Dec. 28 deadline: Use Clean Air Act to regulate coal-fired power plants (Credo Action petition)

[StarfarerBill]

"Earlier this month, President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency issued a formal declaration that global warming pollution is a threat to public health and welfare -- something that the rest of us have known for a long, long time.

"The way is cleared for the Clean Air Act to become an crucial weapon in our fight to stop climate change. The Obama administration is now in a position to regulate global warming pollution without having to wait for Congress (which has been lured into writing weak climate policies by industry lobbyists with deep pockets).

"Coal-fired power plants are by far the largest producer of global warming pollution in the U.S., and Obama's EPA is now considering a rule that would finally allow these pollution-belching smoke stacks to be regulated. This is one of the President's best opportunities to ensure we pass on a safer planet to the next generation, but we know that Big Coal is going to fight us at every turn.

"The EPA is accepting public comments until Monday Dec. 28 on Obama's plan to regulate greenhouse gases from coal-fired plants and other big polluters under the Clean Air Act. We have only a few days to show much needed support and counter the powerful coal industry lobby."

https://act.credoaction.com/campaign/stationary_sources/index.html?r=5125

[HillbillyBob]

1. Signed

I had already signed it.
The best way that we as individuals can make dents in carbon outputs is to put ourselves on an energy diet.

Our house hold has been working on it for several years. Developing new better habits one or two at a time. We recycle, reuse, reduce and re-purpose.
I try to buy least packaging items, we are not big 'consumers' we don't just have to have the latest thing out. We finally replaced our tv after 12 yrs the last one needs some expensive and serious repair so its in the bedroom and will go sometime later in the spring when we can get some help loading it on the truck. Meanwhile the flat screen is larger(and we can see it with our aging eyes) and uses about the same power as the old smaller tube set. We try to replace appliances with lesser power consumption but this one was a very good deal since we are on fixed income.
I E-cycle electronics and cfls, and replace the cfls with leds as they die off, same with the top load washer and deep freezer. I think the refrigerator will be next it old and making funny noises and runs all the time.
Insulated curtain liners saves us at least a couple gallons of heating fuel per day.
We shut down the heat at night and the house loses a few degrees overnight, but we use a kero heater and it rapidly heats up again when I light it in the am and open the curtains to let the sun in. The kero heater uses less energy than the big central unit.
When the old mini van finally died at almost 19yrs and 260,000 miles we bought a car that gets 38 mpg instead of 15. (cheaper on insurance too). I cook in covered pots, saves about 30% on cooking energy and keeps the food moist and cooks faster on lower heat.
Our puter screens are all LCDs 3 screens use less power than one of the old CRTs alone.
We grow food, we try to buy local as much as we can. We make trips to town count by doing at least several errands and making a route before I go to town that is as many right turns(less time at traffic stops).
I buy solar powered products when I can afford them and they suit my purpose.
Instead of using the central ac fan to circulate the air in the house (and filtering) I put a solar powered attic fan on the intake that runs when ever the sun is up and does not block it so that when i want to run the central fan it will still work. ]
We have cut our electric bill from 350 450 a month when running heat or ac to 150$ I painted the roof with white sealer and we did not use the AC at all last summer a few days were uncomfortable warm in here but we would have spent 450(1800 for the summer) a month for 4 months instead our power bill was 140$ for 4 months(560$ for the summer instead running fans )saving 1240$. Our figures show we save 2500 a year by having spent 3500$ over three years in improvements and none of the projects cost more than 100$. Next tho we have to open the ceiling blow insulation in under the roof. The house is a modular with a 12" space and only 2" inches of insulation

[StarfarerBill]

2. This sounds great, Bob.

I'd suggest that you post this in a separate thread, so that a lot more DUers will be able to read about your efforts and be inspired to do similar things.

[HillbillyBob]

3. Thanks Bill

I had tried to post it as a stand alone a while back. I kept getting kicked off line.
I know I am repetitive, but I keep posting similar one all the enviro threads.
We calculated our carbon foot print at the last house we were renting there so could not go as far as we have in this place.

I have a whole list of small things we have done and things we have yet to do.
Pick the low hangin fruit as it were.

At the last house our carbon foot print was 12 tons now is about 3 tons. That was when we had the old van and partner was using the pickup as a daily driver. It was much closer to work for him too.

I have parts for a solar water heater and solar furnace so we can retire the kero heater I still have to get the balance of the stuff for both. The water heater is big enough to give us 'free' domestic hot water and heat at least the 3 bathrooms with radiant underfloor heat. The solar furnace will be able to drive an oven, and supplement the underfloor heating perhaps more the best calc I can do on it is about 3,000 btu during the day. Ducted to the crawlspace and to a very well insulated box as an oven.

While going solar is expensive to get in just figure the payments on them as your fuel/electric bill.

I hear folks gripe about the cost of power but they won't get off their daid arse to do anything about it.

One lady at a place where I used to shop was complaining about the cost of her gas and electric bill so I gave her a list of things that we had done at the rental.

I put mylar on top of the insulation in the attic and put in a solar powered attic fan(the one that is now circulating the air in this house) yea it cost 340$ but it cut our power bill by 30 or 40$ and helped the mould problems , the mylar was space blankets that cost about 50c per and used about 15 of them. I put styro panel insulation and Reflectix on the basement and crawl space walls. foam sleeve insulation on the hot water pipes, spray foam in the walls and floors where wires and pipes penetrated. Double blinds on the windows. a miniblind, a roll down room darkener blind and black out/insulated curtain liners(the air spaces between the window and the blinds becomes dead air insulation), closed at night open on sunny winter days even when its 25 degrees the sun shining in makes a difference.
Many days when it is sunny I can open the curtains on the sunny side of the house and turn off the heat all together and it can get to 76 in here. We are in northern central NC , folks think it does not get cold down here BS! It may warm up to 40s 50s or even 60s in winter but gets right chill at night.
In the summer I open windows and have installed a 2800cfm exhaust fan in the laundry room at one end of the house and put the solar fan in a window in the other plus several other window fans, total power consumption for those is about the same as one window unit ac, but keeps the air moving. I close those heavy drapes on the sunny side.
All of that plus the white roof paint lowers the inside temp by 30 degrees so instead of being 10 20 degrees hotter,(with ac on!) in than out its 10 degrees cooler inside w/o ac

[StarfarerBill]

4. Listen Bob, you're doing what we all should be doing, and you should be lauded for it.

I imagine you've already done this, but have you tried posting in the Environment forum here, as well as GD? Every time your ideas and work is read about is a better chance someone will follow your lead.