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Thread: Climate Change

  1. #201
    Quote Originally Posted by Devilwin View Post
    Actually do something to help..
    I completely agree with Devilwin. One cool way to add to the science of climate change is through citizen science (Citizen science also includes many other topics besides climate change.)

    https://scistarter.com/citizenscience.html

    This is a web page with a database where you can search for science projects that request citizen participation in the area where you live.

    Many projects are related to making observations where you live about things that you are interested in, including the effects that climate change may be having. It's a great way for kids and adults to learn how to make scientific observations and participate in the science. With citizen science, scientists rely on large numbers of observations over long periods of time to determine if things are changing over time, like bird migrations, insect hatching, tree leaf out, leaf fall in the Fall.

    Searching on Durham, NC, you can find a lot of projects that you can participate in even in your own yard. Just a few:

    https://scistarter.com/project/18979...gle-Bird-Count

    https://scistarter.com/project/874-Watch-the-Wild

    https://scistarter.com/project/41-Budburst

    I agree with Devilwin, get involved. Get your family involved! And have fun doing it.
    ~rthomas

  2. #202
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh
    Quote Originally Posted by camion View Post
    Interesting.

    I'm (one of those) a Prius driver, but I only drive 2 miles to work each morning which is about enough to add back the charge the batteries lost overnight. During the recent cold spell my average mileage dropped to about 34 MPG. Now that it's warmed up I'm getting around 39 MPG on my short trips. On longer trips I'm in the mid-forties.
    Consistent with what we achieve with our Prius, sometimes close to 50 MPG if temperatures are in the 50s and 60s and no AC/heat/defrost being used.
    [redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.

  3. #203
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh
    Quote Originally Posted by fuse View Post
    Ludicrous mode aside, Tesla has an 8 year warranty on batteries. This means next year is the first year the 2012 Tesla Model S will be out of warranty for battery. I’ve not searched exhaustively, most of what Google turns up for Tesla battery replacement is pretty outrageous (as low as $8k, as high as $25k).

    The remedy for this is to lease, or to sell your Tesla somewhere between year three and year five.

    There was a pretty cool article suggesting Tesla was working on a “quick change” station (not supercharging) that would take your depleted battery and replace with a fully charged one in a few minutes as a way to make Teslas viable for long trips. I don’t know if that approach is realistic, or what it would do from a battery warranty perspective.

    It does beg the question of sustainability, and if batteries as waste are accounted for future impact.
    Wow, that is expensive. We owned a 2010 Civic Hybrid and passed it on to our younger daughter and her husband (you know, the devildeac delivery service) and they had the hybrid battery replaced at about 7Y/90K miles as Honda had a recall and replaced it for free and extended the warranty to 10Y/150K, IIRC. Otherwise, it would have cost them $3-4K . Haven't had to address that yet with our Prius, currently at 6Y/78K miles but our son and his wife currently have a 2008 (?) Prius with almost 200K miles and no hybrid battery issues. Yet.
    [redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.

  4. #204
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeffrey View Post
    Have you considered putting your water heater on a timer? We use "the little gray box" since nobody is home M-F from 8-6.

    Is your second floor water heater beside an exterior wall, so you can install a pvc overflow pipe outside?
    I have not looked into a timer for the water heater. I'll take a look. I could see that becoming especially useful when my kids are off to college. Right now they get home around 3pm so it'll be interesting to see if it helps to have the temp change from 8-2:30. I need Nest to do that, I really like my Nest thermostat.

    Yes, the water heater does have a pvc overflow pipe to the outside which will help in case a leak that's not too bad.
    Hopefully, I won't have to worry about that for another 7 years or so!

  5. #205
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    you can't fight water, water always wins...have to come to some sort of accommodation with it. Just took four visits from the dishwasher repair savant to (seemingly) end the leak.
    For those who share my concern (bordering at times on phobia, yes, hydrophobia), here's today's tip: consider not hooking up your fridge's automatic icemaker. I know three different people who
    have had their kitchens ruined by leaks when they were away, many thousands of dollars of damage...in discussing this with an appliance selling pal, he said his company has refused to hook them up
    for years, way too many instances of failure...a lot of the crucial parts, even in upscale models, are made of cheesy plastic. You want it hooked up, call and plumber and then blame him if it fails.

