One Continent Down . . . February 23, 2007January 8, 2017 ONE CONTINENT DOWN, FIVE TO GO Darren Herflicker: ‘Australia Banning Incandescents – here’s the story.’ ☞ I know there are seven continents; I’m not trying to Plutoize Antarctica. But apart from its insignificant population, think about it: the excess heat from an incandescent is never wasted in Antarctica. Even at the height of summer, it just cuts down on the heating bill. AND YOU THOUGHT WE WERE DONE TALKING ABOUT THIS Well, so did I. James Dienes: ‘Actually there is a need for further discussion on CFLs. We bought our GE bulbs at Sam’s Club for $1.37 each. I haven’t done the math, but I think that’s better than four for $10.’ ☞ Where’s one of those promotional solar calculators when you need one? THE GREENING OF JOHN RYAN John Ryan: ‘Last summer I was in San Francisco and not having anything to do one night I went to see the Al Gore movie, ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’ When I got back home I was wondering what I could do to help with the climate change situation (having already purchased a fuel efficient car). Well, one day I was in Sam’s Club and saw 12-packs of compact fluorescent bulbs. I bought one pack of 100 watt equivalent and one pack of 60 watt for about $25 total. When I got back home I went around the house (10 rooms) and put them everywhere except reading lamps and chandeliers etc. I even put them in ceiling fan light fixtures (a necessity here in SW Louisiana), the laundry room, and the garage. Well, my electric bill has averaged $150 for the last year or so. After the light bulb conversion last summer, my electric bill has steadily gone down. This month’s bill was $118. Of course I can’t prove that my lowered bills were the result of just changing the light bulbs, but to my knowledge nothing else has changed.’ ☞ And $32 a month for 40 years invested in a Roth IRA at 15% a year (I needed to use a big, unrealistic number t make this fun) works out to $728,953. Less the cost of replacing the bulbs every few years. THE BEST RECYCLERS IN NORTH AMERICA Anne Vivino-Hintze: ‘In our rural township, recycling is a once a month affair at the community hall, manned and womaned by volunteers like myself. Everything goes to our three-county waste management facility, which has developed into an amazing system. In fact, it has been recognized more than once as being the ‘Best Integrated Solid Waste System in North America.’ They now have a working system of collecting gas given off by the landfill, piping it to an onsite cogeneration facility which produces electricity and hot water. The electricity gets sold to the electric company and the hot water goes to a hydroponics greenhouse. This is on top of processing and marketing around 3500 tons of recycled material per year. The whole system is self supporting financially, though a grant paid for 14% of the greenhouse.’ ADDENDUM: PER DIEM (NON CARBORUNDUM) Mark Centuori: ‘As with anything money-related, travelers should be knowledgeable about per diem rates. The per diem authorities for domestic and foreign locations are the U.S. General Services Administration – see the rates here – and U.S. Department of State, here.’ John Stein: ‘The best comment on this and related travel expense issues was from the famous quality expert W. Edwards Deming. I’m paraphrasing a bit because I’m working from memory, but his take was that the travel department does not exist to save the company money. The travel department exists to get the traveler where he’s supposed to be, when he’s supposed to be there, rested and in the proper frame of mind to do what he’s there for.’ SUNDAY It’s – the Oscars! Enjoy . . .