Driving To Zero

This too shall pass...

2012-01-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

I suppose its time to start referring to "Driving To Zero" / JoeSteinberger.com as a collection of essays, rather than a blog. I mean... I didn't update in 2010 or 2011. That's definitely not a blog.

Lately I find my creative writing outlet in business correspondence rather than blogs and novels. The business communications genre has made me a much more disciplined writer. Really, if you ever have the pleasure of being my customer and receiving a detailed report including footnotes and parables you're in for a real treat.

At any rate, I'm posting now, after 2.5 years, because of a recent Facebook exchange of all things. It was a description of me, so actually quite appropriate for joesteinberger.com, and it was so spot-on yet... so strange... I'm still not 100% sure what to make of it a month later. It happened in a private group on Facebook, dannysic, which stands for Danny's Inner Circle. Dan and Todd, who provide the commentary, are two of my best friends whom I've known since college.

Pardon the small font or click the image to expand:

"Requisite physical toughness". Even if it's only the "perception of"... wow. I'm going to enjoy that phrase for a long time. That and "deranged, lunatical, or delusional".

The End Is In The Beginning Is In End

2009-06-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

There is much to be excited about. There is much reason to feel optimistic.

ORR MADE IT TO SWEDEN!

IAN CAN WALK!!!

You can find anything online - even Rambo Total

Yes, life is a cycle. It is advisable to go with the current; no reason to fight it.

I discovered and interesting passage that I can attribute to one John Chatterton:

-If an undertaking was easy, someone else already would have done it.
-If you follow in another's footsteps, you miss the problems really worth solving.
-Excellence is born of preparation, dedication, focus, and tenacity; compromise on any of these and you become average.
-Every so often, life presents a great moment of decision, an intersection at which a man must decide to stop or go; a person lives with these decisions forever.
-Examine everything; not all is as it seems or as people tell you.
-It is easiest to live with a decision if it is based on an earnest sense of right and wrong.
- The guy who gets killed is often the guy who got nervous. The guy who doesn't care anymore, who has said, "I'm already dead-the fact that I live or die is irrelevant and the only thing that matters is the accounting I give of myself," is the most formidable force in the world.
-The worst possible decision is to give up.

A good 2009.5 to all.

So Much to Say, So Few People to Pay Attention

2009-03-25T23:22:00.000-07:00

Pity the poor Drive Current South employee; they have to listen to me 40 - 45 hours a week. They have very little choice. Quit a decent job in this shitty economy or listen to Joe Steinberger's rants on a regular basis...

One of the fastest cars in the world, or at least the fastest electric car in the world, with the fastest 1/4 mile time is a 1972 electric Datsun. It beats Corvettes, BMW's and Ferrari's on a regular basis.

I am going to become a farmer. I'm looking forward to it.

Gray water system is still a work in progress. Installing it led to a cracked bathtub. Patched bathtub is still leaking. Perhaps that's serendipity because it's old and almost past its useful life anyway. And now the old bathtub and the laundry will water the new side garden.

Just in time too, because we are doing an extra 3 loads of laundry a week with the new diapers we just bought - Happy Heinys - I can't understate how much I love these diapers - they save me $40 a month... for all you fathers out there, that is $500 a year, $1500 for each child. No joke. And they are nice on the baby's heiny. And they are good to the environment. The only person they are sucky for is my wife, but she is stronger than I am.

George Soros managed to make $1.1 billion in 2008. That's a man with a lot of foresight. Good for him.

I am about to embark on the great Mid-Atlantic tour of 2009:

Baltimore, MD (Heroin)
Lancaster, PA (Amish Country)
New River Gorge, WV (Jon St. John and maybe the Radkes)
Washington, DC (WRI)
Annapolis, MD (MDE and MDA)
New York, NY (Capital of the world)

Wish me luck! Or better yet, come visit us at the office:

Drive Current South
91x * 94w
San Diego, CA 92111

Joe

Bullets and Bullion

2009-02-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

I read that investors are snatching up gold coins and bullion at a brisk pace and that gold is headed above $1000 an ounce. This despite flagging demand for jewelery and all those people calling to sell their gold. This unhinging financial system has the world's currencies losing their luster. I'm not sure where the 'safe money' really needs to go. Personally I would invest in practical tools and skills... dollars and euros may not be worth much, but you can't eat gold either.

