the end of an error
5 FEBRUARY 2011
I like this picture. It's the only one I managed to snap as I helped two guys from Lewiston cart the oil boiler out of the basement. To me, it suggests a decapitation. The burner head assembly separated from the cast-iron body of a 92,000-BTU-per hour machine, on a sunny patch of snow. A $1,400 contract killing (yes-- Zu and I went out for pizza afterwards... thank you craigslist.)
This is the discrete end to a yearly liability of acid rain-causing pollution, a rapidly changing climate, a whole lot of money, and a fair amount of blood. The replacement boiler (see previous post) runs on natural gas, which has its own set of dilemmas (read any local newspaper in western NY or Pennsylvania, searching “fracking” for evidence.)
What I can say, scientifically, and selfishly:
We'll have saved $2,000 in fuel costs in year one.
This system makes 14,900 fewer pounds of CO2 annually.
This system makes 13 fewer pounds of NOx annually.
This system makes 70 fewer pounds of SOx annually.
This system makes 1.5 fewer pounds of particulates annually.
Viva la resistance.
So, here's the idealized picture of space heat in the northeast... taken on a peak along the Cohos trail, about 30 mi south of the Canadian border in New Hampshire. Pretty. And pretty cyclical: trees fall, people cut them and dry them in place, and then burn them for heat. The trees grow back and use CO2 to do so. There is a warm fuzzy feeling to biomass heating for good reason. There is no hydro-fracking, no nuclear waste, no mountain-tops to remove (or dump into nearby streams!); jobs result from harvesting, processing, and transporting the fuel, and a relationship with one's surrounding environment also emerges.
Obama? Hello?! You seem like a keen guy- how about touting some clean WOOD for a change?
 |
| From BLOG pics |
I like this picture. It's the only one I managed to snap as I helped two guys from Lewiston cart the oil boiler out of the basement. To me, it suggests a decapitation. The burner head assembly separated from the cast-iron body of a 92,000-BTU-per hour machine, on a sunny patch of snow. A $1,400 contract killing (yes-- Zu and I went out for pizza afterwards... thank you craigslist.)
This is the discrete end to a yearly liability of acid rain-causing pollution, a rapidly changing climate, a whole lot of money, and a fair amount of blood. The replacement boiler (see previous post) runs on natural gas, which has its own set of dilemmas (read any local newspaper in western NY or Pennsylvania, searching “fracking” for evidence.)
What I can say, scientifically, and selfishly:
We'll have saved $2,000 in fuel costs in year one.
This system makes 14,900 fewer pounds of CO2 annually.
This system makes 13 fewer pounds of NOx annually.
This system makes 70 fewer pounds of SOx annually.
This system makes 1.5 fewer pounds of particulates annually.
Viva la resistance.
 |
| From BLOG pics |
So, here's the idealized picture of space heat in the northeast... taken on a peak along the Cohos trail, about 30 mi south of the Canadian border in New Hampshire. Pretty. And pretty cyclical: trees fall, people cut them and dry them in place, and then burn them for heat. The trees grow back and use CO2 to do so. There is a warm fuzzy feeling to biomass heating for good reason. There is no hydro-fracking, no nuclear waste, no mountain-tops to remove (or dump into nearby streams!); jobs result from harvesting, processing, and transporting the fuel, and a relationship with one's surrounding environment also emerges.
Obama? Hello?! You seem like a keen guy- how about touting some clean WOOD for a change?
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