GoingTrueGreen's Blog Postings

Healthy Herb Harvest

7/12/2021

Basil, Herbs, Oregano, Thyme, compost, composting, Mint, Sage, Rosemary, Basil, Mint, Oregano, parsley, Sage, Lavender, sustainable living, sustainability, going green, gardens, veggie gardens

Basil, Oregano and Thyme

A Triple H is always wonderful... Just sharing that my first Healthy Herb Harvest for this year came in last month and the aromas were amazing! They are always amazing each time a new pick is done.

Having your own herbs is something we all can do! From clay flower pots on a windowsill or in a small sunny area of a yard or on a green roof top. Add some compost,* that can be made by us over the winter months, along with appropriate watering, we can all enjoy some fresh picked Basil or Mint or Oregano or Parsley.

NOTE: Herbs such as Thyme, Sage and Lavender are perennials. Parsley is a biennial and Basil is an annual. Use this information to plan for getting seeds.

* Use the SEARCH text box at the top of this page for more information on making your own top soil, aka: Compost. Just type in the word COMPOST.

Bon Appétit !

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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ANNIVERSARY OF OIL COMPANY’S REPRISAL

6/29/2021

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Bosch, heating, oil, oil heat, sustainable living, sustainable actions, going green, going true green, sustainable steps, saving on heating bills, net zero house, oil companies, SSE, green house, global warming, co2, political leaders, paybacks, new windows, saving energy, helping the environment

OIL DROP

Twenty years ago I was using oil as the fuel to heat my house. This year is the Twentieth Anniversary of when I was shocked by an incontrovertible reprisal from my oil company. That is correct, steps were taken against me for the actions I took to save energy and our environment. There were no congratulations or rewards offered. I was scolded and punished for being successful. This wasn’t that much different from when I was scolded by my previous employer, a utility company. I was the manager leading their energy saving auditing department and we went well over our pre-set quota for teaching homeowners and companies how to save energy. That wasn’t acceptable according to the VP, but that is another story for another time.

Here is my story with the facts about my house and the oil delivery company…

The previous owners of the house had informed me that they were consuming a minimum of 1,200 gallons of oil per year. I knew that amount could be lower.

The “Heating System” for the house produced heat for the winter months and domestic hot water all year round for Faucets, Showers and the Clothes Washer. I did not have a Dish Washer appliance, but used hot water when washing dishes by hand.

The “Heating System” had 3 parts:

1st - Oil was the fuel
2nd - The boiler that created the heat
3rd - Hot water baseboards delivery the created heat throughout the house

So after moving in, I immediately changed the 1970 thermostats to new Multi-Set back programable clock thermostats. When the oil company’s manager, who my family knew and bought oil from for 40 years, saw my new thermostats - he lied to my face via the process of omission! After all, he probably was thinking, how much can this young kid know?

He proceeded to tell me that turning down the heat at night with these new thermostats would cost me more money, because I would be burning more oil in the morning to get the house warm again. I wasted my money buying them and I should return them, was his final proclamation.

Yet, the facts remained. My house wasn’t that old and the pervious owners added insulation and a new 81% efficient Retention Head boiler that replaced the old Steam heat unit from the 1940s. They also installed throughout the house a new Baseboard delivery of the heat to replace the steam radiators. The oil company’s manager omitted those facts from our conversation to secure his narrative.

My savings with the new thermostats was good, but not tremendous. Perhaps I decided to go “tremendous” because of being told calculated lies created through the omission of certain facts. At least that was the catalyst for me working in earnest to really save, save big and save fast.

Over the next two years I addressed all three parts of the Heating System and lowered the consumption of oil from 1,200 gallons of oil per year to ONLY 290, then 250 gallons per year!

What I did was not Rocket Science. I implemented logic, current technology and trade secrets. Below is a list of what I did after changing the thermostats:
*I did an SSE test on the boiler. SSE is a Steady State Efficiency test and ALL Oil Heating systems need this test EVERY year. If you don't have an Access hole on your boiler's stack, the SSE test was never done! See image below. Details about this are available through previous Going True Green blog posts and in our GTG Membership.

*I put in a separate Hot Water Heater that used Natural Gas as the fuel, not oil.

