My Take on the Renewable Energy Fair

Two years ago I spent the day helping out at the Save the Pine Bush table at the Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair. Long day at the table but I got to meet a lot of interesting people and connect up with a lot of old friends. Most importantly I got to share about the legacy of Save the Pine Bush.

The fair was an interesting event with a variety of booths, although I got the impression that Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living was more about wealthy suburbanites making a political statement by consumerism then saving the environment. If you buy the right kind of automobile, install the right kind of solar panel, buy the right kind of food, and install the right kind of window insulation and underground heat pump, you’ll be closer to nirvana — and have such a good feeling deep inside.

Now I understand the fair costs money to put on, and they had to bring in commercial businesses who would use it at a platform to sell green-themed products. I also understand it’s good that these technologies are being advanced — wealthy suburbanites are willing to plunk down the big bucks for beta versions of the technology may help developers perfect them and make them better products. Only through widespread beta deployment of things like net-metered solar and geothermal wells will they ever get good enough to become part of the standard building code that everybody has to follow.

I had very little interest in most of the sustainable technology that had marketed there. I did think the electric cars were pretty novel — in principle if we are going to have automobiles — electric is the way to go. They are simpler and much easier to maintain. They use less energy and are more efficient then gas fired automobiles, even when you factor in the many inefficiencies of fossil electric generation. As renewables grow on the grid, their tailpipe emissions will fall even further. Much less maintenance and much easier on the brakes thanks to generator being used to turn braking energy into battery charge then brake pads turning energy into heat.

I also was impressed by how mainstream that ground heat pumps have gotten in recent years. If you have $50,000 to have some 400 feet wells dug in your backyard, you can use the constant 50 odd degree temperature of the earth to do most of the heating and cooling of your house, with only the power consumed to pump water through the great heat sink known as the earth. Potentially a really good technology, once it becomes more refined and the industry becomes mature.

The various vendors hawking grid-tied solar were pretty much run of the mill what you would expect, the same thing with the organic farmers booth, and those pushing boutique organic foods. I guess people are into that kind of stuff, but I had to shrug. From what I’ve learned about organic farming over the years — especially organic dairying — it’s mostly about paperwork and government food inspectors rather then revolutionary new ways to farm. Conventional farms — with their well established no-till methods are often just as good if not better for the land.

RPI or maybe it was NYSERDA had a pretty piss pour display that tried to show that LED bulbs are more efficient then compact florescent bulbs, halogen and conventional bulbs, but picked bulbs that were of different brightness and color. I guess what you get a rough comparison.

The activist booths where pretty much what you would expect — run of the mill campaigns against Styrofoam (which really should be banned in cities), advocating for more composting (again, good for cities), and various things calling for action on climate change. It’s really pretty gross how the current administration is doing everything in it’s power to sabatogue whatever maginal progress we were making on the topic. Maybe I shouldn’t throw up my hands at whole issue of political change, as we really do need to rethink how cities use energy, produce CO2 and dispose of wastes.

As much as anyone knows, I am fully aware that political pressure can make a difference on public policy. Laws, applying to millions of people and big institutions can have a big deal. Elections have consequences, something we’ve seen with the election of Donald Trump and his roll backs of the Obama environmental legacy. But I feel like so many of the environmental causes of today are cheesy, packaged for mass consumption and aren’t a real discussion of the choices our country faces. But I do see the alternative and importance of being involved. But somehow the campaigns on display by the various environmental groups, kind of just left a bad taste in my mind — too one-sided, too high on rhetoric and not on substance. Too much packaged for the suburban, feel good about the environment consumer. I guess that’s politics.

Maybe after spending so much time the previous week in the rough and wild country of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, I had trouble getting back into the green living way of thinking. I am just so turned off by the world of high-speed internet, big screen television, big houses even those with solar panels on the roof and geothermal wells outback. Homes with oversized recycling and composting bins, but also oversized trash bins to match their level of consumerism.

I feel like if you really wanted to be green, you would live in a small house, not have all the technology and television. Maybe live off-grid with composting bucket toilets and a trash burning barrel out back, but not with marble countertops or 2,000 square feet of room — with grid tied solar panels on the roof. A mini-house or shed-to-home conversion that doesn’t take much energy to heat — of any form. Or much electricity to run a handful of 12 volt LED lights, USB chargers, and a few very small appliances. Not some massive McMansion. Hunt deer and fish, hobby farm for food, rather then consume something organic, shipped from halfway across the world, wrapped in plastic destine soon for a distant landfill.

