Wednesday, May 07, 2008

just thinking

Over the last couple of years, we've talked about solar energy and we are still trying to figure it out. On the one hand I think it would be great to move in that direction although I don't think it makes sense financially. As near as I can figure we'd spent 15 to 20 thousand dollars that would take us 18 to 22 years to recover. I recently read a NYTimes article about Ed Begley Jr. and Citizenrē. I watched the video on the Citizenrē website... it does seem a little to good to be true. I guess I need to collect more information: Wired; Wikipedia;Prometheus; Sun Run.



Living consciously...

Hendricks writes that withheld truths break the trust in relationships and proposes communicating a withheld truth to someone in a safe and effective way.

Now, why the scene from A Few Good Men of Jack Nicholson screaming "You can't handle the truth" is running in my mind, I'm not sure. I understand hard, objective truth - if I dent my husband's car and withhold that from him it would damage the trust in our relationship. But lately, I feel that my understanding of truth is changing. The stories I tell myself, about why I am the way I am or why I do what I do, are my perceptions of my truth and they seem to be in flux.

6 comments:

Vicki W said...

I researched solar for our home a couple of years ago. To make solar my total energy source would have cost so much that the payback was over 50 years. I think it has applications but probably will never be the panacea. It's only finacially feasible in states where the government heavily subsidizes the installation (like CA) but is it fair for the other taxpayers in the state to pay to give me cheap electricity? I can't justify it.

Anonymous said...

Howdy,
I have been involved with Citizenre for 18-months. Feel free to contact me for more information.
Peace,
Frank

Kay said...

When we built our house twenty years ago we considered solar panels for heat, but there's not enough sun here. Instead we settled on super insulation with some passive solar features. Our primary heat source is wood from our property (only windfall.) We like to FEEL very green, but I'm not so sure it's true. And as we age, it gets tougher. I wish wise choices were made easier. Maybe in the next administration--

Anonymous said...

we compromised with solar hot water - this was reasonably cost effective. works well in queensland, Aust. but a few cloudy days and we have lukewarm water or we need to switch over to electric. Our next house we are planning to take 'off grid' more!

Anonymous said...

Hi there folks,

The solar rental program from Citizenre is a revolutionary yet simple change to allow homeowners to upgrade to solar with no upfront costs, no install or maintenance costs and a locked in rental rate at or below what you are currently paying for electric. The savings comes in by locking in your rate for 25 years at 2005 levels... nice.
I have been part of this grass roots movement since the beginning of 2007 and loving every minute!
Feel free to contact me or Frank with any questions.
Thanks.

In-joy,
Bruce
EnergyIndependenceToday.com
SolarEnurgy.net

jenclair said...

Like Vicki, I didn't think we could afford to "save." We've also talked about the solar hot water...

However, comments from Frank and Bruce indicate that it might be worth the effort to look again.