My Future Resort (p3.3) - Heat and AC

According to the report I mentioned before regarding home electricity use, heating is about 10% of the bill, AC is about 16% of the bill, and water heating is about 9% of the bill. That's a lot of money! Now how do we bring those costs down?

If you're still in the planning stages, it's the best time to start thinking about heating and cooling costs. Good design can go a really long way in reducing these costs! If your buildings are already in place, consider some of these options when it's time to remodel (or sooner if it's cost-effective).

Heating / Cooling technologies and ideas for hot / cold places:

• Passive solar: If a roof has the right overhang and window placement, it will let in light during the winter months and block light during the summer months.
• Thermal mass: Better for hot days and cold nights, a thermal mass will keep the temperatures average by absorbing heat during the day and emitting it during the night.
• Landscaping: Plants such as trees and vines have a unique and useful feature -- they grow leaves to soak up all the sunlight during the summer and drop them all as winter starts. Similar to the roof overhang, light hits the building during the winter and is blocked during the summer.
• Geothermal: A geothermal heat exchanger is a great all-purpose system for places that need both heat and AC. More about this one later...
• Underground: Places that are build in or partially in the earth have less of a temperature change to deal with. It's easy to keep the place at 75 degrees when the outside temperature is 65 degrees year-round.
  

Heating technologies and ideas for cold places:

• Passive solar: Bring in as much light as possible, and have it hit a dark-colored thermal mass. The thermal mass is generally a floor, but earthships use a wall. See here for other ideas.
  
• Water-based heating: Water-based heating systems are generally more efficient than ones that use air. For nudists who like to go barefoot, an in-floor water-based heating system feels wonderful! Warm feet make people feel warm all over.
• People: Gather a bunch of them in a small place and things will warm up. Parties are suggested.
  
• Fuel: Burning oil, natural gas, or propane has a big disadvantage with the rising cost of the fuel. Corn burners were a good idea until corn-based ethanol took off and raised the price of corn. It seems the best thing to burn is wood, but obtaining a large amount of it each year is hard work. Wood pellets are easier to transport, but hemp pellets are more efficient. Industrial hemp is actually a safe and high-yield crop that grows more and faster than wood, making it good fuel if it would gain popularity. If you go with wood, make sure that your burner is a "woodgas" or "gasification" burner. (Cozy Heat's products, for example.) Not only are they much more efficient, but the emissions are much cleaner as well.
  
• Fireplaces: People often supplement their heating systems with a fireplace in a common area. Make sure that your fireplace has a cold air return so that it doesn't suck the heat out of the place.
• Bathroom and kitchen vents: Don't use these unless needed, because they suck the heat out of your place as well.
• Windows: A big source for heat loss is through windows. Consider using vacuum insulated ones.
• Insulation: Prevent the cold from creeping in by adding insulation everywhere you can. A good list of insulations with R-values is here. Also, check out the BrightBuilt Barn in Maine that is so well insulated that it doesn't need a furnace. Buy as much insulation as you can afford!
  

Cooling technologies and ideas for hot places:

• Passive solar: You may be thinking that the sun makes heat, so how can it be used to cool a place? The answer is a solar chimney, which gets hot inside and forces the air to rise and exit. The air that exits can be replaced with cool air from an...
• Earth tube: It's a long underground tube that air travels through. Since the ground temperature is cool and constant, the air becomes cool as it travels through the tube.
• Basement: since basements are in the ground, the air in them gets cool. Allow outside air to enter the basement and travel upwards through the house through grates in the floor.
• Whole-building fan: The electric version of a solar chimney. It's a fan that sucks the hot air from the top of the house. This run by a solar panel might be cheaper than building the chimney.
  
• Windows: Have windows at the top of the building to let heat out, and at the bottom shaded-side of the building to let in cooler air. Or, just open windows on all sides and let the wind through. Plenty of windows will prevent a building from being stuffy and hot. Don't use this if your using one of the solutions above that brings in cooler air.
  