Wrapped Hot Water Pipes

*The next action was wrapping all the Hot Water pipes with insulated foam.
See image on left.
*The Biggest action, which immediately saved 1/3 the oil I was using, was the addition of a Cold Start Control Panel. See box mounted on right side of my heating unit in first image below. This cost $400.00 and I saved that within the first winter! Details about this are available through previous Going True Green blog posts and will be available in our GTG Membership.
Just type in “Cold Start Boiler” in the Search box at the very top of this page.

Cold Start Control Panel

clock thermostat, thermostats, Bosch, heating, oil, oil heat, sustainable living, sustainable actions, going green, going true green, sustainable steps, saving on heating bills, net zero house, oil companies, SSE, green house, global warming, co2, political leaders, paybacks, new windows, saving energy, helping the environment

Multi-Set Back Thermostat

Access Hole for SSE Test

*Then I added additional insulation giving me a higher R value. Details about this are available through previous Going True Green blog posts and will be available in our GTG Membership. You can also use the Search box for Insulation.
*I changed shower heads and faucets to low flow efficient ones.
*I caulked each 1942 window in the house and put new weather stripping around the doors since I did not have the money to change all my windows and doors to new ones. Additionally, the payback with changing windows is found in comfort and connivence, not dollar savings. For more info about this fact, please see my previous 6/15/21 GTG blog called: The Big Picture Review

So after two years of energy saving actions, I was using as little as 250 gallons of home heating oil per year. This was such an apparent astonishment for my oil company that they responded not by offering me any congratulatory comments, but by demanding I buy 800 gallons minimum per year. When I stated that wasn’t possible, because I was only consuming 250 gallons held in a tank that only holds 250 gallons, they retaliated by refusing to sell oil to me. They dropped me as a customer, because I didn’t buy enough oil from them. Perhaps they thought I was buying oil from another company between their oil deliveries. Of course this was a completely false presumption.

I asked if what they were doing was legal and apparently, yes. They could sell or not sell, to anyone they want. Wow, a heating fuel that is a necessity to keep warm, to keep alive through the cold winter months and they could just drop me on the spot. This isn’t like buying some other product that we could still live without. Utility companies can’t just shut off your electricity due to a few unpaid bills, they have to wait months and investigate the complete story behind the belated payments. Yet, an oil heating company can just drop us like a rock. Thank you political leaders NOT really looking out for us or our environment.

NEW 95% EFFICIENT HEATING UNIT

Over the years I purchased oil directly from other oil companies who offered the lowest price until I was able to upgrade to a 95% efficient instant hot water heating system.

So the moral of this story is to do your homework and then implement. Don’t wait for some government or politician or celebrity or company or organization to save the day for you. They haven't and they won't.
You are the super hero !

Today I have a Net Zero house for electricity and still working toward True Green within my own budget of time and money. One more thing, I am doing this without sacrificing anything in order to save, because there is always another way for accomplishing.

Yes, this is a Happy Anniversary.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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The Big Picture Review

6/15/2021

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Percy vs Goliath, GMO, going true green, going green, sustainable living, sustainability, artistic license, supreme court, big picture, landmark cases, agricultural, farmers, farming, GMO seeds

American-Canadian-Indian biographical film

I recently watched the movie Percy vs Goliath and while this Going True Green blog post is not a movie review, I am using this as a segue way to present a glimpse of the Big Picture, that is our environment.

First, here is some historical background on the movie Percy vs Goliath. The film is based on a true story and did not deviate much or exaggerate much in the name of “artistic license” or to create action scenes. Percy was a small Canadian farmer who defended himself in a landmark case all the way to the Supreme Court against a giant agricultural corporation who claimed that Percy was stealing their patented GMO seeds. Seeds that were resistant against that same company’s weed killing product. Everyone should know about this story and court case.

Additionally, this story allows us to realize that the complete picture must always be examined. Just like a murder mystery the detective must learn about everything from motives to the complacent actions such as “rounding up the usual suspects.” Other elements may be injected by the sensationalists in the media or forced by some higher political authority.

Let us just review some examples that echo these points in the realm of our environment:

The United States had a situation where a new candidate was thrust into the primary race for president. He was presented as the one that was going to be the best person for our environmental issues. Specific details on why, were not offered by the media.

