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7.02.2010

Solar & Oil Industry News

Prop 23- Oil and Solar Join in the Fight for Solar and Renewable Energy. Twitter and Facebook Links
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Posted on July 1, 2010 -Oil Declares War on Solar. How You (and Twitter) Can Help Defeat Prop 23 for Free. Yes, free.

I'm writing this post quickly, so forgive my cross outs and typos. For those of you who want to say "Up yours!" to two polluting oil refinery companies experience the power of social media in action and would like to finally learn how to use Twitter, here's your chance. It's for a good solar cause, plus, it's dirt cheap free!

First, some background: California's Proposition 23 ballot initiative is officially called the "The California Jobs Initiative." Hee-hee. LMFAO! A more appropriate name is the "We Hate Solar Initiative." Others are calling Prop 23 the Dirty Jobs Proposition.

Allow me to cut through the Prop 23 bull explain:

  • Proposition 23 is primarily funded by two who-gives-a crap-about-California air quality when when-we-live in Texas-based oil refining companies: Valero and Tesoro . Please remember their names and tell your children that these companies are the scary monsters under the bed.
  • Prop 23 kills suspends the California law that requires the State to reduce its dirty CO2 emissions by 30% by 2020.
  • If passed, Prop 23 also states that this clean energy law can't go back into effect until Hell freezes over the California unemployment rate returns to 5.5% for 4 straight quarters. Only then can we go back to caring about the environment and breathing.
  • Proposition 23 will also increase oil profits at the expense of solar jobs prevent any California agency from imposing any CO2 emission fees that were going to go into effect. And now you know why these oil company yahoos are spending millions to get this proposition passed the basics.

How You can use Twitter to Say Bite me! No to Prop 23:

Step 1. Join Twitter. It's easy. Just do it or have someone in your office do it. You know you have to kicking and screaming some day want to anyway. If you or your solar company have a Twitter account already, please don't blame me congratulations.

Step 2. If you're not following anyone and brand new to Twitter, go to http://tweepml.org/the-top-100-solar-power-sites-2/. With one click, you'll be following almost 100 solar Twitter leaders and advocates. Don't worry about them following you for now. Just watch their tweets once a day and do what they do. (Yes, I'm on this list.)

Step 3: The only way to learn social media is to actually use it. Duh! Honest. So, this grass-roots solar experience is going to give you practice while giving the virtual middle finger to campaigning against Prop 23. All you have to do is:

  • Take 2 minutes every workday and Tweet this:
  • Just heard Prop 23 is a #solar job killer & backed by big #oil. Plz RT daily til November. This is my 1st RT.
  • Every day you Tweet the above, increase the digit higher. This will benchmark you and help you to finally use and explore Twitter and see its power to spread useful messages.
  • This costs you nothing but a little time. Feel free to also donate cash to the cause, but do this now.

There are a lot of benefits here, but there will also be great personal satisfaction in saying "Nah-nah, you Big Oil, solar job killing SOBs! defeating this anti-solar power bill without the television ad dollars of Big Oil.

Thanks, and as always, UnThink Solar.

Tor Valenza aka "Solar Fred" advises solar companies on marketing, communications, and public relations. Contact him through Unthink Solar or follow him on Twitter @SolarFred.

Photo: Flickr/ quinn.anya

CertainTeed Product Contributions to NAHB Residential Advanced Credits:

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NAHB Residential Advanced Framing

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Product

Panorama® Composite Railing and EverNew® LT Deck

CreditDescriptionPoints
601.7Site-Applied Finishing Materials2-5
602.8Termite-Resistant materials (Green Approved for railing only)2-6
604.1Recycled Content1-3
606.3Manufacturing Energy2
608.1Indigenous Materials2
NAHB Residential Advanced Framing

CertainTeed Product Contributions to NAHB Residential Advanced Credits:

NAHB Residential Advanced Framing

Download NAHB Advanced Design Product Contributions Chart PDF »

Product

Panorama® Composite Railing and EverNew® LT Deck

CreditDescriptionPoints
601.7Site-Applied Finishing Materials2-5
602.8Termite-Resistant materials (Green Approved for railing only)2-6
604.1Recycled Content1-3
606.3Manufacturing Energy2
608.1Indigenous Materials2
NAHB Residential Advanced Framing

CertainTeed Product Contributions to NAHB Residential Standard Credits:

Scotts Contracting is available for Design Consultation and the Building of your Green Projects. click here to email Scotts Contracting and Schedule your Free Green Site Evaluation.

NAHB Residential Standard Framing

Download NAHB Standard Design Product Contributions Chart PDF »

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Building Walls in the Basement

Basements and Building Walls

When Building Walls in Basements.  Moisture Control behind the walls is critical.  Follow the guides listed below to reduce Moisture Condensation and Stay Mold Free

Q&A

Q. How Should I Finish an Existing Basement Wall?

I am about to start a basement remodel project in a cold climate. I plan to apply a waterproofing product to the inside of the basement wall, then stick a sheet of polyethylene directly to the basement wall over the waterproof coating. Once that is in place, I'll frame a 2x4 wood-frame wall on the inside, insulate it with fiberglass batts, and staple a poly vapor barrier to the inside face of the studs. Does this seem like a good approach?