Yesterday at Drive Current we tested water and tested Jason. The findings were fascinating - Jason likes his particular brand of bottled water, and in a blind taste test including his water, tap water, other brands of bottled water, water from a different part of the city and solar distilled water, Jason can find his water. His water also happens to be significantly less pure than several of the waters tested.
I've said it before, I don't use words lightly: the most appropriate word I can think of to describe my mother's 60th birthday* party is fabulous. And it was, perched on a hill overlooking the Pacific, family and friends, a rap from one son, and a blog post word dedication from the other:
It was an evening worthy of a fabulous woman. Happy birthday mom.
*(technically it was my father's birthday as well)
I went to the National Auto Dealers Association (NADA) Convention in New Orleans last month. Fewer attendees and a more serious undercurrent as compared to previous years; the people there were there to work. I left feeling upbeat that the market - entrepreneurs, intelligent people, hard workers, disruptive geniuses, gutsy investors - will bring the change that Washington can't bring. If we do fall into a depression all bets are off, but I left feeling upbeat that we shall overcome.
I went to Madrid over Christmas and New Years. San Diego to Spain. Via San Francisco, London and Lisbon. Thank you United miles. I have since begun using my American Airlines credit card and simultaneously stopped caring about miles...
Flying over Spain in a small craft (via Portugal) at a lower altitude, one can appreciate just how 'discreet' are the cities and towns of the country; they all stop at one point and just become fields and pastures, even Madrid. It's surprising to see when you're accustomed to flying over LA for half an hour looking at houses and buildings before the pilot comes on to say, "Hello, this is Pilot Richardson again, folks. We'll be making our initial decent into LAX in approximately 10 minutes. The flight attendants will be coming by shortly for a final check."
There is a good team taking shape in Spain. An electrical engineer, an architect, a mechanic, a safety regulator, a gardener, a software engineer, and a mayor. By 2014 there will be an apartment building in Spain with a fleet of electric vehicles in the basement and the following sign above the door:
A SU CACA
"lo llevamos crudo"
And there will be date trees. And free shampoo. Pizza coupons for a year and a free backpack. It will be wonderful.
There is a good man on the ground in London. We broke bread and washed our nasal passages together.
We have a new conference room with a place at the table dedicated to a remote person. There is a screen so you can see their face and they control a movable camera remotely which means they can literally turn from one person to another and ask a direct question. The world is shrunk - bring on the universe.
The house is DONE! Inspected, permitted, signed, sealed and delivered. I expect to have a dedication of the 264 square foot Wayne Harris Wing some time in the spring. It wasn't easy. In fact, it was somewhat hard. For a while I was mad at Ernie and felt abandoned, then I was mad at Jose and felt abandoned, then I met Hector, the handiest man I ever have known and now i have insulation underneath my house and a fence around the pond.

The Follower

2008-12-07T08:19:00.001-08:00

I just realized I have a follower... Hello Gili Chupak, my #1 follower. :)

I think I just became a man. Having a follower is a great responsibility... wow. I have a follower. Thank you Gili. I think I am going to become a follower of you as well.... I have a follower. Crazy.

OK, anyway, I met some very interesting people yesterday, Alex and Freddy of NC Forged and Raul of 405. Raul started 310. I'm thinking of a new entity - 011. Has there ever been a real international man of mystery?

And to top it off, Suhas is coming to San Diego.

And my trees just got trimmed! My goodness, it is the holiday season. Happy holidays to all, and to all a good year.

You Lietenant Weinberg?

Feeling Shame, Sheep, and Joy

2008-11-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

My, its been a long time since my last blog post. And much has happened. Why, just yesterday I was hit on the head with a cardboard egg carton whilst rejoicing in a new coffee pot. I still maintain most of my mental faculties.

At any rate, little Ian Steinberger has joined the world! He's pretty wonderful. And as I mentioned yesterday to my very first friend Andrew Karch, fatherhood in month 5 is way better than fatherhood in month 3.

I won an award for my portrayal of a professional Pie Racker for Halloween. I have a new favorite television show.

I read a book recently. It's the first book I've had time to read in a long time. Granted, it was about 180 pages with big font... short enough to induce outrage in people that expect at least 300 pages for their $23. (That's not me, by the way, but Pilar's uncle Jesus).

And now I am posting a blog. Hooray for month 5! Go Ian!

The Calm Before the Storm

2008-02-22T01:09:00.000-08:00

I have some breaking news and important updates:

I now have 2/3rd's of a child... very exciting.
Until now, I had posted nothing in February, which is quickly drawing to a close.
I have to empty the storage room this weekend and am preparing to post lots of stuff on Craigslist.org
Nothing is happening on my house and I have taken to saying "I don't want to talk about it" when people ask me how the remodel is going.
I noticed Bill is building a stone wall next to the new ATT telco box.
I have not yet formally blogged about how ATT eminent-domained my ass, but do stay tuned.
The term "my ass" is used not to evoke any particular image, but to describe the fact that ATT is now utilizing 40sq.ft. of the 'easement' on what I thought was my property.
I have surprised myself by writing 9 different factoids thus far.
I am counting the statement I made at the beginning of this posting, that I have some breaking news and important updates, as a piece of news, making this a 10 news-item list. Feel free to request a recount. I anticipate more recounts in the coming months...

This is Joe Steinberger, signing off from the Steinberger Solar Institute, Inc. world headquarters and wishing you a good February.

Note - Sí², pronounced "See squared" and short for the Steinberger Solar Institute, Inc., is an imaginary entity that disavows all responsibility for anything written in this blog or by Joe Steinberger. For more information on Sí², please check Google in 5 to 7 years. Thank you.

Garden, Catcus, Cactus up close, and a Hole with pick, concrete and irrigation pipe ensemble

2008-01-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

The Trees Need Trimming

2008-01-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

Stop Talking about Stop Talking, Start Doing, Start Doing

2008-01-20T14:07:00.001-08:00

Watching the AFC Championship on a high definition television at close range. The commercials are so much more vivid, the sound quality, so crisp.

"Visit unitedway.com. A little goes a long way."

"The passing game is not working, so what do they do..."

"I hate that guy, I hate that guy. What is this 39... he really runs..."

"Timeout called by New England..."

It's not about the shoes, its about knowing where you're going. Not forgetting where they started. It's about having the courage to fail; not breaking when you are broken. Taking everything you've been given and making something better. It's about work before glory. And what's inside of you. It is doing what they say you can't. It's about what you do. It's about being who you were born to be.

