FasTrak Up a Buck in 2019 – How to Get it BakFast
FastTrak toll rates go up a dollar starting today. The state-approved increase is the first since 2010, all in all, a gentler blow than what's happened to a gallon of gas (around $1.80 in January 2009) or a kilowatt hour over the past decade. Inflation is inevitable, and it's unlikely to abate, never mind the debate. Many of us review our habits with the advent of a new year, from food to physical to fiscal. And even the most optimistic among us don't merely assume we'll look better, feel better, or make more money because the calendar rolled over. Thus the [...]
Mobile Phone- Novelty or Necessity? How About Your Energy?
IN 1973, New Yorkers stopped and stared in amazement as Dr. Martin Cooper demonstrated the first cellular telephone call, right on the city street. The invention and combination of the radio, battery, and micro-processor had launched the mobile phone era. It takes a lot to make a New Yorker stop and stare. Mobile phones don’t make people stop and stare anymore. They do make people crash their cars, but that’s a different crusade. Mobile phone technology is no less impressive today than it ever was. Moreover, it has become indispensable, despite the fact that we take it almost entirely for granted. [...]
Batteries Not Included- Solar Works With Your Utility, Not Instead of It (unless you want it to)
Two years ago, a solar powered airplane flew around the world. While it didn’t carry passengers apart from the pilots, or even packages, it did send a mega-message about energy: The acquisition, consumption, exhaustion, & celebration of it. Solar Impulse 2 (the name of the plane) paused in Mountain View, California, in April 2016…amid surprisingly little fanfare. However, Google exec Sergey Brin thought it well worth his very valuable while to stand around the runway while pilot Bertrand Piccard circled off the coast waiting for the wind to abate enough to make his landing. No one debates that Google is [...]
Up in Flames- Who Pays for PG&E’s Rise from the Ashes?
California’s largest energy provider has come under fire over the fires that devastated the state this year. A barrage of news outlets on the local and national level have placed an alarming amount of blame on PG&E. The purpose of this memo is not to point the finger. The fact remains that someone must now lift a finger- To clean, repair, restore, rehab, renovate, etc., a charred landscape, miles of scorched property, and a shattered public trust. Would you ride the BART if it kept coming off the tracks? This heavy lifting is going to be expensive. Thus the old [...]
Utility Futility- Does Your Commute Compute?
Solar is to your energy costs what commuting is to your earnings. With a bit of math, we work out whether or not our daily drive is worthwhile. For example, let’s say housing two blocks from your job is $3000 a month; the cost of getting there is negligible. You find a comparable living space 80 miles away from your office for $2000 per month. You’re saving $1000 a month, right? Well, you’re adding 2500 miles a month to your vehicle, if you take a couple of Fridays off. That’s 28000 miles’ worth of wear & tear in a year, [...]
Art, Industry & Energy- Why is the Fiddler on the Roof?
Sunrise, Sunset I don’t usually like musicals, primarily because there’s a deplorable lack of sports in them. So it took some cajoling to get me to watch the ’71 classic ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. It was and remains magnificent. The celebration of life despite its challenges is rarely portrayed so well. And now: With apologies to Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, we offer our rooftop perspective on the long-debated symbolism of the fiddler and his famous song, “Sunrise, Sunset”. The fiddler's day job is installing solar. [...]
Serene Solar- This Won’t Hurt
There’s a British website called Dentalphobia, which is funny for a couple of reasons: 1) That people are so afraid of getting their teeth fixed that a website dedicated to overcoming that fear can fluoride, I mean flourish, and 2) That the site is UK-based, given the unfair British stereotypes pertaining to oral hygiene. Avoiding or neglecting the dentist is understandable, but not prudent. Having a stranger dig around inside our face with sharp metal objects is not a fun prospect for even the most valiant of us. So it was a stroke of genius on someone’s part to coin [...]
Ballpark Figures- How Much Does Solar Cost?
In 2016, The Philadelphia Eagles installed 11,000 solar panels at their playing facility, Lincoln Financial Field. They won the Superbowl last year. In 2010, the Golden State Warriors put more than 500 solar panels on top of their practice facility in Oakland. They had a rookie guard that season named Curry. He's worked out well, and the Warriors have won 3 of the last 4 O'Brien Trophies. In 2007, the San Francisco Giants installed nearly 600 solar panels at AT&T Park. Then they won three World Series in seven years. Solar. Winning. Coincidence? No Offseason Baseball, Football, Basketball. Yay sports [...]
Monopoly Money- Who is ‘EBCE’ & Why Are They Billing Me?
Electric Current & Strange Currency When we travel abroad, the electrical sockets and money looks…foreign. We take note of this so our hairdryer doesn’t explode and we don’t pay $82 for a croissant. Actually, in Paris, that’s not far off. Nevertheless, we’re willing & able to make adjustments and work out conversions because traveling abroad is immense fun. When we return home, we have enough to worry about (like how to pay for that last trip abroad) without having to decipher a utility bill. Nevertheless, Acronym Overload- PG&E, EBCE, SMUD? All or None of the Above? Residents of San Francisco’s [...]
PG&E Logo a Predictor of Rate Hikes?
Stall vs Install- The rhetoric can escalate with the prices, or we can do something. We can do solar. Tell us what you think PG&E stands for. The letters, not the corporation. If you want info on the what that company stands for, click here.
FastTrak toll rates go up a dollar starting today. The state-approved increase is the first since 2010, all in all, a gentler blow than what's happened to a gallon of gas [...]
IN 1973, New Yorkers stopped and stared in amazement as Dr. Martin Cooper demonstrated the first cellular telephone call, right on the city street. The invention and combination of the radio, [...]
Two years ago, a solar powered airplane flew around the world. While it didn’t carry passengers apart from the pilots, or even packages, it did send a mega-message about energy: [...]
California’s largest energy provider has come under fire over the fires that devastated the state this year. A barrage of news outlets on the local and national level have placed [...]
Solar is to your energy costs what commuting is to your earnings. With a bit of math, we work out whether or not our daily drive is worthwhile. For example, [...]
Sunrise, Sunset I don’t usually like musicals, primarily because there’s a deplorable lack of sports in [...]
There’s a British website called Dentalphobia, which is funny for a couple of reasons: 1) That people are so afraid of getting their teeth fixed that a website dedicated to [...]
In 2016, The Philadelphia Eagles installed 11,000 solar panels at their playing facility, Lincoln Financial Field. They won the Superbowl last year. In 2010, the Golden State Warriors put more [...]
Electric Current & Strange Currency When we travel abroad, the electrical sockets and money looks…foreign. We take note of this so our hairdryer doesn’t explode and we don’t pay $82 [...]
Stall vs Install- The rhetoric can escalate with the prices, or we can do something. We can do solar. Tell us what you think PG&E stands for. The letters, not [...]
