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First and foremost, this blog entry refers ONLY to electric dryers. Do NOT vent your gas dryer inside your house. This is extremely dangerous and can be fatal! I cannot stress this enough. It is NOT possible to vent a gas dryer inside your house. Only an electric dryer.

OK, that being said …

As I was sitting on the couch one cold winter day, I could see a huge condensation cloud coming out the side of our house. I wasn’t alarmed because I knew it was the hot moist air from the dryer being vented outside into the chilly 15°F air. But I got to wondering, how could I utilize this heat instead of having it go to waste?

I did some shopping and found a little contraption that lets you vent an electric dryer inside. It’s really quite simple. The exhaust from the dryer passes through a plastic box that holds about 5 cups of water. As the vented air hits the water in the container, the small amount of lint that doesn’t get trapped by the dryer’s built in lint filter gets absorbed by the water and sinks to the bottom. The warm humid air then passes out of the container holding water and enters the house. Keep in mind, you still want to use your built-in lint filter on the dryer.

Now, most people wouldn’t want this. In fact, I can’t imagine anyone wanting this in the summer. Not only will it add heat to the house, but it will also add a lot of humidity. So much, that you could end up with a mold problem if you aren’t careful.

But in some climates, like Colorado, it’s downright cold in the winter. And in most homes, people add a humidifier to their furnace so that it increases the inside humidity level. The reason being, when a furnace heats up cold air from outside, the humidity level drops considerably. It can get quite low such that everything you touch creates a nice little static discharge. Quite annoying.

Anyhow, now that I vent the dryer into the home, I get extra heat and humidity that would have otherwise been wasted. When the dryer runs, the furnace will shut off because the temperature inside the house rises above 67 °F rather quickly.

It’s worked quite well so far. About the only problem I’ve had is on very cold nights, the humidity will condense on the windows and start to drip. When this happens, I have to re-vent the dryer outside. Not too big a deal. The one thing I was very concerned about hasn’t manifested itself. Lint! I haven’t had any lint buildup inside the house, whatsoever. None! This really surprised me.

It’s not uncommon these days to find cordless phones, TV’s, DVR’s, security systems, automated coffee machines and much, much more in all of our houses. When you look around the house, there are a lot of every day things that use copious amounts of electricity. So, just how much electricity are these devices really using, even when they are supposedly turned “off”?

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In the past, electric cars were more of a joke than a practical solution. Even today, when most people think about an electric car they immediately remember the EV-1, a tiny little shoe box that could barely travel at freeway speeds and had a range of at most 70 miles. It’s understandable why no one was interested; It simply wasn’t fun and was barely practical.

However, the electric car has drastically change since then. The Tesla Roadster is an all electric car and not a hybrid. But get this … it can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in under 4 seconds which makes it faster than a Ferrari. The two door convertible sports coupe can also reach a top speed of 135 mph and has a range of 245 miles. It also comes with all the amenities of a normal car such as a navigation system, AC, radio, ABS Brakes, cruise control, and air bags. Now that sounds like a fun car to drive!

The air alone is enough to keep the engine at an optimum operating temperature. In addition, when the vehicle comes to a stop or is stuck in stop and go traffic, the electric engine shuts off instead of remaining idle unlike a combustion engine, which wastes gasoline.

However, as of this writing, things have changed dramatically with the advent of lithium-ion batteries. The batteries are much smaller, much lighter, last considerably longer and have a much better recharge capability. For example, the lithium-ion batteries in the Tesla Roadster Sports Coupe can be fully recharged in as little as 3.5 hours and a full charge will allow the car to travel 245 miles non-stop. They are much lighter and the energy density is much greater which means the batteries take up less space compared to a lead-acid battery configuration of the same size and can last much longer.

The real breakthrough may come in March of 2008, when Toshiba begins selling the SCiB (SuperCharge Ion Battery) which can charge at 50 amps with a recharge time of 5 minutes. It’s capacity loss after 3,000 recharges is only 10% but can be charged over 5,000 times which means it could run continuously for 10 years recharging once a day. Depending on the cost, this could be a huge breakthrough in favor of the electric car.

When an electric car needs to be recharged, you simply plug it into the wall at your house. You don’t have to find a gas station or wait in line. Currently, the Tesla Roadster can fully recharge in as little as three hours. With Toshiba’s new SCiB SuperCharge battery, this could be reduced to a matter of minutes; a comparable amount of time we spend at the gas pump. Chances are your commute is around 50 miles a day which means you would need to recharge about once a week.

The other advantage of the electric car is that it’s very quiet. Most people who have never driven an electric car are startled when they come to a stop. The first reaction is restart the engine because when the car isn’t moving, the engine is literally off. It doesn’t idle like a gasoline engine. Quiet is nice, but perhaps more so for those who live near busy streets or freeways as the sounds of passing cars will be greatly reduced.