I have stated many times that I don not look toward any politician, celebrity, corporation, organization, government or make believe super hero to save our environment. Only us, the individuals are making the difference. Nevertheless, this politician said in a previous speech that people needed more grey matter to work in the technology field. To keep the words spoken in context, this was a comparison being made between the “agrarian society” and “industrial society.” So to prove his point he stated, “I can teach anybody, even people in this room, so no offense intended, to be a farmer. It’s a process. You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, you add water, up comes corn.” This man didn’t even have a clue about what is involved with farming. From seed collection to weeds, from weather to insects, from micronutrients to disease, from time management to family responsibilities, from farm equipment to bank loans, from supply and demand to supermarket shelves!

Another example is how misleading advertisements were used for years to sell new energy saving windows.

“Save 15% On Your Energy Bills!”

windows, going true green, going green, sustainable living, sustainability, big picture

New Windows Save???

The truth was a 15% savings on your heating bills and that 15% saved was only on the amount of heat lost through the old windows. So if the old windows were losing 7% of the heat to the outside, you would save 15% of the 7% lost. To know pay back times on the costs for new windows, a heat-lost study was required. After overseeing thousands of these studies, the average payback on putting in new windows was 28 to 30 years. Reasons to change windows are: Comfort with less drafts and outside noise reduction, ease of cleaning, better locks for security and then saving some money on the heating bill.

So where were our political environmental super stars to end that misleading campaign taken up by some window selling companies? For years those commercials were broadcasted. They were lies through the process of omission and they should have been stopped immediately. Yet, they were not, care to speculate why?

Again the individual was left to find out all the facts on this issue and they ranged from greed to environmentally unfriendly manufacturing.

Last point of this blog, but not the least, is how all those on both extreme sides create fear, confusion and hate for each other. Thus, destroying hope for us working as one team to implement solutions that garner success, income, better health and a better environment.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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Bill Lauto has Guest Spot on Dylan Welch's Podcast Going Green

5/29/2021

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Going Green Podcast

Dylan Welch is the host of Going Green's Podcast, television show and news platform that highlights climate change scientists, renewable energy experts, and clean tech entrepreneurs by giving them a voice in the mainstream media.

After a background in television production and over 1,000 shows on Networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, and Amazon, Dylan started his own company with a focus on clean technology, renewable energy, and sustainability. Since then, Dylan has interviewed hundreds of scientists, CEOs, and experts in the renewable energy space, and has shared their stories to millions of people.

Article on Going True Green and Bill Lauto

On Dylan Welch Media's website called Going Green, a feature article was posted on Going True Green's Bill Lauto. The following Link may be used to access the article called:

International Green Technology Advancements

Additionally, the Going Green Podcast with host Dylan Welch interviewing Bill Lauto of Going True Green can be heard below on our audio file...

Being interviewed by Dylan at Going Green was a great opportunity to share information and misinformation about living a more sustainable life. As a responsible individual we are the solution to a better tomorrow. By living a more "sustainable life" we will save Money, Health, Energy, and Earth without making any sacrifices! But we MUST work as a Team toward good Environmental Stewardship! I have no electric bill and what I have done is not rocket science. Facts, trade secrets and encouraging support, is what the world needs.The Blame game must end. We must stop looking for a solution from a politician, corporation, political party or celebrity and make the difference ourselves!

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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Why Re-Paint When We Can Mop

5/15/2021

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Going Green, Going True Green, painting, paint, spring cleaning, saving money, save paint, save earth, save environment, paint less, clean ups, sustainable living, sustainability, environmental solutions

Spring Cleaning Outside and Inside

Ahh, Spring Cleaning... Trim the bushes, wash the windows, mop the floors and mop the walls! Well, not exactly, here is the situation...

About 7 years ago we put a new coat of paint on the walls and this springtime's bright sunlight pouring through the just cleaned windows shows that our walls have become dull and dingy. Accepting the fact that a new paint job is needed is one thing, getting the money for supplies and moving covered furniture all around the rooms is another. Also don't forget about painting the ceiling... my arms hurt just thinking about what that project involves.

Additionally, we have the direct and indirect impact on our environment in our house and outside in our world. The manufacturing of paint leaves a mark on the environment and also on our indoor environment. Now this Going True Green blog post is not about all the facts that are detrimental, this is about an alternative and a new solution to painting less often.

I have discovered, tested and experimented with the following that can avoid the need to paint again for many additional years.