LEGENDARY.

Saved and Damned

2008-01-20T07:16:00.000-08:00

I knew Ernie was good the moment I met him. Sure enough, within 15 minutes he was explaining to me how to improve my composting efforts with worms. And he proved to be a man of action when he got the plans done in two weeks and started pushing me to go to the city for the permits. But I wasn't expecting to be surprised. Twice!

Surprise 1: It turns out Ernie has had solar hot water and pv on his roof for a long time. And by 'long time', I mean since before I graduated High School. Surprise 2: It also turns out Ernie has built half of the landmarks of San Diego!

Something brought Ernie and me together. Something mystical and ancient. Oh, that's right, it was Aziz. ;)

So Ernie thought he was helping out a friend of his old friend Aziz on a simple remodel. Little did he know that this 550 square foot addition was going to be the most memorable project of his career, perhaps with the exception of Sea World. Good luck Ernie. Now that you've seen DrivingToZero and you've been loaned books there is no escape!

Humbled

2008-01-19T08:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was cut down at the knees. In a good way.

That is probably the best, most descriptive way I can summarize my foray into the world of General Contracting. Aziz Fathy of Fathy Construction, Inc. will soon formally become my general contractor, and I am happy to write that.

It all starts with the foundation. Ever since I brushed aside rational suggestions to just demo the entire existing garage, including the foundation, things got a little more complicated. To assess the strength of a concrete slab, one must dig beside the slab, down to a depth of about two feet. And sometimes that concrete slab is surrounded on 3 sides by more poured concrete, and on one side by a giant cactus planted in dirt. So rather than break concrete, one must cut back the cactus and then dig, dig through the dirt, and the irrigation pipes, and the chunks of concrete that were left there long ago. But sometimes one finds that 12 inches down the soil turns to hard clay, and one does not have a pick. So one must borrow a pick from one's neighbor in the evening, and then wake up at 5:00 in the morning to continue the hole, which must be dug by 2:00 PM, because one is on a schedule to get a simple hole dug so that a structural engineer can take a look at the concrete to determine if footings should be poured.

I'm up to that challenge. I can dig a hole. With a little bit of help from Bill at the last minute. But if you have to call in reinforcements to get a hole dug, you're probably not the right guy to manage the entire construction project.

Fathy Construction has been around for 30 years, since 1978. Aziz Fathy has been an architect at the design table creating impressive commercial, industrial and residential structures. And he's been an architect in the field reviewing the "constructability" of plans designed by 'table architects'. You can design it, but you can't always build it once you get out there. And to get there, you have to speak three languages - the languages of subcontractor, of office person, and of owner.

I am learning those languages. But at some point recently (I'd say it really crystalized in the last 24 hours or so), I realized that I don't know shit and it is time to turn the reigns over to someone who does. From this point on I hope to enjoy watching the process unfold. Good luck Bill.

THE RESOURCES LIST - a few good links

2008-01-12T12:43:00.001-08:00

There are several interesting companies, people and ideas floating about San Diego. I think it's time to really document a few. I will call this "THE RESOURCES LIST"

THE RESOURCES LIST

A sensitive, and well orchestrated listing of Local Goings On in 'Green Building' San Diego

Deconstruction - kind of a 'duh' alternative to demolition.

Recycled Lumber Apparently they have some good old growth recycled lumber that Dixieline can mill for you.

Solar Hot Water - Imagine long, hot showers that don't require natural gas, electricity or dollars.

Solar Hot Water Rebate - San Diego is ground zero for an extremely important pilot program in the state of California.

Solar Hot Air - This is going to be particularly good on those cold sunny mornings at around 7:30...

Craigslist.org - It looks like there's a ton of stuff available on Craigslist cheap/free...

Habitat for Humanity - Another oldie but goodie, I didn't realize quite what a resource HfH is for good used stuff...

Wine Barrels - Why not, right? (Think rain water storage, grey water storage, some sort of mini-ecosystem-pond...)

SD Green House - Joshua's life is eerily similar to mine, including his blog.

Hybrid Bus and Truck company - Joshua's company. I threw this in because my next project is going to be a green RV.

Oil hits $100 per barrel!

2008-01-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

Ho hum.

I think rational minds are all supporting legislation for some sort of 'gas tax' or 'carbon tax' that is A) substantial enough to make a difference immediately B) will be phased in so as not to 'disrupt' the economy but will eventually prepare the economy for $200 per barrel oil.

In Europe they are not feeling the pinch of these high oil prices for two reasons: 1) Oil is priced in dollars and the dollar is tanking vis a vis the Euro. 2) The traditionally high European gas tax diminishes any increase in crude oil costs because the raw product makes up a smaller percentage of the overall cost of the refined product. Summary - the European economy is better suited to $200 per barrel oil.

In Japan, they run their bathroom sinks into the toilet tank so that the basically clean water from the bathroom sink can be reused to flush down anything in the bowl. If they do that with their bathroom sink water, you can pretty much bet your bottom yen that the Japanese will weather $300 per barrel oil.

The Chinese stopped riding bikes last week. If they have to start riding bikes next week, they'll probably be ok. $400 per barrel oil.

The Russians, Nigerians, Venezuelans and Saudis are sitting on most of the world's oil reserves. Not only are they prepared for $500 per barrel oil, they love the idea.

