Link to a sustainable gift of love.

To Wari'n Dori's family and friends:

Please consider a donation of love to a stranger

during the coming holiday season. Please go to

this Click here link and save it to your favorites

folder and when approriate, PLEASE make a

donation - it's really, really good for the environ-

ment and totally creates a sustainable scenario in

the bargain. We used Susan Sarandan's page for

our modest donation; a share in a Llama or

Alpaka for high Ande's mountain inhabitants.

.

When the spirit moves you, at the very least,

please donate 10 bucks to www.heifer.org in

the name of someone you reveré.

.
10/20/2007 12:00 AM (PT)
From: Heifer International
.
To: Wari & Dori Richardson
.
Thank you for sending a Heifer email Gift Card.
.
Below are the links to all E-cards:
From : Doris Richardson
To : Alex Gee, et al
Click here to view the card.
.
Heifer International contact information:
Email Address: info@heifer.org

Visit the website at http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.183217/

If you have technical questions, please submit them to http://customersupport.kintera.org

...

From the Webmaster of http://www.green-metroplex.com/ ... You are invited to come

and see how cost effective, and even profitable, it can be to go green!

A newly updated, upbeat Green-Metroplex.com home page.

Welcome Sisters, Brothers, Children of Earth.

.

Our goal, is to help you find abundant in-
formation about what you can do to affect
positive change by improving your personal,
local, national and world wide environmental use.
You may be surprised to find that changes in

your lifestyle can actually reduce your cost

of living in the bargain; both in the short run

and the long run, too!
.
For example, by our purchase of a battery powered
scooter, we're making a major dent in our shopping
expense. We're getting rid of one car and its insurance
expense, in this formerly two car family... By charging
the scooter with about ten cents of electricity at night,
it has no negative affect on our electric utility company's
night time coal burning load and we use it to do our
errands in town during the day, saving a couple of
gallons of fuel for our car. This simple act of environ-
mental responsibility costing up to three bucks a month
on our utility bill, saves us about $5.00 or $6.00 a day in
gas any day that we use the scooter instead of the car;
not to mention our reduction on using the oil from the
middle east used to make those two gallons of gasoline
each day, by using domestic electric energy. Anyone can
do this to save serious money. I got the idea for this
work around after finding out what the U.S. Military was
doing to become the largest go-green entity in the U.S.A.
The military is retooling its battle and delivery vehicles to
use bio-fuel. It's buying wind and solar powered support
equipment. It's converting short distance manned and
unmanned reconnaissance and courier vehicles to silent,
fast, battery powered vehicles, as well. Their goal is to be
completely non-dependant on foreign energy when war fighting.
.
Because we spend a goodly amount of time in our re-
tirement years reading and following the news we can
show you some of the nuggets of knowledge we have
mined that can help you and others become more en-
vironmentally tuned in.
.
One of the things that we have always had conscience
attacks about is world hunger and world health. The
problems of mass starvation caused by world health
organizations have nagged at our common sense for
years. I, for one, have always maintained that saving
millions of people from disease without solving the
problems of or also providing the tools and knowledge
for them to provide themselves with sustainable living
conditions were (cruel) gestures in futility... (To
paraphrase, "Don't save a man' life from disease unless
you also intend to teach him to fish.). The moral is:
Any person of conscience should be promoting
SUSTAINABILITY if they truly want to help humanity!
.
Fortunately, by persevering we have found several
organizations of like mind that are extant that are
donating children powered merry-go-round clean water
pumps; impregnated farm animals to jump start
individual families to sustainability; hectares worth of
tree seedlings and produce seed stock to farmers in
mountain regions to rehab former clear cut jungle
hill sides and help them plant and raise their own food
for consumption and profit. Where erosion and ruin
used to be the norm, agrarian commerce and homes
with rain proof roofs and healthy families with children
going to schools now flourish in ever larger numbers.
The long term environmental worth of this kind of
sustainable "charity" is beyond measure.
.
The factoids published here and the links to other
environmental information and resources are yours to
use in any way that you desire. This website is dedi-
cated to sharing environmentally useful information.
There are directories to legislative measures and
legislators, too, should you desire to contact your
elected officials and tell them your views on
environmental issues of your own interest. Do not
overestimate how many constituents a legislator has
to hear from to become a convert to your viewpoint
and who know, they might already be at a tipping point
on that issue, anyway. They are very sensitive to how
little of an ice burg shows above the surface of their part
of the pond... Tell them to go green; they will.
.