First Fact - Walls do get dirty and will need to be wiped clean as those events occur.
Second Fact - Walls get dusty from floor to ceiling and ceilings get dusty too.
Third Fact - The first two facts make walls look dull and dingy or in the need to be painted again.

Solution, Part One - Wipe dirt spots off of walls with mild soap and water as soon as they happen.

Solution, Part Two - Try to have shades or curtains that can be drawn or closed for all the windows. Sunlight or more specifically, UV light will fade colors.

Solution, Part Three - With each Springtime cleaning use a broom stick or a swifter with a dry dusting cloth attached. Then DUST clean all the walls from floor to ceiling systematically. Methodically go over every part of the wall and I strongly suggest to remove all hanging pictures or items on mounted shelves. Then do the same to dust the ceiling.

Dust will build up on walls and ceilings making them look dull. Dusting them will bring back the brightness of the original paint job. Doing this each year should put off Part Four of this Solution to prevent painting often. However, over the years smoke from candles, oily substances from cooking and other compounds will build up on the walls and ceiling. Thus, every five to seven years we may need to do part four of this solution.

Solution, Part Four - Using the same method as in Solution Part Three, mop the walls and ceiling with a cloth damp with water. Not wet, just damp to help remove any dingy stains to the paint's color. The pole will allow us to reach every corner and clean evenly so the glow of that original paint job returns.

Yes, there will come a year that we may see the need to repaint or redecorate with different colors. Nevertheless, putting off several paint jobs over the years will always help our budget, back muscles, inside environment and our outside environment.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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BBV Publishing, Get Out Of Work, Philip Lauto, Christopher Lauto, Hilarious, laughter, family, kids

BBV Publishing hilarious presents: How To Get Out Of Work! A Kid's Field Guide, Use This Link For More Info

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Will Earth Day Become Dooms Day?

4/22/2021

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HOME

Do you hear the logomachies almost everyone is having every Earth Day? Has Earth Day been reduced to a war about what verbiage should be used? Sadly, yes and our Planet will be doomed if we believe that a…

…politician, corporation, political party, government, organization, celebrity or the UN will save us all.

…purchasing some energy saving light bulbs, an energy star refrigerator, wrist band, or even a Going True Green hat will make a difference.

…media report, reporter, movie or documentary gives us the complete picture and doesn’t lie through the process of omission to present a selling narrative that makes them lots of money and will coagulate a magical solution.

…donation or implementing some of the energy saving “tips” from utility companies, instead of real actions, will suffice.

…massive singular solution will squelch all concerns, fears and corruption when some hero solves the CO2 threat by seeding the sky or solving the issue of overfishing and our oceans will have no other problems or only if everyone had an electric car or genetically engineered food in a lab will feed the masses and we are not fooling ourselves.

Nobody knows if the world is doomed or if everything will turn out to be roses. However, I do know humankind has and can accomplish “amazing”. We are intelligent, we are capable, we can evaluate and transition into real solutions that acknowledge everyone and everything is connected! We must stop believing predictions hosting a good or bad narrative for the future that is based upon one singular issue and narrative. Our world’s environment is not singular, we have a multi-complex, never ending connected environment that humankind has yet to learn all the facts. Thus, what is needed is education of the complete picture and a narrative that is hosting all the possible solutions.

We need to be ebullient on Earth Day, not mad or fearful, so each and every one of us can be the solution by living a more "sustainable life" within our own budget of time and money.

We will obtain a better tomorrow while saving Money, Health, Energy, and Earth without making any sacrifices! But we must work as a Team toward good Environmental Stewardship! Education of the facts, trade secrets and encouraging support, is what the world needs. The Blame game must end. We make the difference ourselves! The evidence of this from over the years is proof that each one of us is the superhero. Each one of us is the solution, because each one of us is connected to our one team, one environment. Only then can we say that we didn't squander our children's tomorrow here on Earth.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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Don’t Wait For The Rebate

4/15/2021

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Going True Green, Going Green, Eco-Friendly, Weed Trimmer, rebates, utility rebates, rechargeable lawn mower, weed trimmer, sustainability

Example of a rebate insert, mailed with utility bill, fine print on utilities' websites

With Earth Day coming and Spring in the air, some Utility companies are again offering Rebates for certain products. The big push this time is on energy saving appliances and rechargeable cordless yard tools.

