Category Archives: Energy

Penn and Teller – The Truth of Bottled Water

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This is a great reason why you shouldn’t drink bottled water. There is no difference and it is not safer or cleaner than tap water. In fact, most of the bottled water is coming from tap water.

Most of the major bottlers of water are now going to list where they get the water, Aquafina is one of them. See this story that was on Today,
“Is your bottled water coming from a faucet?”

Here is the Penn and Teller video on bottled water:

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This does not take into account the plastic bottles that never ever get recycled.

Mayor Newsom prohibits city departments from using bottled water

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Mayor Newsom prohibits city departments from using bottled water – KGPE – CBS TV47

Even though I don’t believe in bottled water, it may be the only solution for some people and offices.

I think an outright ban to combat global warming is a little stretch though seeing that most of those bottles are recycled and not new plastic.

Only in San Francisco.

The Denver Post – Credit-card hitch at pump

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The Denver Post – Credit-card hitch at pump

Credit Card companies have a policy in place that limits the amount that you can purchase with a credit card at the pump.

Since the price of gas is going through the roof, coming down a little now, many more people are hitting those limits.  I haven’t personally hit that limit and I am paying  more than $50 for a tank of gas. Continue reading →

RTD – Electric or Diesel?

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RTD is struggling with a decision and are getting pushed both ways. Should the remaining lines to be decided be electric or diesel?

These would be for the FasTracks lines to Arvada, the rail line to Boulder and Longmont, the north corridor near I-25, and the line to Denver International Airport. Right now the line to Arvada and DIA would be electric with the other two being diesel.

The proponents of the electric line cite the lower costs in the long-run and reduced pollution compared to the diesel engines powering the trains. The diesel line proponents are highlighting the up-front cost savings, $142 million, if they go with diesel.

But is diesel cleaner than coal? Here are my thoughts: Continue reading →

Traffic.com Not Really User Friendly

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Traffic.com Email Screen Shot

I use Traffic.com sparingly to get notified of traffic problems on my way to or from work.

The reason I use it sparingly is that it doesn’t really tell me where the problem is. It only shows that there are “incidents” and what the delay in the drive time will be. That is it. (see screen shot to the left.)

It would be so much more helpful if they would show what the incidents are, where they are, and when they will be cleared up. Continue reading →

Fuel Discounts Return, Yeah!

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Up until this fall, Safeway and King Soopers provided a fuel discount at their gas stations depending on how much you spent in their grocery store.

But, when two west slope gas distributors filed a lawsuit saying that if violated a state law for selling something below cost and hurting competition. A judge agreed and ruled what Safeway and King Soopers were doing as illegal, and they stopped.

But, the state legislature came through and Governor Ritter signed the bill and the gas discounts are back.

At Safeway, with a club card, you get $.03 per gallon, but if you spend $50 in the store, you get $.10 off per gallon. At King Soopers has yet to announce their plan.
You can read more on the 9News website.

The Year Without Toilet Paper

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In looking around the New York Times website today I found this story, The Year Without Toilet Paper.

The premise of the story is that this family is living a year in New York doing their best to not have an impact on the earth. No trash, nothing grown outside a 250-mile radius of Manhattan, not using the elevator, nothing that uses fossil fuels, or toilet paper.

This is an interesting idea and experiment for a book, but this is something that I couldn’t do. These days it would be pretty hard to do this, especially with my wife.

I am not meaning that we are not doing our part to reduce our footprint. We drive a hybrid, we have replaced most of our light bulbs with compact flourescent bulbs, walk to the grocery store when I can, and try to recycle as much as we can.

But I couldn’t live without toilet paper.

Scott Wells on his blog Boys in the Band has a pretty good point in his blog post, Make some impact, effectively,:

Look at your checkbook. It should be pretty easy to pick out the parts of your life that deserve an sustainability and environmental audit. Let’s say housing and property maintainance, electricity and fuel, transportation, food, medical and health care and charitable giving.

I think all of us should look at how we are impacting the world and do our part to reduce our impact and footprint. We should do what is best for ourself and our family.

I wish Beavan and Conlin well. And I will be looking for the book and documentary when they come out. You can follow their year at noimpactman.com.