4 in 1

Just under a year ago, I posted a photo exhibiting our great use of space (parking space, that is).  More recently, our conservation skills have improved.  We've been keeping an eye on Adam's Honda Shadow while he's off sailing around Catalina and other harbors north of here, so the three of us had been sharing a spot up until the other night...when Ben was at school and the guy with the white KLR snagged Ben's spot in front of Thin Mint.  So Ben did a little shifting and shuffling and this is what he came up with.  Now, how is this for conservation?

Power To The People

Last night, I worked online 'til well after the sun went down.  When I finished working, the charge on our batteries had dropped down to 12.28 volts.  Ben had to work last night, so I also stayed at the hotel.  When I woke up at 6:30 am, it was cloudy and raining.  When we got back to the boat this morning, the meter read 12.85 volts.  Thanks to our new wind generator! 

[This is for the record... for those skeptics who told us a wind generator was worthless and we should instead invest in a gas generator.]  

Conservation

Mr. Green, Mule & Thin Mint Share a Spot

(and, Yes, Thin Mint can pull in and back out around the bikes)

The Power of Solar

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I'd share these pictures of my "office". As many of you know, I work online, from the boat. I use a laptop, an additional flat panel monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. (I need the flat panel to read information that I then enter into the laptop. I use the extra keyboard because I need a number pad. The mouse is really just for ergonomics... so I don't have to reach across the keyboard to use the one on the laptop.) I use an AT&T 3G Wireless card, which I would not recommend to anyone but a desperate soul like myself. It's expensive, bulky, and moody. But it was my best option for internet. And I work entirely off of solar energy. Those of you who followed us in Tater have seen pictures of the solar setup on that blog. I usually work for 8 or 10 hours at a time (even after dark) using energy generated from two 6-volt deep cycle batteries and a 134-watt solar panel. And it's completely free (with the exception of the initial purchase price)! The whole system cost somewhere around $1000 and we've been using it for a year and a half already. Solar is really a cool concept. In the near future, we'll be revamping the system- adding more batteries and panels in order to run the reefer (that's refrigerator in "Pirate Speak"). But for now, we have enough power to live and work off of.

I also hooked up my new 5-watt solar panel on my dinghy on Earth Day. Here are some pics:

Decked Out Dinghy

You may remember Dinghy from a previous post. Well, Dinghy has undergone a makeover. Dinghy is now equipped with a solar light for Dinghy’s bow. (Go Green!) Plus a Sunsei 1.5 watt solar panel to charge Dinghy’s deep cycle battery that powers Dinghy’s 30 lb. thrust Minn Kota trolling motor which is controlled with a foot pedal. (Go Green, again!) A while back, I added padding and vinyl to Dinghy’s seats for added comfort. I keep Dinghy’s oars on board in case of an emergency, plus a chamois to dry the seats when necessary, and 2 life jackets stowed beneath the seat to avoid being harassed by the Harbor Police. Dinghy is finally COMPLETE! And the best part is Dinghy cruises in complete silence. Perfect for sneak attacks. ;)

Dinghy: BEFORE

Dinghy: AFTER

$4 Solar Light courtesy of Home Depot

Sunsei Solar Panel

Deep Cycle Battery

Minn Kota Trolling Motor

Foot Pedal

American Entitlement

Earth Hour 2009: San Diego

8:29 PM















8:30 PM

Earth Hour

This is a fuzzy view of how the San Diego skyline appears on any given night. Tomorrow night at 8:30 PM, I'm hoping to capture a very different picture. Saturday night, March 28, at 8:30 PM is Earth Hour. Please join the millions of people around the globe who will be turning out the lights for one hour at 8:30 PM for a great cause. For more info, go to www.earthhour.org.

Spread the Love

This Valentine's Day, show your friends and family you really love them by giving them gifts that are not only cool, but Earth-friendly as well. Here are some ideas:

*Canvas Grocery Bag (They are cute and they don't suffocate children. Or wildlife.)

*Reusable Coffee Mug (That plastic lid on your Starbucks cup is not recyclable.)

*Reusable Water Bottle (Your Aquafina bottles have floated out to the middle of the Pacific Ocean to form a plastic island twice the size of Texas. And, NO, I did not make that up.)

*AeroPress Coffee Maker (The best invention ever! It uses ZERO electricity and makes awesome coffee, espresso, and lattes in only 30 seconds!)

*A Bicycle. Your friends and family can save gas and get in shape at the same time!

Or, at the very least, wrap their gifts in recyclable paper. And please remember, our planet is a terrible thing to waste.

A New Perspective

I stumbled across this website and had to share it with everyone. Very freakin' cool. (And very uncool at the same time.) Sort of puts things into perspective, I think. Enjoy!

Here's the link:

http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php