• Evaporative cooling: In dry climates, evaporative cooling works very well. It can produce ideal nudist temperatures with far less electricity than AC. The only downside is the extra water usage.
• Green roof: If your roof is covered in moist dirt and plants, it will stay cool. This works best only if you have a flat roof.
  
• Water: Most people choose to cool off in the pool or with a quick cold shower. This is easy at a nudist resort since they are already in their swimwear. If a pool is nearby, don't worry so much about keeping your buildings cool. Passive cooling should be enough, and an occasional dip in the pool will make the hot days more comfortable.
  

Staying cool is much easier at a nudist resort since our body's natural form of cooling takes over. The ideas above are probably enough for any southern resort. Is a full AC system really needed?

Back to the topic of geothermal heat exchangers. If you don't know what they are, here's a simple explanation: They are a box that use electricity to make one side hot and the other side cold. Refrigerators and AC units use this as well. Refrigerators make the inside cold and the back hot. AC units make cold air inside the building and hot air outside. Geothermal units make either hot air/water or cold air/water for the building, and make the opposite for the ground outside.

These shouldn't be confused with "geothermal energy", as-in the method used to generate power using hot rocks deep underground. Iceland uses this for almost 90% of their electric and heat, and the runoff forms the huge clothing-optional "blue lagoon". It's too bad systems like this don't exist on a small scale, so just ignore this paragraph.

If you need a heating or cooling system for a building, make sure to check out the common form of geothermal. I know someone here in Wisconsin who installed a system in their medium-sized house, and it uses an average of $40 in electric per month though the winter. This is far cheaper than gas, and far easier than burning wood! (They had both previously.) On the hot summer days, they flip the switch and it produces cold air instead.

Heat exchangers always make a little more heat in the process. In winter, this is good since the building needs heat anyway. In summer, they need to get rid of the extra heat. Most have a water hookup that circulates water to the hot water heater, providing free hot water for most of the summer. This assumes that you have a hot water tank.

If you're like my future resort, you probably won't have a tank of hot water. Instead, I'd use the excess heat from the geothermal system to heat the pool. If the venue has a lake that doesn't freeze, it will work with the geothermal system. Instead of using the ground for one side of the heat exchanger, it can use the lake instead, and might heat it up a few degrees depending on how big it is.

For hot water, there are two ways to reduce cost. First is to use less, and second is to produce it only on demand. There is no need to keep a big tank of water hot all night if nobody is using it. Additionally, most hot water tanks have electric heating elements that kick on while the water is in use.

The main way that hot water (and some water in general) is wasted is when people turn on the shower and fiddle with the knobs to get it the right temperature. They also might have to wait for the hot water to travel through all the pipes, and to warm up all those pipes. People shower a lot at nudist resorts, so getting cheap shower knobs and inefficient hot water is a bad move. I already mentioned low-flow showerheads to conserve water in part 3.1 (Water) of this series. The way to reduce waste further is to produce water of a perfect temperature on demand.

For a single shower, use a simple tankless heater. The Marey models are cheap and easy to attach to existing showers. Make sure to calibrate the water pressure so that the shower is close to 106 degrees F when it is full-on. When a person turns the shower on, it'll be instantly perfect! For a multi-shower system, like for guest rooms or a big pool-side shower room, check out this 6-port water mixer with a digital interface. Combine that with an Eemax 12 GPM tankless heater and you should be set. (Or get a 25 GPM model for the whole building.)

For other areas such as sinks, washing machines, etc, get the size that you need. Eemax makes tankless water heaters of all types and sizes. InSinkErator makes several different types as well, mostly sink faucets and some small tanks for kitchen use.

Hot water tanks have been keeping good pace though, and some claim to be more efficient than the tankless ones. It's difficult to tell which might work better for your venue, but make sure to do your research on both. Remember that less water will be wasted with the tankless, and it'll be a better user experience. I'd love to push a button and have instant perfect water showering over me. However, another way to achieve this is to turn down the water heater.

A good roundup of tankless water heaters can be found in this review.

