Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-27

• RT @washingtonpost As attacks increase, U.S. struggles to recruit computer security experts - washingtonpost.com http://bit.ly/550ePg #


• A defining moment in history - the birth of the transistor: http://bit.ly/7xKowG #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-27

• RT @washingtonpost As attacks increase, U.S. struggles to recruit computer security experts - washingtonpost.com http://bit.ly/550ePg #


• A defining moment in history - the birth of the transistor: http://bit.ly/7xKowG #

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Is the movie Avatar a game changer? You bet it is ...

Saw James Cameron's new movie Avatar this weekend. I can say without reservation that the technology used to produce the movie is game changing. I have never seen such a seamless use of CGI and 3D technologies. Cameron has set the bar high for future Sci-Fi epics. Only one question, can we afford 500 million dollar movies?
One other stand-out feature of the movie was Cameron's attention to detail. Aircraft actually looked used, the gas giant that Pandora orbited had a fast rotational rate, dust and vapor added to the realism.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-20

• Climate change-send a message to Copenhagen, learn how at: http://www.repoweramerica.org/wall/#/view/40310/ #


• Tonto (my cat) sure acts goofy after two days on his own. I guess the other two cats weren't much company! #


• Build and launch your own satellite: http://interorbital.com/TubeSat_1.htm #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-13

• Nice way to get around town and the potential for exercise too! The A2B Metro is now featured on Jay Leno’s Garage. http://x47dc.th8.us #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-13

• Nice way to get around town and the potential for exercise too! The A2B Metro is now featured on Jay Leno’s Garage. http://x47dc.th8.us #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-06

• A whole lot of sirens in Seattle. Maybe the police have a sighting on the Lakewood cop killer? #


• I've been setting up SUSE LINUX as my primary desktop OS. Verdict so far? Still not good enough for the average user -- lots of glitches. #


• That said, an ASUS laptop probably isn't the easiest hardware platform to configure... #


• An app for wind power. RT @TwilightEarth RT @EcoTechDaily App Measures Wind, Estimates Savings From Wind Power http://ow.ly/Ixbq #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-29

• RT @cop15 US might set provisional targets http://bit.ly/7vin9w #cop15 #climate - Looks embarassing for the US at COP15 #

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New addition to the family ...

A couple of weeks ago I dropped by the Humane Society to drop off some ferret items -- this is always a dangerous trip for me :-) When I see a lonely cat or dog there's always a risk I'll add a new pet to the family! Well, this was one of those times, Missy, a Norwegian Forest Cat, was to hard to resist. She is now settling in as the newest cat in our 3 dog, 3 cat, and 1 lizard family!

[caption id="attachment_195" align="aligncenter" width="231" caption="Missy, the Norwegian Forest Cat"][/caption]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-10-18

• From a Hubble vet: RT @Astro_Mike Just watched "Hubble's Amazing Rescue on PBS" I thought it showed a true inside view into our mission #


• Just sent a donation to Repower America http://www.repoweramerica.org/ #


• Blogactionday reminds me of the Vietnam protests when people came out en mass on the mall. Those kinds of actions will mitigate C. Change #


• Day of Climate Action 9 days away! Check out 9 reasons to celebrate:www.350.org/9 & 9 ways to use soc. media http://j.mp/3JNyTz (via @350) #

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Copenhagen Climate Change Conference -- it's time to act!

Climate change is real science. We've studied it to death under the Bush administration and it's time to act. Even Bush appointees on IPCC agreed that climate change poses a real threat to our world. Climate change will cause mass extinctions, famine, severe weather changes, and possibility even war. Want to see Indian and China duke it out over water rights? Not a pretty picture since both countries have nukes, but it could happen if the glaciers in the Himalayas melts.

A recent CNN article pointed out this very real possibility.

Put pressure on the politicians to craft a real, workable climate change agreement at the Copenhagen Conference. Go to Blog Action Day 2009 and add your voice!

