The wurster, the better

We had our first snow last Thursday. It didn’t mess up too many things although getting to Collage (our daughter’s social therapy group) was a little tricky and then only a few people made it.

Money and bills and finances – these seem to be the most popular reasons for fights between a husband and wife. So, I decided to have one yesterday after finding out that we owed an educational consultant almost $4000. Whoa!!! And then I freaked out. I try to let my wife have free reign over helping our daughter in all ways, but she lacks common sense when it comes to money and spending it. She has always had this flaw as do a lot of people. Hmm, could this be a reason why our economy is in such a mess?

I got my monthly Odiogo listen stats as seen below. I guess this means that my blog is not very popular.

Total MP3 file downloads in the table listed below:75.

Month ——– Downloads —- Listen Button
Apr-07 ___________________________
May-07 __________________________
Jun-07 _________________________16
Jul-07 __________________________24
Aug-07 __________________________9
Sep-07 __________________________8
Oct-07 __________________________5
Nov-07 __________________________6
Dec-07 __________________________7

That’s okay with me as I do believe this technology is important for people who can’t read.

We still have our Christmas decorations up. They are coming down slowly. I’m not in a hurry to do a lot of things. I had a chest x-ray and blood tests done last week because of a problem I seem to have (although now I think it’s due to the ten pounds I’ve put on over the past couple of months). We’ll see how things go when I see my cardiologist next week.

My sister-in-law Jeannie came over last night and gave me a belated Christmas present which didn’t arrive in time. It’s a book called “Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community” by Thomas Berry. As I have always been interested in the environment and helping our planet, she thought I would like this book and author. If you take a few moments to visit the wiki link about the author, you will see why.

And, today, I changed the privacy settings on my blog to make it visible to search engines. I had made it invisible a long time ago because of huge spikes in bandwidth usage by the search engines. Let’s see how it goes now.

Lately, I’ve been interested in looking for ways to become more energy self-sufficient. I’ve looked at solar energy and thought I would look into wind energy. I asked this question of:
Pennsylvania Resources Council
3606 Providence Road
Newtown Square, PA 19073
610-353-1555 ext 221

They sent me this reply which I thought I would post here for others who are interested.

The Pennsylvania DEP Office of Energy and Technology Deployment

A guide to small wind energy systems: A guide to small wind energy systems

As for consultants concerning small wind energy systems, I have a list of Small Wind Turbine Distributors:

---

Bergey Windpower Company
2001 Priestley Avenue
Norman, OK 73069
(405) 364-4212 Fax: (405) 364-2078
Email: sales@bergey.com
Web: www.bergey.com
Contact: Steve Wilke

---

Point Power Systems
2 North First Street, 3rd Floor
San Jose, CA 95113
(888) 2-PNT-PWR
Email: sales@pointpowersystems.com
Web: www.pointpowersystems.com
Contact: Sales Manager

---

Solar Wind Works
16713 Greenlee Road
Truckee, CA 96161
(530) 582-4503 Fax: (530) 582-4603
Email: chris@solarwindworks.com
Contact: Christopher Worcester, CEO
US Sales Contact: Jason Mills

---

Southwest Windpower
P.O. Box 2190
2131 N. First Street
Flagstaff, AZ 86003-2190
(520) 779-9463 Fax: (520) 779-1485
Email: andy@windenergy.com
Web: www.windenergy.com
Contact: Andrew Kruse

---

Synergy Power Corporation
Suite 1702, Bank of East Asia Building
10 Des Voeux Road
Central
Hong Kong
(852) 2522-9000 Fax: (852) 2810-0478
Email: spc@synergypowercorp.com
Web: www.synergypowercorp.com
Managing Director: Eric T. Kalkhurst

---

WindTech International, L.L.C.
125 Maple Avenue
Katonah, NY 10536
(914) 232-2354 Fax: (914) 232-2356
Email: info@windmillpower.com
Web: www.windmillpower.com
CEO: Peter T. Michaelis
U.S./Int’l. Sales Contact: Jeffrey L. Bowden

---

Wind Turbine Industries Corporation
16801 Industrial Circle, SE
Prior Lake, MN 55372
(952) 447-6064 Fax: (952) 447-6050
Email: wtic@windturbine.net
Web: www.windturbine.net
President: Archie J. Payek
Manager: Steve T. Turek

---

---

Wind-Energy System Exemption

Incentive Type: Property Tax Assessment
Eligible Renewable/Other Technologies: Wind
Applicable Sectors: Commercial, Industrial, Residential, Agricultural
Amount: 100% of system value
Maximum Incentive: None
Authority 1: Act 2006-167
Date Enacted: 11/29/2006
Effective Date: 1/28/2007

---

Summary:
Pennsylvania enacted legislation in November 2006 (S.B. 514) providing that wind turbines and related equipment (including towers and foundations) may not be counted by tax assessors when setting property values. However, the law states that the valuation of real property used for the purpose of wind-energy generation “shall be developed by the county assessor utilizing the income capitalization approach to value.” This valuation is determined by the capitalized value of the land-lease agreements, supplemented by a sales comparison data approach as deemed necessary by county assessors. Lessees or lessors must provide relevant, nonproprietary lease and lease-income information to county assessors by September 1 of each year.

Contact:
Public Information – PA DOR
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue
Taxpayer Service & Information Center
P.O. Box 280610
Harrisburg, PA 17128-0610
Phone: (717) 787-1064
Phone 2: (717) 787-8201
Web site: http://www.revenue.state.pa.us

I recently received an email from Generation Green concerning the counterpart to making our homes safer for our kids – making our schools safer for them.