Some of us may have put off buying an Eco-Friendly Weed Trimmer or a new lawn mower to see what Rebates would be offered. Any savings, either from the manufacturer or utility company always helps. Yet, does the wait for the rebate really help save us the most money and our environment?

When considering the benefits for our environment as well as our wallet, the answer is NO.

The reasons are based on the amount of time we could have already been saving money and our environment, along with the fine print stating the qualifying rules to receive the rebate.

Allow me to break down some issues:

To wait until next year to see what rebate may or may not be offered for a rechargeable lawn mower to replace an old gasoline mower, is a gamble. The odds are no rebate will be offered and yet, we can be saving money, oil, gasoline, noise and energy for a year ahead of time.

One current $40.00 rebate for a rechargeable lawn mower is also elusive. The fine print will state something like “Up To $40.00” and using a rechargeable lawn mower for a year prior will probably save that much in gasoline and oil alone.

Another caveat in the fine print will state that the product had to be purchased in the last 45 days! The rebate program wasn’t previously announced and the ads mailed out with the utility bills are really just for PR (Public Relations) work that aim to receive a favorable public opinion about the company’s so called concern for helping the environment.

Bottom Line: That rechargeable lawn mower under the Christmas Tree, doesn’t get a rebate. Neither does the one purchased on the President’s Day sale in February, because the rebate program started in April and 45 days ago also disqualifies that purchase.

Additionally, if we run out upon receiving the rebate notice and buy a rechargeable lawn mower, that too does not qualify, because of the wording stating, “Purchased WITHIN the last 45 days.”

How sincere is a rebate program that doesn’t give advance notice and when notice is received, the time to qualify has already concluded?

Don’t wait for the rebate!
Let us start saving on our own as soon as we can.
This is up to us. Our environment is not going to be saved by a corporation, politician, government, organization or celebrity. Each one of us is the superhero.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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How To Recycle Better

3/26/2021

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Azorian, Project Azorian, Moon Landing, Apollo 11, Going True Green, Going Green, Recycle, recycling, dual system laws, environment, earth's tomorrow, recycling better, recycle numbers, litter, children's future

Easier Than... **

I have posted many Going True Green blogs about Recycling over the years. Anyone can read them by clicking the Category Link named Recycling on the right side of this page. Now recycling is a Team action and this blog post will focus on the three big players in recycling: Government, Manufacturers and each of us as Individuals. Only together we can start to recycle better.

As readers of my Recycling blog posts have deduced, the very foundation to recycling is provided by the township and other government agencies. Then we the individuals follow the established guidelines that are bad, fair or good. Thus, the majority of the failures with recycling are founded within the established guidelines dealing with the "business" of recycling.

Therefore, I believe for recycling to start going true green, the following first actions must be taken:

1.) All manufactures of recyclable containers and products, must INCREASE the size of the triangle that have the recycling number within, so this important information for the individual consumer can be found, seen and read easier!

2.) If already eliminated, bring back rinse out and sorting by the individual with tax rewards, not citations to penalize.

3.) Provide or Sell* multi-recycle bins on hand push cart with wheels. Each bin, color coded for designated item such as glass, metal, paper, cardboard, plastic.
*Selling these units can be done with a reward program. The individual can earn back the cost and "more" through tax rebates and / or credits.

4.) If already eliminated, bring back the recycling collection trucks with divided sections for the sorted recycled items. If the previous designs didn't work well, then re-design them!**
** In 1969 we were able to send humankind to the moon and in 1974 engineered lifting a submarine off the ocean floor 3 miles down! All the people from around the world, who made up those teams and called themselves Americans, did the impossible because they didn't believe the mission could not be done!

Now after the above has been done successfully, then we can visit additional actions such as implementing Dual System laws for manufactures. Only then can we say that we didn't squander our children's tomorrow here on Earth.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
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GTG's Blog Receives Best Sustainable Living Honor

3/3/2021

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Blog honor, Going True Green's Blog, featured sustainable blogs, ShamansMarket, Shaman, 30 Best Sustainable Living Blogs

This was an unexpected honor to receive notification that Going True Green's Blog is being featured by the ShamansMarket company as one of the 30 Best Sustainable Living Blogs for 2021.

Many thanks to the Shaman Market for their consideration of my Going True Green blog and placing us on their list of Best 30 Sustainable Living Blogs for 2021.

