A General "Green" Thread

[Rain]

BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WHEN "DRIFTING" BEHIND LARGE TRUCKS.

It has to be said. I'd hate to think of someone losing control only to be swept along and off a curve.

Also, try not to fuel up when the tankers are filling the reservoirs beneath the pump stations. That flow stirs up all kinds of nasty stuff that's bad for your engine. And never run your car so low that you're "running on fumes". This is also extremely bad for your fuel injector and the residue from the bottom of your gas tank can cause clogs and stoppages. God knows what kinds of stuff falls into the tank every time you fuel up.

[Technowraith]

^^^ By downgrade he means a reduction of speed limit.  For example, going from interstate speed (Approx. 65MPH) to highway speed (approx. 55MPH).

Actually what i meant was "down a hill". You can shift into neutral and coast down the hill. This saves fuel in the long run.

[Eyamsiyu]

^^^ I think school buses typically do that automatically.

Also, if you happen to drive a large truck, specifically like a UPS truck or similar, ALWAYS make right turns on your routes if they are in an urban environment.  Saves you quite a significant amount of gas.

[Puvomun]

-Slow down for a red light rather than speeding up to stop. Yes, i've seen cars rocket past me only to have to jam the brakes at the next red. There's nothing wrong with going a little slower. Half the time, i time it so that i am still rolling when the light turns green again, and never have to come to a complete stop. That saves gas and engine wear.

Absolutely true. Also, accelerating from a bit of movement is more efficient than getting the whole weight of the car in motion again. Lowest gear is a guzzler.

Somewhere in your post, I read to shift to neutral and roll out the car. I assume you mention that for automatic gears? Over here I keep hearing to leave the car in (manual) gear while rolling towards a red light etc. Modern engines will not use any fuel that way, where having the (manual) gear in neutral will keep the engine idling which consumes some (little, but still) fuel.

[Puvomun]

Strikes mind:

If you have enough music at home to listen to, don't stream it off the Internet time and again.

Music is not just bits and bytes having a good time inside your computer, they also go through dozens (or more) of computers all over the internet, transporting the bytes from all over the world to your home. The more they have to move around, the more power these computers will need.

(That is why I stay away from sites like Last.fm, Jango and what not.)

[Puvomun]

Srane, it's me again, with a simple one. Save water.

• Don't leave the tap running when you brush your teeth
• Turn off the hot water in a shower when you are soaping up
• When facing the choice between a shower and a bath, tip the scale to a shower more often. A shower takes much less water on average

Did you know that only 4.04% of the world's water is fresh water, ready to use? And with the icecaps melting, we're running out of that source rapidly as it mixes with salt ocean-water.

[bommel]

I have replaced my old energy wasting server with a brand new Atom D510 based system. So I moved from about 200 Watts of power consumption to less than 20 Watts (both at full load)!

[Puvomun]

Some good electric car news:

(Full article)

We'd already heard that Toyota and Tesla were working on some electric vehicle prototypes, and the two companies have now come out and officially confirmed that they are, in fact, working on an electric RAV4 crossover. What's more, Telsa says that it's already produced one prototype vehicle and plans to deliver a fleet of them to Toyota for evaluation "within this year," and that Toyota plans to bring the vehicle to market sometime in 2012.

Tesla is a company famous for its electric cars.

[Ku'rända]

I have replaced my old energy wasting server with a brand new Atom D510 based system. So I moved from about 200 Watts of power consumption to less than 20 Watts (both at full load)!

But it can't handle intense usage, such as compiling data or gaming :|

[Rain]

Garden update: Who wants about six bushels of green beans?! And there are more every day! I'm out at 7 in the morning to pick for an hour (if I get up....I'm not too good at waking up in the morning ) then I have to snap the heads and tails off, boil them and put them in bags to freeze.

Next: Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, spinach, and melons.
Now does anybody know where I can get a JOB??

[Puvomun]

Kaltxì ma tsmuke Rain,

Thank you for the green bean offer, shipping them to the Netherlands would however be a bit of a long shot.

Good luck getting all your goodies from the garden, you seem to be doing well there. And I'll cross all non-vital parts for you to find a job.

(And I love the new part of your signature!)

[Amaya]

*bounces* my tomatoes have flowers and fruit starting to set and I took the first two zucchini off today.  Granted they had blossom end rot and had to be culled but the rest is quite edible, and I love me some baby zucchinis, so nummy!

Seriously, a garden is the small green thing so many people could do to improve the world in a big way.  Even if you live in an apartment there are still possibilities for growing a few veggies on a balcony or windowsill

[Rain]

Kaltxì ma tsmuke Rain,
Thank you for the green bean offer, shipping them to the Netherlands would however be a bit of a long shot.
Good luck getting all your goodies from the garden, you seem to be doing well there. And I'll cross all non-vital parts for you to find a job.
(And I love the new part of your signature!)

Thanks! That sig actually bridged a gap between me and a NARF, and now she thinks I'm less crazy and a little more awesome.

Amaya: gardening, although not my favorite chore, is definitely one that reaps rewards that go much farther than anyone expects!

[Puvomun]

Seriously, a garden is the small green thing so many people could do to improve the world in a big way.  Even if you live in an apartment there are still possibilities for growing a few veggies on a balcony or windowsill

I tend to grow my own herbs on my balcony... Much nicer and fresher than store-bought stuff.

[Puvomun]

Thanks! That sig actually bridged a gap between me and a NARF, and now she thinks I'm less crazy and a little more awesome.

Srane, it is often the choice of words you use to convey the same meaning. Words are magic.

[Puvomun]

Now we're getting somewhere:

According to an article on the New York Times, a historical cross-over has occurred because of the declining costs of solar vs the increasing costs of nuclear energy: solar, hardly the cheapest of renewable technologies, is now cheaper than nuclear, at around 16 cents per kilowatt hour.

Full article here

[Rain]

Now we're getting somewhere:

According to an article on the New York Times, a historical cross-over has occurred because of the declining costs of solar vs the increasing costs of nuclear energy: solar, hardly the cheapest of renewable technologies, is now cheaper than nuclear, at around 16 cents per kilowatt hour.

Full article here

Wou nang!!

[Payä Tìrol]

That's an awfully high cost/kWh quote for nuclear.

[Roiki]

I'd say that's an awfully optimistic view. If we believe Wikipedia(and why we wouldn't?), the cost of solar power compared to nuclear is three times higher(the table at the bottom of that section).