From the Webmaster of http://www.green-metroplex.com/ ...

You are invited to come and see how cost effective, even profitable, it can be to go green!

Sample Plug-in Petition to one's legislator or representative

Dear Legislator,
.
Whereas: I want to have the choice to use cleaner, cheaper, domestic electricity to power
my car. It is time to once again promote plug-in cars, including battery electric cars and
plug-in hybrids. Grid-connected vehicles can make an extraordinary contribution to the
reduction of auto emissions, including greenhouse gases, by eliminating the tailpipe.
.
Additionally, plug-ins can dramatically reduce our dependence on petroleum.  The Zero
Emission Vehicle Mandate (crafted in California) has already proven the technological and
economic viability of all-electric cars, as well as the unmet demand for these vehicles.  You
should do everything possible to expedite the near-term availability of electric cars and
plug-in hybrids to consumers like me. I am a constituent that has taken the, "A new
EV or nothing!" pledge here in North Texas.
.
In addition, please join the growing practice by environmentally savvy consumers for
putting electric powered charging devices on timers set to only feed re-charge electricity
between 6 pm to 6 am. 20 million privately owned solar arrays at the homes/businesses of
these electric vehicles would end any need for new coal fired plants or nuclear facilities, as
well. Together, the EV charging overnight and solar electric rooftop arrays can smooth the
demand curve. Up to 20 million battery powered vehicles with commuter useful ranges,
charging only at night, would negate the building of so much as one more coal fired power
plant in America and would significantly reduce the need for imported foreign automobile
fuel for domestic use, in the bargain.
.
We recently purchased an electric lawn mower and a battery powered Moped but were
chagrined to find, so far, that there are no tax breaks in our city, county or state for being
environmentally sensitive enough as to outlay hard cash for such green, emission reducing,
domestic energy using, non-imported fuel powered vehicles or yard tools. This is
despite efforts by the auto makers and oil company groups to discourage people from
driving Battery Electric Vehicles able to exceed 25 mph. One would think that the domestic
oil companies would support such motor powered items in that they increase the availability
of out of state oil export sales revenue.
.
Our home 15 KW NG Back-up Generator with automatic isolating switch (65 amps @ 230
volts) to compensate for our irregular electrical service, likewise obtains not a penny in tax
incentives; albeit it was less than two weeks after obtaining a permit for installing it that
TXU's electrical delivery entity, Oncor, came in to our neighborhood and cut overhanging
limbs from trees surrounding our neighborhoods' power lines. (Coincidentally, TXU offices
sit cross-corner from our City Hall and one block from the permits office.). What is your
stance on these issues? Especially plug-in capable vehicles?
.
Sincerely,
.
Joseph and Doris Richardson, Senior Constituents from Grand Prairie, Texas an
All-American City. And webmaster of recently updated http://www.green-metroplex.com
.
The source address of this free sample public domain Email is http://www.green-metroplex.com/Xtra/Mile/Plug-in_Petition.html
.

Six months of hybrid sales is doubling all of last years hybrid sales in U.S. (Link)

Here is some good news from a reliable source about

hybrid-electric vehicle sales in the U.S. Last year there

were 144,000 hybrids sold for the whole year.

Hybrid Sales by Vehicle: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070917/hybrid_sales.html?.v=1?
 

From the desktop of Warren Richardson   D/FW Metroplex, pro-active

mentor for conversion to energy alternatives and carbon footprint reduction.
Moderator of http://dfw-alt-e-caucus.blogspot.com/ and

Webmaster of http://www.green-metroplex.com/ ... You are invited to come

and see how cost effective, and even profitable, it can be to go green!

Review of "Man Builds All Electric Car" in Midlands - Odessa, TX.

