Our Space Station October 12, 2009March 16, 2017 24 WATTS FOR $160 Marty Rosen: “I just splurged for four of the six watt bulbs. We’ll see. But I thought you should know that according to their web site (and my invoice), the seller is having a ‘sale’ until the end of the year, and you can now get their $50 bulbs for $40.” ☞ Better still! If you make $463 in savings from each bulb over 15 years, as described Friday, that would be $1,852 on a $160 four-bulb investment. Normally, you’d discount that back to “today’s dollars” (counting the out years’ savings as worth much less than a dollar you save now). But if the cost of electricity rises over time . . . and at a rate equal to or greater than the “discount rate” you’d use in making this calculation . . . then this could conceivably be $1,852 in savings in “today’s dollars.” Of course, there a zillion variables here, and my guess is that our savings will be less. But still more than enough to make this a great gamble. (And tax free! The IRS doesn’t tax us on the money we “earn” by being more energy efficient.) The trick will be to have our electric bills fall even as rates rise – because we use less of it. (Same with gasoline.) THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION This is cool: watch the international space station take shape, stage by stage. A decade’s progress in about a minute’s video. (Thanks, Roger!) AND . . . SO WE DON’T ALL HAVE TO LIVE ON IT . . . Save October 24 and click here to be part of an international demonstration. As described in an email from Al Gore: On the melting slopes of Mt. Everest, Pemba Dorje Sherpa, who holds the record for the fastest ascent of the world’s highest peak, will be spreading banners and signs. On the dying coral reefs of the Maldives, the government’s entire cabinet will don scuba gear and hold an official underwater meeting to pass a 350 resolution to send to the Copenhagen summit. On the shores of the fast-drying Dead Sea, Israeli activists will form a giant human “3” on their beach, Palestinians a “5” on theirs, and Jordanians a “0” – reminding us we need to unite on this vital issue. ☞ We’ve come a long way since Columbus discovered America. We now have the power to make the entire world uninhabitable! Vice President Gore’s new book comes out November 3 – with solutions to this inconvenient truth.