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| Oh Baby - It's Cold Outside
Thursday, February 03 @ 14:49:58 EST
by Mark |
 Oh baby. It's definitely cold outside and snuggle weather is upon us again. Once we get that 'shiver' thing going, it's sometimes
difficult to stop. I guess it's to be expected in the morning when we get
in a cold car (love those vinyl seats) or when we take out the garbage in our
pajamas, but you know it's cold when you need to snuggle just to keep your teeth
from chattering when you go to bed at night. My wife kind of likes me this winter...
Shivering is involuntary muscle tensing that generates heat and offers a warming effect. When you first become slightly chilled, you'll find
yourself doing an isometric type of muscle tensing that can increase your metabolic rate two to four times.
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| Ancient Baghdad Battery
Tuesday, December 28 @ 17:43:57 EST
by mark |
Sitting in the National Museum of Iraq is a earthenware jar about the size of a man's fist. Its existence could require history books throughout the world to be rewritten.
According to most texts the "voltic pile," or electric battery, was invented in 1800 by the Count Alassandro Volta. Volta had observed that when two dissimilar metal probes were placed against frog tissue, a weak electric current was generated. Volta discovered he could reproduce this current outside of living tissue by placing the metals in certain chemical solutions. For this, and his other work with electricity, we commemorate his name in the measurement of electric potential called the volt.
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| Travel, Turkey and the Thanksgiving Flush
Monday, November 29 @ 18:07:04 EST
by Mark |
For many Americans, Thanksgiving is a time to visit family, eat massive amounts of turkey and watch football. It's a festive time of year (unless you happen to be a turkey) and there's usually not even the germ of an idea about energy or water savings going on inside of our brains. I can fix that - or break it, depending on your point of view.
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| Candy Energy - Sugar Bomb
Monday, October 25 @ 17:43:24 EDT
by Mark |
 We often discuss energy savings at WattBusters but how often do we think about
the ways that fuel is converted to energy. Natural gas to heat, coal to
electricity, sugar into screaming, bouncing children, etc. Since
it's close to Halloween and candy will probably be fairly abundant around the
house, let's zero in on sugar.
Sugar is technically a form of carbohydrates and carbohydrates are good for
you, as long as you eat the right kinds in the right amounts. Carbohydrates are
your body's main source of energy. But before you reach for the
carbs in a candy bar, take some time to learn about sugar. Babies are born
with a sweet tooth. Human milk is quite sweet, so a child begins life
making the connection between eating, drinking, and pleasure.
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| Trying To Maintain
Friday, July 23 @ 16:16:34 EDT
by webmaster |
 When do you fix a piece of equipment that you own? Being able to justify expenditures for repairs can be very fuzzy whether you are looking at your home or your business. I know I'm guilty of putting off repairs and maintenance for as long as possible, all the while thinking that I'm saving money. Recently I read an article by Rick Fedrizzi called 'Do The Math' that made me question the wisdom of 'saving now'.
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| The Habitual Roast
Friday, July 23 @ 15:28:55 EDT
by webmaster |
 Here's an eye-opening story about a newlywed couple in the kitchen on a Sunday afternoon. As the wife was preparing a roast for dinner, the husband noticed that she cut the ends off the roast. The husband asked the wife why she did that and the wife replied, "I'm not sure but that's how I learned to prepare roast from my mother."
The next weekend while visiting Mom, the new bride asked her mother why she cut the ends off the roast. The mother replied, "Well dear, that's just the way I learned to cook roast from my mother. They always seem to turn out fine so I've never given it much thought."
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| American Idle
Monday, July 12 @ 17:41:05 EDT
by webmaster |
 Two gas pumps. One shows $2 per gallon. The other is $8 per gallon. You're not real thrilled about the price of either but you need to select one. Which would you choose? My guess is that it wouldn't be the one that costs four times as much as the other. Why would you throw away your hard-earned money when you don't have to? Your miles per gallon would remain exactly the same but your cost per mile would soar.
By sitting idle, many Americans make that expensive choice every day with their lighting. Every incandescent light bulb in your house uses approximately 4 times more energy than a compact fluorescent for every minute that it's turned on. We keep hammering home the idea that compact fluorescents use 1/4 the energy of regular incandescents but maybe the equation should be flipped. You are PAYING 4 times too much. DUH? It's understandable if you aren't aware of the technology but what's the excuse if you are aware?
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| Fire and Light Bulbs
Tuesday, May 25 @ 10:43:53 EDT
by webmaster |
The most ancient of discoveries and the epitome of invention, fire and light bulbs both provide light by the same process: incandescence. In fire, from forest fires to Bunsen burners, chemical reactions release heat, releasing gases and raising materials to high temperatures, where the gases and materials incandesce.
Light bulbs also produce light through incandescence, but they use electricity to produce the heat. Inside a light bulb, as in space heaters, electrical current runs through a thin wire and heats the wire to a high temperature, causing the wire to incandesce. Brighter (and whiter) light requires higher temperatures, which in turn require more electricity. Compact fluorescent bulbs run 90% cooler than incandescent bulbs which will reduce fire hazards and risks to children and pets.
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| CFL'S for safety? Falls and light bulbs
Friday, May 21 @ 17:20:21 EDT
by webmaster |
 Put compact fluorescent bulbs into fixtures that are hard to get at, like in a stairway or the attic. Sometimes the hassle of standing on a ladder or chair to replace a hard-to-reach bulb makes the higher cost of the compact bulb worthwhile on this basis alone. Compact fluorescent lamps are most cost effective and efficient in areas where lights are on for long periods of time. You may see a slower payback in areas where the light is turned on and off often, or where they are on for only a few minutes, such as closets and pantries. Because compact fluorescents do not need to be changed often, they are ideal for hard-to-reach or dangerous areas.
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