I’m not quite sure whether to be appalled or amused, to laugh out loud or do a double face palm
Xcel Energy is giving away compact fluorescent light bulbs to every person attending Wednesday’s Minnesota Twins home game, and four of those bulbs come with free tickets to future home games this season.
The energy-efficient bulbs will be given out in recognition of Earth Day, on Thursday. They will be distributed after the night game against the Cleveland Indians, lest they go airborne in still-pristine Target Field.
Let’s see, night game, lots of lights turned on illuminating the field, tons of energy being used to cook the hot dogs, burgers, fries, keep the beer cold. Tons of water used to keep the field green and hose the seats down, not to mention the number of times the toilets will be flushed. But, hey, here’s a climahysteric light bulb for you, little Timmy, on your first trip to the ball park. Yes, we know you wanted a bobble head or a Twins hat. Suck it up, little buddy. It’s a new climate alarmist world.
Meanwhile, the alarmists are blaming man made global warming for making the effects of the volcano in Iceland (don’t ask me to spell it, much less say it) worse over Europe and killing air travel.
I’d like to know if the lights they use at the ball park are the high efficiency fluorescent ones and if not, why.
Little Timmy will just have to return when the bobble head dolls are given out on bobble head doll day. And Teach if you had bothered to check you would have found that Target Field buys 70% of its energy from renewable sources and has received a Silver certification (the same as Al Gore’s house). And manbearpig thanks for asking such an intelligent question ! And the answer is YES they do use high efficiency field lighting and it alone saves them 8000 dollars per year. Teach and MBP don’t righties all just have hissy fits when they find out how mistaken they are about how the rest of the world thinks ? Most Americans will applaud the efforts that they made for Target Field, some will prefer to scoff .http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/04/09/ppa-to-supply-70-of-target-fields-energy-needs/
And the field uses almost all recycled and rainwater. Teach can you see from your post just how far off base you were with this one ? It is like when you published that B.S. about Al Gore’s house. Then it turned out that he gets almost all of his energy from renewables AND that his old house had scored very high for its energy use.But blinded by hate you simply post what others said, without bothering to check to see if it were true.
You mean that agreement to purchase RECs? That might give the Twins and the owners of Target Field a nice, warm fuzzy, but RECs are a scam.
Wind farms sell their electricity on the wholesale market, with a significant boost from federal production tax credits for renewable energy. However, the prices paid for RECs, as negotiated by the brokers and power producers, are extremely low; about 10% of the difference between the cost of producing nonrenewable and renewable energy, and far too little to actually spur any production. By using the word “renewable” the brokers are able to spin i tso people think they are buying into the environmental attributes of wind energy (as well as solar and other alternative energy sources) but not the electricity itself. By using the term “environmental attributes” they are able to get away from actually explaining what it is they are buying into so the people buying the certificates simply say that the power they are buying is “green”.
At best RECs are a token subsidy for renewable energy. The money used to purchase them doesn’t go much farther than paying the salaries of the people brokering them. There is no way that they can ever make up the difference between conventional and renewable power.
As far as using the high efficiency field lighting, you say the team thinks they will save $8,000 a year, but the article you cite says $6,000. This sort of reminds me of the joke about men bragging up the size of their junk. But saving $6,000 annually may sound great. Hey, they have to figure out how they are going to come up with the $184 million they have to pay Joe Mauer. But as you like to point out Johnny cakes, the difference between $6,000 and what the team will pay for in terms of salary this year (just over $90 million) is pretty much nothing. So yeah, it might make them feel good, but in the grand scheme, it is inconsequential. Unless you figure in how much of an advantage it is for them to have that funky light on their home field.
And I applaud them for building the stadium with thoughts of capturing and using rain water and reducing the amount of waste water that will be generated, but how much of that is over and above what the simple building codes and regulations call for? Low flow urinals and regulated sinks are pretty much standard building materials now in any stadium. The same goes for recycled materials in new construction, at least around here.
Maybe Timmy can just put a little Twinkies hat and jersey on his CFB.
Ryan,
It is clear that you don’t understand what others write, nor do you understand the concept of energy sources.
Throw them onto the field so they break and cause a massive mercury cleanup problem.
Thank you for pointing out the mistake I made with the 6/8000 As far as calling me Johnny cakes, sorry but I am straight your sweet words will get you no where with me, but here is a link to the Republican log cabin group they would probably enjoy such talk.
By paying more and buying there electricity from renewable sources they will help that energy sector grow, it is an investment in the future. And yes it probably does make them feel good. ANd everyone else who goes to that park buys tickets and pays for that energy that is used. And I can not really see where salaries of ball players are should be included here ?? And yes everyone who receives that light will also have a reminder about their own energy use. Between 2006 and 2008 investment in renewables went from 60 billion to 120 billion Some european countries now get 15% from renewables I realize that conservatives like to live in the past in the good old days but sorry, time and tide wait for no man http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy#World.27s_largest_photovoltaic_power_plants
By paying more and buying there electricity from renewable sources they will help that energy sector grow, it is an investment in the future.
Actually, it isn’t. HERC is part of a larger power company. The HERC gets massive subsidies from the local, state and federal government. If not, the system cannot be sustained financially as the cost of the energy produced is much higher than that produced conventionally.
ANd everyone else who goes to that park buys tickets and pays for that energy that is used.
Actually, everyone who pays taxes across the US pays for the energy being used.
And yes everyone who receives that light will also have a reminder about their own energy use.
Of course they will also have reminders that CFL’s put out less light, and in disposing, have a much greater and more harmful impact on the environment than conventional incandescent bulbs.
Between 2006 and 2008 investment in renewables went from 60 billion to 120 billion Some european countries now get 15% from renewables
At what cost? Germany has already declared that their wind turbine programs are a massive failure.
The problem is that people such as yourself think that the way to feel better is to throw money at something. It doesn’t matter that you aren’t solving anything, but throwing money at the problem is what matters. This is especially true when the money isn’t yours. You believe that government subsidies are great.
If this were so great, you would buy stock on the companies on Intrade, right? That is your standard attack on everyone else. So why not put your money where your mouth is?
I too applaud them for using renewable sources, John. Whether you believe it or not, I have said many times that I am an environmentalist, and I support clean, renewable energy. Just not for fake AGW.
But, giving away lightbulbs at a ball park? Not the venue for that. For the kids, who are usually the targets of give aways, it’s like getting a pair of dress socks.