For a good pre-heater to a water tank, or heating pools, make sure to consider passive solar water heaters. In hot climates, they are so easy to make that you could build one yourself. Get a pipe, paint it black, and put it in a black colored box with a window facing the sun. To move the water, get a small water pump and power it with a solar cell. Using a solar cell, it'll only move the water when the sun is shining and when the water is actually getting heated. Here are some other links to get you started: tank, multi-tank, cheap, beer. For winter installations, the box needs to be insulated well in order to get hot. Antifreeze or glycol is used instead of water, and the heat is pulled from it using a heat exchanger or a small pool. A person I know is planning to build a system like this, and will set a pressurized water tank in a small pool of antifreeze or glycol that will be circulated through the solar box outside. I'll have to report back on how this works next winter.

Before I end the section on sustainability, I should bring up the topic of supplemental heating. It's a good idea to have a backup method of heating, just in case the primary fails. It's also a good idea to use it on the coldest winter days to take the stress off the primary. In my opinion, the best and cheapest option is to burn something. I talked about the different fuel types above. I think corn or industrial hemp (if legal in your country) is a good option if grown locally as part of a garden. In fact, a big garden is a good idea for a resort with acreage. People love to garden nude, and nearly free food is always a plus.

On the other hand, wood is sure plentiful around our area which makes it a great backup for heat. I know a person who uses wood for both heat and hot water. What about the summer? They burn it for the hot water, but are looking into using passive solar instead. He actually enjoys the work of cutting the wood. The cost of pumping the hot water is very small, so they probably have the cheapest heating system that I know of for both water and space heating.

Hopefully by now you have plenty of ideas for greening your venue, and cutting costs. Being efficient is a great way to be profitable. Undercut the other nudist resorts, and you'll dominate the niche market. Undercut the textile resorts, and you'll do more than just succeed -- you'll change attitudes of the general public by showing them a better way of life.

NEXT

My Future Resort (p3.2) - Electric

Electricity is the common medium for energy. Electric current can cause things to make heat, move, or light up. Everything can make use of electricity in order to work, but some things choose to skip it -- such as cars. (However, cars are changing to either all-electric or hybrid which uses electricity as the common medium.) The good news is that electricity can be generated with heat, motion, or light as well. For your venue, which do you have an abundance of?

In part 3 (Sustainability), I mentioned that to make profit you need to charge more or spend less. For this part, you need to make more or use less. In part 3.1 (Water), the best we can do for water usage is zero, therefore meaning that it doesn't cost anything. For electricity, we can actually make profit by selling it back to the grid if we have an abundance of it. It's possible to have a utility bill with a negative number!

To start, it's best to focus on reducing the amount of electricity that gets used. Perhaps the easiest and cheapest thing you can do is in lighting. In part 3 (Sustainability), I did some quick math to show that replacing one light bulb with a CF saved money in the long-run. But, that's bad advice pretty soon. Compact fluorescent bulbs are being replaced with a much better bulb -- LED. They are quickly coming down in price, so switching to those instead for the most commonly used lights is probably worth it. According to this comparison:

• Incandescent: A typical 100 watt bulb puts out 1700 lumens, uses 100 watts (obviously), and lasts about 1,000 hours before it burns out.
• Compact fluorescent: Some that I purchased in 2008 also put out 1700 lumens, but use 26 watts, and are rated to last 12,000 hours.
• LED: Scaled up to 1700 lumens, a LED bulb would use about 17 watts, and last over 50,000 hours. They're also better for the environment.

My favorite solution, which produces almost 14,000 lumens from a 21 inch diameter tube, is sunshine. There is absolutely no reason why an electric light should be used when there is abundant sunshine. Skylights, windows, the DIY solution I linked to above, and this dish that pipes sunlight inside are enough to get sunlight everywhere. I have never understood why so many buildings have solid walls and a solid roof, with electric lights inside that are on all day.