Today there was an apparent re-run of a TV news byte
about an EV made in Midlands - Odessa, TX a few
months ago. I built a review page about it with a link
for your reference.
.
Sunday, 19 August 2007
.
On the tube today there was a repeat byte about a
man in Midlands, TX entiltled Man Builds All Electric
Car, who commutes with a battery powered car. He
had mixed reactions from folks about town that
recognized his car was all electric. What was
remarkable about him and the car was that he was
not a "Greenie." His comment was, "When I started
building this car, gas was three dollars a gallon."
His battery Electric Vehicle (EV), which does not
have air conditioning, is not used by him as a way
to help the environment. He admitted that he has
a "regular car" for trips to Dallas. He was straight-
forward and honest in that after doing the numbers
he opted for an all electric car, charged when it's at
his home, in order to save money from his daily
work commute.
.
In plain English, his monthly trips in town log him
850 miles per month, which has raised his monthly
home electric bill from charging the car, an
additional fifteen dollars per month over the prior
year at the same time; that's 0.0176 (two) cents
per mile.
.
Here is a link to a blog about this TV news byte:
.
http://www.topix.net/forum/city/odessa-tx/T34ITIEM40F23BE6T?fromrss=1
.
Source http://www.green-metroplex.com/EVs/Article01.html ...
You are invited to come and see how cost
effective, even profitable it is to go green!
.

PVC Poster Child

Our sister website, www.green-metroplex.com installed a new page which announces its "Poster Child" image; a PVC Water Bottle.
.
Click here to read the announcement. ( http://www.green-metroplex.com/factoids/In_Vivo/PVC_Bottle.html ). Warning, have tongue clamped firmly in teeth.

Solar Electric Warriors

.

If you don't surf to any other link today, surf to this one! It is the Solar Warrior websit, home base for a homeowner family in California that has tons of experience in dealing with the quiet(?) war by utilities against net-grid connection by alternative energy self-producers who built and operate a 2,880 square foot PV array. Their practical, no-nonsense information and sharing of their PhotoVoltaic experience and production, using a net-grid connection to store their excess energy collection for use at night is a real eye opener about the less than innocent reaction by their utility provider. They have a great definition of Net-Grid, too. A must see website!

.

A PHEV can provide power to a home

.
Did you know that, "A PHEV can provide power to your home in the case of a power grid outage?; A fleet of PHEV’s (consisting of cars, vans, trucks, firetrucks or busses with plug-in capability) can power critical systems during emergencies." Source: CalCar/Vehicles
.
Additional Wikipedia Reference: Paragraph 2 Sentence 4
.
And: Conversions of production hybrids to Plug-in Hybrid capability
.
And: Economic Benefits of Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles
.
Sent to you as a public service from the DFW Metroplex Alternative Energy Caucus
.
P.S., In addition if a PHEV's engine was also converted to using flex-fuel, E-85, bio-diesel or compressed natural gas or hydrogen gas, it would be doubly capable of reducing individual or organizational imported oil dependency.
.

