corn based ethanol just isn't working out. using corn to replace gasoline has only raised prices of crops. as i've observed, isn't cost effective at the pump.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4237539.html?page=1

another route that might be worth considering is bio-diesel as a replacement for home heating oil. if nothing else, air quality on the east coast would improve as millions of fuel oil fired boilers w/o any emission controls slow the spewing of toxic exhaust.

any thoughts or ideas?

Bio fuels is a no-go, until we can make profitable making fuel from algae. Plug in electric vehicles are the way to go.

Bio fuels is a no-go, until we can make profitable making fuel from algae.
i was thinking of being cost effective. E-85 is running about 90% of plain pump gas, but only gives me 75% of the mileage...i lose money using it.

replacing the diesel fuel burned to heat homes seems more effective. it would reduce stress on the petroleum supply line, nearly eliminate road tax evasion, and improve air quality in NYC so they can lighten up on idling busses in winter...or not.

They heat homes with diesel? *aghast*

They heat homes with diesel? *aghast*
you didn't know what #2 fuel oil was?

No, we use natural gas over here, not that that's a whole lot better.

No, we use natural gas over here, not that that's a whole lot better.
for forced air, cooking and heating water is about as good as it gets...if you have a gas line running by your house.

fuel oil gets delivered by truck, and ends up stored in a tank, sometimes in the basement.

Using diesel for heating would really spike the price of everything, since everything is delivered by diesel trains or trucks. I don't think there's enough bio around to make enough biodiesel for that. On the plus side, the east coast would smell like french fries.

I'd almost rather have the truck come by. That way you're paying one bill for the winter, and you know what you're getting yourself into. This winter I got hit with a 370 dollar heating bill.

I'd almost rather have the truck come by. That way you're paying one bill for the winter, and you know what you're getting yourself into. This winter I got hit with a 370 dollar heating bill.

When you turn the thermostat to a higher temperature, it really helps to close the windows & doors.

:bombout:

But then how will the little birdies survive? I don't want to kill little birdies!

When you turn the thermostat to a higher temperature, it really helps to close the windows & doors.

:bombout:


hahaha :D

Really, how the hell did you manage that Nap?

I forked over $76 in Feb, my highest elec&heat bill this winter.

Undoubtedly I would have paid $370 in NY a month in the winter, but I can't even touch that down here.

hahaha :D

Really, how the hell did you manage that Nap?

I forked over $76 in Feb, my highest elec&heat bill this winter.

Undoubtedly I would have paid $370 in NY a month in the winter, but I can't even touch that down here.

Thin skinned southern boyz.

:woohoo:

"Bio-diesel" is simply a red herring in the effort to find more environmentally friendly energy sources.

Anything that converts crop-land to energy is not environmentally-friendly. Rather, it's quite the opposite. It makes for a good way to get Iowans to vote for you tho!

This winter I got hit with a 370 dollar heating bill.
Ouch! I thought things were going badly when I got a $190 gas bill.

This winter I got hit with a 370 dollar heating bill.


holy crap.....what are you heating, an igloo? :@@:


My heating bill doesn't even touch $100 and I've had the thermostat set at 76 degrees alot this winter.

holy crap.....what are you heating, an igloo? :@@:


My heating bill doesn't even touch $100 and I've had the thermostat set at 76 degrees alot this winter.
What the hell are you heating, a closet? I shell out $190 a month with a thermostat set at 68 (and I recently dropped it to 66).

What the hell are you heating, a closet? I shell out $190 a month with a thermostat set at 68 (and I recently dropped it to 66).


LOL! My home is small,but not that small. Before the furnace was replaced the heating bill was almost $200, after the furnace blew and was replaced I noticed it dropped drastically. Hey,I'm not going to complain. :D

Holy crap Borg, how can you live with the thermostat at freakin' 66?! I would die! We have it around 70 in here all the time and I'm usually huddling around under a blanket with 3 layers on all winter.

OK, what the hell is heating oil? We do not use it here in CA, and every time I hear it I picture some old lady out pouring gas in her generator in the dead of winter.

