California schools $120M solar project
in [Design]
|
From: krw on 3 Jun 2010 23:41 On Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:08:33 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > >"krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" wrote: >> >> On Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:28:25 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" >> <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote: >> >> > >> >Joel Koltner wrote: >> >> >> >> <krw(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote in message >> >> news:gt8e06dtocjmpotfb99cv07v1ob6r4netn(a)4ax.com... >> >> > BTW, I have an order with them now for a portable dust collector ($70) and a >> >> > wide-crown pneumatic stapler ($20). They didn't have them on sale in the >> >> > store in Dothan Saturday. >> >> >> >> I have the stapler there, and I've been quite happy with it -- no problems yet >> >> with jamming. >> >> >> >> I probably *should* get a dust collector one of these days -- as-is sometimes >> >> a lot of the garage gets covered in sawdust... :-) >> > >> > >> > My table saws all have wheels to roll them out of the garage. The >> >big radial arm saw is under a metal roof behind the garage. >> >> Mine's on wheels too, but it only gets moved to sweep around it. I haven't >> fired up the radial arm saw since I moved from NY ('93). > > > The one bay is 10' * 20' and the blacktop outside is about 35' * >40'. It's a no brainer on nice days. :) > > > I have at least two. One is disassembled, and the other is too far >from an outlet at the moment. I need to build a new base for that one. >It looks like the old one was built from part of a mobile home gas >furnace. The old man who owned it didn't add wheels, and it's quite >rusted out. It was last used around 2001, because of that. Both are >Craftsman saws, and so are two of the three table saws. Now that they >have settled into their new home my dad is thinking about getting rid of >most of his tools, so I may end up with more woodworking tools. My RAS is a Craftsman. The table saw is a Delta Unisaw, I bought last year. I was going to buy one a few years ago but knew we were going to try to get out of Vermont. I didn't see the point in moving a 600lb saw into our basement and then hauling it back out in a year or two. So I waited until we moved and bought another house. It's living in the garage now so I could wheel it into the driveway. The door open is good enough. It'll move upstairs when I get the room finished (probably another year).
From: Robert Baer on 4 Jun 2010 03:29 Sylvia Else wrote: > On 2/06/2010 11:03 PM, Bill Sloman wrote: >> On Jun 1, 3:58 am, Sylvia Else<syl...(a)not.here.invalid> wrote: >>> On 1/06/2010 12:25 AM,Bill Slomanwrote: >>> >>> >>> >>>> On May 31, 1:38 pm, PeterD<pet...(a)hipson.net> wrote: >>>>> On Mon, 31 May 2010 06:02:23 -0500, "amdx"<a...(a)knology.net> wrote: >>>>>> Yesterday I heard a radio story about the California School district >>>>>> spending $120 million to put solar energy in/on schools. >>>>>> I did a Google search and can't find any info. >>>>>> The numbers I heard didn't seem cost effective, >>>>>> so I'm curious. >>>>>> Anybody know more about it? >>>>>> Mike >>> >>>>> I believe they gave $119 million to Al Gore's efforts, and spent the >>>>> remaining million on publicity. >>> >>>> The request was for information about what the California School >>>> District has done, not an invitation for you to exercise your >>>> incompetent imagination. >>> >>>> Admittedly, anyone asking for information about a political solar >>>> energy initiative here should expect to get answers drawn from the >>>> imagination of our resident right-wing nit-wits. >>> >>>> A quick google picked upt these initiatives >>> >>>> http://solar.coolerplanet.com/News/8110902-fremont-california-school-... >>>> >>> >>>> http://www.chevronenergy.com/case_studies/sjusd.asp >>> >>>> which do seem to involve expenditure of the order of $120M. >>> >>>> At the moment solar energy is only cost-effective if you figure in the >>>> uncosted consequences of the CO2 emissions associated with fossil >>>> fueled energy generation. Political initiatives that subsidise solar >>>> energy generation are designed to fill in that gap, and often a bit >>>> more