Picture courtesy of CalCars.org

Green vs. Classic Economics

Green Economics is based on three axioms:
.
- It is impossible to expand forever into a finite space.
- It is impossible to take forever from a finite resource.
- Everything on the surface of the Earth is interconnected.
. .
Green Economics is seen to be encroaching into Classic Economics turf, and currently is being resisted somewhat successfully by classic economists who counter that Eco Economics is a fad and controversial at best. However, there is a climate of erosion to that resistance. That is because environmental science has pointed out that the three primary axioms of Green Economics places limits on classic economics which cannot be rationally disputed by classic economic theorists or practitioners; their Achilles Heel is in fact, that Classic Economics is based on a premise of scarcity of resources which sets the price point of resources in the free marketplace (or abundance, which depresses a particular resource price).
.
Green Economics melds quality and the sustainability of the environment into the Classic Economic mix. As examples, with Green Economics, the here-to-fore never regarded impact on the air that all plant, animal and human life breathes on earth becomes a function of the energy and goods we consume in our daily lives. For consumers, the energy for these things is supplied for the most part by carbon dioxide emitting generation facilities and forged in factories from the same kind of energy. With Green Economics, it is recognized that the political unrest that can be fomented in terrorist sympathizer countries with funding from automobile oil for fuel that is purchased for export, becomes a function of negative capital risk in the open market place when factoring in terrorist acts funded by oil revenue profits. Sweet Crude is the commodity which becomes carbon emissions, which has the affect, much the same as the economic effects of drugs, by causing suppression of the lives of those that "benefit" from being high consumers. Both examples are tied together by Green Economics Axiom 3.
.
While amoral global business interests pay millions for ads that lie about their environmental sensitivity the air we breath and our water and food and homes and cities are being poisoned in ever increasing increments.
.
While the dollar cost for fossil energy that drives economic engines is relatively cheap, its eco cost is enormous. As it happens, in the face of emergent technology the cost, in terms of carbon footprint growth, is no longer necessary. Tidal generators, stream and riverbed mounted generators; PhotoVoltaic and Focused Solar tracking steam generation as well as solar water heaters and Wind Turbine power generation and Geothermal Energy are all clean, zero carbon footprint technologies which are just waiting for universal acceptance as energy generators of preference.
.
It is only the profits underwritten and guaranteed by state legislators and the state appointed regulatory bodies of utility organizations in so-called unregulated utility industries that impede the phase-over to alternative energy in this country and other nations that foolishly follow our lead. Once zero carbon footprint sources of energy production become mainstream, the cost/benefit ratio affected by economies of scale will improve at a rapid clip.
.
For vehicles, current Lithium Ion leading edge battery packs, some with 16 minute recharge capability, that can convert already high mileage hybrid cars, trucks and busses with mileage in the 30 to 55 mile range into plug-in capable cars (called PHEV's), trucks and busses that are able to deliver 100+ miles of range, after conversion to newer, lighter, higher capacity than stock, battery packs. While they are charged from the net-grid, the energy is domestic and therefore are not being used to make profits for foreign governments that fund terrorism under the table.
.
We have had the means to wean off of fossil burning energy, we just apparently did not have the will to affect a major change toward Green Economics. That time is now.
.
It should be clear by now that no social being on earth can avoid their responsibility to our common environment. It is time for individuals like you and I and organizations to evolve our thinking and actions to accept Green Economic axioms. We must forever make them an integral part of our decision making. It is incumbent on each one of us to supplant and set aside elected officials and organizations upon which we overly depend that cannot or will not adapt or adopt active green initiatives. We must make changes ourselves and make our representatives adopt Green Economics. It is time to step up or find and appoint, vote for and support those individuals and businesses that are evolving toward a green, sustainable non-poluting future.
.
Old fossils and fossil energy are on their way to extinction. I for one choose to evolve, adapt, survive and create an environment now, that future generations can survive well in, as well.
.
Warren Richardson green.metroplex@yahoo.com

I took the Green Footprint Quiz

.
Yikes!
.
I just took the Green Footprint Quiz and learned that "IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE us, WE WOULD NEED 3.6 PLANETS " to survive...

.
The quiz results mean that my wife and I who are living modest semi-retirement lifestyles in a lower than average square footage home with energy efficient devices and have cars with better than average mileage; we often ride share and sometimes buy local farm produce and several other somewhat lesser, lower and not as much as average items; however we do buy packaged goods and food that are shipped from elsewhere and drive alone more often than not and we don't use public transportation; we dump as much trash as our neighbors, too; and even though we never fly anywhere our carbon footprint totals up to the fact that we are still living lifestyles which are unsustainable.
.
It also means that we have a lot more work to do to change our lifestyle in a manner that reduces our carbon footprint to sustainable levels. In the works are alternative carbon energy reducing back-up electrical systems for our home, hybrid vehicles and electric assisted scooter & bike purchases. We plan on local produce and grocery market trips in those conveyances and organic fabrics and goods made in Texas instead of shipped via 747 freighter jets by WalMart from China or oil tankers from terrorist sympathizer middle eastern emirates. We're working to form a photo voltaic cooperative electric utility. We are learning how to purchase sustainable credits too, as an investment in that growth area.
.
Want a jolt? Take the Green Footprint Quiz and learn where you stand, as well. It's free, anonymous (no pesky cookies to spy on you or waste bandwidth) and at http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp
.
This public notice came to you from the DFW Metroplex Alternative Energy Caucus Blog posted on 7/8/07 at http://dfw-alt-e-caucus.blogspot.com/
E-mail: green.metroplex@yahoo.com

