 for it.  Part number is 602.511.23 and it is part of the IKEA PS 2014 collection.

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A Tale of Two Libraries

When was the last time you visited your local library?  For me, it had been a while, perhaps two years or more.  That is not to say that I have not used my libraries services in that time; I have done that frequently.  I download books for my ereader, and upon occasion, electronically look up, transfer, and hold a book at a nearby branch, which my wife picks up for me.  This is usually a book that is not available in electronic format yet.  My wife is frequent visitor to the library, and often checks out multiple books on a huge variety of topics, so she just picks up my materials while she is there.  

Recently, I was at a Maker Con event in Tampa, where among the showcases was a booth for the Tampa/Hillsborough County library.  The booth was staffed by two library employees, who were promoting a new development at the main library branch in downtown Tampa (John F. Germany Public Library).  What they were promoting was the conversion of one floor of the library into a maker area.  There are to be meeting spaces, tools (including a 3D printer), a robotics lab, and other small work areas for single or group projects.  There are also some smaller rooms with tools like sewing machines for use be library patrons.  I asked how one would reserve the use of these resources, and was told that it had not been worked out just yet.  It is being targeted for opening around June/July 2014.  For more information on the new facility, click here.  A proposed layout of the new space can be found below:

cictampa

So, last week I thought I would stop by to see if I could see what was going on.  I couldn't get access to the area, but a very friendly and helpful employee did confirm what I learned about the area being created.  She really didn't seem to know much more about it than I already did, stating that it was whole separate area of the library, and spoke of the the staff associated with it almost as if they were part a completely different organization or agency.  I recall thinking at the time that it was kind of odd, especially since it was just another floor in the same branch.  

While I was there, I looked for a book on a technical topic I was researching, and was happy to find a recently published copy on the topic.  I flipped through it to make sure it covered what I was looking for, and was satisfied it would fulfill my need.  I walked over to the checkout counter to check it out, and found that I could not check it out unless I had my physical library card with me.  No card, no checkout.  I had my card number with me (in my smartphone), but that wouldn't do, not even with a photo ID.  How archaic - the same facility that will soon let me build and test robots, will only accept an old fashioned physical library card.  Perhaps some of that innovation on the new floor could be put to use bringing the checkout up to the times.

I'm ecstatic the library is embracing the new user of libraries, and that soon there will be a whole new level of education available there.  What a fantastic way to maintain relevance, and the potential to bridge old learning methods with new.  Just don't make me bring my library card...

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The Engineer's View on Ecology

One of the primary reasons I chose to start this site, and to promote the idea of engineering for the sake of efficiency just because it was a smart thing to do, was because of the ideas expressed in this piece recently published by the Wall Street Journal:  The Scarcity Fallacy, WSJ, 26APR2014

I believe most critical thinkers, when observing the dialogue presented by most in the mainstream press, have to question some of the absolutes presented, that we as readers are to take for granted.  Among these are the obvious low hanging fruit of celebrities who espouse ecology friendly viewpoints of reducing our carbon footprint, while travelling in their private jets to "green" events to relay those opinions to their public.  I would like to take it a step higher than those well meaning, but perhaps not critically thinking celebs, to those that dwell in the area of research or scientific analysis.  For years we have heard that one day we will run out of fossil fuels, water, or the ability to feed the human population of this planet.  Based on the technology and utilization of the most inexpensive process of the day, that may have been true at the time.  If one were to take that snapshot in time, and extend those processes and assumptions based upon them to 20, 30, or 50 years ahead, it would yield a dismal future indeed.  My question is, why do we have to fix these predictions in our collective mindset as the way things will really be?

Politics aside, we are above that as educated, rational thinkers.  If we look back to the mid to late seventies, the popular press published plenty of articles on the concerns of the global cooling, and how we may not have the temperate zones necessary to support the growing of the needed food supply of a burgeoning human population.  Now one hears the same concerns about global warming, which is now morphing into the much more vague "climate change".  Regardless of a warming or cooling climate, we are much more capable of adapting to whatever may come.  This article spells out exactly how that adaptation has taken place, and how it will continue to do so in the foreseeable future.  Portending doom sells the news, be it pulp, talking heads, or tweets.  Rational minds tend to think beyond that.  A highly recommended, and thought provoking read.

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Gulf Coast MakerCon

Recently, I attended the Third Annual Gulf Coast Maker Con at the Florida State Fairgrounds.  I've always enjoyed reading about the various Maker events around the country, and have lamented that they never seem to make it to a place near me.  It is either that, or I'm never near a Maker event in my travels.  I'm glad I finally made it to one of these events.  There was a little bit of everything there; form a really nice couple that made well engineered bait buckets www.baitdipper.net, to tiny inexpensive test instruments www.gabotronics.com. There was nearly everything in between including movie props, battling robots, 3-D printers, and much much more.  What I really loved more than anything was the excitement of the exhibitors sharing whatever they were into.  Many of the booths were just for informational purposes, promoting other workshops, events, and gatherings for others that share their DIY passion.

I keep hearing about how community leaders want to promote and cultivate a high tech corridor along I-4 between Tampa and Orlando.  In my humble opinion, it would pay huge dividends forward to support and promote events like this one.  It is necessary to have great colleges and universities within reach, but you just can't beat the passion that these folks have for their crafts.  The web site for the promoters of this event is gulfcoastmakers.com/ 

 

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Green4Geeks

It was about time for a retooling...

What is Green4Geeks?

Green4Geeks was concept site I started putting together several years ago, where I thought I might do a little blogging, publish some technology articles I had written, and in general be a holding place for whatever items I found interesting.  Now, I've decided to dust it off, and give it another run.  What I've found is, that I write a lot of commentary on various sites, and have felt a little confined in the formats or even the purpose of the sites I post on.  Posting here instead allows me to say everything that I want to, without limits, and then if it is appropriate, link to it from elsewhere.

Why Green4Geeks?

Green4Geeks is the concept that there are a lot of engineers, makers, tinkerers and the like, who love efficiency and "being green".  Sure, there are always the outlandish displays of pure power and excess; I fondly recall the muscle cars I've owned and raced in the past.  This is something a little different.  Now, I want to find out how low I can get my electric bill while maintaining my current lifestyle.  It has to be green, but that doesn't mean you have to give up everything.  How can I still drive a high performance vehicle without spending a fortune on energy to get that performance?  You get the idea.

Join the Discussion!

Email me or log on and leave comments.  Either way, I would love to hear from you.

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