Christmas Tree

My wife Ginny and I went out to cut down our Christmas tree.  Southeast of Syracuse to Critz's farm near Cazenovia.  A nice snowy field full of trees, we had the place to our self.  A tractor ride out to the tree fields.  Then a tramp thru the trees, picking a perfect one.
We got the tree up in the house today, we will decorate it tomorrow.  Then about 12th night, we take the tree down and put it outside near the birdfeeder.  The birds like to hide in the branches.  And finally, some time next summer, I will clip up the branches and feed them to the mulch pile.

Snowy Christmas trees

Taking the Bus

The past week we have had over 40" of snow.  No more bicycling to work.  I take CENTRO bus, which picks me up about a block from my house on Court Street, and drops me off a block from my work on Molloy Road.  The cost for a ride is $1.25.  In the morning, the bus is fairly full at the 7:30.  The evening bus
at 5 pm is mostly empty, yesterday we had 5 passengers.  It is the last of 3 buses into Syracuse for our area of business.   There is a 3:30 and a 4:30 bus as well.  This morning, I am trying an earlier bus, at 6:30 am.  (Post note:  the bus was on time, as well as the 4:30 bus home, though the roads were much better today)
The weather has taken its toll on the buses as well as other traffic.  My morning bus, which comes from downtown, has been 20 plus minutes late.  I suspect the bus yesterday got stuck downtown, as I went home after waiting and got my wife to drive me to work.
Last year, when I still worked downtown, my usual bus going home, the Oak-Darlington, was cancelled.  We had 5 to 10 people on the way home.  That was ok, because I had two other options, the Court street bus which took me to 1 block from my house or the Grant Bus which took me to 1/2 mile from my house, and was a quicker more direct run.  Both of these buses were packed, and I usually sat in the back.  The bus drivers have always been very courteous.

Green cups

This past weekend we took the Amtrak Train from Syracuse to Penn Station in New York City.  In the snack car, they were serving their cold drinks in "Greenware Cups Made plants". They are made by Fabri-Kal Corporation in Kalamazoo Michigan.  Their literature says they are made of Polymers derived from plants, another source names that plant as Corn.  The cups are certified by the BDI, Bio-Degradeable Plastics Institute, which means that eventually they will biodegrade.

GREENWARE

Feedback on our Energy Savings

I started graphing our energy usage in anticipation of savings this winter.  Already we have realized some savings from our tankless domestic water heater.  Our gas consumption is now limited to our gas stove and oven, and our water heater.
Comparing the gas usage over the past two summers, our  consumption has dropped from 8 therms per month average, to 2 1/2 therms average for the two summer months that I have of our new tankless water heater.  Other factors that may influence our usage are a preheater for domestic water that is connected to the heat pump loop and picks up heat to make the water lukewarm from both the heating and the cooling cycles, when they are operational.  This has the effect of halving the amount of energy required from the water heater to heat our water to 120 degrees. Also, we use the microwave in the new kitchen more than our previous kitchen to heat up items, and consequently use the stove that much less.
        In the September and October bill, the therms increased to 4 and 6 therms.  There was minimal air conditioning or heating for these two months to prewarm the domestic hot water.  There also may have been an increase in my wife's use of the oven for baking.

Solar Power In Haverhill

They are making solar power in Haverhill, Massachusetts.  Last spring I visited my sister in Haverhill, and we strolled past a large brownfield site being cleaned up and solar cells being lined up.   The system is almost ready to get started.  I hope it works as planned.  National Grid is putting up the solar cells.  It is on Hillside Avenue, near downtown.  According to the paper it will provide enough electricity to power 175 to 200 homes per year.

Carbon Footprint

What is our Carbon Footprint
The amount of carbon emmissions into the atmosphere.  Some are natural, and some are man made.  Some of our biggest emmiters are transportation and buildings.


By insulation, and maximizing the efficiency of our heating system, and driving a Prius, we are trying to minimize our carbon footprint. By a quick calculation on an online calculator, Ginny and I emit about 50% of what the average american emits.  But we are also responsible for about 5 times the emission of the average household worldwide.

How can we alter our footprint fairly easily?
-Walk or bike instead of driving.  Get a credit of one pound of carbon for every mile you bike or walk.
-Plant a tree.  Trees convert Carbon Dioxide into carbon and store the carbon as wood for the lifetime of the tree.  This both removes carbon dioxide and sequesters carbon.  Unfortunately, at the present time, the world is being deforested.  South America leads the deforestation with cutting and burning of the rainforest in Brazil ad Between 1990 and 2000 the world forest has decreased by 0.2% per year.  The largest losses,in the Amazon rainforest, where forest is being cleared for soybean cultivation and cattle ranches.  In Africa:  Nigeria and Sudan are the leaders in deforestation due to subsistance living.  Tropical southeast Asia and Central America are also areas of large deforestation due to development.
-Recycle household trash. This is fairly easy here in Onondaga County, where we have curbside pickup of recylables in blue bins every week, along with the garbage.  The plastics and paper are separated by the home owner.
-Teleconference, or in my case, use Skype.  We have visited my brother, my sister and her family along with my mother, and my sons apartment in New York, all by Skype.  Though not quite the same as being there, it is much better to see people, than a phone or email and pictures.  Especially with the portable laptop and netbook computers, we can show people around our area.
-Change your lighting to the compact fluorescent lights.  We have done that, and are looking for the new LED lighting to come down in price and we will replace the cfl's as they burn out.
-Buy renewable energy.  This is an available option here in Syracuse, but one I have not yet taken advantage of, due to the increased price of the renewable electricity..

Windows

When saving energy and tightening up the house envelope, windows are important.  When we moved to our house 30 years ago, the windows were the double hung with a separate double hung storm window and screen.
About 15 years ago, we replaced the windows with double hung double pane windows, with a gas in between the panes.  A drawback of these windows is that when they are broken, it is not just a simple window pane replacement.  We needed to take the window in to Solvay Glass to have the proper double glazing and sealing.  I added a plastic storm window over the inside of the windows last winter.  When the wind blew hard, you could see the plastic "ballooning".  Bottom line, if you have a window, no matter how well sealed, you have air infiltration through the cracks.

This year we are replacing the basement windows with Block Glass windows.  Over the years, the basement windows have been broken and replaced with a combination of boards, glass and plastic.  This will tighten up our basement, having already eliminated gravity flue connections to the chimney in our earlier renovations, we are now eliminating a lot of cracks that wind can blow into.