W y o m e Journal

“This is not a challenge for government alone – it is a challenge for all of us. The pursuit of a new energy economy requires a sustained, all-hands-on-deck effort because the foundation of our energy independence is right here, in America.”

“I HAVEN’T paid an electricity bill since 1970,” says Richard Perez with noticeable glee. He can afford to be smug. While most of us fretted over soaring utility bills this year, he barely noticed. Nor is he particularly concerned about forecast price hikes of 30 to 50 per cent in 2009.

I follow the local KY blogs daily and ran across Consuming Louisville’s mention of places to volunteer.

For the record, I have sent an email to the YMCA to see if they need more volunteers. If you are local to the Louisville area and have some free time (mine goes to online poker at the moment which I believe isn’t quite as important) that you are willing to invest, I’d encourage you to start now.

Volunteering is more rewarding then sending a check although I am sure any of the organizations wouldn’t complain to either option.

The big-solar push raises an intriguing question: If the country is going to overhaul the way it generates power, why shouldn’t it also overhaul the way that power is distributed?

Chemists at the University of Liverpool have developed a way of converting methane gas into a powder form in order to make it more transportable.

Perhaps I have too high of expectations for computers. I expect anything that I spend over $500 to last until I want to upgrade. For instance, I fully expect any car that I purchase to not be junk in the amount of time that I hold the title. I expect my TVs to last without any problems until I decide that I want something better. I also want my computers to last until I decide to move on.

I have always tended to purchase the middle of the road computer equipment. I don’t want to spend the money for an Apple as I have a short attention span with computers, but I also don’t want a real cheap box, because I want at least three to five years between major purchases. Perhaps a five year lifetime of my use is a fantasy, but I mainly just use my computers for development and internet. Nothing very stressful on the boxes themselves.

I have purchased two Dells in my lifetime. The first was a Dell desktop about 6 years ago. Its still running, but I have had to replace about $200 in parts over its lifetime. They were all small and just annoying failures, but failures nonetheless. The computer is very slow at this point, but I don’t use it much, and it is just an email machine.

That brings me to my laptop purchased about a two and half years ago. I paid around $900 for the laptop based on the assumption of quality. Since that purchase, I no longer have the use of the battery (my fault for not removing it when I was using it in my office), the original OS, the DVD RW, and most recently the monitor. I am also pretty sure that the hard drive is slowly failing.

Long story short, can anyone recommend a brand of computers that puts their quality first (outside of Apple)? I have been looking at Sony, but there are not many reviews at Amazon for their products. HP seems to have good reviews, but I have always had a negative view of their workmanship as well.

From Open CRS:

Drilling for oil and gas in or under the Great Lakes has generated interest among Great Lakes stakeholders, states, and Congress. Some opposed to drilling are concerned about the potential environmental, economic, and public health consequences. They contend that drilling will raise the risks of oil spills, hazardous gas leaks, and pollution that may harm lakeside residents and the Great Lakes ecosystem. Proponents of oil and gas drilling contend that drilling will increase local and regional tax revenues and employment, increase domestic energy production, and not be an environmental problem because of new technologies that lower the risks of oil spills and other accidents.

Issuing federal or state permits for new drilling operations under the U.S. portions of the Great Lakes was banned in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109- 58, §386). Specifically, the provision enacts a permanent ban on the issuance of federal or state permits for new directional, slant, or offshore drilling in or under the Great Lakes. Congress had enacted a temporary ban on any new federal and state permits for drilling under the Great Lakes in 2001 (P.L. 107-66; Title V, §503) and extended it to 2007. This temporary ban was in addition to several state bans on drilling in or under the Great Lakes. In contrast to U.S. law, Canadian law permits onshore gas and oil drilling under the Great Lakes, and offshore gas drilling in the Great Lakes.

Eliminating daylight time would thus accord with President-elect Barack Obama’s stated goals of conserving resources, saving money, promoting energy security and reducing climate change.

EPA Ruling Is Major Setback for Coal-Fired Power Plants.