Date: Wed, 10 Mar 1999 01:46:01 -0500
Reply-To: "Robert A. Alexander" <satcong@VOL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Robert A. Alexander" <satcong@VOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Oil??
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Michael Sullivan wrote:
> Dear Bob,
>
> It's more complex than that. These new intertie inverters auto-shutdown within milliseconds when the grid goes down. They have been proven reliable and safe. The real issue seems that in "some" states it is prohibitively expensive to intertie to the grid (even though it is allowed by law) due to regulations/requirements/testing/insurance/etc.
Michael - Dangers to line-workers aside, I'll even grant you 10 hours of sunshine daily at 100 watts of power generation via the solar cells, which would give one 1.0 KwH/day or about 365KwH/year, at $0.10/KwH, a "savings" of $36.50/year. With an investment of about $1000.00 for the setup, payback for the "system" comes after about 27 years?
This stuff hasn't changed since the orgy of the 70's over wind/solar power! Windmills were great for pumping water for livestock comsumption. The real problem is STORAGE of that energy. It is just about as practical to utilize a windmill for "winching" up a '58 Oldsmobile about 100' into the air, to be used as a "storage device", then letting it's release of kinetic energy, when it is allowed to return to earth, to turn a generator so one can have a few hours of light at night!
>
>
> Yeah, they are a bit "guerilla" like -- but hey, I thought you of all people would appreciate it!
Oh, no, I "appreciate" guerrilla tactics. I just wised up to the old "Mother Earth News" stuff after subscribing to the first 12 years of the publication.
>
>
> As for the oil, the article did not promote 24,000 mile changes, rather it mentioned that the first promoters of synth oils initially advertised this as a "feature". Needless to say, if I were to follow this advice, then at the very least, I would change the oil filter every 5,000 miles. Probably would do the trick quite nicely. As it is, I've been using synth in ALL my cars for the last 12 years changing filters at 5k and changing the oil every 10k. Never a leak or a problem.
Do you see any problems with the "testimonials" the synthetic oil distributors are promoting as "evidence" that one will save loads of money, gain horsepower/fuel mileage and find that they are not contributing to the demise of the planet via using them?
BOB
>
>
> Cheers,
> MJS
>
> At 10:12 PM 3/8/99 -0500, Robert A. Alexander wrote:
> >Michael - Checked out the website for Home Power Magazine, and
> >downloaded the "oil" article for issue #69. Would you mind running
> >synoil in your Vanagon for 24,000 miles between oil changes and
> >reporting back to us in, uh, say about four years about the results?
> >
> >Also, did you read & comprehend the totally BS article on backfeeding
> >power into the local electric grid that the magazine promoted???
> >
> >BOB - WA4RRN
> >'85GL - "Bourgeois"
> >
> >
>
> Michael J. Sullivan
> Director of Catalog Design
> Open Market, Inc.
>
> *********************************************
> phone: 781.359.7624
> work: http://www.openmarket.com
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