Today's Feature: The Green Living Store

The Green Living Store located in the Lakewood district of Dallas has a wonderful plethora of hardware, goods and products for the eco-minded metroplex dweller. They also have a good selection of links and resources and below I have placed a snippet of an article they carry on their website, about compact flourescent lighting, that you will find informative.
.
Source: Green Living
URL: http://www.green-living.com/
.
Compact fluorescent Lights (CFL) use 75% less energy than an incandescent bulb to create the same amount of light (same number of lumens). This means that a 13 Watt CFL is equivalent to a 60 Watt bulb and 18 Watt CFL will replace a 75 Watt bulb. Less energy consumed means less use of natural resources and less pollution. Also, CFL bulbs have lives of 8,000 to 10,000 hours, which means that you will replace an incandescent with a life of 1,000 hours 8 times for each 1 CFL! If you've tried a CFL in the past you might have thought it was too large for your lamp; now the mini-twist CFLs are actually smaller than a normal incandescent bulb.
.
Did you know that the standard incandescent bulb really hasn't changed much since the bulb design was improved by Edison in 1879; in fact only 10-15% of the energy it consumes is emitted as light, meaning the other 85-90% becomes heat - meaning each one is a little space heater in your home. The Energy Star program says on average 7% of our home's energy use goes to lighting, but 45% goes to cooling and heating. Incandescent bulbs use excessive energy to create light and then cause you to use energy to remove their heat from your
home. With electricity rates rising every month, now is the time to start using less.
.
Here is a comparison of the cost to operate an Incandescent bulb vs. CFL bulb using TXU's "price to beat" of $0.12 / kWh
.
Incandescent 60W; 800 lumens; 10 hrs per day; $ 2.16 per month; $ 25.63 per year
.
CFL 13W (60 W equiv); 800 lumens; 10 hrs per day; $ 0.47 per month; $ 5.55 per year
.
Incandescent 75 W; 1100 lumens; 10 hrs per day; $ 2.70 per month; $ 32.04 per year
.
CFL 18 W (75 W equiv); 1100 lumens; 10 hrs per day; $ 0.65 per month; $ 7.69 per year
.
URL: http://www.green-living.com/

A grass roots invitation for Texans and others

The DFW Metroplex Alternative Energy Caucus has officially been Googled and can now be found by its key words. The web log is located at http://dfw-alt-e-caucus.blogspot.com/ You are invited to click on the link and find links and information for the beginner through advanced student of Alternative Energy Issues and Information. This web log is aimed primarily at grass roots metroplex citizens and proactive elected or appointed officials and any others wanting to learn about the subject.
.
Any news or informational contributions you may care to send which would further the goals of the mission statement on the home page, will be greatly appreciated, as well. The good news is that no matter how small your contribution, the grass-roots accumulative effect becomes very large, indeed.
.
While you may not live in the DFW Metroplex, there are abundant resources that you, too can use to start proactive activities in your own city and there may be instances whereby you may actually benefit by NOT being in the Metroplex; such as an opportunity to participate in the establishment of a solar photo voltaic farm cooperative utility, outside the cityplex, for DFW Metroplex Dwellers that have code issues with their city that do not allow or for the most part hinder or at the least have little support for some form of alternative energy usage in their building codes, city facilities and vehicle fleets and city master planning.
.
As such it is fair to warn you that the moderator of this web log has determined that Metroplex City Councils and County Boards have been somewhat slow to create initiatives or the creation of broad changes to city and county planning that would accelerate the implementation of the fast paced changes that are currently in demand. The reasons are simple, they have received no signal from their constituency (You and I) for a need to change.
.
This web log's purpose is to change you and me (the constituency) such that we are knowledgeable and conversant on this subject. For example, after extensive study of wind and solar maps and reams of scientific data, the moderator determined that wind turbines are not cost effective in the Metroplex but Photo Voltaic Arrays are abundantly so.
.
Current events and predictions by economic experts and climate engineers make our need to use alternatives to reduce our carbon emissions and to reduce the economic impacts coming, in the wings, an imperative activity. These cascading changes are caused by the world's emergent economy's use of fossil fuels in competition with America, in ever spiraling billions of barrels and metric tons. That accelerating competition for fossil fuel is already impacting our economy. It will never get better so long as fossil energy is the fuel of choice for individuals and nations. In concert with these changes, our city's and states legislatures are currently far behind the curve as to the impending need to liberalize their governmental use of alternative energy for their services and facilities and likewise their need for revamping of codes and policies that encourage the citizens that they minister to to phase over into alternative energy in their daily lives.
.
In a nutshell:
.
As things stand, we are tasked with the chore of awakening ourselves first and then our elected representative to the problems that are building up by our use of the current economic energy models. The goals of this web log are three fold:
1) Fast Flow education on the topics of Alternative Energy.
2) Fast Flow education on the problems of Carbon Emissions and Fossil Fuel Dependency and current or new methods to change over to Alternatives.
3) Fast track two way communication with our elected officials as to practical solutions to the first two items above to affect changes to our city's energy usage for both the city and its constituency and for county boards and state legislators, as well.
.
The world may very well be taking away our opportunity to have made changes to our energy usage especially the conversion to alternatives methods of energy production and the control of carbon emissions, to the point that changing will no longer be cost effective and anything less than a disaster for citizens living in the metroplex within the next decade or two if we do not change first.
.
We need first of all to get educated and then you and I need to become voices for alternative solutions that are needed to change our energy model in the near future. Your participation is vital, please do. This is an alternative grass roots activity so I have enclosed a grass roots picture.
.
Welcome, y'all! http://dfw-alt-e-caucus.blogspot.com/
.
Please, forward this invitation to your email list, especially proactive contacts and State Legislators, County Board Members and the city council members and City Planners of your city. You may also send those addresses here by making a CC to us of your E-mails to them.

