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Colorado has the most screwed up water rights laws of any state in the Union. Some call them unique, I call them inadequate and based on a concept of when the state was young and had relatively few inhabitants. The process of acquiring water rights is very expensive, complicated, inefficient and bureaucratic. Colorado water officials have already put too many straws into the glass of coke and not everyone is getting anything to drink. This will get worse unless things change. OK … so, what in the world does this have to do with rainwater harvesting and collection in Colorado?

Rainwater harvesting or collecting is the process of storing rainwater that lands on your roof in large containers, usually barrels with a spigot for a hose attachment. The easiest way to do this is to position the barrel under a gutter down spout so the water fills the rain barrel. When time comes to water the plants, instead of using the main water from your house, the water in the rain barrels can be used. This can reduce the amount of water you use and could potentially lower your water bill (depending on how you are billed). Rainwater harvesting is legal in 49 states. So who’s the black sheep?

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Although there are many different things which contribute to high gasoline prices, the biggest reason for an increase in gasoline prices has to do with refining capacity. Even if oil were super cheap, we would still have a problem converting that oil into gasoline that fuels our economy which would keep gas prices high. When gasoline supplies are low due to an inability to refine oil into gasoline, prices increase. This is all part of supply and demand economics and it works well in that high prices curtail usage. If gas remained cheap despite how much was available, we may find gas stations hanging “out of fuel” signs on their pumps because consumers wouldn’t cut back on consumption. So high gas prices do serve a purpose; they deter consumption so that we don’t completely run out of fuel. But how high is too high? Is there such a thing? Is the refining industry artificially inflating gas prices by reducing their refining capacities so as to improve profit margins?

Contrary to what some think, gasoline isn’t the only product refined from crude oil. Only about 51.4% of an oil barrel is used to make gasoline. The rest of the oil is used to make other products such as jet fuel, asphalt, road oil, heating oil and liquefied refinery gas. This makes oil a high demand commodity around the world and because most countries don’t produce enough oil of their own, they have to import it from other countries that have more than they know what to do with.

This creates a global market in which prices can fluctuate depending on who needs oil and how much. For example, China has a booming economy and requires more oil now than they did in years past. As a result, increased global demand causes a shortage in crude oil supplies which results in higher prices for these commodities (jet fuel, lubricants, gasoline, heating oil). Therefore, the price per barrel of oil increases to curtail demand. This price increase eventually gets passed along to the consumer and as the price for these products increases, fewer people are willing to pay for them. As a result, the demand retreats and eventually so do the oil prices. There are a few more complexities to it (such as shipping costs and where we get it from), but that’s generally how it works. In the past, gasoline prices pretty much mirrored the price per barrel of oil. If oil was in short supply and the price increased, gasoline prices would also increase. However, in the early part of this decade, we saw a new anomaly with gasoline prices; they started to spike.

While oil prices do have some affect on gasoline prices, it’s apparently not that much. After all, when oil was half the price it is now, gasoline wasn’t half its price. Something else is at work.

When the oil companies get their oil, they transport it to refining facilities across the country, most of which are in Texas. The refining facilities are responsible for taking the crude oil and converting it into usable products. When the demand for gasoline increases (summer months and holidays), these refineries start to approach their maximum operating capacity in order to keep up with demand. That is, they reach the limit of how much oil they can convert into gasoline. Once this happens, a bottleneck develops and the rate at which gasoline can be made hits a maximum. However, our demand for the gasoline continues to rise and once again, the economic principal of supply and demand kicks in. As demand increases and the supply remains the same (maximum refining capabilities), the price increases. It’s like pouring water into a funnel; a fixed amount will come out the small end no matter how much you pour into the big end. Riddle me this; if the price of gasoline is directly related to the price of oil, why was the national average for a gallon of gasoline in 2007 $3.25 when a barrel of oil cost $60 and now that oil is $100 a barrel the price for a gallon of gasoline is $2.80?

Consolidation in the refining industry has limited our refining capabilities. The three biggest American oil companies ExxonMobile, ConocoPhillips, and ChevronTexaco used to be six individual companies. There was a time when the oil industry wasn’t making a profit (hard to believe, but it wasn’t that long ago). When they combined, they also bought out some of the smaller refiners. The top five refiners now control more than half of the domestic refining capacity in the United States. Unfortunately, this has allowed the big refiners to tightly control gasoline reserves thus greatly affecting availability and prices. Is this bad? It depends. If they are deliberately reducing refining capabilities to reduce the amount of gasoline they produce, thus increasing their profit margins, then yeah … it is.