I'll be covering the topics of heat (including water heating) and AC, both huge electric users, in the next part (3.3). For now, check out this list of household electric users and follow along as I hit some of the bigger ones:

• Refrigerators/Freezers: Use the outdoors instead if it's winter and cold enough, or a basement year-round if you have one, otherwise the best you can do is an Energy Star one.
• Clothes Dryer: Hang clothes outside if possible. This sometimes results in them being a bit stiff, but they will soften during wear. Even in winter, clothes will mostly freeze-dry outside after a while. Or better yet, hang them inside and they will add humidity to the air. Go naked as often as possible to reduce the amount of clothing that needs to be washed. (In the winter, heating may cost more so bundle up instead of going naked.)
  
• Clothes Washer: Go with a front-load Energy Star, since front-load machines use less water. Hand-washing is an option too, but is more work. If you're only looking to kill bacteria and remove odors (and nothing else), skip the washer and just freeze them.
  
• Dishwasher: Washing by hand is always best, but go with an Energy Star if needed.
• Electric Range Top: Check out an induction one for a shared or commercial kitchen. For homes, it might be a bit expensive as an investment. As always, go with an Energy Star. Microwaves are more efficient than range tops, so use them instead whenever possible.
  
• TV Systems: Computers can play most anything now, and have cheap tuner cards available. This is assuming that your monitor doesn't have a TV hookup built in.
  
• Computers: Unless your playing the newest resource-intensive games, you don't need much of a system for playing videos or surfing the net. Check out this list for low-wattage PC's. I'm a proud owner of a Zonbu, which can play movies and do most everything I need. (I don't have the subscription -- instead I installed Xubuntu Linux and use a USB HDD. The Zonbu OS works great out of the box also.) All-in-all, the Zonbu averages 10 watts and the HDD averages 5 watts.

Some obvious advice is to shut things off when not used. Humans can do their part in shutting off lights and other stuff when not in use, and timers and motion sensors can do their part as well. If lights are on outside, it doesn't make sense to have them on at all during the day. At night, it seems that too many lights are on. Do outdoor lights in common areas need to be on after 2am? If not, put them on a $16 timer so they are lit from dusk until 2am. Do bathroom lights, or lights in common areas, need to be on all night? I'd make them all motion sensor driven. Either light-switch replacements or screw in solutions exist for around $30.

For resorts that have guests with electrical hookups, consider measuring the electrical usage for each site (or each permanent site at least). Users who use too much can face additional charges, or get a refund if they do not use much. A super-easy way to do this is by using a kill-a-watt on each site, assuming the hookup is less than 15 amps. (I'm sure higher-amperage versions exist too.) Program in the cost per kilowatt-hour once, and reset the meter when someone moves in. The accumulated electrical cost is then displayed in real-time. If people know their electrical usage isn't "free", they'll be more likely to conserve it. Even if you don't use a kill-a-watt in this way, it's still a good investment because you can find out just how much each electrical device is costing you per month.

A less obvious idea is to put a small label by light switches and appliances, which shows the cost per hour of when they are on. It won't limit people's ability to use them, but at least they'll know it isn't free to leave things on all the time. Also, they can make smarter decisions about what to have on. As an example, we have a 23 watt CF room light and a bright 500 watt halogen light in the living room. It's easier to turn on the big one, so it took a conscious effort to break the habit and use the cheaper one instead.

Now that the electrical consumption is minimized, it's time to switch over to generating it.

Is your venue sunny? Don't just brag about it, use that sunlight for another form or profit! Solar panels are getting cheap and getting common, which make them a great investment. There is a huge variety available, so you'll need to look around and choose one that works for your venue. If you have a new building in the works, consider using it to focus extra sunlight onto your array.

Is your venue windy? Put up a wind turbine. They are normally more cost-effective than solar cells if both options are available. Hills make great funnels for wind, so a turbine at the top edge of a hill would work best. Buildings can also direct the wind if positioned correctly.

Is your venue by a river or stream? Consider hydro power, since it is the most cost-effective solution when compared to solar and wind. If you only have rain or city water, they do have small ones that can make use of it. I'd love to see a resort put one of these in their shower rooms to light the area as the showers are running.

Is your venue on a hot spring? Not only can it provide all the heat you need, but it can provide the electricity you need as well. Chena Hot Springs Resort in Alaska got funding to build a low-temp geothermal power plant that supplies all of the power they need.