North Koreans burn yak manure to heat their small dwellings... (OK, I made that up. I also exaggerated... not all Chinese have stopped riding their bikes.)

Conclusion - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency is as American as apple pie made of locally harvested apples.

Pulling the Trigger

2008-01-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

2008 is the year I pull the trigger on a lot of cool things. A baby (officially due June 7). A home remodel (officially to be done June 6). A bunch of solar experiments. It's going to be an exciting year.

So speaking of pulling the trigger, there was a murder about 100 yards away from my front door yesterday. Kind of wacky. I spoke to the cops about an hour ago. They were nice and informative which is reassuring. I just looked outside my window and it appears the local tv camera crew has arrived on the scene. In my younger years I probably would have gone down there to get some air time, but for now, I'm content to sit on my sofa and write a paragraph or two.

You never know where the current of life is going to take you. Sometimes you get murdered and get your 15 minutes postmortem on the 11:00 news. Sometimes you end up 100 yards away from the murder, happy and hopeful for an exceptional, outstanding year. Here's to a happy, healthy, prosperous, productive, meaningful 2008 for all! :)

Oh, by the way, here is the fox coverage of the days events:

An Architect, a Draftsman and a Water Systems Consultant Walk into a Yard...

2007-12-29T00:08:00.001-08:00

The owner of the house says, "Hi Ernie, Hi Tony, Hi Bill..."

Yep, it was a little design party yesterday during the lunch hour. It was a big design party for the hour after the lunch hour. When we were all done we had:
*3 architects
*2 engineers
*1 seamstress
*1 jack and 1 jill of all trades, master of all

We are going to be able to preserve the existing foundation below what will become the "2008 Addition". That is good. The rest of the old garage has to be demo'd. That's unfortunate, but whereever possible, we're going to try to reuse the materials on the site.

I shut down my storage company over a year ago now. (i.e. I kicked out everyone that was storing stuff in the garage). Still, there's a lot of stuff in there. It pains me to throw out the oldish couches and other odd crap. Hopefully we'll find good homes for everything. Then it's down with the garage, up with a new structure, better insulation, safer electrical, etc. etc.

War, Pirates and Unchartered Territory

2007-12-22T07:30:00.000-08:00

I went to the Borrego Solar Holiday Party on Thursday night. (My wife handles their payroll amongst other things.) I heard several interesting stats and numbers. One that stood out to me was that the amount of pv installed by Borrego on rooftops, awnings, etc. displaces the same amount of carbon as planting 5,000 acres of trees. I haven't actually broken that down, but if it proves out, that's pretty cool. Aaron, the CEO, called the employees solar warriors. Thanks for the party, Aaron! :)

That makes two different groups of solar warriors that I've come across recently. So with the various warriors (a few of whom double as pirates), along with these two Rocket Scientists I know, a very capable special forces geek unit and five Japanese Webmistresses that have been referred to as web ninjas (and may actually be ninjas), I see a very worthy militia of geeks assembling. I have a General in mind if the militia ever becomes a full-fledged Army of Geeks, but it would be premature to go down that path.

For now, more on the ninjas - along with their two male assistants and a wise old master (all presumably Japanese), the ninjas are collectively known as "Noriko's Okiron". These palindrome dropping ladies of the web go by the names Pirate, Little Red Wolf, Coffee T., Blondie and Mama-san. All proper armies have their crazy soldiers, the ones that storm the beaches and you have no idea what they're really capable of... well, that's Norko's Okiron. They'll be fun to watch.

By the way, I'm told that unless I post once a week, Driving To Zero is not a blog, just a website. I'm not so sure I even want a blog. But on occasion, such as now, I am going to address the readers of this "blog". So... Esteemed Readers of Driving 2.0, I did want to point out that nothing in the previous paragraphs is untrue, or even exaggerated, and it is certainly not irrelevant. I have too much respect for your time.

Enough about ninjas... now that I'm warmed up, I'm going to venture into unchartered territory. There is a lot of "Unchartered Territory" in Driving 2.0, but I'm going to call this next thought 'Common Sense: War, What It Is and How to Wage It.'

There are several examples in history of the folly of the two front war. The citizens of the United States of America are waging a two front war at the moment. At least we have two declared wars on two large "fronts". One is the War on Drugs. The other is the War on Terror. (I'm not counting the War on Crime and the War on Poverty because while these wars do flair up periodically, they've kind of reached a 'Cold War' status that the voting public seems to be satisfied with). Right. Which brings up the question - what is war? According to Wikipedia, "War is any large scale, violent conflict." OK, so the War on Drugs and Terror certainly check out. But what about the War all the solar warriors are lining up for?

More and more I hear people and politicians talk about a Manhattan Project type drive to kick our 'Energy Addiction'. And as I mentioned previously, people in the solar industry are talking tough, myself included. I don't think this particular struggle is going to get violent. But I do think you'll start hearing about a War on Global Warming or a War for the Planet or some other more catchy name.

Anyway, my point is we may be mustering our energy and resources for a third front, the Solar War. Soon enough we may find ourselves fighting on 3 fronts simultaneously, which leads me to an important question, which I ask in all seriousness: Can we afford to fight so many wars on so many fronts?

Regardless of the answer, an obvious follow up is which war is our most important war? Which war should receive the lion's share of our resources? We'll never all come to a consensus on this. But I do think we need to be realistic about our means and our priorities and try to focus our finite resources where they will do the greatest good. In the meantime, I'll be storming Coronado Island with my pirate buddies.

