LIVE GREEN

BlogMad recently gave a nod to my little environmental blog in their Daily Top Voted Blogs section. Thanks for the write-up! And thanks to the readers who gave a thumbs-up vote!

Have you been keeping tabs on the Hyperion Energy Center deal in South Dakota? If not, here’s a link to a blog which gives a blow-by-blow of the happenings in the Union County, South Dakota project. Basically, they’re planning to build the first all-new oil refinery on American soil in 30 years. It’s a $10 billion project. Quite an ambitious undertaking for a little-known, privately held firm.

The Pickens Plan is a way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Building wind-power facilities in the windy area from Texas to North Dakota could produce 20% of the electricity for the USA at a cost of $1 trillion. It would take another $200 billion to build the capacity to transmit that energy to cities and towns.

Sure, it’s pricey, but it’s only a one-time cost. Compared with the $700 billion we spend on foreign oil every year, it’s a drop in the bucket.

Natural gas is currently being used to produce 22% of our electricity. Harnessing wind power to generate electricity will enable us to shift natural gas away from electricity generation and instead use it as a transportation fuel — reducing our dependence on foreign oil by more than 1/3.

Clotheslines make a comeback! Do your Laundry “Online”

With the cost of operating an electric clothes dryer around $100 per year - more in the summer months - many people are turning to “solar dryers” a.k.a. the clothesline.  I enjoy hanging my clothes out there, and I’m thankful for three huge trees in my yard which form the Laundry Triangle. I ran a line around all of them and I can get three loads of wash out there, easy.

Some members of my family don’t like their stiff clothes after they’ve come in off the line. To remedy this, I bring them in when they’re still slightly damp and toss them in the dryer for 5 minutes or so. Problem solved.

Supposedly line drying will make your clothes last and look better longer. Plus, they’ll have fewer wrinkles and no static cling!

If you haven’t already, replace all the bulbs in your house with compact fluorescent ones. Not only do they save energy, they don’t burn as hot as traditional lightbulbs. This will help keep your home cooling costs down.

Baking or laundry should be done after the hottest part of the day.

Wrap your water heater up in an insulating blanket.

Make use of those exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathrooms. They can vent the moisture and heat up out of the house.

Install an attic fan, if you haven’t already done so. You can save a lot on those cooling bills by keeping the attic cooler, and getting all that super-hot air out.

Buy energy-efficient appliances. They conserve energy and release less unwanted heat.

Remember to turn your ceiling fans clockwise for winter and counter-clockwise direction for summer.

With gas prices what they are, more folks are riding bikes. I’m especially into these four-wheel bikes so you can have passengers with you, much like the Flintstone’s car, but powered by pedal action.