Does your venue have a restaurant? Or are you good friends with a restaurant owner? Waste vegetable oil is an energy source that restaurants often pay to get rid of. Culvers is one of the first chains to start using waste veggie oil to power their cars. No company car? Use the "vegawatt" to turn it into electricity and free heat.

Other creative solutions include piezoelectric, which turns any motion into small amounts of electric. Clubs in Rotterdam and London are using this in the dance floors with pretty good returns, and researchers are moving this to other actions such as walking and driving. Also, don't forget about human power, like the gyms that let people generate the electricity.

Minimize electrical waste, and maximize electrical generation to whatever extent you can afford. I presented the basic ideas for doing this, and thousands of individual solutions exist. Picking the best one for a venue depends greatly on the venue, so I leave that task up to you.

NEXT PART

Missed News (2/2009)

The "Missed News" series is for all the random stuff I found interesting, but was missed by other popular bloggers.

• Here's a few entertaining predictions from the 1909 New York Times, one of which deals with feminine beauty.
• Also from NYT, their article "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Worries" was one of the top 10 travel stories for 2008.
• It's clear that the younger generation is desensitized to nudity, let's just hope that they can separate sex from simple nudity.
• I made it on Nudiarist's Best of the Naturist World series. It's quite an honor! I'd better see him on that list eventually too...
• Although he would've satisfied his own ideals (of not being anonymous) with a clothed picture or mug shot, Nudiarist finally posted a nude photo of himself. Congrats! Be sure to post a comment of support if you haven't yet. It's a brave step that more of us need to take. Rick and All Nudist (can't find the original post to link to - way too many to look through) have taken similar steps recently as well. Keeping with the spirit, another blogger has joined in as well.
  
• Here's an interesting study on how cities can overwhelm our brains.
• People dressed in naked suits are always funny.
• The story about the ban on skimpy swimsuits in Florida has already been covered by other bloggers. But, they missed the story about Grenada banning swimsuits and baggy pants in areas other than the beach.
• The "best job in the world" looks like it would suck. Why would we want to wear clothes on a island beach for 5 months? I can think of better jobs...
• In our area, it's a really bad time to own a driveway or sidewalk. Help is on the way with a snow shoveling robot.
• Speaking of snow... I mentioned it, then All Nudist did it, then we did it as well.
• The pictures I posted were on the WWNCW in an area that search engines aren't supposed to index as per the robots.txt file. In other words, it shouldn't appear at all in Google's searches, right? Google is indexing it, sort of. They have the text from All Nudist's link and the URL, but no text. Shame on you, Google!
• Warnings on video games? It's a step in the right direction. At least they'll make it known that studies link it to violence, and parents might hesitate to buy it.
• Wired magazine has picked up the story about nude kids and cell phone cameras. I love Wired, and I know they have a huge reader base, so I bet things will start to change.
• Here's a neat new project from a nearby university: A map that shows how many miles your food has traveled. It's nice to know that my Velveeta Mac&Cheese (and ingredients) have traveled 28,173 miles. Mmmm, tastes like carbon.
• I know there are a lot of geeks that read this blog, so when I saw this cartoon I thought it was too funny to pass up even though it has a sex theme.
• We're still waiting for other nudists to join us on Faceboat. We're so lonely...
• Here's a funny sign for the not-so-skinny dippers.
• Speaking of signs, why doesn't Mazo Beach get a sign like this one? The DNR would point out that it's not an official beach, but would warn the unsuspecting.
• PETA is at it again, and it makes me hungry.
• Google's anti-privacy crusade is costing lives. Where is PETA on this issue?
  
