Solar incentives in Massachusetts

• Residential income tax credit: up to $1,000

This page has a lot of helpful information.

Residential Solar Power

Doing some research to see how viable for us to have it... Recently the math for having a residential solar power system has become much more favorable with the drop of price of solar panels and increased subsidy from the government.  

Technology

Here's a pretty good article on the technology options for residential installations.  In the end it matters less which kind is used exactly, like many other decisions related to energy consumptions.  It's really about the cost-effectiveness and other practical constraints, for instance, the amount of space for solar panels.  What you need is simply a setup that can get you enough power generated within the space you can use with the lowest possible price.  Mono-crystalline, poly-crystalline, or thin film, the technical merit may not be the only factor for making the decision.

Stephen Ritz

I heard about him for the first time on the Good Food podcast (6/3/13).  Listening to him talk about the vision and experience of bringing positive impact to young people through growing food, you just can't help but be really moved by his passion and excitement.  Listen to the episode or watch his TEDx talk here, and you'll know what I mean.

Know your food and participate in the process of producing them.  That truly makes a difference.

Is single-serve drink machines adding more packaging waste?

Imagine making a 12-cup batch using the traditional coffee maker.  Excluding the ground coffee itself, other than the energy and water used in the process the only environmental impact is the filter, which can probably be compostable or recyclable without issue.  Now consider a Tassimo or Kuerig machine, how much packaging would you need for the 12 little capsules?  Those as far as I can tell, aren't easily recyclable.  It at least requires cutting open the K-cup or T-disc, disposing the grounds as organic waste, then somehow recycling the shells, on which I don't even see any numbering.

Certainly we're not talking about taste/utility here.  Plenty of people stand by the quality of single-serving drinks (while many disagree as strongly).  From environmental point of view, I feel it's questionable.  Maybe there's some energy saving to be realized if you live alone and need just a single cup to get you going, but for many other situations, the packaging issue surely looks like a waste to me.

Hybrid friendly road=?UTF-8?B?Pw==?=

I used to struggle to get close to 38mph back in the Midwest, but now the Camry Hybrid gets 40.1 in the Boston area without me even trying hard.   I don't think the local/highway mix really changed.  And it's more hilly here.  Smoother road?

Quality of CFLs

... really varies a lot from my experience. Some are just solid "as advertised", but others can disappoint. I particularly had bad experience with Meijer store brand ones. There're 3 or 4 of them going bad on me in a few short years, and none of them were heavily used. CFLs are promised to have longer lifespan, which is needed to realize energy cost savings. If they don't even last as long as regular bulbs, you actually end up spending more on lighting, even though the carbon footprint may still be smaller. So, go with the proven brands - as always I guess.

39.1 MPG on Camry

The good workhorse is still going strong. This tank I got an 39.1 average. I was careful but didn't do anything extraordinary. More than 18% higher than EPA rating, nice!