beside, since increasing the market for solar energy >>>> installations helps the economies of scale, >>> >>> I don't believe in these alleged economies of scale. Solar panels >>> already represent a large industry. The economies of scale, such as they >>> are, have already been obtained. >> >> The "economies of scale" aren't just the simple stuff, such as when >> you ship 100,000 units a year it becomes worth your while to put most >> of the electronics into an ASIC. It covers the sort of developments >> where people think that the market is big enough to justify developing >> a completely different way of making solar cells. > > Inventing a different technology is not an economy of scale, and there's > no guarantee that it will materialise. > >> >> This sort of development is highly speculative and costs tens to >> hundreds of millions of dollars by the time you've turned it into a >> production line - nobody invests that kind of money until they are >> pretty confident about the eventual market. >> >> Economists don't understand any of the technical details - they just >> know that as the market for a product expands, the unit cost tends to >> halve for every ten-fold expansion in production volume. >> >> The first computer I ever worked with hands-on was a PDP-8. It cost >> something like ten times what I was being paid per year at the time. >> Nowadays there are single chip processors that are moe powerful that >> sell for about what I'd earn in a minute if I could persuade someone >> to hime me. Solar panels need area in a way that processors don't, but >> they are going to get a lot cheaper to make and a lot easier to mount >> (perhaps as stick-on films). >> >> -- >> Bill Sloman, Nijmegen > > So why do car bateries still cost so much? > > Sylvia. ...because the makers have lead in their pants?
From: Richard Henry on 4 Jun 2010 13:25 On Jun 3, 7:10 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terr...(a)earthlink.net> wrote in messagenews:2NednQ4WpLxXw5XRnZ2dnUVZ_h2dnZ2d(a)earthlink.com... > > > Good. You don't want to hang around an Army base. Even if there was > > a nice highway to Dothan. I remember ch 4? from Dothan while I was > > building that TV station in Destin. They still started their broadcast > > day with a farm report, and their weather forcast used '50s props. That > > was in the early '90s. > > You could've offered to upgrade them to Commodore 64s, Michael -- I remember > several small (very little funding) TV stations that used'em for graphics or > the electronic program guide. :-) Amigas were all over TV stations in the 80's.
From: Richard Henry on 4 Jun 2010 13:28 On Jun 3, 8:33 pm, "k...(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" <k...(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz> wrote: > On Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:02:51 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" > > > > <mike.terr...(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > > >"k...(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" wrote: > > >> On Thu, 03 Jun 2010 05:48:44 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" > >> <mike.terr...(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > > >> >"k...(a)att.bizzzzzzzzzzzz" wrote: > > >> >> On Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:47:48 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell" > >> >> <mike.terr...(a)earthlink.net> wrote: > > >> >> >Joel Koltner wrote: > > >> >> >> "Michael" <mrdarr...(a)gmail.com> wrote in message > >> >> >>news:73ea42e6-fd75-41b7-89c4-593b613accc1(a)a20g2000vbc.googlegroups.com... > >> >> >> On Jun 2, 2:19 pm, "m...(a)sushi.com" <m...