Rants of A Coyote

So last night I got home, and I had an email from Google AdSense saying that my account had been disabled. Now begins the process for appeals.  The wonderful thing about this: Google will not be able to tell me why my AdSense account was disabled because of their privacy policies or something.

I have already submitted the request for appeals, but at least from what I saw I did not violate anything in the TOS that would have violated.

Oh, I do love the line in the Disabled Account FAQ: "Lastly, please bear in mind that Google does reserve the right to disable an account for any reason."

It is great to know that even if I am doing everything right that Google can just "Pull the Plug" the winds blow the right way. I would like to continue to have Google Ads on my site because they have helped cover the cost of the site, but I already have enough readers that I think people would be willing to do small contributions to the blog... maybe.

Ok, so this is really just a continuation of the Page 1 of Energy Saving tips, but it should be easier to keep up with in a single tip format.

Tip #4: Wool Socks in the Winter!

It is amazing what a good pair of Marino Wool socks does for one's core temperature. I cannot even feel my legs due to my paralysis, but my feet have been thanking me since I bought these $4.00 socks. Before: My feet stayed cold in the winter and I would constantly worry about circulation, so I KNEW that they were cold, especially always being near the metal on the wheelchair and my hardwood floor.

Now? Well, now my feet stay warmer than my hands and forearms, but thanks to the wool, they do not sweat and stay comfy!

Cool air falls, right? Well, wouldn't it make sense to protect the things closest to the ground? With as sensitive as they are, your feet have a large control of your comfort level in the winter.

I still remember as a kid I had a fun pair of dog-head fuzzy fleece slippers and I would always wear them in the winter, they helped that much.

It doesn't have to be wool socks, but a thicker pair of socks around the house in the winter is not a bad idea.  Wool is great because it breaths, wicks naturally, and because of this it also helps inhibit potential foot odor.

I would be interested to hear from someone who  consistently wears wool style socks during the winter and how that affects your comfort level.

The goal of this article is to show, using dollar value, savings (Or lack thereof) of different energy "saving" techniques. Since there are many techniques, I will be covering Thermostat Setting, Thermal Drapes and CFL Bulbs in this post.

Thermostats

Most of us want to save money on our utilities, but also want to live comfortably. I believe that this can be done very well within reason. First off: Lets start with the common energy hog:  Home heating/cooling.  Different sources range the amount of money that you save anywhere from 15-20% for 5 degrees to 5% for every 1 degree as what you will save by lowering/rising your thermostat. For this exercise, lets assume 3% per Degree.

Example Model: You live in a place in the winter and like to have your place at 72 degrees and 68 in the summer. Fairly common, yes? Now, many newer place have forced air heating/cooling, but lets just say that you have electric forced air heating (Not Natural Gas) and electric cooling as well, and that your electric bill runs about $150/mo. You have standard plastic blinds installed in your place.  Fairly common these days, especially in apartments.

Lets go about saving money! Just by being forceful and telling our bodies to accept a new "Comfort Level", lets start by reversing out winter/summer temperatures.  68 in the winter, 72 in the summer. Using our 3% per degree rule that we already established, we find that we should be saving about $18/mo, or $216 a year.

Thermal Blinds

Next step: Thermal Blinds (AKA Thermal Drapes). I have not tested this myself yet, but I have read on different forums and in user reviews that the average Thermal Blinds help maintain room temperatures by as much as 5% in modern settings, and increase the "Comfort Level" of a room by as much as 5% in addition to the actual 5%.  This is because you will not be feeling the "Draft" of the window as cool or warm seeps through.  Obviously people with the ridiculously expensive and efficient triple pane windows (Like Penguin) already notice huge savings over the long run.

Lets again be conservative and use 3% on each amount. That being the case if your winter comfort level is 72 but you set to 68, thermal blinds should make the room feel closer to 70 degrees while also saving an additional amount of $$ as well. If we want our goal to be a feeling of 72 and account for window drafts, we would want to set our thermostat to 70 in the winter AND Summer.  With this we should still be saving $216/Year.

Wait though, these blinds cost money! How does that affect our savings?  Okay, fair enough... Lets assume you have a large 5'x7' window in your living room and this is the room that you wish to make the most efficient because, well, you spend most of your waking hours here. Heading to my nearest Target (Of course, go to your store of choice, Target is close for me) and start planning...