Keeping our kids safe at home is one thing. There may be a few things you cannot easily control, but you are the one choosing (or playing a key role in choosing) the food they eat, the cleaners you use around the house, and other sources of potential pesticide and other chemical exposures. But at school, choices are made that you probably aren’t a part of deciding. You can help get your schools into better shape, though, through green cleaning.

If you are interested in starting a green cleaning program in your school or in encouraging others to do so at theirs, there is a FREE resource to get you started. You probably aren’t sure where to start, so let the new Quick and Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools from the Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) show you how. The guide highlights five simple steps for establishing a green cleaning program in your school and comes with an information-packed CD-ROM.

This is the first-ever multimedia how-to guide to help schools adopt cleaning programs that encourage the use of green products, equipment and practices in schools. The Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools simplifies the green cleaning process, and the easy-to-use CD-ROM contains comprehensive information, practical advice, tools and resources to help schools take action. It also includes a purchasing guide that lists products that are consistent with HSC Green Clean recommendations.

If you are interested, you can go to the Healthy Schools Campaign site to find out more. I requested the free CD-ROMs for our school district. When I get them, I will contact the Superintendent.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted anything. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to write. I just lost track of time. So, what have I been doing lately.

I’ve been volunteering for a couple of good causes both related to the upcoming election: Joe Sestak and environmental issues. I volunteer for the Sierra Club and have participated in several community walks to help inform infrequent voters about what the current administration has been doing in Pennsylvania. We can’t tell people who to vote for because of recent voter rules changes. We can just give them information to help them make a good decision.

Joe Sestak is running for congress against the incumbent Curt Weldon. I have volunteered making phone calls to help inform the public.

I have written letters to the editors of several local newspapers on both of these causes. The letter on Joe Sestak will be published in the Philadelphia Inquirer but I don’t know when. And I will have a letter published in the Delaware County Daily Times on the environemntal issues and support of the current administration probably in a week to ten days. Pretty cool! It will be fun to see my name in print. I think I will make a couple of posts and put the letters in them.

I was on a business trip last week for 3 days to Tempe AZ. Maybe I’ll add a Google map showing where I went. It was a very productive trip as I was helping one of our clients with some issues he was having with our software and tools. It was good to finally meet someone in person who I have been talking to on the phone and conversing via email. Communications is so much more than email and phone calls. We learned a lot about each other. It was great. However, the time change really killed me. I am still recovering.

Today is my wife’s birthday. Happy Birthday Maria!

I’ve also helped someone from Egypt in developing a style for the Vanilla forum software we both use. That was enjoyable and now I have a new friend. I’ll have to make sure that I add him to my friends around the world map.

Like most parents, we have a hard time making ends meet. We have especially run into difficulties with the rise in energy costs to us, the consumers. Having to think about driving to the store or to the doctors and what in our budget will be affected by the additional gas prices is a bit unnerving. It places added stress on us at a time when we don’t need it. I don’t know about you, but we have three cars in our family (my wife and I and our daughter). In the good old days, our budget of about $30.00 per week gave us the ability to live our lives in a normal way. The recent “pricing crisis” has more than tripled this cost to us. With a limited budget, much suffers.

The media has definitely made us aware of the rising energy costs. Our household has personally made a variety of energy saving changes. We’ve installed a solar house fan. We’ve replaced most of our energy-consuming incandescent light bulbs with energy-savings compact fluorescent light bulbs. We’ve also set our central air conditioning to 79 degrees. We buy green appliances. We check our tires in order to make sure we get the best gas mileage. I even conserve on water by turning off the shower when I lather up with the soap instead of letting the shower run. We also recycle. So, we are a good environmentally concerned family who does a lot to help. But, in the end, we the consumers still pay the price.

As I mentioned before, we have had to make choices between driving and buying food to eat. Luckily my employer understands this and I am allowed to telecommute from home. This saves me $10.00 to $20.00 a week in gas costs. This helps quite a lot, but is not the ultimate solution.

I have been concerned about the environment since the 1960’s when I got my degree in environment science from Drexel University. I have made changes in my life since then. I would hope that others have done and will do this, too. We need to have strong leaders not only locally but also at the federal level who can help us ensure a clean environment for future generations.

We need to conserve the precious resources that we have. If we don’t, we will pay the price, literally. I am very happy that the current administration in our state has taken measures to conserve. One example is the investment in hybrid vehicles. This cuts gas and oil consumption. It saves us taxpayers money while helping to save the environment. Our state is a great example not only for our residents but also for other states.

Our state is also implementing other smart energy solutions to cut our expenses and to provide economic incentives to attract more businesses to Pennsylvania. One example is the alternative energy portfolio that requires 8% of our electricity come from clean homegrown energy sources like wind and solar energy.

Pennsylvania’s commitment to clean energy has attracted the attention of wind energy companies. Gamesa, the second largest wind energy company in the world, has located their headquarters in Philadelphia and their manufacturing facilities in Bucks and Cambria counties. Over the next 5 years their investment will create 1,000 jobs and help increase the amount of wind energy produced in the state. Today 153 megawatts are produced and there is potential to produce 3,000 megawatts in 15 years, enough to power about 4 million homes in Pennsylvania.

I want to see this commitment continue. Make sure you understand the candidates positions on energy and the environment when it comes time to vote. I support the current administration and any of our elected officials who will help us in our quest for smart energy solutions and conservation of our environmental resources. I know who I plan on voting for. Do you?

I sent this letter to several local newspapers. It will be published in the Delaware County Daily Times in a week or so.