billeisele

ahhhh, the left coast Bill and the right coast Bill, hope you are well there have been 3 cost studies, that I'm aware of, that have shown that the base cost for infrastructure, to be able to provide the power, are in this range said another way, generation, transmission, substations, distribution, metering, and the equipment and systems to support that infrastructure are in the $60-$80 range per month backing up a step (for others), net metering is often defined as, if the utility sells a kWh for 10 cents then if a customer sends a kWh to the utility they should be paid, or netted, 10 cents, admittedly that definition is not consistent and there are a few areas that tend to follow a method similar to what this post is about the problem with this is that the base cost of infrastructure exists even if no energy (kWhs) is delivered, so when a customer is netted 10 cents they are being paid the full retail cost of the service, not for the value they are sending to the utility in my area the actual cost, called avoided cost, (and it varies considerably) of energy is around 4 cents, that means that the difference of 6 cents (10-4=6) is the cost for everything excluding the energy what is being heavily discussed and has been the subject of two court cases (so far), is net metering and the subsidy that occurs under the traditional definition many believe that the payment to the customer should equal the value they are providing, in it's simplest form that is the avoided cost of energy one way of doing this is to charge a solar customer a base rate of $70, plus the cost of energy for what they buy and subtract the avoided cost of energy for what they "sell" to the utility, it would be fair to use the value of the energy at the time of the sale this allows the customer to contribute to the cost of the grid which they want to stay connected to and it eliminates the subsidy that non-solar customers are paying Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

and about this wind and solar stuff when energy storage (other than the types that already exist) becomes commercially viable then wind and solar will no longer is a problem and actually be cost effective of course none of this real world data applies in California where the system is already so screwed up that reality no longer exists, no other utility in any state thinks that what CA is doing is good or makes any sense once the silly concept of net metering is addressed (it is being reviewed all over the country and will change to a cost transfer that accurately equates to the value to the grid), the solar peeps will whine even louder, base costs are in the $60 - $80 range, take that for a basic charge then we'll net meter the flows and pay you the avoided cost, sorry if that makes your solar uneconomical, it's not my job to create false economics so you can enrich yourself on the backs of other customers and once some of the current studies are complete that show the problems that point source generators create then additional and appropriate costs will be added to the solar peeps costs, even more fun will start my gosh, how terrible, I'm confusing the issue with facts Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

any pilot worth a hoot can easily fly between the blades, if not they deserve to be knocked out of the sky and planes do hit power lines, well not exactly mindless planes, more like less than skilled pilots with a plane my only complaint is that they aren't required to inform us ahead of time so we can watch, it is quite exciting, all the sparks and the fireball, and the aftermath is also interesting, please be careful removing my plane, that is if it isn't already burned up uhhhh NO, my job is to restore power not reduce the cost of your repairs, Hey Charlie - just cut that one line and it will drop off the lines, now everyone stand back, first watch the crash then look at that guy over there, he will burst out in tears Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

I worked for the Darwin Institute as a biologist for awhile, the most beautiful, desolate, native, wild place I've ever lived the actual problem on the islands is the introduction of non-native species, primarily rats, ants, pigs, dogs and goats the endemic species were stable (in the sense that an ecosystem is stable) until the introduction of these other critters, they eat turtle eggs, destroy habitat, eat the same food turtles eat and eat the small turtles, they also eat other native species, the damage was most noticeable with turtles because the reproduction rate and growth rates are slow the Galapagos National Park used/is using rangers, biologists and hired hunters to reduce or eliminate these species some of these islands are as rugged as you can imagine, one has active volcanos, on the islands with the dogs, while you hunt them they hunt you, night time was especially interesting, the most effective hunting method was found to be baited hooks, cruel but effective, the dog islands also had goats, as the goats were eliminated the dogs became more hungry and dangerous, both were hunted at the same time but the goats were easier to kill, once the population was reduced the dogs took care of the rest, then the fun began, in a few years the job was done the pigs took awhile, the ants and rats are ongoing issues, eradication probably won't happen so control is the answer Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

what the heck, 170 jumps, he is an expert the problem with this is if he was lucky enough to not screw it up it just gives the next person "evidence" of how safe it is, and the chain goes on, eventually someone gets smashed if he did the jump and didn't get hurt then he can now start feeling bad about the person that he assisted in getting smashed oh and you can join him in that, just sayin' ignoring the BSRs encourages the FAA to become closer friends with us, not good Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