  6. #206
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeffrey View Post
    Have you considered putting your water heater on a timer? We use "the little gray box" since nobody is home M-F from 8-6.

    Is your second floor water heater beside an exterior wall, so you can install a pvc overflow pipe outside?
    I'm just curious, have you crunched any numbers to see what this saves?

  7. #207
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC area
    Quote Originally Posted by budwom View Post
    you can't fight water, water always wins...have to come to some sort of accommodation with it. Just took four visits from the dishwasher repair savant to (seemingly) end the leak.
    For those who share my concern (bordering at times on phobia, yes, hydrophobia), here's today's tip: consider not hooking up your fridge's automatic icemaker. I know three different people who
    have had their kitchens ruined by leaks when they were away, many thousands of dollars of damage...in discussing this with an appliance selling pal, he said his company has refused to hook them up
    for years, way too many instances of failure...a lot of the crucial parts, even in upscale models, are made of cheesy plastic. You want it hooked up, call and plumber and then blame him if it fails.
    I worked in an office where they outsourced a coffee machine with a water feed, a straw sized feed. They installed in on a Friday, and it popped off sometime over the weekend. The water damage spread about 75 feet on both sides of the kitchen. Several computers (sitting on the floor under desks; I still discourage that!) fried. They had to call in the flood recovery folks - dehumidifiers, holes in the walls, and a ton of fans to help dry us out. The coffee vendor took care of it...

    -jk

  8. #208
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington, DC area
    Quote Originally Posted by elvis14 View Post
    I have not looked into a timer for the water heater. I'll take a look. I could see that becoming especially useful when my kids are off to college. Right now they get home around 3pm so it'll be interesting to see if it helps to have the temp change from 8-2:30. I need Nest to do that, I really like my Nest thermostat.

    Yes, the water heater does have a pvc overflow pipe to the outside which will help in case a leak that's not too bad.
    Hopefully, I won't have to worry about that for another 7 years or so!
    Water heaters have really good insulation. I suspect a daytime downturn won't make a measurable difference. (During several day-long, winter storm-related power outages, our kids' reptiles were kept happy with the hot water from the tank.) A weeklong absence, more measurable!

    -jk

  9. #209
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    Quote Originally Posted by -jk View Post
    I worked in an office where they outsourced a coffee machine with a water feed, a straw sized feed. They installed in on a Friday, and it popped off sometime over the weekend. The water damage spread about 75 feet on both sides of the kitchen. Several computers (sitting on the floor under desks; I still discourage that!) fried. They had to call in the flood recovery folks - dehumidifiers, holes in the walls, and a ton of fans to help dry us out. The coffee vendor took care of it...

    -jk
    ah, it's surprisingly common...the "straw sized feed" you mention is almost always a crappy wee bit of plastic,...and as you note, if pops loose, in comes a whole lot of water until someone happens to see it...

  10. #210
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Atlanta

    Gas Mileage

    When I was young (junior high - high school), my dad had a few Honda civics. This was circa 74-79.

    I can swear I remember that they got 40+ MPG highway. This was around gas crisis II time. Each successive model and competitor vehicle seemed to outdo the prior on fuel economy.

    Am I remembering correctly?

    If I am, why have we not progressed beyond that and even regresses in fuel economy?

    Was better mileage possible with leaded gasoline? Why can't hybrids get 75-80-90 mpg.

    What am I missing here?

  11. #211
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    St. Louis
    Quote Originally Posted by BandAlum83 View Post
    When I was young (junior high - high school), my dad had a few Honda civics. This was circa 74-79.

    I can swear I remember that they got 40+ MPG highway. This was around gas crisis II time. Each successive model and competitor vehicle seemed to outdo the prior on fuel economy.