So which is better? For me, the answer is obvious. Electric cars are mechanically simple compared to the internal combustion engine. For example, here are some things a gasoline powered car has that an Electric car does not …

• Engine Oil
• Oil pump
• Coolant / Radiator
• Transmission
• Exhaust pipe
• Exhaust manifold
• Clutch
• Spark Plugs
• Fuel Injectors
• Fuel/Oil/Air Filters
• Engine Belts and Timing Chains

This means you won’t have oil changes, coolant flushes, or transmission problems. There are no air filters, oil filters, or fuel filters to replace. There are no tune-ups or emissions tests. There are no belts or radiator hoses to replace.

More so, electricity rates are much cheaper compared to gasoline. In order to travel 250 miles on gasoline and assuming you get 20 mpg, you will need 12.5 gallons. Based on today’s gasoline rates of about $3.00 a gallon, that will cost you $37.50. To drive the same distance of 250 miles using electricity (based on the Tesla Roadster) with an electricity rate of $.10/kWh will cost you a whopping $5.00. Add all the other expenses such as changing oil, filters, spark plugs, transmission fluid, and coolant and that’s a heck of a savings over the course of 100,000 miles. Even if you did have to replace the Lithium Ion batteries at the 100,000 mile mark, the before mentioned savings will more than pay for the new battery pack, which in all likelihood will be far more advanced and longer lasting that the old one you had to replace.

Electricity it also a domestic commodity. Add some nuclear power plants to our electrical grid and we can easily support the electric car. With oil reserves existing in finite quantities, oil price uncertainties and the unproven fear of global warming, it’s just a matter of time before the electric car becomes more practical than the internal combustion engine. Necessity breeds innovation.

You’ve probably heard of E85, or maybe you’ve even seen a few gas stations selling this stuff. Perhaps you’ve read that it’s the new, greener alternative fuel for cars that’s supposed to help wean us off our foreign dependency on oil. After all, anything that can achieve that is a good thing, right? … Wrong.

Ethanol is basically a high proof alcohol (just like we drink) which is created by fermenting organic matter such as sugar cane, corn, wheat, grains, and even our trash (source: Technology Review) and turning it into a fuel we can burn in our cars. This is done in large refining plants all across the country, but mostly near large farms. Because ethanol burns “clean” (no residue), we can mix it with gasoline and use it in most internal combustion engines with no ill affects to the vehicle. In fact, some states mandate that gasoline contain at least 10% ethanol to reduce the affects of smog and as a substitute for the additive MTBE.

Things in Moderation is usually good. Most cars can safely burn gasoline that has 10% ethanol mixed in, also called E10. But problems start to arise when we increase the ethanol content of our fuel to 85%, also called E85, as a substitution for regular lead-free gasoline. What once seemed like a good idea, suddenly takes on a more sinister role and has some pretty serious consequences attached to it. Proponents of the E85 craze are blinded by money and are not fully disclosing all the problems associated with mass producing large quantities of ethanol.

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With gas prices approaching all time highs, there are several things you can do to make sure you get the best fuel economy out of your vehicle. These four simple things can save you money and make the burden at the gas pump a little less painful.

Engine Tune-up

An improperly tuned engine that misfires, stutters, or has a mixture that is too lean or too rich can waste gasoline. If your vehicle has failed to pass a smog test, or just barely passed, this could be a good indication that a tune-up is needed. If there is a more serious problem, such that the check engine light is on, make sure you get this sorted out as soon as possible. Fixing something like a faulty oxygen sensor or an emissions system can improve your gas mileage by as much as 35%.

Replace Air Filter

An engine needs air to breath. If there is an obstruction to the airflow into the engine, it has to work harder and burn more fuel to meet the demand of your foot pressing on the gas pedal. A dirty air filter can have a big negative impact on engine performance as well as on your fuel economy. Fortunately, they are very easy to replace and you can buy them at any Wal-Mart or auto parts store. Usually they should be replaced when the oil is changed, but they may need to be replaced sooner if you drive in dusty or sandy environments. A clean air filter can make a huge difference on you fuel economy.

Tire Pressure

All four tires on your vehicle should be inflated to the recommended pressures for your vehicle. You can find this information in the vehicle manual or even on the internet. A tire that is under-inflated will create more drag which means your engine has to work harder to meet the demand of your foot pressing on the pedal. Under-inflated tires can lower gas mileage by 0.4 percent for every 1 psi drop in pressure of all four tires. In cold weather climates, the air pressure in a tire can drop by as much as 3 psi per month.

Motor Oil

Make sure you use the recommended oil grade for you vehicle. You want the oil to provide protection to your engine, but using too heavy an oil can create more friction which means your engine has to work harder. For example, using 10W-30 motor oil in an engine designed to use 5W-30 can lower your gas mileage by 1-2 percent.