SECO: McKinney ISD

Sustainable Elementary School Design Demonstration Projects
.
Studies have shown that schools incorporating passive solar features, such as daylighting, use less energy, student grades have improved, and attendance is higher.
.
- Energy Smart Schools
.
According to a study conducted by the Alberta Department of Energy in Canada, students benefited significantly from attending schools where daylight, rather than traditional artificial lighting, was the principal source of internal lighting. The study found that students enrolled in schools where daylighting was prevalent exhibited among other things: reduced absenteeism by 3.5 days per year, increased concentration levels, a significant reduction in library noise, better scholastic performance and more positive moods induced by natural light.
.
- McKinney ISD
.
The Roy Lee Walker Sustainable Elementary School project is a prototype design commissioned by the State Energy Conservation Office of Texas (SECO) to be one of the first sustainable school projects in the state. The school's design incorporates many environmentally friendly design principles, including rainwater collection, day lighting, wind energy, solar energy, the use of recycled building materials, outdoor teaching spaces, water habitat and landscaping sensitivity. Finally, the design fosters "Eco Education," a term that describes the incorporation of environmentally sound facility design into the school's own educational curriculum.
.
The Roy Lee Walker Elementary School was completed in July, 2000, and opened for school in August, 2000. The photos were taken during and after construction, between December 1, 1999, and August 17, 2000. The American Institute of Architects named this school to the Earth Day Top 10 List for Environmentally Responsible Design Projects. The district is currently using sustainable design for their next two elementary schools.
.
The McKinney district built another elementary school, Wolford Elementary School, which also opened in August, 2000. The school was based on the design used for the previous 7 elementary campuses in the district, and will provide us with an excellent comparison for both the energy and educational impacts of the sustainable design.
.
The sustainable building practices at Roy Lee Walker Sustainable Elementary School include: building siting and orientation; optimizing natural lighting, providing for task lighting and specifying high-efficiency electric lighting; establishing an energy budget for each project; specifying locally or regionally produced products; designing to minimize cut-off waste and providing for recycling during construction; specifying materials and finishes with low or no volatile organic compound emissions and providing adequate ventilation; considering energy, water, materials consumption, transportation and impacts on natural systems when selecting products and materials; minimizing impervious surface and providing infiltration and retention of storm water; landscaping with native vegetation; and looking for opportunities to provide shelter or habitat for compatible species as well as to restore waterways, vegetation and habitats.

Solar Classes in North Texas

Dates: Jun 02, 2007 - Jun 09, 2007
Event: Solar Classes in North Texas
Time: All Day
Description:
.
Doug Livingston of the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, CA will be conducting a 4 day grid connected solar boot camp for installers and electricians. He will also be giving 2 – 1 day seminars for builders, home owners and businesses that are considering solar.
.
URL: http://www.ckdsi.com/Solar_Training_Classes.php

Sustainable Energy 101

PEV's ( Plug-in Electric Vehicles ) qualify in the "Storable" category, especially if they re-charge during night hours when traditional utilities usually and otherwise would shut down many generators due to a lack of enough load to remain on the grid. However, PEV's or hybrids retrofitted with higher than stock capacity storage batteries will have worn out tires and batteries which will have to be dealt with as pollution bye-products. Those items appear already to be the source of a tremendous recycle industry even as we speak, so that is not an unsolved problem, after all.

