Dave Vollmer wrote:Scottychaos...Can't build benchwork from wood; after all, trees are a carbon sink! Cutting them down is bad!....
Scottychaos...
Can't build benchwork from wood; after all, trees are a carbon sink! Cutting them down is bad!
....
Uh oh, my favorite topic just came up
Where I live and work, we plant more trees than we remove. And the trees we remove (log, harvest, call it what you will ) are generally at the end of their life cycle (and with the mountain pine beetle infestation we are dealing with here, most likely already dead ) while the new trees are vigorous growers and very good at cleaning the air.One aspect of my work is to undertake audits of forestry practices to ensure that claims made by companies regarding sustainability are accurate. This means checking what is happening on the ground so that when you go to your local lumber yard and buy certified wood (CSA, SFI or to a lesser extent FSC) you can be assured that the claims are true.I am actually quite surprised that the lumber aspect mentioned in Mr. Vollmer's original post has not generated more discussion, seems the big thing is lights. We in the forest industry in Canada get hammered on a regular basis from the environmental movement for our, to them anyway, poor forestry practices
As for how we live, we have: set back thermostat for the HVAC, as many CFL's as will fit in the fixtures we have, timers on lights, the kids are very aware and are good at turning lights of, as fuel efficient vehicles as we can for the work they need to do (I work in the woods and require a 4wd, so I got a used Nissan Pathfinder. I get 24-26 mpg on the highway consistently; our van gets 34-36 mpg), we keep our trips down to a minimum, etc...... We try hard as it saves us money, meaning more money for the trains
Hi,
Dave Nelson you got me laughing about the dumpster diving. It is a common occurrence for myself as well. It is always surprising how much blue foam, plywood and wire ends up in the dumpster. This should buy back a pile of carbon credits for the average model railroader. Also when one considers that there are so many other hobbies that very energy dependant, from cars to flying then it makes me feel good to participate in this hobby.
It seems that with the current global situation that we are nothing more then a bunch of animals herded in a direction so that an elite few can make a lot of money. This is by applying some kind of metering device on the energy systems that we need to survive. I am certain that over the decades many great inventions have been swept under the rug by the powers in charge which could have prevented all of this.
Here are two sites that discuss such sources:
http://keelynet.com/energy/teslcar.htm
http://www.rense.com/general21/free.htm
These are just two sites, do not know how accurate these sites are but it makes you think, specially if you read a little more.
Just wonder what is really going on. Just imagine an AC12000CW going down the tracks.
Frank
"If you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm."
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.
Pathfinder-Agreed! Most people don't realize how many trees are planted for the printing and paper industry every year. They have a lot of tree farms near me. I'm amazed at how fast these trees grow. A neighbor of mine planted 20 acres of seedlings 5 years ago. These things are 10-15' tall already. Average harvest time is about 12-15 years. You can plant 100 acres for about $20K and turn around and sell the trees and land 15 years later for half a million.(or more)
Oh yeah...Trains...use LEDs instead of incandescents....
Apart from using almost only low energy lamps in my apartment, where my trainroom is, my trains are running in a future era where they are using bio-diesel only, and my switchers are rebuilt to green-goats.
Nils-Olov