The plan is Coming Together

2007-12-20T00:49:00.000-08:00

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

After a lot of thought, and then a lot of sketches, measurements, and 7 detailed drawings done with a 60 day free trial of Microsoft Visio, I finally met with an architect who I will describe as sharp, capable and positive. Ernie is going to present some ideas on Sunday and hopefully create the plans that will be permitted by the city. I have been surprised by how much you can do with readily available software these days. I saw a "home remodel" application at Costco for $80 that looked really good!

On another front, I believe I am about to get a letter from the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee that says my house has no historic or cultural value! Yeah! That means I can actually get approval to start construction. Scott G. told me over the phone that the letter was actually in the mail to my physical address, so that is encouraging.

Since I need to replace the roof, Chris of Borrego came out and gave me some advice on making the house "PV ready" without spending a ton of money up front on panels. This makes sense because I can wire the house while everything is open and a mess... then if energy spikes and panel costs decrease, I can always put them in. Or if we get a PHEV that will be parked in the driveway and plugged in a fair amount during sunshine hours, it may make sense.

Bill of OB seems to know a thing or two about gray water systems, plumbing, piping, water and mechanical systems in general. That's great. The simple idea there is that each zone of the garden should hopefully get at least some water from a "zone" of the house (i.e. the laundry, the bathroom sink and shower, but not the toilet or the kitchen sink). Ideally gravity will be used and plants will be watered at least a foot below the surface of the soil.

I'd like to post the actual plans I have, but at the moment, posting files is a bit tedious. Still, Dave B, Rich C, Fletcher, and others continue to give valid advice and I have a hinting suspicion that within a month or so we are going to break ground on a very cool project.

Accurate Measurements

2007-12-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an exceptional day on at least 5 or 6 fronts. I'm a person that weighs my adjectives carefully, so that is an exceptional statement for me to make. Regardless, December 8th, 2007, the 10 year anniversary of The TP, the world's first online install publication, did not disappoint. It was also, apparently, the day of the year in which the sun rises the latest, (Fletcher?) though not to be confused with the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

So thanks to Rob Q.'s advice, I have accurate measurements of my house, which I have plugged in to Microsoft Visio and am using it to make plans. I'm not sure if Visio is the best software application for architectural drawings (in fact, I'm pretty sure it's not), but it's good enough to let me play around and make pictures that anyone can understand.

Rich Ca. (that's California, not Canada) reviewed the plans last evening - his initial question was, "What are your needs?" which was shortly followed by, "Can you make due with less?" That might be the most basic premise of all sustainable buildings - to meet your medium term needs and plan for the long term needs with as few square feet as possible. Of course, being Americans we ended up with more square feet, but what can you do...

Warriors of the Sun

2007-11-07T23:12:00.000-08:00

I met with Bruce and Ray a couple of weeks ago for breakfast and to talk about how to use a car to store and distribute energy. These two are true warriors of the sun. They built a solar powered vehicle in 1993. Crazy.

I had a Denver omelet. It was ok. I have since switched to ham and cheese at the Spice House Cafe....

So based on that conversation, I've refined my car ideas yet again. Their suggestion: get an older Prius cheap, put in the extra batteries, don't worry about voiding the warranty because it's already expired, and go from there. Pretty convincing.

More news. I visited my friend Charlie's house. Charlie - got any good links that describe your house? It's impressive. Charlie put a lot of thought into it and gave me a lot of great tips. More to come on that...

San Diego In Flames

2007-10-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

The Cedar fire was bad. Since about 8:00 or so this morning, I've felt like this fire is much worse.

Four years ago I took a trip to Sedona, Arizona. Great place. On the way back we were stopped on the highway due to the Ceder Fire. The sky to the northwest was orange from the flames. The wind was blowing pretty hard. I remember thinking that the police didn't really know what was going on. I u-turned and drove the other way... no reason to stay within a mile of the fire while stuck on a highway.

Yesterday, Sunday morning October 20, I was south of Rosarito, in Baja California, Mexico. I guess the Santa Annas make me travel. At 7:00 AM the sky was clear and it was warm and beautiful. At around 8:00 a fog rolled in. By 9:00, the wind had kicked up and it was blowing the patio furniture around. We left at 9:38 AM. I looked at the clock as we pulled out.

We drove north from Rosarito, the dust was whipping up everywhere and we couldn't even see the ocean. There were those giant dust ball plants that roll down the street blowing all over. We discussed how in San Diego you forget that we live in a desert, but in Baja, not everything has been planted over and mulched and paved. In Baja you get a real sense of how powerful the Santa Annas are.

Here's what my friend Laura from DC, who is experiencing her first fire had to say:

People - this fire stuff is very strange and very new to me. I can't believe it.

What do you think will happen? The fire won't come down to us will it? I know you can't really predict that, but there is no precedent for it is there?

Its eerie how this is like a East Coast snow storm - but with more deadly and damaging effects.

LT

Here's a telling screenshot of an Instant Message conversation I just had with my co-worker Daniel:

Frustration and Action

2007-10-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Laura told me about a bottled water company that uses 30% recycled plastic to make its bottles and promotes this fact...

bleh.

Simplifying

2007-10-03T00:13:00.000-07:00

Lets see if I can get this posted before my laptop battery dies. Wow, that strangely appropriate.