More info:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Copenhagen Climate Change Conference
NASA Global Climate Change Site

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-10-11

• Want your very own LOTR's sword? Check this video out:
  http://bit.ly/UDGkz #


• SMART -1 Updates Image for LCROSS Impact | Universe Today - http://shar.es/1YUIf #


• Go LCROSS! RT @LCROSS_NASA My mission ops team waived off Trajectory Correction Maneuver 10. Telemetry shows my trajectory's right to impact #


• Managed LCROSS images through the Seattle clouds, but no ejecta plume sighted. I'll look at individual frames later ... #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-10-04

• Wow! The New horizons spacecraft is already past Saturn! That's some serious speed... #


• Finally got the INDI driver for the Orion autoguider to work. The upgrade from Fedora 10 to 11 fixed the problem. Wonder why? #


• GOCE Satellite Begins Mapping Earth's Gravity in Lower Orbit Than Expected | Universe Today - http://shar.es/15LZ1 #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-20

• I find it interesting that there's always a group of commuters that think the train seats are a place for their feet. Must be privileged. #


• Another type of commuter is the "two-seat" rider. They dump a large chunk of luggage on the seat next to them. #


• Darn! Won a trip to the Rich Web Experience, but can't accept it. Against government rules :-( Thanks anyway to NFJS and Jay Zimmerman. #


• Highly recommend the no fluff just stuff conference. Always have great Java speakers. #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-06

• RT @CarbonNews EPA to declare CO2 a dangerous pollutant: | Sourced From Sfgate.com |
  Carbon dioxide will soon be dec.. http://bi #


• Considering my next car. I'd like a subaru diesel, but subaru can't seem to get their. #


• Meant to say, I'd like a Subaru diesel, but Subaru can't seem to get their act together. Maybe a hybrid Highlander or Escape? #


• 'Inconvenient Truth with a personality' LA Times - The Age of Stupid screenings at http://www.ageofstupid.net/screenings/country/United States #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-16

• Nice day for a wedding. A niece on on my wife's side just got married. Always nice to see a young couple starting their life together! #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-08-02

• Seattle on verge of 90+ heat wave. Since many NW homes don't have AC, what creative cooling methods will Seattlites employ? #


• Heat wave solution #1 -- mountain vacation. Just be careful with fire! #


• Set up a home-made swamp cooler (wet cloth in front of a fan). Does seem to help :-) #


• Official! 103 degrees in Seattle! Higher in some surrounding towns! #


• Another 100 degree day tomorrow? I'm not sure. I see some signs of on shore flow returning... #


• Heat wave's over in Seattle! Nice batch of marine air pushed in this morning! #

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Build Your Own Lunar Lander Computer ...

Talk about "old school"! Here's a link to building your own working replica of the Apollo 11 LEM guidance computer. It took John Pultorak, who is a 54 year old Lockheed Martin software engineer, 4 years to build and program it in his basement. He even documented the construction and posted the plans here. The computer contained a whopping 4k of RAM!

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-12

• RT @voycey Reg: CompuServe signs off: AOL shutters classic provider CompuServe http://bit.ly/ixDVs #


• Sigh, fond memories of my first ISP: RT @voycey Reg: CompuServe signs off: AOL shutters classic provider CompuServe http://bit.ly/ixDVs #


• Easy answer for the SiFi rebrand. SiFi was too generic to trademark! Purely commercial reason ... #


• Building brick garden paths is a lotta' work! #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-05

• Checking out Newseum in DC. If you are news junkie this is for you. Lots of tech too! #


• My ride on the DC Metro was interesting. Smoke that smelled like burning insulation came from the last car! #


• Hanging out at a Washington Freedom women's soccer game. Good crowd! Women's sports has come a long way, needs to go even further! #


• These girls (women?) really bring it! Just saw two of them collide racing for the goal. Ouch! #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-28

• Finishing up the Green Bank Star Party. Great speakers, neat hardware to look at, but cloudy weather - drat! #


• On the plus side astronaut Alan Bean speaks tonight. One of the few "free spirits" in the astronaut corp and one of the few to moon walk... #

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Green Bank Star Party

Almost finished with the Green Bank Star Party. The star party is located at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia. The campground for the party sits in the shadow of the GBT (Green Bank Radio Telescope), the largest steerable radio telescope in the world. This thing is huge! You could drop two football fields inside of it!