I've got an active lifestyle. Have played many organized sports, do the danger sport thing, water and snow ski, etc., etc. a few minor injuries, couple physical therapy sessions, no broken bones, but I'm 57 to compare I'd say that either my bones are stronger, I'm more talented, smarter or willing to have slightly less "fun" in exchange for living longer with less pain and greater mobility Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

no pics, a vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbKBJil3sC8&feature=youtu.be Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

I like learning from you type of guys. On 'Ask This Old House' this evening on PBS they had some guy who a previous contractor had put a 4-ton unit in his house, which was either 1300 ft or 1500 ft. The 'Old House' guy said that his unit was way too large for the size of house and it kept freezing up. So they tore it out & put a new 3-ton unit in. From the small amount of studying that I have done on heat-pumps and/or a/c units; in an a/c unit you usually do not have to upgrade the ductwork if your heating system is something like nat. gas or oil. However, if you're using a heat-pump for heating, then you should upsize the ductwork. Heat-pumps move the heated air at a slower velocity than the heated air from systems such as nat. gas or oil. They need to move a larger volume of air at a slower velocity vs other systems. JerryBaumchen Mr Jerry - unit sizing is site specific, weather conditions make a big difference, that type house in SC would be 2 - 2.5 tons, assuming normal % of windows and good construction, if it was an old leaky house then the first steps would be to stop the leaks, insulate and ventilate the duct work should be sized for the equipment being installed, long discussion of this in my reply to John not sure about your description on duct sizing based on the type of system, bottom line is you don't want a draft especially in heating, if the heat pump is delivering 100 degree air and it is blowing on you it will feel cold, natural gas heating delivering 115 degree air will also feel cold because of room air mixing what I didn't talk about too much is the quality of the installation, we're seeing a lot of flex duct poorly installed, it is supposed to be stretched out, and hung with minimal sag for anyone having work done I'd put in the contract that the unit sizing and duct work to be designed and installed following ACCA Manual J & D and the manufacturers recommendations after the installation is done ask for the Manual J load calculations and the duct design (for your file), when they don't have it say Breach of Contract, and let the fun begin a little more info on my house, I'm the second owner, prior owners were a retired couple, I did some "energy efficiency" work, some repair work on the duct system and installed properly sized the units, with 4 people in the house the bill went down about 40% Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

John -I've left out a lot of details and been talking in generalities, you have a specific question that can't be answered without information, sq footage is one piece of info but HVAC deals with volume so ceiling height is critical, your best bet is to find an HVAC dealer that can do a heat loss/heat gain calculation following ACCA Manual J, from that data the unit can be sized using the local weather conditions, if you have a tech school that teaches this stuff they could do a class exercise, it takes about 30 minutes for someone that knows what they are doing to answer your 2 other issues, this info applies to everything else being discussed the design of the duct work is critical, it should be done following ACCA Manual D, it is designed for the specific floorplan, volume, windows, doors, orientation and unit size, this is why you can't simply add an addition and upsize the unit it's all based on proper air flow - velocity and volume, the return should be properly sized to have a certain face velocity (of the air), too low and it won't collect the dust, too high and it is noisy the duct work is designed to deliver the air (BTUs) where it needs to be based on the amount of "conditioning" needed in the space, this is done by using larger or more ducts/registers in larger rooms and small ones in small spaces, for instance the guest 1/2 bathroom will have a 4" duct and small register, a small bedroom might have one 6" duct and a larger register, just like the return - the registers need to have a certain air velocity to properly throw the air into the room, too low and it just falls out and doesn't properly mix, too fast and it is noisy and drafty this all comes back to the available amount of air, this is dictated by the unit size, the larger the unit the more the air volume most dealers will simply count the rooms, add up the duct sizes and runs, they know the air needed per size and run, they total the air flow and then pick the next larger size unit, this is the easy way and is backwards of how it should be done, but they sell it based on tons and don't want to get the "my house is hot" call, so they add a ton on my house I had to sign a paper relieving them of liability for the sizing, they still don't believe how well it works, been here 22 years it's all about heat gain and heat loss, talking extremes - a house that is 50% glass is much different than the identical floorplan with 25% windows, but the 50% window house with the majority of the windows facing north (in SC) could be identical to the 25% house that has the windows to the west I've seen a 1-ton difference in identical homes just based on the direction they face bored yet

