Energy

I was reading about how much many homeowners spend on utilities …

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I was reading about how much many homeowners spend on utilities … ⚡🔌💰

Apparently $200 or $300 a month isn’t that much money to spend on heat and electricity, even in lower cost states compared to New York. Some hobby farms with shops and farm equipment spend $500 or even more a month on electricity and natural gas. That sure seems like a lot of money to be burning up each month in non-renewable resources that are both impoverishing you and the planet.

It’s probably not that much money in the grand scheme of things – I would have more spare cash if wasn’t saving or investing so much right now – but I sure know I don’t have that kind of pocket change hanging around these days. I groan when my electric and gas bill pushes $100 come the frigid cold winter, when I have to turn up the heat to keep warm and the pipes from freezing.

When I own land, I can’t imagine having a big fancy home that requires so much energy to support it. A single room, small cabin takes a lot less energy to heat and light. Wood can be used as a primary heat source, small-scale solar can provide lighting and small-scale charging. While I doubt there is any practical way to avoid purchasing and consuming bulk propane for cooking and making hot water, those instant-on hot water heaters can be quite thrifty for bathing and wasting dishes.

Abandoned Coal Facts

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There are 215,430 acres or 337 square miles of abandoned coal mines in Pennsylvania.

92,231 acres are dry strip mine, 6,710 acres are strip mine filled with water. 86,317 acres are coal mining refuse, 722 acres of it is currently burning. Underground coal  fires burn on an additional 2,609 acres.

Data Source: Abandoned Mine Land Inventory Polygons, 2019 – Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. http://www.pasda.psu.edu/uci/DataSummary.aspx?dataset=459

Coal Strip Mine Along Corridor H

Fossil Fuel Industry Plans To Hijack Offshore Wind In Gulf Of Mexico – CleanTechnica

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Fossil Fuel Industry Plans To Hijack Offshore Wind In Gulf Of Mexico – CleanTechnica

The Gulf of Mexico has a a large number of offshore oil and gas wells connected to the mainland by a welter of pipelines. The Biden administration, through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, plans to issue leases in two areas of the Gulf of Mexico for offshore wind development next summer. One is about 91 miles off Lake Charles, Louisiana and the second is 29 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas. Lake Charles is home to many oil refineries, petrochemical plants, and fertilizer factories, which have made it one of the most polluted cities in the US and a major contributor to carbon emissions.

Fossil Fuels & Offshore Wind The fossil fuel industry has heard about offshore wind. In fact, many of the techniques used to drill for oil and gas at sea can be also be used to build offshore wind installations. It has also heard that there are plans afoot around the world to co-locate electrolyzers on those offshore wind platforms to make hydrogen from the electricity they produce. And hey, you know what? That hydrogen can be piped ashore using the existing pipeline network, where it can be used in many of the industrial processes that already exist along the shore of the Gulf to help reduce harmful emissions

Why power flickers in severe weather. ⚡

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Why power flickers in severe weather. ⚡

Typically a tree limb will hit a power line, which causes a short and a surge at substation which causes an auto resetting breaker to trip. If it’s a small enough limb , the voltage will burn up the limb or the force of the electricity will repel the limb.

Back at the substation auto resetting breaker will reclose and try again a few times to test if the momentary fault is corrected before finally shutting down the line until a technician can clear the fault.