For me, saving the environment is doing without a television or high speed internet at home. It’s about using my local public library and public transit. It’s about leaving my truck parked at home and walking or taking a bus. Not the green technologies on display. Eventually, I do plan to live off grid, not just because it will make it affordable to own more land and live more simply, but because ultimately I believe that to be more sustainable without the easy tug of cheap electricity and all the easy tugs of modern living, like unlimited hot water, unlimited toilet flushes, and unlimited heat. Chopping your own wood,ย  maintaining your own water supply, maintaining your own electricity production system, disposing of your own trash, forces you to think about what it really means to be a consumer.

If you really want to save the environment, don’t buy more stuff, get rid of your television and internet, walk, bicycle, ride public transit and live with less.

North Country farmers face difficult fall harvest | NCPR News

North Country farmers face difficult fall harvest | NCPR News

Oct 16, 2019 โ€” At a time when many North Country farmers are struggling economically, theyโ€™ve also faced a tough growing season. There was a rainy spring, then a dry summer and back to a rainy fall. Thatโ€™s taken a toll on the corn and hay crops farmers feed their livestock through the winter. Itโ€™s harvest time now, and many farmers are worried.

Warren Faces Scrutiny, Buttigieg Has A Solid Night : NPR

Democratic Debate: Warren Faces Scrutiny, Buttigieg Has A Solid Night : NPR

The fourth Democratic debate was a long one, about three hours, and ended after 11 p.m. ET. You might not have made it through the whole thing, but there were some potentially consequential moments.

I have to admit I didn't listen to the whole debate, mostly turning it off after the section on gun control, and then watching Mike Pence dairy's video about storing corn in their glass-lined Harvestore silo. Good eating for their cows this year, and honestly much more interesting then the whole politics thing. It doesn't sound like a missed much watching the video I downloaded off Mike loading corn into his silo. Wasn't much said at the debate that was newsworthy. I am leaning towards Elizabeth Warren in 2020, but I have a lot of time to decide.

October 16, 2019 Morning

Good morning! What day is it? ๐Ÿช Fords don’t have it of course, Three weeks to the Day After Election Day. ๐Ÿ›€ November is coming, even in Trump’s America. Maybe they’ll impeach him in November so it will make for great conversation around the Thanksgiving tables across America. Mostly cloudy and 44 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜ There is a south-southeast breeze at 10 mph. ๐Ÿƒ.

I stayed over at my parents house last night โ›บ and sat out back for about an hour with a cup of coffee โ˜• next to the heater. It was a nice morning but now the clouds have pushed in. โ˜ Nice morning but it meant I got a little bit of a late start heading home and had to rush to the bus.๐ŸšŒ

I listened ๐Ÿ‘‚ to the democratic debate for a while last night on NPR. It’s nice that they finally broadcast the debate on the radio ๐Ÿ“ป for those of use who don’t own a television. I guess I could also download it from YouTube and watch it but I don’t think I dare about their faces – I don’t own a television so I don’t care if they are pretty or ugly. Their look won’t cause indigestion of they get elected.

Today will rain, mainly after 2pm. โ˜ Clouds now but it will be quite wet this evening. โ˜” High of 63 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 9th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 5pm. ๐Ÿ–๏ธ South wind 10 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 56 degrees. The record high of 88 was set in 1947. There was a dusting of snow in 2009.โ„

The sun will set at 6:12 pm with dusk around 6:40 pm, which is one minute and 37 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 58 degrees. The dew point will be 50 degrees. Breezy, 17 mph breeze โ›… from the east-southeast with gusts up to 29mph. Today will have 11 hours and 2 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 47 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain. The rain could be heavy at times. ๐ŸŒง The first Nor ‘Easter is coming. Low of 46 degrees at 6am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 29th. Southeast wind 10 to 18 mph becoming north after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1940.

Wet today and probably tomorrow but not bad for the weekend. A picture perfect autumn weekend on tap. ๐Ÿ˜Ž Get out and enjoy it gone and snow is here. Saturday, sunny, with a high near 60. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 66. Maximum dew point of 48 at 3pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 59 degrees. I kind of wish I didn’t have my Pine Bush hike because I would be a nice weekend to get out of town. ๐ŸŒฒ

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Day After Election Day ๐Ÿ›€ when the sun will be setting at 4:42 pm with dusk at 5:12 pm (Standard Time). I’m sure farmers will be slinging manure on that day as they do a lot of that in November. ๐Ÿ’ฉ ๐Ÿฎ On that day in 2018, we had drizzle showers, cloudy and temperatures between 54 and 44 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 52 degrees. We hit a record high of 73 back in 2015.

Swamp Along the Adirondack Northway