The NRAO cafeteria serves great food, we have free showers, and great speakers. The bad news is almost every night has been cloudy. Hopefully tonight (Saturday) will be better.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-17

• Twitdroid definitely could use some interface tweaks. Needs a bit more feedback on the sends. #


• Attending the EPA Region 10 Regional Innovation Council quarterly meeting. I'll be demoing Twitter :-) #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-05-10

• At the An Event Apart conference, Jeffry Zeldman speaking on site redesign #


• Jeffrey advocates designing the site from the content out #


• I liked Jefferey's idea of redesigning his blog live and asking for feedback. Eric Meyer (Mr. CSS) up next #


• Eric is like me - nuts 'bolts guy! #


• Ethan m #


• Ethan Marcotte was great! Good tips on the design process and fluid layouts. See him if he is speaking in your town! #


• Eric Meyer is amazing on CSS. His chart techniques are very clever and clean. #


• Looked at a couple of pie chart css solutions. Still haven't figured out what Eric used ... #


• Next up - Scott Thomas, Designer for Obama for America ... #


• Wow! Only two primary designers for the Obama team! #


• Interesting to see how tightly inte #


• Interesting to see how tightly integrated Obama's web team is. Went for very clean, clear message. #


• Used simple graphics that "popped", i.e. the Obama rising sun. #


• Integrated print and web together for the campaign... #


• Projected consistency and strength to counter Obama's perceived inexperience... #


• The web drove participation in Obama's campaign... #


• The flow chart for the voter registration site looks like something from the Far Side strip :) #


• Scott's website: http://thepostfamily.com/ #


• Some advice from Scott, get away from the computer screen, work with your hands, and surround yourself with interesting people .. #


• From GreenBiz.com. Ford's Expedition SUV plant will be the plant to build the All-Electric focus: http://bit.ly/6oKaH #


• Need to plan time for the new Star Trek movie. Hot trailers, great reviews, fresh, young cast - can't miss! #


• RT @NWF: Disappointing Decision on Polar Bear Protection :( http://ow.ly/5OG9 #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-04-19

• Started to learn Android development. Doesn't seem too painful... #

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Ways to save water

Climate change or not, water is fast becoming a constrained resource. It's also becoming an expensive resource! Look at your water bill if you don't believe me.

How can you save water and money at the same time? Try these steps:

1) Add low flow aerators to your faucets. Inexpensive and easy to do.

2) Add a water-filled bottle to your toilet's water tank. This reduces the amount of water per flush.

3) Better yet replace your toilet with a 1.28 gallon per flush unit. It will flush better than a toilet using the water bottle trick and may even improve your home's value. I'm using an American Standard Compact Cadet 3 FloWise unit. It works a treat and is on the EPA's WaterSense list.

4) Here's a possible fourth item. A faucet hot water heater. It should definitely save water, but what about the energy use? Any comments?

How will ecosystems adapt to climate change?

If you have concerns about Climate Change and you're in Seattle May 27-28, EPA Region 10 has the workshop for you. Sponsored by our Environmental Assessment Division, "The Plight of Ecosystems in a Changing Climate: Impacts on Services, Interactions and Responses Workshop" will help answer this question and more. The workshop is open to the public, but you need to register at the website.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-04-05

• That was interesting! The Sounder train overshot the Auburn station by a car length. Time to wake up the engineer! #

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"Extreme Ice" on PBS' NOVA series

Want some real evidence of Climate Change? If you missed the PBS program "Extreme Ice" you missed a lot. The program, a collaboration between PBS (Public Broadcasting) and National Geographic, highlights the rapid decline of glaciers around the planet. And even more worrisome, the unexpected changes in the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps. While losing the mountain glaciers will only bring sea level increases of one to three feet by the end of this century the loss of the major ice caps would cause changes in the hundreds of feet! This would be very bad news for any major coastal cities.

Still think Climate Change is BS? Time to wake up.

Also check out the supporting National Geographic Extreme Ice Survey site.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-29

• Global Climate change in action. Watch a glacier melt back in time-lapse: http://tinyurl.com/clbstl #


• Don't forget! Earth Hour 2009 tonight at 8:30pm local time. Lights out for a hour to make your statement. #


• #earthhour good participation in Auburn. Probably around 30 to 40%. Someone got the memo! #

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Nature Conservancy's State of the Birds report

I don't know about you, but one change I've seen in my environment is a reduction in birds in my backyard. Whether it's domestic cats (hopefully not, I have two!), habitat destruction, or climate change something is causing a steep decline in our avian friends. There is good news and bad news in the report. Download (4mb PDF) the report and read it for yourself.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-22

• With a face only a mother could love the wombat is getting help from an unlikely source, a mining company. http://tinyurl.com/ctuofc #


• Tree pollen is such a@#! pain! Need more rain! #

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ESA's Earth Explorer Satellite Program

ESA (European Space Agency) will be launching a series of satellites named Earth Explorers. Each of these satellites will examine our planet with a different set of instruments. Our planet is changing in many ways and these robotic explorers will help us understand how and why.

