travis’s brain dump

DENVER (AP) – Using emissions-free solar panels to power one’s home may help save the planet but having access to traditional fossil-fuel generated backup electrical power isn’t free.

Xcel Energy is proposing a rate increase for solar customers that the state’s largest power supplier said pays for providing electricity in case those homes need it.

Xcel is proposing a 2.6 cents per kilowatt hour fee based on the generating capacity of a home’s solar panels. The proposed fee would be along with actual electricity used and a $7 to $8 service fee now charged to cover meter reading and billing.

The Public Utilities Commission will hold a hearing on Xcel’s new fee on Aug. 5.

Members of the solar panel industry oppose the fee.

NO kidding. I oppose this nonsense. Everyone knows that anyone who uses solar panels in a residential area is always going to rely on regular hookup to Xcel in order to power their homes at night or when batteries run lower than needed to operate a house. The nonsense here is there doesn’t seem to be any definition on where this would apply. Seeing as how there are many people who use solar panels on their rooftops to offset energy costs this could technically cause some serious issues if it applies to even the most basic user. This story taken from 9 News depicts just how freakin greedy these utility companies are. Are you kidding me!?  Talk about a way to completely derail the desire to help the environment or your power bill any.  Let me break this down for you folks that don’t quite get what the impact of this is. 

If they were to apply this to even the most basic solar panel user here is what the impact would be:  

In a normal month (this is from my power bill mind you) I use a total of 1402 kilowatt hours a month. This costs me $54.86 (mind you that’s after you remove the $76.55 in completely BS fees) which makes each kWH cost right at  $0.039. On another stab, is it really necessary to charge people 150% of their power usage in fees?! Don’t you greedy people get enough money!?

Now, if I wanted to say put some solar panels on the roof of my house to offset *some* of the cost of running my servers and such I would go and spend about $10,000 for a 2.10 kW system for a start. That would probably generate about 245 kWH a month of offset on average. Not a ton, but we’re only doing the basics here. Ok, so with the proposed increase above, if it applies to even the most basic user and because I’ve turned on solar panels the cost of my electricity now goes up to $0.065 per kWH for power used from the grid. This would mean that the now 1157 kWH that I’m using now costs me $75.20 in addition to an extra $8/month for a meter reading. LOL Seriously? What’s the point in doing it if you’re going to almost double the cost of my current usage?

Now, in defense of the utility I’m sure they won’t apply it to the most basic user, it really doesn’t make sense. If they do they’ll have lawsuit after lawsuit on their hands I’m sure.

So let’s look at the impact of a heavier user of solar. Someone who say, offsets half of their electric bill and would more than likely fall into this category. They go and spend $30,000 on a solar system that outputs about 7.2 kW which would put out an average of 800 kWH a month. This offset would reduce the amount used from the grid to about 602 kWH. At the new adjusted rate that’s $39.13 + $8 meter fee. Ok, so you’re finally saving money, but before the hike + fee you were much lower at $23.47.

I’m sure some of my numbers are off here, I’m using some calculators on nrel.gov to do the usages based on outputs of systems so who knows. Regardless, the second user is still looking at a savings of only $8.00 a month as opposed to $31.00 a month based on my scenario. How is that incentive for someone to go solar? You can’t even afford to pay for the system at that point.

I dunno. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Funny how my blog has turned pretty political lately… perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the government paid to work for us continues to amaze me with the constant poor performance as a whole they give this country. If I were to directly compare it to my line of work I would expect to be fired for failure to perform my duties as assigned.

Don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few politicians up there that seem to have the right ideas at least 50% of the time but overall we’ve got problems. Enough on my rants about the lacking abilities of our government. Let’s turn our attention towards this whole climate nonsense, because it is at that nonsense.

This past week (July 7th) at a Senate hearing law makers started the battle concerning whether”cap-and-trade” would hurt or help the US economy with a little pressure from cabinet officials.

“Denial of the climate-change problem will not change our destiny; a comprehensive energy and climate bill that caps and then reduces carbon emissions will,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu in remarks before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

I’ve figured it out… Chu and Waxman are planning a family together cause let’s face it, they support each other like a husband and wife… I wonder who the wife is…

Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, the panel’s top Republican, said the cap-and-trade system would amount to the largest tax increase in American history, a statement echoed by many Republicans but shot down by Democrats including Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, who chairs the committee.

“There are no new taxes,” Ms. Boxer said Tuesday morning.

