A CONSERVATIVE solution to global warming (Part 1)

Political Correctness in the Republican party consists of denying that global warming exists, or that it’s man made, or that it’s impact to our children’s futures and our nation won’t be monumental. These denials come in the face of science that states unequivocally otherwise.

Political correctness in the GOP demands knee jerk adamant opposition to clean energy because they’ve wrongly become convinced that environmentalism and capitalism are mutually exclusive isms… It means that all GOP pundits must regularly spout myths that most of world knows are not true, and it means that China will be the world energy leader and have the world energy markets dominated within 30 years.

All of this is clearly and concisely covered in Peter Hadfield’s video below.

You are Overdue to Convert to LED Lighting

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If you haven’t yet replaced your incandescent and CFL lighting with LED’s you are wasting money every single day that you postpone it. While the initial conversion investment is high, the energy savings are noticeable in your electric bills.
I converted a couple of years back, and there’s no way I will allow incandescent lights in my house anymore.

“The rapid adoption of LEDs in lighting marks one of the fastest technology shifts in human history,” Goldman Sachs stated in a new report.

I recommend that you shop carefully because these bulbs are more expensive and because it’s likely that they will last 3-10 years. Getting halfway through your conversion and then deciding you want cool white instead of soft white is a big, and costly mistake. The four main factors you want to consider when shopping:

  1. Lumens – this is a measure of how bright the light is, however if you are more comfortable with wattage equivalence most packaging will tell you what incandescent wattage that the bulb is equivalent too. If you are converting from incandescent then wattage equivalence is probably your best method for selecting the appropriate brightness. ( e.g. equivalent to 60w, 75w, 100 w, etc.)
  2. Kelvin – this is a measure of where this bulb fits on the color scale – whether you select Soft white ( ~2700 Kelvin) for it’s warm, incandescent look, Cool white ( ~4100 Kelvin) for it’s whiter, brighter look or if you go fully modern with daylight (~ 5000 – 6500 Kelvin) and it’s bright blue-white look you want to get it right. While it’s possible to mix and match, it’s a notable difference when you have light pools from different kelvin range bulbs overlapping. So if you do use different Kelvin bulbs, it’s best to keep them in separate rooms – e.g. daylight bulbs everywhere except in bedrooms, where you use soft white instead.

  3. Wattage used – try to get the light brightness and Kelvin range you want with the lowest watt usage. Reducing watts used to save money over time is exactly what this conversion is about.

  4. Manufacturer – there are lots of people making these bulbs now, but from my experience the no-name and off brands struggle with quality and consistency. Get a good brand, like GE, Sylvania, FEIT.

Let’s talk a second about conversion strategies and other considerations. Some LED’s are flaky when you put them on dimmer switches, so make sure you get the dimmable LED bulb if that’s where they are going. Don’t expect a smooth dimming scale either, you only get two levels of brightness when you use a dimmer with LED’s.

If you are on a budget and can only afford to replace a couple of bulbs per paycheck, then start with your highest wattage lighting applications first balanced against the lights that are on the longest every day. The high wattage offenders tend to be yard lights, garage/shop lights, basement lights, and kitchen lights – however those usually aren’t the lights that you use the most. Replace the lights you use most first, then replace the rest from highest wattage to lowest in order.

Lastly, pay attention to socket or mount type – this is the type of fixture or socket size that the bulb fits into. Good luck on your replacement project!

Below is an article about the LED revolution and a link to 5 Charts at Think Progress to help you figure out why this is a good decision:

The accelerated deployment of light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs is on track to save U.S. consumers and businesses $20 billion a year in electricity costs within a decade, which would lower U.S. CO2 emissions by some 100 million metric tons a year! The growing global effort to speed up LED adoption could ultimately cut global energy costs and carbon pollution 5 times as much.

Currently the best LED bulbs cut electricity use by 85 percent compared to incandescent light bulbs and by 40 percent compared to fluorescent lights. By 2020, Goldman expects those savings to increase to over 90 percent and 50 percent respectively.

Let’s look at some key charts and facts that illustrate the LED lighting “miracle,” which is every bit as remarkable — and every bit as unheralded by the major media — as the solar miracle, the battery miracle, and the electric vehicle miracle.

More: 5 Charts That Illustrate The Remarkable LED Lighting Revolution

Richard Muller: I Was Wrong on Climate Change – YouTube

Muller was a go to guy for many climate deniers the last decade, so it’s nice that he’s finally discovered that the Malankovitch cycle, vulcanism, and other half baked theories of global warming are wrong, and that only CO2 accounts for our warming. Of course scientists knew that back in the fifties, and Isaac Asimov tried to convince folks back in the sixties, however the right is still in fossil fuel funded denial to this day.

Richard Muller: I Was Wrong on Climate Change – YouTube.

The Truth About Global Warming – Science & Distortion – Stephen Schneider

Some of the very same people who were telling people that there weren’t relationships between lung cancer and tobacco use are the ones now telling us that global warming doesn’t matter. Please watch, and get mad – I don’t want my grandson’s grandson to live in a limited brutal future that most probably will result if we don’t start acting now.