The first mission, Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE), just launched from Russia and will map the Earth's gravitational field in detail. An unique mission, the GOCE satellite flies at the edge of the Earth's atmosphere with constant orbital corrections provided by an ion engine. The next missions are listed below from ESA's web site:

ADM-Aeolus
The prime aim of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission is to demonstrate measurements of vertical wind profiles from space, using a high performance Doppler Wind Lidar based on direct-detection interferometric techniques. ADM-Aeolus is due for launch in 2011.

EarthCARE
Earth Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) will improve the representation and understanding of the Earth's radiative balance in climate and numerical forecast models. EarthCARE is due for launch in 2013.


Opportunity missions:

SMOS
The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, scheduled for launch in 2009, will exploit an innovative instrument designed as a two-dimensional interferometer for acquiring brightness temperature observations at L-band (1.4 GHz) for the estimation of soil moisture and ocean salinity to further our understanding of the Earth's water cycle.

CryoSat-2
The CryoSat-2 satellite replaces CryoSat, which was lost as a result of launch failure in October 2005. Scheduled for launch towards the end of 2009, CryoSat-2 will measure fluctuations in the thickness of ice on both land and sea to provide conclusive evidence as to whether there is indeed a trend towards diminishing ice cover, furthering our understanding of the relationship between ice and global climate. CryoSat-2 will carry an innovative SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL).

Swarm
The objective of this mission is to provide the best-ever survey of the geomagnetic field and its temporal evolution in order to gain new insights into the Earth system by improving our understanding of the Earth's interior and climate. Swarm is due for launch in 2010.

North pole expedition looking for signs of climate change

A British team is on the arctic ice this Spring looking for signs of climate change. The Catlin Arctic Survey will be trying to determine if the Arctic ice cap is breaking up and if it is, put a solid time frame on the break up. To this end, the three team members, Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels, and Martin Hartley will be out on the ice from February to about May. They will be carrying a ground-penetrating radar that allows the expedition to measure ice thickness and composition.

You can follow the survey at the Catlin Artic Survey's website.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-15

• Gotta' get some sleep so I can learn to play with Android. Everything I've seen in the docs looks cool! #


• Fiction becomes fact. In the Matrix they used phones to jack in, now I use my G1. Any day the guy with shades will show up ... #

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Ikea introduces solar-powered lighting ...

CleanTechnica.com posted an article on Ikea's new line of solar lighting. The Swedish furniture superstore is a leader in green furnishings and lighting and it looks like they have no intention of losing that lead. The lights range from $6.99 to $19.99 in price. Here's a link to the $19.99 worklight.

Playing with the T-Mobile G1 (aka the Google phone)

I just purchased a new cell phone plan with T-Mobile. My new phone, purchased as part of the plan, is a T-Mobile G1, otherwise known as the "Google Phone".

What do I think of the phone? I like it a lot :) It has enormous potential, and a lot of that potential is locked up in the open source Android operating system. It'll be interesting to see what apps the Linux guys produce for the phone. More after I finish playing with my new toy ...

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-08

• anyone using a tmobile g1 to tweet or blog? #


• Pulled the trigger and bought a Tmobile G1! I'm a Google Fanboy now. #


• Stock market down to below 6600! Can't figure out if stocks are a bargain or just plain ugly... #

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EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at Power Shift 2009 ...

This is cool! EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at Power Shift 2009 telling the kids to get involved and rock our government. Way to go Boss (I work for the US EPA)! It's about time we tell the kids to get involved.

No matter what happens now, they will be dealing with some degree of climate change in their future!

Here's Lisa's talk on You Tube.

A Major Setback in Global Warming Science - OCO Launch Fails

Bad news, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) failed to reach orbit last Tuesday. Apparently, a protective fairing failed to separate from the spacecraft and prevented the OCO from reaching orbit. The OCO would have allowed scientists to "fine tune" their climate models by finding carbon sources and sinks that are not currently understood. A big loss for our understanding of the Earth's climate.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-01

• Sunday's APOD was just awesome with a Hubble photo of the Orion nebula http://tinyurl.com/dxjedy #

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Finally bought a new LCD TV set ...

Well Sandy and I finally gave in and bought a new TV set. Regular readers of this blog probably wonder what does that have to do with the environment or astronomy, the most common blog topics?