A. Paul Fisette, director of Building Materials and Wood Technology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a JLC contributing editor, responds: For the typical basement remodel, this is probably not a good plan. In fact, I think that in most cases it's a recipe for collecting moisture, and it has the potential to create an unhealthy level of mold and mildew. The first question to ask is: What moisture are you trying to control? The answer may be slightly confusing, because your wall assembly needs to control moisture moving from the outside to the inside as well as from inside to outside.

Unless you can verify that the basement was built with good moisture protection, I would proceed with caution. Your approach places an impermeable plastic vapor barrier on the both the warm and the cold side of the 2x4 wall you want to build.

Insulating the 2x4 cavities with fiberglass batts will cause the space between the wood-frame wall and the foundation wall to stay much colder than the indoor space. This means that any warm air that leaks through the 2x4 wall from the tempered basement space will cool as it reaches the cold basement wall and condense on the plastic sheet. Also, if even a small amount of water finds its way in from the outside through the foundation waterproofing coating and the poly, that moisture will be trapped inside the 2x4 wall. There is virtually no drying potential.



Instead, I would apply a coating of waterproofing to the inside surface of the basement wall, followed by a continuous layer of rigid foam insulation. Caulk the perimeter of the foam boards and tape the seams. Then build your 2x4 wall on the inside, leaving a 1-inch space between the studs and the insulation board. Don't insulate the 2x4 wall cavities and don't install a poly vapor retarder.

The waterproof coating will minimize moisture transfer from the outside into the basement, and any moisture that does get into the foundation wall from outside will be able to dry to the outside. If a small amount of exterior moisture does migrate through the waterproofing into the basement area, it will be able to dry to the inside living space through the open-frame construction.

And let's not forget the water vapor contained in the indoor air. Installed carefully, this method reduces the potential for condensation because the indoor air is not exposed to cold condensing surfaces. The uninsulated stud wall allows the face of the foam insulation to remain at roughly the same temperature as the indoor air. With little or no condensation, the likelihood of mold and mildew growth is very low.


7.01.2010

More bad news for the Gulf Residents

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – The Obama appointee managing BP's oil spill disaster fund said there's "not enough money in the world" to pay all claims and suggested home owners with plunging property values could lose out.

The warning from prominent US lawyer Kenneth Feinberg came as Hurricane Alex disrupted clean-up operations in the Gulf of Mexico and pushed oil deeper into fragile coastal wetlands and once-pristine beaches.

The storm made landfall late Wednesday south of the US border with Mexico as a Category Two hurricane, with 100-mile-per-hour winds and heavy rains lashing the coast, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

The NHC said at 0600 GMT Thursday that Alex's winds extended outward up to 35 miles (55 kilometers) from the eye, and tropical storm force winds extended out to 205 miles (335 kilometers), well into Texas.

While the hurricane made landfall far from the epicenter of the oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, rough seas forced a halt to skimming operations in the spill area.

Efforts to permanently plug the leak by drilling relief wells continued, and two containment ships are still capturing the oil at a rate of about 25,000 barrels per day despite seven-foot (two-meter) swells.

But the rough seas have delayed the deployment of a third ship aimed at doubling the containment capacity.

Senior government officials were set to meet with President Barack Obama Thursday to discuss whether a new containment system should be installed in the interim.

That system would further raise capacity, but would require the current cap to be removed and involve careful manipulation some 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) below the surface.

An estimated 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil a day has been gushing out of the ruptured well since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig sank on April 22 some 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

Some 423 miles (681 kilometers) of US shorelines have now been oiled as crude gushes into the sea at an alarming rate, 10 weeks into the worst environmental disaster in US history.

Feinberg, who Obama named to administer the 20-billion-dollar claims fund, insisted that BP will "pay every eligible claim," but cautioned that many perceived damages may not qualify.

"I use that famous example of a restaurant in Boston that says, 'I can't get shrimp from Louisiana, and my menu suffers and my business is off,'" Feinberg told the House of Representatives Committee on Small Business on Wednesday.

"Well, no law is going to recognize that claim."

Feinberg said he was still sorting out how to deal with indirect claims like hotels that lose bookings because tourists think the beaches are covered in oil, or people who see their property values decline but live several blocks away from an oiled beach.

"There's no question that the property value has diminished as a result of the spill. That doesn't mean that every property is entitled to compensation," he said.

"There's not enough money in the world to pay everybody who'd like to have money," he said.

Feinberg, who headed a compensation fund for victims of the September 11 attacks, assured lawmakers the fund would be "totally independent" and said BP had agreed to top up the escrow account as needed to meet proper claims.

The British energy giant has already disbursed over 130 million dollars in emergency payments to fishermen and others affected by the slick. Feinberg said lump sum payments would be offered to claimants once the true extent of the damage is assessed.

"It sure would help if the oil would stop," he told the committee.

Obama on Wednesday ordered the development of a long-term plan to "restore the unique beauty and bounty" of the Gulf Coast.

The Long-Term Gulf Restoration Support Plan aims to "ensure economic recovery, community planning, science-based restoration of the ecosystem and environment, public health and safety efforts, and support of individuals and businesses who suffered losses due to the spill," a White House memo said.

Kagan Supreme Court

As a Prior Peace Time Veteran, USARMY. I appose the Nomination of Elena Kagan for the US Supreme Court. I will be posting more information on this topic as it becomes available.

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