There's a new Milo in town!!...

There's a new Milo in town, and he looks like a keeper!! 

!!New Milo Pics!!

Congratulations Eugene and Ginny!!!!

"Spring" Break

I'm back from 4 seasons in 1 week:

At noon we were slathering on sunscreen in Moab, hiding under hats and behind sunglasses, and baking under the western sun. Hours later, sustained winds brought along a sandstorm, and then after you get used to being sandblasted you get a little fog and snow blend. Later in the week we drove over 5 hours SOUTH, and arrived to 18 degree temps and snow coming down. In fact the whole state had some snow action. Once the snow was through, we returned to the high winds of spring, with some nice sunshine to remind you that you are indeed in New Mexico again.

The snow in Ruidoso was enough to postpone the first morning ride, (icy and fast roads in the mountains, I'll wait to see if it will dry out a bit) so we found a spot for a hike. There were several stream crossings along the way, and no one fell in, but it is possible I had the camera ready to go in case anyone took a dive.  I'm spoiled to have such a great week off - Teresa and Ted visiting from back east, and I got an invite from George and Therese to head off to Ruidoso with a group. Now back to school and job search. Where are all those "green jobs" they keep talking about in the news???!!!! 

This semester in the yard, we are putting up panels on roofs, and other groups are working on setting up isolated systems on trainer carts. We seem to do a lot of standing there scratching our heads and looking at schematics. Then we get it done. Power from the sun. No coal exhaust.

My team on the roof rules. Lot's of good balance to everyone's different strengths. 

Photos courtesy of Tom, one of our renewable gurus. He teaches the hands on stuff, as well as the electric code specific to renewable energy. He does not properly pronounce "wire" as "waaaaarrrrr", but we get what we can from him. 

!!Spring Break Baby!!

It's been a slog getting through the semester this far. Not that I'm not enjoying it - my renewable energy classes are outstanding and I am learning some great stuff. But 5 classes is a workload, and I even had to work on school stuff the last two Sundays. (Sunday school work occurs after a bike ride - my priorities are well in order.)

Spring break after this week! The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. The job search is in process. I think finding a decent first job in the solar world during W's Second Recession  is going to be tough. 

For break I am heading to Durango, CO, 40 miles away (let's go with a rough 72K for that distance) to meet with Teresa and Thed from back east. Yay visitors! Yay Teresa and Thed!! I hope the weather holds out for them, it has been 25 overnight (-3C) and getting on up to 65 in the afternoon (21C). 

George and Therese from Aztec (not aliens as far as I know) have organized some road riding down in southern half of NM in Ruidoso just west of Roswell. Can't wait!

Social Security

Aren't you very very very glad that W & Co. did not hand out Social Security to a crew like AIG? 

They're back....

Back in the 1950's, when the aliens were cruising around Roswell, NM, they were actually really  busy in other parts of the US. The Roswell stuff was just for diversion. It allowed them to work on the underground railroads that run from Roswell to Aztec, NM and throughout the continental US. 

Luckily, for those of you who are too busy with your petty earth-based human lives, you can attend a symposium and catch up on the latest happenings with alien culture. 

Aztec UFO Symposium

For those in the military, police or fire department - admission is free. We want our security teams up to date and on top of this stuff.

Enjoy!

Net Zero Home on the Range

A large contractor has recently started a Net Zero Energy home in Farmington.

First off – what is Net Zero? Basically, it means your house produces as much energy as it uses. This typically means heat, cooling, appliances, lights, etc can run from grid electricity at night, and during the daylight, your PV system is sized to offset that usage over the course of the year.

The house is marketed at $280,000 and similar sized and outfitted houses are selling for $320,000 locally (before Bush Recession II kicked in).

This is cool, since Farm Town’s economy is 90% oil, gas, and coal. If there is a market for a major builder to see value in building Net Zero here in Fossil Fuel Land, then America might be waking up.

They use a tight building envelope and minimize waste of materials. An air exchanger is part of the system to make sure air quality is good. They put a large PV electric system on the roof, and tie into the grid. The heat, cooling and cooking come from electricity, so there is no natural gas or propane coming into the house.

They do all this and make money doing it. This is a large private contractor, that is not building houses from grants or for free.

I would like to see even more. They do not take passive solar gains into consideration. Their house plans are done so that they can plop a house down onto a street without considering where due south is, just like any other typical American builder does. They don’t insulate as much I would. Their thermal mass use is limited. It’s easy to be critical, but it is good to see that even in Oil-N-Gas town there is a market for an efficient home that doesn’t waste energy.

Photos show the insulation that isolates the perimeter of the foundation from the outside, and their view from in front of the house. You can see into Colorado and west to Shiprock. Not bad for an "affordable" sized home.