Sorry folks, been at the DZ getting ready for Carolina Fest. Finished building a 23' x 39' shelter in honor of one of our jumpers. A great addition to the DZ that will be well used. Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

And if you had put in a 3-3.5 ton the bill would have dropped a lot more. The trick is in the duct system, it must be properly sized for the unit. I have 2800 sq feet, 2 story. Monthly bill is $129. The units are properly sized. The neighbors house is almost identical. Their bill is $300+. The units were "upsized" because more is better BS. Normalize these 2 houses to account for variables, thermostat setting, lifestyle, etc., and his bill is about 70% higher. Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

Depends on the layout of the space. If it is 2 rooms then this is a great idea. If more than 2 and the ones without a blower have exterior walls then it won't work well. Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

HVAC guy in the house, use two units, period the addition can easily be handled with a 1.5 ton unit, it actually shouldn't need that much but it's hard to find a decent unit in a smaller size, just have the installer set the fan speed on the lowest setting and it will work great, this assumes that they design and install the duct work properly for the lower air flow but why the heck do you have 4 tons, that size house properly insulated should have 2-2.5 tons, the extra tonnage causes humidity problems and increases the power bill over sized units are the largest problem we see in houses, the dealers get paid by the ton, therefore more is better - NOT cooling is about temperature AND humidity removal, an oversized unit can't effectively remove humidity, so you have to set your t-stat lower to be comfortable my upstairs 1.5 ton unit in hot humid SC handles 1400 sq ft just fine, humidity is around 40-50%, temp is 77 and it feels real cool because of the lower humidity Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

How do you feel about the waste management that Duke Energy has brought to people of the Dan River region?? Wow - what a conversation shift, from nuclear waste management to a failure of an ash pond dam, ash is a known issue that in this case certainly wasn't managed properly, there are a few hundred ash ponds out there, we have about 7, I'm aware of two in the US that have had dam problems, and yes the industry needs to get on top of this problem, luckily nuclear waste is scrutinized much more carefully Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

about waste management - any customer of a utility with a nuke plant has been paying into the Yucca Mountain project for years, there is a small surcharge in the bill many states are sueing to get their money back the utilities store it onsite in concrete casks, stored above ground, they are bomb & airplane proof Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

if you want to talk about energy independence go read up on natural gas, a few things you will find is that we have a butt load of natural gas but insufficient pipe to get it to where it can be used, and that certain pipes that historically flowed one direction are being converted to flow the other direction, and that LNG import terminals are being converted to liquefaction export terminals and more interesting stuff in 2-3 years there is a good likelihood that the US could be a net exporter of energy fuels, amazing, no more dependence on foreign oil fracking was originally aimed at natural gas, what it has also done is unleashed oil, in some areas natural gas is a byproduct and is flared, in some areas of Texas it looks like daytime 24 hours a day does the term "game changer" come to mind as BV has said, when we solve the storage issue the whole energy marketplace will be converted Mr Dreamer, the energy marketplace is extremely complex and larger than banking, trucking and telecom combined, the US needs to be careful how it is manipulated or some bad economic stuff will happen Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

so what is the cost to close coal plants, here are some real numbers we're closing 5 coal plants and replacing them with 2 nuclear plants, $10 billion and a 37% rate increase this isn't exactly apples to apples, our share of the 2 nukes is about 1600 MW, the closed coal generation is about 710 MW, so rough math and the cost to replace the coal with nuke is about $4.5 billion and a 17% rate hike, the balance of the generation is for load growth economic development is booming and these young dreamers have to have all their electronic wiz bang stuff so they can blog about how to save the world while they are heating it with their apple stuff less coal generation and more nuclear generation, cleaner, newer, non-emitting source, lower fuel costs, once they go in operation the prediction is a 1-2% rate decrease, then rates will be steady for years for us, nuclear is the least cost option, all other forms of generation are more expensive, energy efficiency is less costly and we are doing a bunch of that but it is unreliable Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

hate that I'm late to this convo, what fun, a non-techie saving the world by dreaming about what is possible yes, it is possible, anything is possible if you throw enough money at it economics is a (or possibly THE) major driver of change BillVon has added plenty of good info it always interesting when I meet people that want to GO renewable and get rid of the big bad coal or utility monopolies, when I ask them what they are willing to pay for power or what they are willing to go without - want to pay less than what they pay now and don't want to turn anything off well it just doesn't work that way Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

plenty of class, all low Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

BBQ Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

waiter Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

losers Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

don't Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

educated Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

peg Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.