Without a competitive market the consumer will continue to suffer because there is no incentive for Big Oil to increase refining capacity when there is a shortage. Spending millions to construct new refineries to produce gasoline faster will only lower their profit margins. They like the prices high because it costs them the same amount of money to make the gasoline regardless of its price. In other words, their profit margins increase significantly when the price of gas goes up. It costs virtually the same for them to produce gasoline now as it did 5 years ago except they are selling their product for twice as much. Big Oil companies made multi-billion dollar profits in 2005 with Exxon Mobile leading the way by posting a profit of $36 billion dollars. Amazingly, in 2006 it beat that mark by earning $39.5 billion dollars on revenue of $377.6 billion dollars. Even more amazing is in 2007, they beat that mark for a $40+ billion dollar profit, more than any other company in US history.

Where does all this money go? Big Oil will tell you they are reinvesting the money into new drilling technologies and exploration. However, ask Lee Raymond, ex-CEO of Exxon, who in 2006 received one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million in cash including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes. All that money came from our pockets during 2005 when gasoline prices hit an all-time new high.

Where did all that money come from? It came out of yours and my pockets. Instead of using that money to build new refineries, they gave it as bonuses, and salary increases. More of the money is being used to find more oil, but this won’t solve the problem. This will do NOTHING to increase the refining capacity and will only make the problem worse. They did use some of the money to improve upon some of the older refineries, but this has had virtually no affect on their refining capacity, otherwise, we wouldn’t be setting new record highs on the price per gallon of gasoline.

The refining industry will say there’s no place to build new refineries. That communities proclaim the “not in my backyard” excuse, but this isn’t the case. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not stopped new refineries from being built. In fact, from 1975 to 2000, the EPA received only one permit request for a new refinery. In other words, a new refinery hasn’t been built in 28 years! They are not interested in increasing their gasoline output because this would lower gasoline prices; thus cutting into their large profits.

What can we do about high gas prices? Absolutely nothing. There is nothing you can do to stick-it-to the gasoline companies except buy an electric, fuel cell or hydrogen vehicle whenever you get the chance. Boycotts won’t do a bit of good. If you don’t buy fuel today, you will have to buy more of it tomorrow. To make a boycott work, you would have to give up driving all together. Not simply delay when you buy the gas. Unfortunately, you as a consumer who is dependent on gasoline are at the mercy of “Big Oil”. As time goes on, demand will continue to increase, and since no new refineries are scheduled to be built to increase refining capacity, prices will only get higher.

At $3 a gallon, this may be a bargain considering $4 is just around the corner. Don’t think it won’t happen. I can remember people thinking $3 a gallon was out of the question in 2005 because we had just recently surpassed $2 a gallon. The price has never dropped below $2 and it may never drop below $3 after 2007. Time will tell.

Most of the new hot water heaters are pretty efficient and don’t need any additional insulation. However some of the older tanks, or less efficient newer tanks, could benefit from some added insulation. They way to tell if you need more insulation is to simply touch the side of your hot water tank. If it is warm to the touch, then some of the heat is escaping which is a sign the tank isn’t that efficient.

You can buy a hot water insulation blanket for a 45 to 55 gallon tank at Home Depot or Lowe’s. It’s nothing more than fiberglass insulation with a plastic outer coat. Most come with tape already attached to the blanket, but you might want to add a bit more. To install it, simply wrap the blanket around the exterior part of your tank and tape it in place. At the top, there will be strips of tape so you can secure the blanket to the top of your hot water heater and prevent it from sliding down to the ground. However, before you tape it to the top of your heater, get a rag and clean the surface so the tape will stick better.

There are two things you must make note of, otherwise you can damage your hot water heater or worse yet, start a fire. Most tanks have an opening near the bottom of the tank near the dial that controls the temperature setting. You must not cover this hole. This is most likely where the pilot light is and it requires a steady supply of air so as to remain lit. The other thing you must not do is extend the blanket all the way to the floor. Air for the combustion of the natural gas feeds in through the bottom of the tank which is why the tank is raised off the ground a few inches. If you obstruct this supply of air, the flame can go out and natural gas may continue to leak into your home. If at any time you smell gas or you no longer have hot water, turn off the hot water heater AND any other ignition sources (such as a furnace) immediately and open any windows. Simply turning off the hot water heater is not good enough as your furnace could still ignite the gas that has escaped into the room.