Stephen Henry Schneider (February 11, 1945 — July 19, 2010) was Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change at Stanford University, a Co-Director at the Center for Environment Science and Policy of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a Senior Fellow in the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Schneider served as a consultant to federal agencies and White House staff in the Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.

His research included modeling of the atmosphere, climate change, and "the relationship of biological systems to global climate change." Schneider was the founder and editor of the journal Climatic Change and authored or co-authored over 450 scientific papers and other publications. He was a Coordinating Lead Author in Working Group II IPCC TAR and was engaged as a co-anchor of the Key Vulnerabilities Cross-Cutting Theme for the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) at the time of his death. During the 1980s, Schneider emerged as a leading public advocate of sharp reductions of greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming.

Basic Information

Awards

MacArthur Fellowship (1992), Nobel Peace Prize (2007)

via The Truth About Global Warming – Science & Distortion – Stephen Schneider – YouTube.

Gamma Rays From Thunderstorms and Dark Lightning

There are amazing things happening in the skies above thunderstorms.

Researchers studying thunderstorms have made a surprising discovery: The lightning we see with our eyes has a dark competitor that discharges storm clouds and flings antimatter into space. Astrophysicists and meteorologists are scrambling to understand "dark lightning."

via ScienceCasts: Dark Lightning – YouTube.

Friday Morning Hodgepodge

Here’s a Friday hodge podge of updates.

Since Glen Beck is picking this weekend instead of the three day Labor Day weekend seven days later for his Teaparty rally you have to wonder if he’s not just targeting that day because its’ Martin Luther King day. With his John Birch Society leanings you also have to wonder where the heck he’s going to go with it, but I’m expecting more history rewrites and more obfuscation and redirection from the real principles in our constitution.

I’m beginning to wonder if the pols on the right aren’t just occasionally feeding tinder and funds to the Anti-mosque madness simply because it keeps the press focus off of their wingnuts and whackos, like Buck, Angle, Miller, and Rand. Long time readers here and at LGF know that the anti-mosque movement is imported by Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller from the far right Eurofascist parties, and I suspect that they will get re distanced a bit later after they stop becoming a useful distraction and turn into a dangerous one. Geller is particularly pernicious, with birtherism, support of neo nazis, eurofascists, and white supremacists in her background. (e.g. I’ve pointed out in the past without naming her blog how she picks up stories from Neo nazis, and I’ve detailed the fascist tendencies of Vlaams Belang and their friends that she supports in Europe. Here and Here. )

The election in Alaska is turning interesting, and that has to be a voter turn out thing — in the general Murkowski would heartily thump Miller, and I suspect that’s what will happen if she runs 3rd party. She still has a chance with the recount since the absentee ballots are likely to favor her and not miller.

The teaparty movement has served up a series of real whackjobs — viscerally many elder GOP conservatives want to agree with these candidates because of the anti government sentiment but when you start saying “What about your Social Security?” “What about your Medicare?” “What about your rights?” they sometimes start thinking…

Personal Update

Now that the weight restrictions are off my arms (previously I had serious potential to displace the split in my sternum with too much pressure across it.) I’m catching up on things long overdue at the house, including some yardwork. It feels good to be able to do productive work again and not have to rely on my wife to lift and carry. She was definitely a trooper throughout this ordeal and I do love her dearly for that support.

So far I’ve cleaned out the Smoker, installed a outdoor yard faucet , repaired a chandelier and Frankenputer, and jury rigged a tail light lens for my daughter who got her tail light capsule stolen. On the remainder of the leftovers list are installing two new bathroom faucets, repairing the humidifier before winter, and installing an outdoor electric outlet (I’m converting everything outside to electric from gas for yard work except the lawn tractor to cut down on personally generated carbon output. This doesn’t help a great deal yet since much of the power in Kansas is coal generated, but some comes across the power inter-tie from the zero carbon Wolf Creek facility. By time those items get done it will be time for grub pellets, fertilizer, and then leaf raking in the yard.

Meanwhile, Kasey says “It’s Friday! Have a great weekend! Don’t forget to visit the park with me either buddy, I’m tired of running the edge of this fence…”

The Nuclear Conundrum

A panel discussion of the drivers and restrainers to building new Nuclear Energy plants in the US. The panel is well rounded with Stewart Brand, Michael Brune and Industry represtentation.

A panel discussion of the drivers and restrainers to building new Nuclear Energy plants in the US. The panel is well rounded with Stewart Brand, Michael Brune and Industry represtentation.This is part one of five, the others are in order after it.

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Bill Gates on Energy, Climate and Poverty

Very important talk here, pretty much what I’ve been saying when I’ve taken the time to bash Gore and his anti-nuclear crowd in We.

It’s crucial that we create plentiful cheap energy – it’s also crucial that it be carbon free and safe. Bill thinks he knows a way.