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Disaster planning should be part of every single household across America, strike that, the world. When disaster strikes, people die or lives are changed. In times of plenty, forego the Playstations and buy extra food. You can explain a lack of toys better than a lack of food to your children.
Three years ago, our home caught fire. I spent time in intensive care and almost died, thus I know from whence I speak.
As we go into our third season of "This Old Shack", disaster planning and survival episodes become more important. After all, that's what alternative energy is - the ability for you to survive without an infrastructure. All of our episodes of This Old Shack and our new show, "CSI:SALINE" will reflect this in 2009. Oh, of course there's going to be laughs and beer drinking - this survival crap is depressing to think about.
So, practice your fire drills with the crumbcrunchers, practice evacuating yourselves, your pets, your neighbors. Learn how to use a fire extinguisher. And watch our videos!
WATCH BILL XAM LIVE EVERY NIGHT AT 6:30 PM, EST ON THE ANIMAL FEEDER SETUP SHOW!
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NAVIGATION
But why solar power?
There were several reasons for the switch:
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Sprinkle of rain = power failure.
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Giving a little back by not using so much.
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Independent living.
Benefits:
- Renewable power.
- Learning about solar power.
- Own stock in the solar panel company. :-)
- I like batteries.
- I can sit around smoking a cigar because I'm an energy mogul!
Drawbacks:
- Maintenance.
- Installation.
- Bunch of black glass panels sitting around.
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Gas mileage (Dodge Dakota)I drive a 2000 Dodge Dakota Sport with a 4.7 liter V8. This vehicle has the towing package, which means wide ass tires and wide ass wheels. I need a truck to haul materials and parts to the cabin so getting the best gas mileage is job one with this vehicle. The truck currently has grill inserts, a grill blocker, front air dam, cab spoiler and side skirts. Here are the government ratings for mileage that I use as a baseline.
Update: Combining two additives. Would we reap the benefits of both? Well, we combined a friction reducer and the Acetone. Our mileage in the truck now stands at 25.2 mpg. The drive train is powered by a 5 speed manual transmission and a 3.55 ratio rear axle. The EPA says I should get 15 in the city, 20 on the highway and a combined average of 17. As of 5-19-08, I get 22.9 in the city, and an astounding 26.7 on the highway. Not bad for a vehicle capable of scooting down the 1/4 mile in 15 or so seconds, eh? However, there is a caveat. Most of the driving I do is in a open loop condition, that is before the computer cycles into it's warm engine fuel mixture. I expect to do a closed loop cycle in the near future. Here is how I managed to do this:
First, I switched the lubricants for the engine to synthetic oil. Bye bye dino. I use Mobile 1 in the engine, changing it every 5000 miles. Mobile 1, being a synthetic oil can be run farther than 5000 miles so you've got a little bit of room here. The air intake system has been replaced with a Airaid 3 inch inlet cone filter, installed in the front passenger fender. This provides cleaner, cooler air into the engine. I run standard 87 octane gasoline in the truck. I have not done any engine management (plugs, injectors, cooling) as yet.
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