No new taxes? So you’re saying that the several trillion dollars the government expects to collect from this bill just magically appears out of nowhere!? Clap your hands kids, the fairy dust will make you flyyyyyyy! Really!? Do you expect us to believe that collecting money from introducing a new “tax” on companies by way of this “cap-and-trade” nonsense isn’t going to get passed onto us American’sby way of increased costs of production and loss of jobs over the course of this bill being put into action? You are so full of self-importance and self-indulgence that you can’t see past your own ego’s for 2 seconds to realize that by doing so it will only cause another round of increased recession and failure in our economy that will cause this country to land in such a downward spiral that will leave us with nothing left but the skin hanging off our bones. You think you’re saving the planet? The planet doesn’t need saving, we do.

“It’s no surprise that during today’s G8 meeting, China, India and other developing nations refused to accept mandatory emissions controls on their economies,” Senator Inhofe said. “Without participation from China and India, anything we do here at home would impose burdensome costs on consumers in the form of higher electricity, gas, and food prices, all for no climate gain.  Unless supporters of cap-and-trade legislation can develop a plan to convince China and India to make meaningful emissions reductions on par with the United States, no such bill will pass the U.S. Senate.”

Go Senator Inhofe!

The only good news out of this whole debate came from the EPA!? That’s right, the EPA Administrator herself confirmed while appearing before the committee the following:

 ”I believe the central parts of the [EPA] chart are that U.S. action alone will not impact world CO2 levels,” Administrator Jackson said.

Nuff said. This bill is exactly what people are calling it… “Crap-and-Tax” If this bill were to pass it would eventually complete the job of flushing our economy entirely down the drain.  America, it was nice while it lasted but the dream has turned into a nightmare… somebody wake me up.

First off I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July.

This last weekend I sat back and thought of a few things when thinking about Independence Day. It’s amazing how far we’ve come and equally how far we’ve fallen since that day back in 1776.

One of the things that I got to thinking about was how the words used in the Declaration of Independence spoke of things such as equality and rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It also spoke concerning government involvement  in the affairs of its citizens, namely when counteracting those basic values and beliefs on which this country was founded.

After this Declaration, a Constitution was created for the United States of America. While a great start, there was definitely grounds for modifications and these founding individuals saw that and provided a means for it to be improved upon within Article V. The purpose of this Article was to benefit the citizens of this country by means of an adjustment process that  ensured those very values of the Declaration of Independence were upheld from that day forward despite any oversight of its original creators. This made it possible for changes to be made in order to further define certain freedoms and rights for individuals for an ever changing nation.  (Keep this in mind as there is a point to bringing this up, bear with me. )

“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature’s of God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation.”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are  created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying it’s foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.  Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” – Declaration of Independence, In Congress, July 4, 1776.

These people believed so much that their oppression had reached a point that a declaration of their freedoms had to be made to the whole world. They would no longer stand by and allow the people of the Colonies/States to be subject to the “repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny” placed on them by the King of Great Britain. They challenged a nation and it’s armies for what they believed in without hesitation because their freedoms had been so damaged because of the actions of a corrupt government that they felt they had no choice but to revolt. Amazing. The courage it took to stand up and say “NO MORE!” and do something about it.

In reviewing some of the “Facts to be submitted to a candid world,” I came across several that really stuck out that made me think. I encourage you all to go read the Declaration of Independence in detail. In fact, there’s a GREAT site that goes over the points line by line to explain what they mean and why they were written. The site can be found at:

http://colonialhall.com/histdocs/declaration/

How many of these do you believe to be applicable to today’s government? In our own modern way, there are quite a few. While they don’t apply word for word the similarities are scary. It’s frightening to think about how many of our “freedoms” are slipping away piece by piece and we don’t even take the time to notice what’s going on. There are more government agencies in place today to “regulate” items than ever before with more being created right now. We’re being taxed for something new it seems almost daily that we didn’t approve of but was decided for us without our consent. Wether it’s directly out of our income or added onto the items we purchase, we’re getting it from both ends, out of our hands and our back pockets simultaneously. It’s sad.

The worst part is to sit here and watch the system which was designed by the people, for the people, be taken away Amendment by Amendment. We revolted once, among other things, for being taxed without our consent… yet Amendment XVI  states, ”The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” Really? *rolls eyes*

I will agree that I am thankful to live in the United States of America. Despite the crap we’re putting up with right now, we’re still better off than most, for now at least. My only concern is if we allow the government to operate unchecked as they have been (read my previous post on HR 2454) we are looking at a grim future for our children and beyond. Wake up America, this is your country and you need to take it back. Stop being a sheep following the herd and educate rather than accept.