A simple set up would be equiv. to the following:

• Simple thermal backed drapes. - $17.99 Reg Price, Need 2 so total is $35.98
• Single rod and mounting bars. - $13.99 Reg Price, Need one so total is $13.99

Total Cost: $49.97

This means that over the course of a year we should still see a savings of around $166 ($13.83/mo). Following years would be back up to the $216 amount.

Lighting

Continuing to work with the living room, lets tackle the lighting.  For this I will use the example for 4 standard can lights that normally use 65w Bulbs. If those bulbs are used 8 hrs a day, (and assuming an average of $.10 per KWH) then you would be spending $6.08/mo ($72.96/Yr) on Incandescent lighting in the living room. Now, not taking into consideration all the things about mercury and stuff like that, or the fact that over the life of a bulb that Incandescent bulbs end up producing MORE mercury than CFL, lets add the cost of bulbs: with newer bulbs coming out we will say that the Incandescent bulbs are $.25 ea and CFL are $4 each (CAN Style).  Most CFL are rated around 10,000 hrs, and most Incandescent last about 1000 hrs.

In one year at 8 hrs a day we are just shy of 3000 hrs, or 3 Incandescent bulbs per socket (1 CFL per socket).  So total bulb cost: $16.00 for CFL.

Now go back to energy usage... How much energy do 4 13W CFL's use? $1.26/mo (Or $15.10/Yr)

So taking into account our initial up front investment of $16.00 to replace the bulbs, the total cost for the first year for CFL will be $31.10, so we save $41.86 for the year (or $3.48/Mo).  Following year would be right around $60 savings (About $5/mo)

Overall Savings

So just for these three categories, in the first year we would be saving $17.31/Mo ($207.72 in the first year) and the following years would be close to $23/Mo ($276 a year)

This means that on average we would be saving 15% on the energy bill each month after the first year (11% during the first year)

It aggrevates me, but it seems that a majority of the Portland Area drivers just don't know how to drive.  Oregonians are a very confused bunch of drivers at that.

Heading North on I-5 during rush hour, you can always expect to see slow to stop-and-go traffic through the Terwilliger Curves. Two curves that should be going at 50 MPH, usually average 20. No, there is no wreak usually... it is just SLOW.

As sad as it sounds, 20 MPH is not an exaggeration either. As soon as I get tho the normal slow down point I let my van coast UP to 20. Generally I do not have to touch the breaks at that point, as the people in front of my accelerate from 0 to 40 to 30 to 5 to 50 to 0 and so on.

A commute that used to take 35-35 min back in 2006 is averaging closer to 1H15M now. WHY?  This is not necessary. Even if there are more drivers on the road, there would also be less from people staying home more.  Also people should just learn to drive.  So many of the young drivers have their requirements reduced to get their their Driver's License.

Don't believe me? Applicants are no longer required to prove that they know how to Parallel park any more.  Now they just have to park along an empty curb.

Typical Rule of Thumb in Portland, OR area for drivers:

Is it sunny?  OH GOD I'M BLIND!
Is it Raining? OH GOD I'M MELTING!
Is it Snowing (Or even a few snow flurries in the sky, not even on the ground)? OH GOD, I MUST GO UNGODLY SLOW OR I WILL END UP IN A DITCH!
Is it Overcast? Oregonians Drive "Normally"

In an attempt to help keep local stuff localized, I am sporting a "Sponsored Links" section over in the Right Column of my Blog. There is also going to be a page with the history of sponsored links as the right hand column will only show up to 10 at once. Want a spot on here? Well, there are a few ways to go about this:

Option 1: Write a Post

Plain and simple.  Write a post for my blog.  It can be about *almost* anything.  If you have a commercial site, I would hope you would write a small post about what you do.  Let your potential clients get to know you.  Each Distinct Post will get another link placed on the Sponsored Links bar, and a tally on the Sponsored Links Page.

Option 2: Donations

See the donation button over to the right?  Yeah, that one.  Any donation of $5 or more will place your link in our sponsored links section. Each Donation will get another link placed on the Sponsored Links bar, and a tally on the Sponsored Links Page.

Option 3: Come up with something

Things go both ways.  You want your link here, I want some form of compensation. Even if this means a link on your page (At least during the duration for which your link is within the current 10 on the Sponsored Links column)

Each week I will be posting updated stats on site traffic so people can see how much traffic is coming through. The goal is to have an overall average growth in traffic from the week prior.

This is the stats for the first week of running the blog.