Beeing green: No, I'm not a frog. And this word is becoming more and more political and I don't like politics. Still I think that we should do whatever we can to have cleaner, better Earth. If you think you need to sacrifice all modern conveniences - no, it is not about it. If you don't believe me, have a look at Darryl McMahon's Econogics page. I'm trying to do stuff, which doesn't affect mine (or my roommates) comfort. For example I try to commute to work on my bicycle, changed some ligths in the house to compact fluorescents, and bought a small car which gets above 50mpg on highway.
Plant a tree: it does make a difference. Heather and myself planted a maple and a flowering plum in 2000. I treat it as an investment for the future generations. In the Spring of 2001 we planted three more trees in our back yard.
Electric vehicles: I'm very interested in electric vehicles, mostly electric cars. I even convinced Heather to let me buy one, when we need a new car (it wasn't an easy job, but she likes the idea of travelling through HOV lane in the afternoon). Unfortunately, her commute is 40 miles round trip, with 35 miles on a highway, where everybody drives at least 70mph. These are far from perfect conditions for an electric vehicle - most conversions won't even go 70mph, have a range about 50 miles at 45mph and are lacking A/C. All "stock" electric cars are out of question due to cost reasons. My commute is way better for an EV. About 12 miles, no highway, max speeds about 50mph. But when the weather is nice I take my bicycle to work, when it rains I carpool with my friends Mirek and Ada so my need for a commuting vehicle is marginal. If you are interested in EVs, check links below:
- Electric Auto Association
- EV Trading post
- Wilde Evolutions supplier of EV conversion components
- KTA another vendor of components
- Marc Kohler and Christopher Darilek are building EV3PO
- Uve's EV calculator
- Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas
Power Usage(and not only about it) We have all-electric house, so we use more than an average american household (our average usage is little over 1000kWh a month). Most of it is heating and air conditioning and this is where I have most complaints about the house builder - there are gaps in the insulation, the windows were not caulked properly, the A/C units don't have high SEER rating (at least heat pumps were installed). Installation of programmable thermostats helped (~5% savings), using CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lights) probably too, but it's not noticable in the big picture. My current dream would be to build (or at least supervise closely) a tight "envelope" home on a slightly bigger lot (I was thinking about 10 acres, Heather would settle for 2 ;-), definitley no HOA (Home Owners Assocciation - these yard-nazis for example will prohibit using cloth lines or parking your boat in your own driveway or will send you a letter that the house needs painted or will send you a letter that you haven't installed windows treatments)
Solar Garden Lights:
As an experiment I bought solar powered garden lights. They are peforming OK, although I wouldn't mind
longer run on the batteries. The manufactures claims 10 hours in the summer and at least 6 hours in the winter,
but it really varies from lamp to lamp. The obvious advantage of such lights is that you don't need to run any wires.
I even open one up, to see what's inside - solar cells on the top are connected through one IC and one resistor
to two 500mAh NiCd AA batteries and hi-intensity amber LED. They are other models on the market,
with superior performance, but they cost 7 times more (mine was $10 per light).
Winter update on my solar garden lights: When the days were short,
lamps could be dark just an hour after dusk.
Another update: batteries lasted 2 and a half seasons - I'm replacing NiCd with NiMH 1800mAh in March 2003 - we'll see how long these will last
Yet another update: April 2004 - all the lights but one are dead, all of them had cracked solar panel encapsulant.
Hiking: Used to do way more frequently in the past than today. For me it's harder to hike in US than in Europe or Asia. You need to drive to the beginning of the trail and return to your car afterwards. There is no train or bus you can take. Just different. In Georgia, where I live, beautiful Appalachian Trail begins. It goes north 2000 miles to end in Maine. It a nice place to hike, especially in the Fall, when it's about 15 Farenheits cooler there than in Atlanta. In Poland I liked to visit Wierchomla, Beskidy and Bieszczady. My longest trekking experience is a monthly loop around Anapurna in Nepal, climbing to about 5600m MSL.
Bicycle: I love the bicycle. Such a simple idea and so much fun. I used bicycle for convenience when I lived in Krakow. My bicycle commute was faster than bus, about the same time as by car. But in Poland the winter can be quite harsh, so I didn't used it in the winter. Atlanta is unfortunately one of the most unfriendly cities for cycling I've ever been. It's just not a part of the driving culture her . I have seen people honking at cyclists frequently for no apparent reason. Don't take me wrong, I still have fun riding my bicycle, it's just a little more dangerous here I think. I try to bike to work when it's above 35F in the morning. Basically from February till early December unless cold rain deters me (I'm lazy ;-)
Nobody is perfect: I have a hobby, which is not so environmentaly friendly: flying.
Robotics: Originally I was planning to build a robot to mow the lawn, but since you can buy one now, so I decided to create stairs climbing robot. I might even post my building process on the Web some day.
Ski: I ski from time to time. I used to do it more often when lived in Krakow (about 50 miles from the mountains). Here you can see some pictures from Zakopane in Poland. Now the closest slopes are in Virginia or Pensylvania and if I want to spend big bucks I can fly to Colorado or Utah. I've been once skiing in Seven Springs, PA and it was OK, although Salt Lake City area visits were better. Also did a week in Swiss Apls (Zermatt) and it wasn't bad there either.
Home Improvement: On my "Honey Dew" list things seems to appear magically. I typically don't mind so our Home Depot bills can be little overwhelming sometimes.
Ballroom dancing: Definitely something down to Earth :-) I started dancing for real in 95, when I decided to take ballroom dancing classes. I was dancing for two years in Krakow and later on I danced a little in Atlanta. This is where I met Heather
Horseriding: I started to learn how to ride in Poland, when I moved to US. And here I've got quite different experience with trail rides and western saddles.
Big kudos to Mirek Majorek for hosting this site in exchange for doustne srodki imagogenne. Graphics Provided By:In A Mood Designs