The other thing that is advisable is to insulate the first 3 feet of cold water piping coming into the hot water heater and as much of the hot water piping as you can. If you feel the cold water pipe coming into the tank you will notice that it is slightly warmer closer to the tank. The hot water pipes should be insulated to retain as much of the heat as possible. There are several different types of pipe insulation products, but I found the foam tubes to be the easiest.

Since I installed our hot water heater blanket I haven’t noticed much of a difference. But if I stick my hand between the insulation and the tank, it is warmer than had the blanket not been there. According to the instructions, the blanket is supposed to pay for itself in about 18 months, but this is hard to verify.

Environmentalists would like you to believe that the energy efficient Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL’s) are the next best thing to sliced bread because they use roughly 75% less electricity compared to the normal incandescent bulbs we are all familiar with. Each household using CFL’s will draw less power from the electrical grid thus lessening the amount of CO2 being released into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants. As a result, we will save the world from certain global warming apocalyptic doom. Wal-Mart, the largest retail store in the world, has embraced the CFL and has dedicated itself to selling 100,000,000 of the new CFL’s this year alone.

At first glance, one could easily jump on board thinking they too can make a difference and save our environment. But if you ask yourself a couple questions, you quickly realize that these new bulbs, although more efficient, pose a much greater risk to the environment than the energy hungry incandescent bulbs.

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Perhaps the most cost efficient means of generating your own power lies in the windmill. It’s a very simple design and doesn’t cost a whole lot, but just like solar power there are a few drawbacks one must take into consideration before purchasing a windmill thinking they will eliminate their electric bill.

The first and most important thing you need is wind and for most this is a showstopper. Most places just don’t have enough consistent wind to spin a windmill. The other problem if you do have wind is that it is totally unreliable. It will almost never provide a consistent power source for a house, so as a result it is more of a supplement to a solar powered or a grid tied system. Most of the time they are used to charge batteries in remote locations that do not have a dedicated power source provided by the power grid. But, if you think you live in an area that has a lot of consistent wind and you are interested in protecting the environment, a windmill is about as clean a power source as you can get (both in manufacturing and operating) and the start-up costs are much cheaper than solar.

The other thing you need besides wind is land. I have yet to find any descent sized windmill that is designed to operate on a lot less than 1/2 acre in size. The more land you have, the more options there are, from 3 foot diameter blades all the way up to 20 foot. As you might expect, the larger the windmill, the more power it can generate, but the more land you will need.

Every manufacturer will highly encourage you to raise the windmill off the ground at least 30 feet. This puts the windmill in a less turbulent flow of air that blows stronger and more consistently. But before you go out and purchase a 20 foot diameter windmill that sits atop a 60 foot tower, make sure you don’t have any restrictions in your home owners association, covenants or insurance company that will prevent you from installing the windmill on your property. The covenants and association memberships can make you take the windmill down if they are not allowed and if your insurance company doesn’t cover it, your policy could be void in the event of an accident.

speed, you’re not going to get any power out of the windmill. The windmill that looks promising for home owners with the above requirements is this unit here. It has a 12 foot diameter and can produce about 1200 watts/hour. That’s not too bad if you’ve got the space.

If you’ve got the wind, the land, and you are permitted to install a windmill then you will need to buy the remaining components in order to start utilizing the power of the wind. You will need a grid-tie inverter if you want to remain connected to the utility grid. The inverter converts the DC voltage from the windmill and turns it into a pure AC sine-wave. When the windmill produces more electricity than you use, the inverter allows the electricity to be pushed back onto the power grid, at which point you start receiving credit from your electric company. However, they will not pay you. That is to say, the best case scenario is you will have a $0 balance on your electric bill. These cost anywhere from $2000 to $5000 depending on how much power your windmill(s) will generate. You will also need a DC disconnect switch, but these are pretty cheap at about $100 and would be installed at the same time as the inverter. A 1.2 KW windmill will cost about $5000. So just the parts are going to run you about $8000.

You might be able to erect the tower and windmill yourself depending on its size, but this would certainly be at least a 3-man job. However, the inverter and DC disconnect switch must be installed by a licensed professional. It would be wise to have a professional do the entire project for you to ensure everything was installed correctly. They may even offer warranties on their installations or discounts if you buy all the parts from them.