Plug-in Vehicle's don't (and probably should never) generate net grid electrical energy. That would actually contribute to fossil fueled energy pollution while recharging from their engines and drive up the spiraling costs of electricity in the long run. Hybrids with extended battery capacity should be computer programed to just maintain batteries that have discharged down to 10% untill they are back up to 20% of full charge from engine charging. They should leave the100% charging capacity job to a more efficient, external plug-in net-grid charging system; usually done at night. PEV's battery ranges should be at least 60 miles, which will accommodate almost everyone's daily distance requirements. City PHEV buses and services vehicles would probabley benefit by 100 mile range battery systems. Modern battery packs are also capable of 100,000 recharges in 15 minutes. More if slow charged at night.

If one were to install photo voltaic grids on one's home or business and gained their regulated credits for creating sufficient excess energy to the net grid during daylight hours to both power their building during the day, sufficient to cover both day and night time hours, the average cost of the array and accessories in today's' money (2007) would average $45,000.00 per unit. The amortized payback would be, on average, 25 years, in order to enjoy the cost of having a plug-in ("Non-polluting," "Storeable") energy vehicle and a home powered with ("Non-polluting," "Sustainable") Photo Voltaic Array. In addition, one would also have to make an expensive conversion to an existing hybrid vehicle to a higher costing, longer lasting battery set. Extended Warrantee providers will snap up any voided warrantee threats on vehicles with retrofitted batteries and plug-in charging systems.

Utility regulations are not up to speed for the above, at first expensive but doable scenario to be in play, anywhere, at this time. Alternative Energy Vehicle manufacturers are not installing extended range battery systems or inverters for plug-in capability, either. Which is why one will have to go the extra expense of converting current hybrids to plug-in capability on their own initiative and of buying an extended warrantee from a third party insurer.

Co-operative Photo Voltaic Utilities are in their infancy at this time. (These are: "Non-polluting," "Storeable" and "Sustainable" energy resources.). PV and Solar Energy in any form is considered pollution free. Solar energy can be stored in batteries as electricity. Focused-heat generator systems can store their energy in insulated tanks as heated water. One can also store heat in earth mass or used to make other storage capable energy resources such as hydrogen through electrolysis. While there can be no solar production during the night except with heating arrays that store heat energy in large reservoir systems or when very heavily overcast, it is a regular, predictable source of energy ever day and as such is "Sustainable."

Currently, the major drawback to Photo Voltaic Electricity is its upfront expense per kilowatt hour to build and install. Payback for current PV efficiencies, can take in excess of one, two, sometimes three decades.

Government credits and grant methods for converting over to "off the grid" Photo Voltaic systems are historically always in a condition of hostile forethoughtful calculation; doomed to dry up at the precise moment legislators perceive that the public climbs onboard with its acceptance of energy alternatives. The point here is that one cannot depend on Congressional Programs or the Fed to carry through on any energy platform that would sooner or later dry up any legislators campaign contributions from the energy boys. The history of solar in the U.S. is strewn with the bodies of still-born solar energy programs and other alternative energy policies. Alternative initiatives must be grass-roots to be effective. That means you and I must make the changes and tell our elected officials to get out of our way while we do them.

Wind energy, built with revenues by utilities having their risks guaranteed by clever approval wording by legislative and state regulatory bodies, have mostly been funded by oil companies as a means to secure cheaper energy to pump out otherwise expensive, deep shale oil in the state of Texas. Wind energy is actually only cost effective in a very low percentage of Texas countys and those areas are too far for the metroplex in North Texas to benefit by them except by netgrid purchase credits from Green Utilities such as Green Mountain Energy http://www.greenmountainenergy.com/ , as an example, which adds about a penny to its wholesale purchase cost of wind energy, making it competitive but not the cheapest electricity one can buy from the netgrid. The oil pumping industry is a competitor for that cheap energy, as well.

