Indians Game...

Yesterday at the Indians game was supposed to be an promo for Earth Day at the Kid's Fun Day activities. The Earth Day Coalition was going to have activities for kids to do like powering a TV with a bicycle and stuff like that... But it was to cold, so they will reschedule that. (Remember Earth Fest is next weekend at the Cleveland Zoo!)

But the reason I went is that my boss (former president of EarthDay Coalition and designer of the solar panels at the Jake) was throwing out the first pitch! I was slightly disappointed, because he did not get to go the mound to pitch. For some strange reason, I don't understand, they pulled the tarp out halfway and were in a weather delay for 45 minutes, and when the tarp is out no one is allowed to go to the field... But it did not start snowing and freezing rain until AFTER they started the game... Go figure...

In any case sitting there for 2 hours (we only stayed for 4 innings, then our toes started to go numb and we left) made me remember that it is only mid April, and in Ohio, mid April is still pretty early, we could still have a real snow fall, and frost is likely for another month...

Oil prices?

This morning when driving in to work (after filling my tank with $3.15 a gallon gas) I heard that oil prices were down almost $7 a barrel in the past week on news of larger then expected supply. They indicated that the $100 a barrel mark was not as likely as soon as had been previously thought.

By the time I got to work I had heard a second report (20 minutes later) that there had been a deadly fire in a Canadian pipeline with supplies up to 15% of US supply. Prices had soared back over $95 a barrel and $100 oil is likely.

We need to find ways to free ourselves from fossil fuels. I know it won't happen quickly, or cheaply. But slow and steady steps will help us take advantage of what "free" energy is around us in the form of solar, wind, tidal, methane from landfills, and others. Alternative power for transportation may include hydrogen, vegetable oil, electricity (from sources above), peddle power, and more. A distributed system both geographically and technologically will be the solution, I feel. Not today or tomorrow, but soon. Our children should see a new infrastructure grow. (Photo of the solar panels on the building I work at, a 3.4 kW array.)

I wonder if the park would consider letting us put a wind turbine in our backfield on the top of the hill? I want my next vehicle to run on bio-diesel and used vegetable oil. We are looking at alternative power for the workshop we want to build in a couple years. Solar on the roof for daily needs and a bio-diesel generator for when we need to run high amperage items (power tools, drill presses, welders.) We can all take little steps, and slowly we will do it! Together, small steps at a time.

Sun Gods reward solar!

The Indians won again last night and may well guarantee themselves a world series spot on Thursday. The solar gods are rewarding baseball teams with photovoltaic (solar) panels this year.

There are currently 3 teams in major league baseball who currently have solar panels in their facilities, the San Francisco giants, the Colorado Rockies, and the Cleveland Indians. Coincidence? I don't think so! The Red socks to are embracing "green" recently implementing a recycling program, but their solar system is still in the planning phase, the Indians on the other hand already have a small solar system going. Enough power to power every TV in the Jake!

Since the Red Socks don't have their system done yet the Indians are fated to win the series! We may run into trouble with the Rockies though whose own solar system is slightly bigger then our own...