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Originally Posted by RWebb
the main reason for most recycling is to conserve landfill space; landfills are expensive to operate
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Not really. They are expensive because of what we require of them these days. Not that I'm opposed to preventing pollution from them, within reason.
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Originally Posted by RWebb
I put in hydronic heat last year and it looks like I saved about 30% on my heating bill. I was also keeping the house warmer and the floor heat is way more comfy.
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That is nothing more than a form of forced hot water heating, which has been around for years.
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Originally Posted by RWebb
Geothermal works great - it's very cost effective if you have your own backhoe and enuff space to lay the pipes.
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I wouldn't call that geothermal. Geothermal is earth-heating and is usually related to hotsprings, etc. If you've got a hotspring for heating, you are in very good shape, except when the volcano comes.
The system you describe is a geo-heatpump, where instead of heat rejection/absorbtion from air you are doing it from a large ground, usually ground water, area. It is not cheap to install, but it is cheap to run. Unless you have a leak. Then you have to dig and find the leak...
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Originally Posted by RWebb
Ethanol made from genetically engineered algae in vats will eventually be a VERY cost efficient large scale form of energy. That's in the future.
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It is the future, like electric cars and other things. There needs to be a revolution to make it work. And algae is nothing more than a form of solar energy.
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Originally Posted by RWebb
BTW, just noticed that Philips EnduraLED bulbs are out now - nice warm light and an 80% energy savings. I may put some in hard to reach areas, while waiting for them to get cheap enuff to make sense for use elsewhere.
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I priced these up for a job and the energy saving was 80% over florescence tubes. I ran the numbers and even in the $40 per bulb, over the life of the bulb they save enough energy to pay for themselves several times. If you include the cost of changing the bulbs in a commercial environment, they are even more cost effective.
I did try using the LEDs in a replacement for a house incandecent bulb and it didn't work. The replacement was much too weak.
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Originally Posted by RWebb
sammy, some streets are paved with recycled tires
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See his comment. The cost to chop up steel belted tires is expensive. Tire buring power plants have had this problem for years. GE build a plant in Modesto, CA to burn who tires. The problems with the plant mostly had to do with getting the tires to the boiler, compensating for different tire sizes, emissions and serious conveyor belt problems. No one has built another plant since.