Dave of Borrego Solar helped me see that it doesn't make sense to have batteries back at the house to store the sun's energy and then feed it into my vehicle. This "big battery backup storage" plan doesn't make sense for a variety of reasons, but basically I can continue to be tied to the utility grid and skip the batteries. I'll feed the grid with solar power from my home during the day, when my neighbors need it most, and then "buy" or get it back from the grid at night when my neighbors are asleep and energy is more plentiful. I save on the batteries. The grid/utility/ratepayers save (a tiny amount, but something) by receiving my energy during peak usage, and the earth wins because it doesn't need to cough up that much more lithium or lead or whatever for the battery. Pretty obvious, but sometimes it's easy to lose site of the real goal while trying to "solve the problem properly". Thanks Dave!

Sun Station

2007-09-25T07:30:00.001-07:00

I have this vision of getting up in the morning, brushing my teeth, combing my hair, drinking my coffee, grabbing my briefcase, walking out to the car, unplugging it, winding up the extension cord, getting into a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV), driving to work on solar energy that was harvested from my roof, getting out of the car at the office, plugging in to the solar panels in the roof there, charging up
all day, and then driving home, every mile of my commute powered by the sun.

I get excited when I think about that. At this point I feel like I understand the details. If you're ready, read on...

Rick of Thunderstruck-ev.com suggested to me that I purchase an old VW diesel that was in good shape. These are apparently good solid vehicles that can last forever and are simpler to work on and cheaper to fix. I saw a nice small pickup truck for $1500, but I'll probably go with an old Mini Cooper or a VW bug.

Anyway... the diesel motor can literally run on grease, a.k.a. biodiesel. And it gets great mileage. So that's a good solid start right away.

Then the vehicle can be electrified. I've been advised by my friend Alexander who has built a few electric vehicles to power the drive train directly from batteries. I'm not even 100% sure I understand what that means, but it sounds logical. Batteries power the axel which turns the wheels, which moves the car. Run the batteries until they are down to about 20%, maybe 15% capacity and then the diesel motor/generator kicks in to recharge the batteries. There are other options of course, but I like this model because it allows me to run off of the sun (granted, I have to plan my infrastructure properly).

The reassuring thing about the PHEV vs. an all electric vehicle is that if I run into a traffic jam, or want to drive 2 hours to LA, no problemo amiguito, I can put a few gallons of grease into my vehicle from my local taco shop. And if I run out of local taco shop grease, I can go down the street to the gas station and pay $3.00 for a gallon of diesel (or $5.00, or whatever... raise your hand if you remember thinking $3.00 gasoline was ridiculously expensive... That was yesterday.)

The key to making everything work on a budget and in a sensible manner, I now understand, is to properly size the batteries. Good, solid batteries are crucial. This is the primary cost of the system. I'm told that lithium iron phosphate batteries are the way to go and that the costs could be anywhere from $6,000 to $15, 000 depending on my needs. I'm still investigating specific options here, and any thoughts would be appreciated. Clearly an inexpensive, lightweight, compact, durable battery is the ideal.

So again, the key is to properly size the batteries to my actual needs. I need to go 15 miles at 55mph with a change in altitude of about 1000 feet. That was the whole epiphany for me, not trying to size the batteries to my longest trips and biggest needs, but getting it down to my most fundamental transportation needs.

So yeah, I was prodded into trying to find a way to get from my home to my office, the daily commute, at a speed of 45mph. Thanks again to Thunderstruck. 45mph? No way. But then I started to think about 55mph... and then I started trying to go no faster than 55mph. And I started easing in and out of the exit ramps and sticking to the slow lane, and not racing up hills. And now I've mastered the art of driving 55mph without, and this is the true art of it all, disrupting traffic. So far so good. It's very comfortable driving 55. I enjoy the commute more. I'm not braking and accelerating and braking all the time.... I will confess that on occasion, when late, excited, anxious, caffeinated, etc. I might drive 75. Just for fun. Briefly. But I've found that I don't have to drive over 55mph. Kewl, eh?

Anyway, now, instead of wanting to go 20 miles at a top speed of 65mph, I am willing to go 15 miles at a top speed of 55mph. I might want the ability to burst to 65, but I don't think I'll need to sustain it. My one sticking point here is I really want a vehicle that everyone would consider buying, which probably means batteries to support 20 miles at 65mph.

Driving 55mph instead of 65mph makes a substantial difference in the battery requirements. I.e. less batteries needed. (As a semi-obvious side note, the lighter weight the vehicle, the less batteries are needed). I need less batteries, ergo, I spend less money and/or I consume fewer raw materials. HOWEVER, and this is a nice serendipity, I have met all of my needs, very happily. I am getting to work on time, safely, effectively, and should I run low on electricity for any reason, I switch to a diesel motor that can be powered by the stuff at the gas station in a pinch.

So lets close the loop, shall we? Solar panels. Powering the vehicle with the sun. No fossil fuels (ideally). No combustion. No pollution. None. The dollars are reinvested in the local community. Life is good. So this number may evolve, but it sounds like a 3kw system installed at at the office, charging my car all day will get me home on the sun. At home, I'll have to have another 3kw system and sufficient batteries to store juice produced during the day and then use that to charge to the car at night. Viola! Now lets see if we can actually do it. (Notice I say we to those of you reading this).

