|
|
|
The Rural Missouri NEWS Service January
2009 | February
2009 | March
2009 | April 2009 | May
2009
| June 2009
| July 2009 |
|
January 2009 Emergency Generators Done Right
Some people fall back on wood stoves and fireplaces to at least keep warm. Others may listen longingly to the loud hum of a neighbor’s portable generator and wonder if we should invest in one too. If you don’t own a generator but think you need one, now’s the time before a storm hits to do your homework. You may opt for a portable unit to power only a few appliances. Or you may buy a more expensive standby generator to power your entire house 24/7. With either type, safe operation is of utmost importance. If you think you need a generator, consider these tips from Carol Farbe, who writes about energy efficiency at www.ezinearticles.com, to decide which type of generator is right for you:
One place to research generators is www.amazon.com. Go to Home & Garden, then Home Improvement, then Generators for a wide variety of generators and reviews. Size it right: how big is too big? If you decide to buy a generator, the most important question to ask and answer is what appliances and equipment do you truly need to keep running in the event of an electrical outage. If your critical needs are few and don’t use a lot of watts, then a portable generator may serve your purpose just fine. But if your critical needs include a home office, refrigerator, well pump, sump pump, furnace, lights and farm needs, you’ll need a higher capacity, more expensive standby generator. Generators are measured by their output in kilowatts. A kilowatt equals 1,000 watts, which is enough power to light 10 100-watt light bulbs. To find out how many watts an appliance uses, check the generator manual or better yet the appliance manual or the bottom of the appliance. The U.S. Department of Energy at www.doe.gov and its “EERE Consumer Guide for Estimating Appliance and Home Electronic Energy Use” includes a list of estimated appliance wattages. To determine what size generator you need, add up the wattages of the various appliances and items you need to power. Count the start-up wattage or surge wattage, not the running wattage, which should be listed in the appliance manual or on the device itself. According to Briggs & Stratton Power Products, an 800-watt refrigerator/freezer uses 1,600 watts to start up and a ½ HP, 800-watt furnace requires 1,300 watts to start. Always look for a generator with at least 20 percent more capacity than the total watts needed. Mother Earth News also recommends operating your generator no more than 75 percent of capacity for greatest efficiency and to prolong its life. Operate your generator safely Generators can be life savers in certain circumstances. But they also can be deadly if not used properly. Follow these safety tips from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (www.cpsc.gov), the U.S. Fire Administration (www.usfa.fema.gov) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (www.osha.gov) to avoid potential hazards.
Portable vs. standby: which generator to buy An online home generators guide at www.smps.us/home-generators.html and home improvement guru Bob Vila at www.bobvila.com point out some of the pros and cons of portable and standby generators. Here’s a summary: Portable generators
Standby generators
The October 2006 issue of Consumer Reports rates and ranks both portable and standby generators. You’ll find online reviews of standby generators at www.amazon.com and www.smps.us/home-generators.html. Check out at least five models before you buy. The Propane Education & Research Council says to be sure any standby unit includes a main alternator unit, automatic transfer switch, generator fuel shut-off valve, automatic shutdown protection system and a factory-warranted generator enclosure. Whatever system you purchase, chances are you will use it fewer than 50 hours a year. According to Mother Earth News, even a less expensive generator will run at least 500 hours and last about 10 years. Can I run my home electronics from a generator? Yes, but you should be careful. Many generators, especially portables, produce power that is lower quality than the power supplied by your utility. Electricity from a utility is produced at a steady voltage and frequency. According to the experts at www.nooutage.com, some types of generators can produce “dirty” power that has spikes, surges and other undesirable fluctuations that cause sensitive electronic equipment to operate hotter, misoperate and have a shorter life. You should always use a UL listed surge protector with computers, televisions, DVD players and other modern electronic components. Computers also are sensitive to extreme heat and cold, so beyond power to the computer itself, you need to keep room temperatures in a moderate range. The case for high school activities Editor’s note: Missouri’s Touchstone Energy electric cooperatives are sponsors of all Missouri High School Activities Association events, from the sports final four championship events to lesser known events such as debate and music programs. This article was provided by the Missouri State High School Activities Association and can be used as you see fit. by Jason West, At a cost of only 1 to 3 percent (or less in many cases) of an overall school’s budget, high school activity programs are one of the best bargains around. It is in these vital programs — sports, music, speech, drama, debate — where young people learn lifelong lessons as important as those taught in the classroom. There is no better time than today to assert “The Case for High School Activities.” From interscholastic sports to music, drama and debate, activities enrich a student’s high school experience. These activities support the academic mission of schools. They are not a diversion but rather an extension of a good educational program. Students who participate in activity programs tend to have higher grade-point averages, better attendance records, lower dropout rates and fewer discipline problems than students generally. Activity programs provide valuable lessons for practical situations — teamwork, sportsmanship, winning and losing and hard work. Through participation in activity programs, students learn self-discipline, build self-confidence and develop skills to handle competitive situations. These are qualities the public expects schools to produce in students so that they become responsible adults and productive citizens. Participation in high school activities is often a predictor of later success — in college, a career and becoming a contributing member of society. While many studies refer to extracurricular activities, a better term might be “cocurricular” activities, because these activities support the academic mission of schools and are inherently educational. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and its membership believe that interscholastic sports and fine arts activities promote citizenship and sportsmanship. They instill a sense of pride in community, teach lifelong lessons of teamwork and self-discipline and facilitate the physical and emotional development of our nation’s youth. The NFHS supports co-curricular endeavors through many avenues, including:
Overall, NFHS and its members believe that participation in high school activities is an important part of the high school experience. Of the 60 students listed in the May 14, 1998, USA Today’s All-USA High School Academic First, Second and Third Teams and the 51 who earned honorable mention, 75 percent were involved in sports, speech, music or debate. In 1985, the NFHS sponsored a national survey of high school principals and nearly 7,000 high school students in all 50 states. The survey, funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment in Indianapolis, was conducted by Indiana University in cooperation with the National Association of Secondary School Principals and found:
School-age children and teens who are unsupervised during the hours after school are far more likely to use alcohol, drugs and tobacco, engage in criminal and other high-risk behaviors, receive poor grades and drop out of school than those children who have the opportunity to benefit from constructive activities supervised by responsible adults. In a 1994 Harris poll, more than one-half of teachers singled out “children who are left on their own after school” as the primary explanation for students’ difficulties in class. This information comes from the National Education Commission on Time and Learning. From a cost standpoint, activity programs are an exceptional bargain when matched against the overall school district’s education budget. Generally speaking, the NFHS has determined through information received across the country that activity programs make up only 1 to 3 percent of the overall education budget in a school. American Youth and Sports Participation, a survey of 10,000 students by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (1990) revealed that the No. 1 reason that girls and boys participate in high school sports is to have fun. Conversely, lack of fun was the leading reason for dropping out of participation. Winning was not seen as a major benefit of sports by young people who participate. Consider the captain at a track championship who had won the long jump and was the leader in the triple jump when he reported to the start of the 100-meter dash. Upon his arrival, he discovered another runner from a rival school had forgotten his spikes. This young man was the only person in the league with a chance to defeat him. Without hesitating, he gave the boy his backup pair of spikes. The young man with the borrowed spikes won in the final while setting a league record in the event. The same scenario played itself out in the finals of the 200-meter dash. The boy who lent the spikes indicated, “It never occurred to me to do anything else.” Missouri’s Touchstone Energy cooperatives are proud sponsors of all Missouri State High School Activities Association events. We’ve got a plan! When the chips are down, no one likes to be alone. It’s always better to know there is someone, somewhere, you can turn to for help. When a cooperative is overwhelmed by a major storm, help is just a phone call away. The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives coordinates efforts to bring fresh crews into the recovery effort. Even in a storm as severe as those that struck parts of Missouri last year, there are always systems out of harm’s way. The association takes care of finding workers, equipment and supplies and sends them to the places where they can do the most good. It helps that all cooperatives follow similar procedures and have line structures that are the same across the country. This similarity was no accident. Engineering standards put into place by the Rural Electrification Administration when the first electric cooperatives were formed were intended to save the fledgling systems money by making bulk orders possible. Those same standards help get electric cooperative lines back in operation quickly because crews know what to do whether they are working on their own lines or for a system that is based in another state. This coordinated effort brought crews to Missouri from as far away as Mississippi, Nebraska, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Illinois when we need help. Missouri has built up a lot of goodwill by assisting with storm repairs in other states. That assistance paid great dividends in the past. These days electricity is a necessity. No one likes to be without electric service for any length of time. Rest assured FEC is going to do its best to get you back on line as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience and understanding during these times of crisis. 10 ways to save energy — and money — this winter No money for new windows and thicker insulation? Here are 10 cheap and easy ways to shave your energy use this winter without feeling cold.