In part, the email we received from Natalie Green, Community Relations Manager stated:

Hi Bill,

Just wanted to give you a heads up that GoingTrueGreen.com has been featured in our recently published post: 30 Best Sustainable Living Blogs.

We found Going True Green to be a great resource on sustainability and wanted to thank you for sharing your expertise.
Congratulations and keep up the awesome work!

Best,
Natalie Green
Community Relations Manager

Everyone at Going True Green greatly appreciates the honor to be part of the 2021 list for the 30 Best Sustainable Living Blogs. We also recognize that a major contributing factor to receiving this acknowledgement is because of our followers and readers. I am happy to be able to provide useful details toward saving money, energy, health, and our environment, when living a more sustainable life without sacrifice. I graciously extend my sincere thanks to everyone at Shamans Market and our readers. Below is Shamans Market's write up on us. Click on image to enlarge. Thank you

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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What Happened In Texas?

2/18/2021

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Texas, Texas freeze, texas winter storm, Texas snow storm, Texas power failure, Texas grid, texas wind turbines, renewable energy, non-renewables, oil, coal, solar, wind, gas, greed, infrastructure, electric grid, texas electric providers, sustainability, power plants, utility companies, Texas untility

I have been asked and I have been receiving the very question structured above for today’s GoingTrueGreen blog title by many GTG members.

First, I wish to level the playing field. Unlike other electric utilities that I have worked for or visited and had first hand information about many operations, I do not have first hand knowledge of every detail that contributed to the failures in the power grid infrastructure for Texas. Therefore, I must reserve the right to correct any verbiage in this blog due to the fact that despite reading and confirming some reliable information on the subject, “Sensationalism” prevails and real “Journalism” is squelched.

So what happened with the power grid in Texas? Seems to me that a poor management decision was made due to money justification. The temperatures were dropping and the demand for electricity was spiking. Additional Megawatts were needed and a decision was made not to bring on more production from gas, oil or coal power plants. After all, perhaps an innocent assumption was made that this was Texas and the weather will be warm again in a day or two. In addition, the decision makers had to justify the cost for bringing on line additional generators.

So again we have the real problem: Assumptions and Money. This A & M is a contagious disease that crosses all spectrums of power production. End result, there wasn’t enough power to meet the demand and the grid started to shut down as designed for safety protocol. Rolling blackouts were put into action until additional generators could be brought on line. A 100% shut down was avoided, but 85% of that Grid took a hit because of humankind’s decision.

So the lost of power wasn’t an act of God, but a humankind assumption floundering in money justification and that is the problem with all energy production. Both Renewable energy and Non-Renewable energy are plagued with this A & M disease. Case and point:

Why did the power grid supply fail?
There is a rare winter storm in Texas, a state that saw no reason to spend “money” on winterizing their energy production.

Solar panels have no system to clean snow off, because those systems cost money. (Even I have a way to clean snow off my solar panels. I had to come up with some method, because my area does get snowfall every year. I have a very simple and safe way, that had a very small investment. However, I must put in the time since I could not afford an automatic system. My time makes me money as I am able to produce Kilowatts once the sun is shinning again.
BTW: I do not go up on my roof. My previous GTG blog posts on solar explain more.)

Texas Wind Turbines and Gas Lines froze because they never had the money spent to winterize their operations. Oil and coal could not meet the demand because of human error in decision making. (System automatically starts to shutdown as a safety precaution when demand can’t be met.) In total, an 85% system shutdown.

If Texas had invested in winterizing all electrical generating systems, this one storm would have provided payback and possible profit. Now, this storm is costing them far more than any winterizing investment. Additionally, we need to ask the following: Did the government and electrical utilities provide helpful information on the news to inform the public of alternative ways to keep warm as well as how to drain most of the water out of their pipes? All the frozen and broken water pipes may become a legal matter now costing the utility more money, because while the storm can be labeled as an act of God, the system’s failure was due to poor decisions made by humans.

The irony is this, the two political sides blame each other and fail to see that they are both to blame, because the little that they do, is all about making money for themselves. Let it be for renewable or non-renewable energy production.

Next week, Texas’ weather will be around the sixty degree mark, while most of northern United States will have another week in and out of the twenty degree zone, but the power remains on.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

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