    Am I remembering correctly?

    If I am, why have we not progressed beyond that and even regresses in fuel economy?

    Was better mileage possible with leaded gasoline? Why can't hybrids get 75-80-90 mpg.

    What am I missing here?
    My wife and I had a Civic starting in '77. I don't know if it got 40 mpg, but it was close. Of course, that car had manual transmission, and no air conditioning, and was about the size of a coffee table.

  12. #212
    Quote Originally Posted by rasputin View Post
    My wife and I had a Civic starting in '77. I don't know if it got 40 mpg, but it was close. Of course, that car had manual transmission, and no air conditioning, and was about the size of a coffee table.
    But it cost less than Starbucks.

  13. #213
    Quote Originally Posted by elvis14 View Post
    Yes, the water heater does have a pvc overflow pipe to the outside which will help in case a leak that's not too bad.
    Hopefully, I won't have to worry about that for another 7 years or so!
    If you're truly concerned, given the 2nd floor location, then you might want to install an auto-shutoff valve. They're relatively easy and quick to install.

  14. #214
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeffrey View Post
    If you're truly concerned, given the 2nd floor location, then you might want to install an auto-shutoff valve. They're relatively easy and quick to install.
    And a moisture sensor/alarm.

  15. #215
    Quote Originally Posted by Acymetric View Post
    I'm just curious, have you crunched any numbers to see what this saves?
    No, I've never crunched any timer numbers. I'm not sure it saves much money these days, if the water heater is inside a climate controlled structure. Water heaters now have much better insulation and there probably isn't a great benefit for it or a water heater blanket. Twenty or more years ago was a very different story.

    Upon reflection, scratch my dated idea.

  16. #216
    Quote Originally Posted by Acymetric View Post
    I'm just curious, have you crunched any numbers to see what this saves?
    If I had to guess, I would say pretty dang close to zero. Especially if the fuel source is natural gas. I know my water heater doesn’t kick on for about 20 hours if it’s not used. Yes, it holds heat that well.

    Obviously, mileage will vary.

  17. #217
    Quote Originally Posted by Indoor66 View Post
    And a moisture sensor/alarm.
    Yes, I mean something like this...

    FloodStop Water Heater Auto-Shutoff Valve, FS3/4NPT, V4 Controller

  18. #218
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Atlanta
    Quote Originally Posted by rasputin View Post
    My wife and I had a Civic starting in '77. I don't know if it got 40 mpg, but it was close. Of course, that car had manual transmission, and no air conditioning, and was about the size of a coffee table.
    My Kia Soul is small, it's 4 cylinder, has lots of plastic to make it pretty light and is rated at 25 MPG. Seriously, why is this? My Dad had air conditioning and the Civic may have been heavier than my Kia. Does automatic transmission really make that much difference?

    Check this out:

    77hondacivic.jpg

  19. #219
    Quote Originally Posted by LasVegas View Post
    If I had to guess, I would say pretty dang close to zero. Especially if the fuel source is natural gas. I know my water heater doesn’t kick on for about 20 hours if it’s not used. Yes, it holds heat that well.

    Obviously, mileage will vary.
    Just put yours in your uninsulated garage and it will not need to turn on most of the year.

  20. #220
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Rougemont Nebulae
    Quote Originally Posted by BandAlum83 View Post
    My Kia Soul is small, it's 4 cylinder, has lots of plastic to make it pretty light and is rated at 25 MPG. Seriously, why is this? My Dad had air conditioning and the Civic may have been heavier than my Kia. Does automatic transmission really make that much difference?

    Check this out:

    77hondacivic.jpg
    The ubiquity of plastic and how it has infiltrated the food chain of most marine bird species I'm sure is topic about which most DBR readers are knowledgeable, generally a well-read lot. Plastic is light, energy efficient, durable, frequently reusable, but also very deadly, particularly single-use plastic. These two videos aren't preachy but they don't have to be. The first includes a necropsy if that bothers you.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_2NuK5O-E
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I7on22jA48

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