Now that you have seen this in writing, you probably will never forget it. Remember, if the cold air doesn’t get in your house this winter, it doesn’t take much fuel to heat your house. When we perform a blower door test in a house it is absolutely amazing how many places air can and does come into a house. If a pull-down attic stairway is located inside the house it is always an energy hog. It never seals tightly at the ceiling and both hot and cold air can enter the house at that location. In many houses, the heating and cooling thermometer is located near the energy hog. On a cold winter day, the poor old thermostat doesn’t know what to do. It doesn’t really know if it is in the house or the attic. Solution: Seal it, seal it, seal it. Installation of an Attic Tent (www.attictent.com) or an Energy Guardian kit (www.essnrg.com) is a great answer to that problem. Many older homes have what we call whole-house attic fans. Hot and cold air pour into the house through the fan’s louvers in the ceiling. The co-op’s makeover home had both the pull-down stairway and attic fan in the hallway. And, yes, the thermostat was within 6 feet of both. Talk about a confused thermostat. Actually, there are very few days when such a fan is beneficial. Our preference is to simply remove the fan and louvers and finish the ceiling. However, a very simple solution is to install a sealed, insulated cover on the ceiling, attached to the louvers. Such a unit is custom-made for your particular size fan (www.eciwinc.com). It only takes a few minutes to install and you can still use the fan when desired. If you can’t remove the fan, you can build a box out of foam board and mastic tape. Simply cut the foam board to fit and seal tightly with the mastic tape. Then place it over the fan unit. It is inexpensive, easy to install and very effective. OK, now. No, we aren’t finished yet. Just think with me for a moment. Where are some other places where air can come into your home? Think of it this way: Anywhere an ant can get in, air can get in. Here are a few major problem areas:
So, how are you going to stop the cold air from penetrating your home this winter? The solution is mostly labor and a little bit of material. Now, say this with me: “Caulk it, caulk it, caulk it.” For big holes, such as those under the sink, simply use the expandable foam. For the smaller cracks, use a clear siliconized caulk. For electrical outlets and light switches, install the insulated foam gaskets and childproof plug inserts. Installing cellulose insulation in your attic will also help reduce air infiltration from your attic space. These products can be purchased at most home centers. There are also professionals who can test your home and correct the problems. The surest way to find the leaks is through a blower door test, which reveals where all the air leaks are, even those you can’t see. Doug Rye can be heard on KGOZ and KAAN locally. Every Saturday morning, Doug Rye hosts a live call-in show on several area radio stations. He can be heard from 9-10 a.m. on KGOZ, 101.7, Gallatin, and on KAAN, 95.5, Bethany. |
|
|
As winter ushers in blasts of deep-freeze cold, heavy snow and ice, some of us may remember past winter storms that caused temporary power outages. Sometimes in these situations a backup source of power is desired or even needed.
With air infiltration being such a major energy problem, you surely didn’t think the topic could be covered in one column, did you? As I often say in seminars, the three most important items in energy efficiency are: 1) air infiltration, 2) air infiltration, and 3) air infiltration.