Shana Tova - Happy Yom Kippur

2007-09-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

Today is Yom Kippur, and it also happens to be Shabbat, which makes this perhaps the holiest day in a seven year cycle. Jews fast on Yom Kippur. I'm fasting. So is Pili for the first time ever. Last night, Friday evening just before sundown, we ate a perfect dinner cooked by our Israeli friend Dusi. I won't eat again until tonight after sunset. When you eat nothing for 24 hours, you become a little more conscious of what it takes to maintain your own life. You get hungry. You get thirsty. You think about food and water a little bit differently. You think about what it means to sustain yourself.

Bryan has promised me that if I update "Driving to Zero" regularly, that he'll get the nuts and bolts patched so the site can run like it should. This is a bit of a coming out party... this blog is now linked from DriveCurrent.com. Theoretically it's public. AwYeah!

Apparently Jim installed the sign yesterday. Or so I saw on the "image text" I got in the mail yesterday, and successfully uploaded to the Internet today. Thanks Daniel and Rich for continuing to drag me a bit further into the digital age. Occasionally I lose my taste for it, but them I am reminded of the power of the Internet.

I just came back from 4 days in Chicago. It was very warm up there, high 80's low 90's. Here in San Diego, in my living room this morning around 8:00 AM, it's feeling cold. It is cloudy and raining slightly. It's that time of year that I start to really think about the house - insulation, heating... time to call Deris again. And Rich Caputo. And Aziz. I've got a plan that involves some general home improvements, but also:

Installation of a Solar Thermal Hot Water Heater
Installation of Solar Thermal Hot Air Heaters
Sky lights and ceiling windows to vent hot air in the summer
Roof Rain Water Catchment for drip irrigation in garden
Gray Water Recycling for use in pond
Solar Powered Water Filtration System
Improved Insulation

I'm transitioning out of the research phase and into the implementation phase. I'm doing my best to use recycled materials where possible. It's an exciting project. Hopefully the details are forthcoming and Bryan gives me a new blogging engine. The TP is dead. Long live the TP.

Thoughts on My SDGE Utility Bill, My Old Gas Furnace, My New Central Heater, and My Not Yet Acquired Solar Thermal Air Heater

2007-01-20T08:02:00.000-08:00

I just got my SDG&E utility bill. What an embarrasment. $106.03. I thought I was comfortably down to the $50 range. My parents were visiting for a week which I think made a big impact, and also we're into winter now.

I have to give a lot of credit to SDGE for the bill. I'm really going to have to scan and post it. They show you your usage last month and then compare it to this month last year with the % change. You get a break down between therms of gas used and kilowatt hours used...it's interesting...

So that's a picture of my house up there. It's 1128 sq. ft. According to the electric bill for the period 12/14/2006 - 1/16/2007, we used 1.6 therms of natural gas per day last month. The previous month we used only .7 therms/day, and 1.1 therms/day this period last year. So I'm thinking that yeah, my dad probably likes the house warmer, and there were two more people taking hot showers...

We used 7.8 kWh/day, which is the amount of electricity we needed to power our lights, computer, and television. It's a measurement like pounds, 7.8 kilowatt hours per day. We used 6.7 the previous month and 7.7 this month last year.

This house is about 60 years old. When we moved in there was this wall furnace that burns gas. You can see it over there just to the right of the tv and to the left of the door. (For a really big view, click the picture. By the way, the doors are not turquoise anymore.)

So I couldn't get the furnace to work, so I called SDGE. They sent a guy out the next day. He looked at the furnace for 2 minutes and said, "You sure you want me to turn this thing on? It hasn't been used for at least 10 years..."

"Lets do it!" I told him.

"The knob is rusted shut."

"Come on, you can do it! We can make this work!"

He really didn't want to, but I got him psyched up to give it a try. After the giant flame ball came roaring out we both agreed the furnace was dead. That was pretty funny actually.

So it was January when we moved in. I'm going to dispell a quick myth. San Diego gets cold in the winter. REALLY cold. That whole winter Pili and I would get into bed under the covers as early as possible... it was so cold my face felt frozenn even though I was inside the house... it sucked. The next fall we got central heating installed.

I wouldn't want anyone to go through winter without heat. You've got to wonder about the people in Chicago or Denver with fixed incomes... You've got to eat, pay rent, maybe pay for medications, so what happens if you can't afford heat? I wonder what percentage of people in cold climates live without heat in the winter...

So here's the exciting activity of the day. Deris of ClearDomeSolar is coming over to my house to take a look and give me some advice. Deris invented a very nifty product that can heat your home with the sun's energy. He takes a special piece of metal that is very good at absorbing sunlight and getting hot, and sticks it in a little plexiglass chamber. He runs a fan (that can be powered by a small solar panel) blowing air over the hot metal which send hot air into the room. The heater can sit in the window sill or be attached to the outside of the house. And viola - free heating!

And then you pause and think, "Wait a minute. It's cold at night. There's no sun out at night. How are you going to heat my house up when it's cold out?" Yeah, Deris, you snake-oil salesman!

According to Deris, the house heats up during the day, and a well insulated house will keep that heat right on through to the next morning. You might need to turn on the heat for 15 minutes around 10:00 PM if the day was cloudy. Or if you prefer warmer temperatures.