(a)sushi.com> wrote: > >> >> >> > I bought a rechargeable drill from them awhile back, and the NiCd > >> >> >> > battery charger doesn't even have a sensor telling when charging is > >> >> >> > done. You have to guess when it's done charging. > > >> >> >> It's probably just a transformer->rectifier->resistor->battery, set to charge > >> >> >> at a C/10 rate or thereabouts. > > >> >> >> So you just wait ~12 hours or so and you're guaranteed it's fully charged -- > >> >> >> no guessing necessary. :-) > > >> >> >> There was a time, not that long ago, when most battery chargers were this, um, > >> >> >> "featureless!" > > >> >> >> > Dad wanted to buy same drill (on sale for $15); I talked him out of > >> >> >> > it. > > >> >> >> Sounds like it might be worth $15, actually... > > >> >> >> I think Harbor Freight is a good example of (1) you tend to get what you pay > >> >> >> for and (2) advertising leads many people to believe they need a lot more than > >> >> >> they really do. Their "value for the dollar" is actually pretty good -- > >> >> >> unlike a well-known brand name where the "image" can sometimes be much > >> >> >> flashier than what you're really getting (counting on many people never > >> >> >> recognizing as much -- see #2), with Harbor Freight it's pretty clear exactly > >> >> >> how rugged (or not) the item you're purchasing is. > > >> >> >> If you really want to impress your dad, get him one of these: > >> >> >>http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-1676-6-2-Inch-Joist-Drill/dp/B00005OP5S > > >> >> > I see a lot of people buying tools for their business at Harbor > >> >> >Freight, and at Northern Tools. They don't complain about the quality, > >> >> >they complain that people steal their tools. > > >> >> Right. No one would steal a HF tool. <rdh> > > >> > Not according to some people. Their 'Pittsburgh' brand of hand tools > >> >are stolen fairly often. > > >> >> BTW, I have an order with them now for a portable dust collector ($70) and a > >> >> wide-crown pneumatic stapler ($20). They didn't have them on sale in the > >> >> store in Dothan Saturday. > > >> > Dothan? EWWWWWWWW!!! I had to drive there from Ft Rucker too many > >> >times to pick up parts from a small wholesale electronics place. > > >> We hadn't been in that part of the state yet. Dothan isn't *that* bad. SWMBO > >> liked the antique stores (I needed some cheap brownie points ;). Eufaula is > >> rather nice driving through. The mansions along the main drag are something. > >> I thought I might like a house on the lake (big lake), but then found out it's > >> full of 'gators. Maybe not. > > >> > If I had taken that civil service job that I was offered in '73, I > >> >would probably still be in the area. > > >> It's about 85mi South of here. > > > Good. You don't want to hang around an Army base. > > There's also Ft. Bennington, in Columbus. The new Infantry Museum is really > nice. Some of the exhibits are still unfinished but it's a beautiful place. > > >Even if there was a nice highway to Dothan. > > All the highways around here are nice (no frost heaves). US451 is 4-lane, > except for a couple of miles North of Eufaula. > > >I remember ch 4? from Dothan while I was > >building that TV station in Destin. They still started their broadcast > >day with a farm report, and their weather forcast used '50s props. That > >was in the early '90s. > > It's not uncommon for Midwest stations to start their news with the farm > report. Radio stations used to do them from 12:00 to 1:00, when the farmers > were in for lunch. You shouls have seen Across the Fence around noon on Ch. 3 when you were living in Vt. I remember after my grandmother first got TV in the old farmhouse in North Fayston sitting with her at lunch eating fried egg sandwiches watching that show.
From: Michael A. Terrell on 4 Jun 2010 13:30
Richard Henry wrote: > > On Jun 3, 7:10 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terr...(a)earthlink.net> wrote in messagenews:2NednQ4WpLxXw5XRnZ2dnUVZ_h2dnZ2d(a)earthlink.com... > > > > > Good. You don't want to hang around an Army base. Even if there was > > > a nice highway to Dothan. I remember ch 4? from Dothan while I was > > > building that TV station in Destin. They still started their broadcast > > > day with a farm report, and their weather forcast used '50s props. That > > > was in the early '90s. > > > > You could've offered to upgrade them to Commodore 64s, Michael -- I remember > > several small (very little funding) TV stations that used'em for graphics or > > the electronic program guide. :-) > > Amigas were all over TV stations in the 80's. Not the ones I saw in the late '80s. I took a 12 year breead from broadcast between the ealy '70s and late '80s. What I did see was a lot of Cyron equipment, along with a little Squeezezoom. -- Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to have a DD214, and a honorable discharge. |