OK, what the hell is heating oil? We do not use it here in CA, and every time I hear it I picture some old lady out pouring gas in her generator in the dead of winter.
it's diesel fuel (with a little red dye) used to power boilers. it's real big out east, and other places without gas lines.

OK, thanks mike.

Holy crap Borg, how can you live with the thermostat at freakin' 66?! I would die! We have it around 70 in here all the time and I'm usually huddling around under a blanket with 3 layers on all winter.

What is it with women and needing the thermostat at a billion degrees? It's 64 degrees in my basement right now and I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt. At my mom's place, my sister and my mom tag-team to make me miserable by setting the thermostat at 72. If it was 70 degrees in the summer, you would not need 3 layers of clothing and a blanket! GAH!

What is it with women and needing the thermostat at a billion degrees? It's 64 degrees in my basement right now and I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt. At my mom's place, my sister and my mom tag-team to make me miserable by setting the thermostat at 72. If it was 70 degrees in the summer, you would not need 3 layers of clothing and a blanket! GAH!

------------------------------------------------------------------

I think I have the answer to your question about why people set there temperatures differently.

Its all about the humidity that is when the air is saturated a temperature like 60 c is pleasant but when the air is dry 60 c is very cold. because in dry conditions our bodies evaporate into the dry air but when the air is saturated no more moisture can be picked up by the air at certain temperatures.

A home with a humidifier usually has a more constant lower temperature and less drafts compared to a home without.

Heating is my specialty.

What is it with women and needing the thermostat at a billion degrees? It's 64 degrees in my basement right now and I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt. At my mom's place, my sister and my mom tag-team to make me miserable by setting the thermostat at 72. If it was 70 degrees in the summer, you would not need 3 layers of clothing and a blanket! GAH!
When it's 70 outside in the summer I definitely wear long pants and a jacket. (Although the first few days in the 70s feel warm by comparison to the winter that I've just been through, so then I might take off the jacket if I'm in the sun. When it gets down to 60 for the first time in the fall I'm running for my winter coat.)

What is it with women and needing the thermostat at a billion degrees? It's 64 degrees in my basement right now and I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt. At my mom's place, my sister and my mom tag-team to make me miserable by setting the thermostat at 72. If it was 70 degrees in the summer, you would not need 3 layers of clothing and a blanket! GAH!
we males tend to have more insulation where the body radiates more heat.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I think I have the answer to your question about why people set there temperatures differently.

Its all about the humidity that is when the air is saturated a temperature like 60 c is pleasant but when the air is dry 60 c is very cold. because in dry conditions our bodies evaporate into the dry air but when the air is saturated no more moisture can be picked up by the air at certain temperatures.

A home with a humidifier usually has a more constant lower temperature and less drafts compared to a home without.

Heating is my specialty.
60 Celsius???:eek:

where do you sleep? in a crematorium???

What is it with women and needing the thermostat at a billion degrees? It's 64 degrees in my basement right now and I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt. At my mom's place, my sister and my mom tag-team to make me miserable by setting the thermostat at 72. If it was 70 degrees in the summer, you would not need 3 layers of clothing and a blanket! GAH!


Not too sure about the other ladies around here,but as for myself I like it comfortable. Normally the thermostat is set at 68 and that's alright. But on days where it's below zero and the wind is whipping,it gets cold in my house so I tend to turn it up.

CBL,you would seriously laugh at me in the summer. I wear jeans and sometimes a hoodie all summer. Unless it's 90 degrees I don't see the need for the A/C to be running all the time.

60 Celsius???:eek:

where do you sleep? in a crematorium???
I don't have my temperature that low I was just explaining the comfort zone of the human body. You can also be comfortable at 90 deg, without the humidity present.

60 Celsius???:eek:

where do you sleep? in a crematorium???

More like a sauna, but damn, that's hot! 60C = 140F.



I don't have my temperature that low I was just explaining the comfort zone of the human body. You can also be comfortable at 90 deg, without the humidity present.

90C = 194F.