On the horizon are marketing groups that are putting together utilities that install individual Photo Voltaic systems on a per house basis and leases back their operations such as to reap the energy credits while having their operational costs paid by the individual home owner via locked in low electrical rates. Essentially the individual electrical user pays for their electricity at whatever their current locked in rate is, but to the Photo Voltaic Utility, much like a co-operative electrical utility does. The individual home's Photo Voltaic grids are sized before installation according to the amount of energy used by the rate payer on the year before having the Photo Voltaic system installed and that rate is the lock-in electrical rate they contract for. The PV Grid is sized to produce a surplus during the day such that the homeowner can draw energy back from the net grid at night without penalty. Any additional electricity above the normal draw amount would have to be purchased from the net grid utility at their prevailing kilowatt hourly rate on a monthly pay per use basis. At this point there is no reason that individual cities could not start a city sponsored cooperative Photo Voltaic Utility at any time and anywhere in the metroplex or outside the metroplex except for the lack of the will of their voters, in their districts, to start a green utility.

Energy predictions in the crystal ball:

Some predictions place net electric utility grid kilowatt hourly rates as high as $.25 per kilowatt hour in less than two decades as the world market economies adjust to ever larger demands on an ever smaller or more costly to recover energy resource. They also forecast peak usage hours between 11 am till 6 pm at rates going as high as $.39 per kilowatt hour during summers with no insurance that there will not be rolling blackouts in spite of these prices.
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Therefore it might be advantageous for a home or business owner to convert to Plug-in or augmented Hybrid Vehicle transportation and invest in self-sufficient Photo Voltaic systems or at least join a Photo Voltaic Electrical Co-op. These two distinct solutions work synergistically, as well.

J. Warren Richardson

Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Green Initiative

First words:

I want you to know something I discovered over the past few weeks about the DFW Metroplex's alternative energy-production potential.

First: Average winds speeds are just too slow to make wind turbines cost effective in this part of Texas. Wind energy is not a viable option here.

Second: However, clean solar energy is abundant in the metroplex. 100,000 Kilowatt Hours are being generated by the DFW Airport every year; proving that we do in fact have adequate solar kilowatt hours per square foot (3.6 to 4.7 KWH per square foot yearly bracket) for this area. More than adequate to phase over to photo voltaic generation in order to reduce fossil fuel energy consumption. However, most of our cities are only using spot photo voltaic arrays to power signs or temporary lighting rigs where running standard netgrid connections would be cost prohibitive to install.

In the area of large vehicle fleets, again, the DFW Airport's fleet of busses, transporters and utility vehicles uses compressed natural gas (CNG) to reduce vehicle pollution to 5%. Again as a model that by initiative, large operations can reduce pollution while maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. (DFW Airport is rated as the most popular large airport in the U.S.A.).

The primary reason for so little policy or operational utilization by our city and county governments, to reduce the pollution and dependence of netgrid power appears to be conservatism on the part of our city and county council boards in the metroplex. Change threatens those who would do nothing rather than make waves and risk voter loses. As such it is incumbent on we, the constituency of our respective city's, to make known to our elective council board member's that it is our wish that they become aware that we want them to phase into the use of green initiatives and policies that promote less dependence on fossil energy with its pollution and unsustainable upwardly mobile costs.

Clean, sustainable energy is no longer just a fad or a wave of the future. The City of Austin, Texas is making history by its policy changes and initiatives and could be a model by which our own local county and city governments could implement first strike efforts onto the books for each city and all the counties in the metroplex. Austin's actions are not the actions of our capital city but as a Texas city, independent of state level support or mandate. We can and should all follow suite and make our councils aware that we are tired of the rubber stamp energy and economic models that will only lead to more pollution, more dependence on dirtier electricity for our homes and businesses and more fossil or bio fuel for our cars.

We need to make Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles the vehicles of choice for our city busses and utility services. We need to change our building codes to make it worth while to put photo voltaic arrays on our businesses and homes. We, ourselves, need to make it known that we want alternative energy in our daily city lives and are activley planning to purchase upgrades to our homes and business and vehicles that will reduce our carbon emissions and increase our energy efficiency, as well.

This blog is a chance for you to become educated on the subject of alternative energy. Take advantage of the links to an ever growing number of blogs and websites that have abundant, good information about the practicalities of alternative energy. Be a part of this change. Please, contact your respective council members and forward your thoughts about alternative energy to them and this blog and include their email addresses, here as well. Together, we can build a coalition of metroplex city councilmembers and constituents that can effect very real cooperative and effective change to the policies and initiatives that are the tools of government on the local level.

J. Warren Richardson a Grand Prairie Constituent