Well, truthfully, I just wanted the Nintendo WII out of my bedroom! The good news is the new TV is Energy Star compliant. In fact, the new set only uses a .5 watt in standby mode (off)! A big improvement over older TV sets.

Collaboration between Google and Purdue University produces a new view of CO2 ...

A collabration between Google and Purdue University gives us a new tool to help control global climate change. Purdue, in association with DOE and NASA, developed a database of CO2 sources named Project Vulcan. Google, with its experience developing Google Maps and Google Earth, used its talents to plot Project Vulcan's data onto an interactive map. The CO2 emissions map can be found at http://www.purdue.edu/eas/carbon/vulcan/GEarth/index.html.

Earth Hour 2009

Last year (2008) Earth Hour went global. This year Earth Hour 2009 is even larger, with more cities and more countries. The premise is simple -- turn out your lights, your TV, and any other appliances for 60 minutes as a symbol of your commitment to control climate change. Yes, it is a simple step of symbolism, but at least it is a step to control a problem that every nation on earth will soon face. On March 28th lets all turn out the lights!

[caption id="attachment_136" align="alignnone" width="250" caption="Logo for Earth Hour 2009"][/caption]

Global Energy Balance Explained

NASA's Earth Observatory site has great article on how the Earth's energy balance works. This topic is central to understanding global climate change, so if you really want to understand global warming, read this article. Without the blanket of air that surrounds us this planet this would be a very cold place to live. Interestingly, even with an atmosphere, without carbon dioxide it would still be a cold planet ( around 10 to 0 degrees average). A little carbon dioxide is a good thing, too much and you have a planet like Venus with an 800 degree surface temperature!

Google enters the smart grid arena

Google previewed its new smart grid technology last week, PowerMeter. What's the advantage of a smart power grid? The big advantage of a intelligent power grid is more efficient utilization of available power. For example, under heavy power loads a smart grid could request smart grid enabled appliances to go to a lower power state, saving the consumer money and keeping the power grid safe. It can also highlight inefficient appliances for the consumer.

Here's two links about the PowerMeter technology:

The Google PowerMeter site
Green Wombat post on Google PowerMeter

Have kids, want to save power? Try this ...

One annoying thing about kids is getting them to turn lights off. Sure with CFL or LED lighting it's not that bad, but every little bit helps. So why not have the lights turn themselves off? Try one of these timer switches from Intermatic:

Intermatic electronic wall timers

One thing about electronic timers -- make sure they work with CFLs, some don't.

How long can Global Warming last? 100,000 years if you're an ocean!

An interesting post on Wired.com's science blog states that Global Warming could be around a lot longer than we first thought -- about 100,000 years longer! If the planet continues on a "business as usual" path (no change in greenhouse gases) recent studies indicate earth's oceans could be compromised for as long as 100,000 years. Read the report for the full details.

Not the Shrub's energy and environment plan ...

What difference a change in administration makes! President Obama's energy and environment plan is a quantum leap from President Bush's lack of a plan!

Another great NOVA program, The Big Energy Gamble

Always informative and factual, the PBS series NOVA, highlights the aggressive green energy plan of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. California has the 6th largest economy in the world (yes, the state by itself!) and critically needs sources of clean, reliable power, therefore the Governor has embarked on an aggressive plan to greatly expand renewable power in the state's energy mix. Could this be the model for President Obama's energy plan? I certainly hope so and with even more aggressive measures!

Check out clips from Dr. Steven Chu, formerly of Lawrence Livermore Labs, now the US Energy Secretary and a friendly "green" competition between Ed Begley (St. Elsewhere) and Bill Nye ("Bill Nye the Science Guy®"). You can link to the program at "The Big Energy Gamble" on the PBS website.

Solar array is cleared for use

The W L&I inspector cleared the solar array for use on Thursday. Amazingly, she asked my wife why no one called her to inspect the changes last Friday! The Brother's Electric folks called her several times on that Friday and where here most of the day. Obviously the Washington Labor & Industries division of the state government can't even afford to charge their cell phones!

The next step is to get the production meter from Puget Sound Energy installed. That could take up to another week or so, but usually less. Once the meter is plugged in the Clugston household will be producing power :-)

My solar power hits a snag -- the electrical inspector!

Well my solar power setup looked all ready to go until the electrical inspector inspected the system. Mary Ness, of the Washington State Dept. of Labor and Industries, cited two complaints, one was arguable either way, the second I found confusing. Apparently Dave Cozine has worked with inspectors that allowed photographs in lieu of climbing the roof  to inspect connections. Mary does not, and wanted the panels removed so she could inspect the Enphase quick-disconnects. I think we've resolved this issue, but we'll see Monday when the inspector comes again.

