On Being the Change I Wish to See

I have been wracking my brain for weeks trying to figure out why in the world John McCain would choose Sarah Palin as his running mate.

• She’s basically ignorant of most issues, though don’t underestimate her, she’s smart.
• She’s ignorant of a great deal of American history and politics that a lot of us have come to expect most people to know.
• She has practically no experience.
• She’s clearly not ready to step up and be President should, God forbid, something happen to John McCain early in his term of office.

She is a social conservative and she is young, two things McCain had to deal with on his ticket. Some also see Palin as a maverick, something McCain hasn’t been much lately.

So why pick Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska as a running mate?

Thoughts about Palin, the VP debate last Thursday, what Palin said about wanting to emulate current VP Richard Cheney, and John McCain’s very pro-Bush voting record have been buzzing around in my head. I’ve been trying to make sense of all this and it’s been beyond me. I was out working in the yard just now, letting my thoughts flow freely, and it came to me.

Sarah Palin is from one of the states in the Union that has some of America’s biggest untapped oil reserves. I looked it up and Governor Palin has some strong connections to big oil. She is not much of an environmentalist so taking protections away that currently keep big oil from drilling in many parts of Alaska would be something she would work toward.

McCain is another George W. Bush, but to pull it off, who does he get to play the part of Dick Cheney? The governor of a big oil state.

McCain-Palin aren’t just more of the same, they are exactly the same as Bush-Cheney. McCain will continue the policies of the George W. Bush administration and groom a young, healthy version of Dick Cheney for the Presidency in the 2012 election.

Any talk of alternative energy research and development from this proposed administration, I believe, is just that, talk. There will be drilling and nothing else. The big oil companies will have the opportunity to rape the pristine areas of Alaska that have been protected. Big oil will continue to run the country at just the time in American history when we need to stop investing in oil and start working on lots of alternatives to our energy needs. Their profits will skyrocket, and middle-class America will go broke paying higher and higher gas prices.

It would be a second Halliburton administration designed to continue what Bush-Cheney started.

Now I’m really scared…

Technorati Tags: big oil, Bush-Cheney, Halliburton, John McCain, Sarah Palin

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written by joubess \\ tags: big oil, Bush-Cheney, Halliburton, John McCain, Sarah Palin

I recently started putting compact fluorescent light bulbs in the high usages areas of the house. I really need to cut my electric bill back down to size. It went up $100/month after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, then only went down $50/month over the last two years since the storms. It would help my finances to get that $50/month off my electric bill, or as much of it as possible.

Using less electricity is also good for the environment in lower power plant emissions (greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide) and fossil fuel consumption (oil, gas, and coal).

As the regular bulbs burn out, I will be replacing them with compact fluorescent bulbs.

Compact fluorescent bulbs are much better than they used to be and often pay for themselves multiple times in much longer life and much lower energy use. They are now available for special fixtures such as ceiling fans, bathroom vanities and standard exterior fixtures.

The fixture over my kitchen sink is a standard fixture, and the one outside my front door is a standard fixture. I put compact fluorescent bulbs in them last month. The outdoor bulb is made to be used outside even though that fixture is well under a large porch and protected from the weather.

I have been using regular fluorescent lighting for years outside on my carport and in some areas of my house, in the garage and main kitchen fixtures. I also have small fluorescent fixtures outside the back door and on the side of the house next to the driveway.

About Electricity and Brightness

Electricity usage is measured in kilowatt-hours. The kilowatt-hour is a measure of the power used (electricity) x time of usage (hours). In SI units, 1 watt is equal to 1 Joule/second.

The watt is named after James Watt, who made major improvements in steam engines which pointed the way towards the far more efficient engines we have today.

A lumen is the standard measure of the brightness of a light bulb. When you choose different types of bulbs (incandescent, fluorescent, or halogen) compare the number of lumens each type of bulb puts out compared to the type of bulb you’re currently using in an area that provides the desired amount of brightness.

Comparison of Electricity Usage and Cost

In my area, 1 kilowatt-hour costs 4.1 cents. We also have a fuel charge added to that for the cost of the fuel to generate the electricity of 5.4 cents/kilowatt-hour. So our total cost per kilowatt-hour is 9.5 cents or $0.095.

A 14-watt compact fluorescent bulb puts out the same number of lumens that a 60-watt incandescent bulb does and lasts for about 2 years (used 12 hours per day, 365 days per year). An incandescent bulb usually lasts 3-5 months (at least in my house).

A 60-watt bulb left on for 12 hours in my kitchen uses 720 watts of electricity (12 x 0.06 = 0.72 kilowatt-hours) and costs 6.8 cents. A 14-watt bulb uses only 168 watts of electricity in 12 hours (0.168 kWh) and costs 1.6 cents. Over a 30 day period the cost of using the incandescent bulb is $2.04 while the cost of using the compact fluorescent bulb is only $0.48.

My bathroom vanity fixture has seven 40-watt bulbs. If the bathroom light is left on for one hour, the electricity usage is 280 watts. If it’s left on for 4 hours, the electricity usage goes up to 1,120 watts or 1.12 kilowatts and costs 10.6 cents. Compact fluorescent bulbs of 9 watts have the same light output of 40-watt incandescent bulbs.

If I replace those 7 bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, electricity usage will go down to 63 watts if left on one hour or 252 watts if left on for 4 hours at a cost of 2.4 cents. I can keep the bathroom light on for 4 hours with compact fluorescent bulbs and use less electricity than leaving the light on for one hour using incandescent bulbs. Over a 30-day period, the incandescent bulbs cost $3.18 while the compact fluorescent bulbs cost only $0.72.

If I continue to use compact fluorescent bulbs in my kitchen and bathroom for 1 year, assuming the same amount of time used 365 days, the cost will be $5.84 in the kitchen and $8.76 in the bathroom. The incandescent bulbs cost me $24.82 in the kitchen and $38.69 in the bathroom. That’s $63.51 for incandescent bulbs vs. $14.60 for compact fluorescent bulbs. The cost savings for compact fluorescents? $48.91/year. And that’s just for 8 light sockets. The savings will increase as the incandescent bulbs in other areas are replaced with compact fluorescent bulbs.

I hope you’ll shop around, find the compact fluorescent bulbs that will work for you, and start saving money on your electric bill. You’ll be helping the environment as well as your wallet.

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written by joubess