We shall see. I'm hoping to either borrow a solar heater from Deris to evaluate or actually purchase one. They cost around $250 per panel, and my house probably needs 3 panels. If I can displace $50 of gas cost a month for 5 months a year, that would be a 3 year payback, and then free heat for eternity. Not a bad idea for those folks up in Chicago or Denver...

Setting the Scene

2007-01-19T07:12:00.000-08:00

It's an early Friday morning in San Diego. When I got up the thermostat was set to 63, and I popped it up to 68. I don't know how cold it got last night, but it was cloudy and felt cold at 6:45... now at 7:15 the sun is hitting me a bit from the window and the heat is kicking in and it feels good.

I need to get a few of my utility bills online and really analyze them. SDG&E is my power company. Typically my bill is between $30 and $50 a month. That's after some thought and effort not to 'over consume'. In case you care, the bill breaks out almost exactly 50/50 between 'therms of gas' (heat, oven, hot water) and/vs. 'kilowatt hours of electricity' (light, television, computer).

I've done a few really basic things to reduce consumption:

1) Install fluorescent lights. I was pretty surprised how many lights we actually have in the house. I went out and bought a six pack of fluorescent bulbs, came back, put them in, and saw that I had hardly made a dent. In the end, including all the lights in the closets and outside I think it was 30 bulbs.

2) Turn off lights. That bulb changing process definitely made me more conscious of the lights that are turned on too. I like having lights on around the house. It makes me happy. But I found that I actually don't need to have lights turned on in every room. It makes a big difference. Conservation, baby!

3) Energy Efficient Appliances. When Pili and I moved in to our house, built in 1947, there were basically no appliances. So we invested the few hundred bucks more and went with all energy efficient stuff. It turns out front-loading clothes washers are super efficient with energy and water. By the way, can you tell that the stove in the picture does not have a door to the oven!

4) Wearing socks/slippers at all times in the winter.

Right. So we haven't done a lot. Just some basic stuff - the lowest hanging fruit that was easy to do, or that I had to do. Now I have a few options on how to get better, i.e. drive that energy consumption towards zero. In no particular order, things that I need to investigate and do:

1) Install Photovoltaic System - a 'PV' system is what most people think of when they think of solar. That thing that sits on the roof. It's what Arnold is subsidizing to the tune of $3billion here in California.

2) Install Solar Hot Water - Simple concept, proven technology. Supposedly less expensive than PV. We shall see.

3) Install Solar Thermal Hot Air Heater - A friend from the San Diego Renewable Energy Society explained to me that air is a really good conductor of heat. And you can use the sun to heat the air in your house and stay warm. Simple but smart.

4) Insulation - Have a contractor and probably some other folks look at the house and tell me if I need insulation in the attic, walls, under the floorboards or what, and what that would mean for my heating and cooling bill.

5) Windows - I've been told by another SDRES friend who has zero'd out his energy bill, that my windows are 'Ok. Not great, not terrible.' It's kind of a pain to replace windows though, so I'd like to know very clearly what the benefit is.

6) Passive Solar - This just means I could plant trees to shade my house in the summer to keep it cool, and maybe install some awnings, or think about the size and position of the windows vs. where the sun is in the sky at what time of the year. Yeah, it actually gets pretty complicated, but once you break it down I assume it's straight forward. And if not, there are experts...

Lots of stuff to investigate!

The End is in the Beginning

2007-01-13T09:46:00.000-08:00

A sensitive and well orchestrated blog by:
Joe Steinberger
Editor In Chief
"We're on a roll!"

I've come to believe we need to cut our fossil fuel consumption by 90%. And we need to do it soon.

That's the basic premise of this site.

Clearly the concept of Global Warming is entering its "The World is Round" phase. People are coming to accept that if 7 billion humans keep burning gas to stay warm, and burning coal to turn on the lights, and burning oil to get to work and the grocery store... we will likely do serious, irreversible damage to the environment.

So what do we do? Are we going to stop taking hot showers and driving? No. I doubt even 1% of the U.S. would be willing to trade in their car for a bike and bus ticket. I wouldn't, unless gas was $10/gallon, and even then it would be hard.

But that's ok... we understand the problem. And now we have to come up with realistic, effective ways of addressing it. And here's the GREAT thing - there are easy solutions all over the place. RENEWABLE ENERGY is everywhere. It's state of the shelf technololgy. And it's cheap! (No joke, wind is cheaper than coal!)

So I'm going to try to reduce my fossil fuel consumption by 90%. I really don't know if I can do it. I think I can. I suppose it will take years, but I figure if politicians are throwing around numbers like 2030 and 2050, if I can do something meaningful by 2011 or 2014, hey, that's HUGE.

I'm DRIVING TO ZERO fossil fuel consumption.

But here's something nifty - when you get solar panels or have a solar water heater installed, or plant trees to shade your house, you are supporting your local economy. You're giving your neighbor employment. Which is good.

And here's something else. Oil really is running out. Even Chevron is running ads about that. And if we don't kick our 'oil addiction', there will be really big problems (re: food shortages, resource wars, and a general 'fraying of the social framework'). Google 'Peak Oil' for more on that.

So I'm going green. I'm going to invest some money, use a little ingenuity, change some of my habits, and really try to get off of fossil fuels. It's good for the environment, good for national security, good for the economy. It should be good for my pocketbook and I'd like to have some fun too.

From here on out I'll document what I'm doing, how I'm slowly weening myself off of fossil fuels. Wish me luck! :)