The lesson I take away from this is have your installer call the inspector before the install begins and ask what they want to see. Dave, who has a spotless record and excellent references, has worked with 47 different inspectors with few snags. But there are no standards between inspectors. There probably should be, but L&I hasn't set any in place.

The oceans are warming, not cooling -- a climate skeptic myth dispelled ...

A study published in 2006 by John Lyman at Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Josh Willis of NASA reported a surprising finding, the world's oceans were cooling rather than warming as would be expected with global climate change. This report was immediately hailed by climate change skeptics as proof that global warming was a myth, just a normal aberration in the earth's climate cycle. Unfortunately, for the skeptics, it wasn't true.

Josh started to see disturbing errors in his data, and like all scientific data, his data was subject to review and correction. Josh found the largest problem in his data came from a robot floating sensor called Argo. A chunk of the temperature data was from Argos with defective temperature sensors. With the defective readingswarming removed from the data the cooling almost disappeared. A second piece of sensor data, readings from a expendable thermometer called a XBT, made the early readings of ocean temperature appear to warm. Read the full tale of Josh Willis' scientific sleuthing at the NASA Earth Observatory.

Sorry skeptics, better luck next time!

Bill Clugston, a Climate Change believer

Photograph of the completed solar array

Here's a photo of the completed 2 kilowatt solar array.

[caption id="attachment_93" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo of completed 2 kilowatt solar power system"][/caption]

Kudos go to Brothers Electric and Solar for a quick and professional job. If you want a solar power system installed in the Tacoma - Seattle area definitely give Dave Cozine a call! I'll be adding more information to the main Earth, Sky, Stars website on the steps for installing a solar power system. I'll also detail how to approach your homeowners association about such a project (hint: lots of detailed information!).

With any luck the incoming Obama administration will give a big boost to solar power installs and make solar power even easier to obtain.

New toy, just setup TwitMe on my blog...

Just testing Twitme to see if it "wires" the blog into Twitter.

Solar Power system is up and running

Of course some sun would be nice, so we're off to a slow start :-( But the system is now on the grid and producing power. As soon as Enphase sets up my website I'll post a link to it so anyone can monitor the power output. Here's a photo of Dave Cozine, his son Alex, and Tim moving a module to its new home on the roof.

[caption id="attachment_88" align="alignleft" width="199" caption="A Sanyo 200 watt module heads for the roof"][/caption]

Sanyo solar modules arrive!

The photo-voltaic (solar) power system is now sitting in my garage! Hopefully, when the weather breaks on Thursday, Dave Cozine and crew can get them installed. Here's a photo of the modules.

[caption id="attachment_82" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Sanyo 200 watt modules arrive"][/caption]

For each of the 10 modules (200 watt x 10 = 2,000 watts) there is an Enphase grid-tie inverter. Unlike most systems where there is a single, central inverter, the Enphase converts 32vdc to 240vac at the solar panel. If you lose an inverter you only lose the output from one module. Here's a photo.

[caption id="attachment_81" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Photograph of Enphase grid-tie power inverter "][/caption]

Other "green projects" for the holidays ...

While waiting for the solar power install the Clugston's haven't been idle on greening our household. Sandy and I took advantage of the deep cuts in appliance prices to buy a new refrigerator. Of course it's Energy Star compliant. In fact any refrigerator over 10 years old is probably not using power efficiently! It's a shame I won't have the time to test the old refrigerator against the new one with a "Kill-a-Watt" watt meter. The comparison would be interesting :-)

The other green project was replacing high flow faucets and shower heads with low flow units. This is an easy and inexpensive project. And you save on both water heating and water usage costs. You also reduce your carbon footprint as well (less natural gas burned).

Solar Install Update -- The modules (panels) have arrived in Fife, WA ...

Good news on my solar install. Dave Cozine sent an email that the panels have arrived at the freight terminal. At least they made it through the snow! Now maybe next week the install will begin. It'll truly be a happy 2009!

Want to save laser printer toner? Try this typeface ...

The Ecofont is a typeface with tiny holes in the characters. The holes don't reduce legibility, but they do reduce the amount of toner/ink used. The fonts are True Type, so they should work on almost all recent operating systems.

One other thing -- they're free!