Posted on 02/16/2012 8:20:26 AM PST by Gritty
Mostly biomass but also wind and small hydro. Some solar. We just had a hearing on a bill to do with RPS. Some people want to mess with it. I don’t see any point in messing with it now. Yes, our power costs more than average by quite a bit but there’s no guarantee of lowering it by tampering with the formula. We also are a next exporter of power which I think is a good thing.
What Harry Reid is not telling the public is that the United States remains a net importer of crude oil and petroleum products. Total imports of crude oil and petroleum products in 2011 were 4 times more than the petroleum products that were exported. In fact, the United States spent more than $433 billion on crude oil and petroleum imports in 2011, over $100 billion more than the $333 billion spent in 2010 and over 4 times the value of the petroleum we exported. Nevertheless, Senator Harry Reid suggests the purpose of importing Canadian oil via the proposed Keystone Pipeline is to export it in the form of petroleum products.
Yes, we import far too much crude oil, about 9 MMBPD. But that is upstream of our refineries.
We need more access to federal land and waters. We need permits issued timely and more sensible regulations.
And even if the goal was taking in raw bitumen to create jobs and better trade balance exporting products, would that be bad? It would also leave us in the better position of maintaining surplus refining capacity for when our economy finally turns around and our own demand grows.
See you and I fundamentally agree. We need access to more and less costly energy in order to grow our economy. The O and his ilk will never allow it to occur. The EPA is operating by edicts....none of which are based on science...and the Greenies love it
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What is your electric cost in terms of fans and combusting said pellets?
We didn’t notice a significant increase in the electric bill. The blower runs while burning, and shuts down shortly after. The model we have has a thermostat.
We have a 2-story, 2500 sq. Ft. House, but we put the stove in the corner of the side great room, which is way off center.
On a typical winter Massachusetts day, the great room will be 78, and the remotest room will be 63. Unlike a wood stove, the heat is remarkably even, since it’s convection versus radiation.
In January, when night time temps get into single digits, we’ll supplement with oil heat.
Any other questions, feel free to ask. I love not paying so much for heat!
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