Hey! How about we all get on the same page here? It seems someone around here isn't minding their P's & Q's when it comes to thinking of C's & F's when discussing temperature.


:comphit:

More like a sauna, but damn, that's hot! 60C = 140F.





90C = 194F.

Hey! How about we all get on the same page here? It seems someone around here isn't minding their P's & Q's when it comes to thinking of C's & F's when discussing temperature.


:comphit:

_______________________
OK you win Mike I didn't realize I left the c there I like Fahrenheit.

_______________________
OK you win Mike I didn't realize I left the c there I like Fahrenheit.
don't sweat it...you haven't seen me do math:(

another route that might be worth considering is bio-diesel as a replacement for home heating oil. if nothing else, air quality on the east coast would improve as millions of fuel oil fired boilers w/o any emission controls slow the spewing of toxic exhaust.

any thoughts or ideas?

I still think it would be good to stay with electric, just use all the heat generated naturally by the sun instead of nuclear plants-thus helping save our water supply.

Solar panels and windmills, Don Quixote.

When it's 70 outside in the summer I definitely wear long pants and a jacket. (Although the first few days in the 70s feel warm by comparison to the winter that I've just been through, so then I might take off the jacket if I'm in the sun. When it gets down to 60 for the first time in the fall I'm running for my winter coat.)

CBL,you would seriously laugh at me in the summer. I wear jeans and sometimes a hoodie all summer. Unless it's 90 degrees I don't see the need for the A/C to be running all the time.

Jesus, the only reason I put a shirt on in the summer is so I don't scare away the ladies! How can y'all not be hot during the day when you're out doing stuff?

The oil company I use to work for, Standard oil is based in CT.
Indeed a great deal of the east coast is heated by diesel with red dye added.
Low grade diesel at that. The DMV forbids it to be used in vehicles unless they're off road vehicles. Like tractors.
With the rocky surroundings natural gas is actually more expensive. Or it was...

I like the electric idea myself. I have been looking into electric cars and have found that they're still having problems with batteries.

There is a guy in Germany. That has found a way to harness something like 80% of the suns energy. Which is a brutal amount of energy from what I'm told.
Currently our most state of the art solar panels dont even get up to 30%.

Someone check these numbers. I'm sure Im close but wrong.

The guy in Germany is having trouble aligning the domajigs that help his whatjamacallit work right.
So until some brilliant mind comes along to help the guy, hes dead in the water.

There is a very interesting collaberation happening now though right here in the U.S.
http://www.inl.gov/featurestories/2007-12-17.shtml


Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory, along with partners at Microcontinuum Inc. (Cambridge, MA) and Patrick Pinhero of the University of Missouri, are developing a novel way to collect energy from the sun with a technology that could potentially cost pennies a yard, be imprinted on flexible materials and still draw energy after the sun has set.

The new approach, which garnered two 2007 Nano50 awards, uses a special manufacturing process to stamp tiny square spirals of conducting metal onto a sheet of plastic. Each interlocking spiral "nanoantenna" is as wide as 1/25 the diameter of a human hair.

Because of their size, the nanoantennas absorb energy in the infrared part of the spectrum, just outside the range of what is visible to the eye. The sun radiates a lot of infrared energy, some of which is soaked up by the earth and later released as radiation for hours after sunset. Nanoantennas can take in energy from both sunlight and the earth's heat, with higher efficiency than conventional solar cells.


Which would be a really good idea for keeping batteries on a car charged.

Nanoantennas can take in energy from both sunlight and the earth's heat, with higher efficiency than conventional solar cells.


using GW to power your Tahoe!!!:lolhit:

i like it!:lolhit:

Jesus, the only reason I put a shirt on in the summer is so I don't scare away the ladies! How can y'all not be hot during the day when you're out doing stuff?


If it's 80 degree's or above and I'm going to be outside all day,I'll wear shorts,tanks,skirts,tees,and such. But it really doesn't bother me to wear jeans and a long sleeved shirt in 80 degree weather. I used to do that all the time when I lived in Florida and their summer temps are insane sometimes.