• I always seem to have news about the "Technology Against Privacy" issue. From this Wired article (first page, last paragraph), the person tries an experiment: He sees a stranger take a picture in a public park and never sees them again, [insert a few easy steps here], he knows exactly where she lives and has seen every room in her apartment. It's scary that a connection like that can be made.
• In other privacy news, here's an example of a hidden camera at a nude beach. If you frequent South Beach and see this person, please punch him for me.
• Bloggers have been pointing out this him and her chair set. Where is the nude model for the "him" version?
• Tom is encouraging nudists to support nudist resorts more.
• One of my readers has started his own blog. He's mentioned Wired magazine and being nerdy, so he's already on my good list.
• NakedJen had her facebook account deleted, probably due to the name, and is calling for others to write to facebook about it.
• I'm on TrueNudists and Skinbook as AcademicNaturist. Make sure to say you're a reader of the blog if you add me as a friend.
• I'm also new on Twitter -- is anyone else? I added my Twitter feed to the side panel, and will use it for more personal thoughts than what I post on the blog.
  
• Is it really illegal to sleep naked in Minnesota?
• Also in Minnesota, a religious zealot smashed his SUV into a Planned Parenthood office. To be fair, someone should smash their SUV into his church or house.
  
• Don't forget to put on a condom before riding a bike.

My Future Resort (p3.1) - Water

There are two types of water, the stuff that comes from the faucet, and the stuff that goes down the drain. The clean, drinkable water comes from a well or a city-wide system. The wastewater goes to the sewer. As far as most people are concerned, this is it.



Come to find out, potable water (the water we can drink) is an expensive resource. With a city water system, there is a lot of processing that goes on to make it drinkable. That is, if there is a source of water to use. Many desert cities, California, Africa, Australia, and other places around the world have a hard time finding enough water. Ocean water is not an option, because it takes a lot of resources to get the salt out. Saving water is good for your local water supply, and it'll reduce your water bill. For those resorts that have a well, reusing water can reduce your electric bill to pump the water.

More types of water exist than just the two I listed at the top of the post.

• Potable water, or whitewater -- safe to drink.
• Rainwater -- usually safe to drink, but is better used for other things.
• Greywater -- water from sinks, showers, washers, can be reused.
• Blackwater -- water from toilets, unusable.

Reusing greywater for toilets yields up to a 30% reduction in water usage. Since people at nudist resorts are often required to shower before and after the pool or hot tub, reusing all that shower water is a good idea. Water from the showers would be more than enough to flush every public toilet in the resort, and the slightly soapy water would help keep them clean as well.



Watering the plants is easy, and should never require potable water. Plants by the washers could receive that water. Plants by the showers could receive that water. Plants by the kitchen sink could receive that water. (The bits of food are good fertilizer.) The only worry is which soaps can be used, as some may damage the plants. Of all three sources, the sink probably has the least amount of soap in it. Plants anywhere else can get water from a simple rain catch and a barrel, or be xeriscaped.

For more serious usage of rainwater, consider a complete rainwater harvesting system for your buildings. In places with lots of rainfall (or a big roof), collecting it would reduce your water bill to almost nothing. With moderate rainfall, you would only pull water from the city system when you've run out of rain.

To calculate how much rain you can collect from a building, you need the size of the building and annual rainfall amount. With a typical single-wide mobile home of 18 ft. by 90 ft., and a rough average of 3 inches of rain per month during the Wisconsin summer, at 85% recovery, this calculator says we can get over 2,500 gallons of water each month. With alow-flow showerhead (a very wise choice to save water) running at 1.3 gpm, the rain would supply 33 hours worth of showering, or 396 five-minute showers. Remember though, this is just from a mobile home and only 3 inches of rain per month. Bigger roofs and/or more rain would make this number a lot bigger!

Another place to conserve water, if applicable, is the toilets. No-flush urinals and dual-flush toilets save a lot of water! The urinals supposedly save 40,000 gallons per year, and the toilets save 67% of the water they would normally use. If you don't have an abundant supply of greywater, these solutions would be ideal. For more information on water reuse, here's another good resource and a smaller guide.

For my rural hilltop resort, I probably won't be connected to the city water supply. There may be added cost with pumping water from a well up to that height, so conserving water would reduce the electric bill. Rainwater will certainly be collected, greywater will be reused in the toilets and for the plants, low-flow showerheads, no-flush urinals, and dual-flush toilets will all be installed. For the number of years that the water system will last, it may or may not be cost effective depending on the cost of the rainwater collection system. (The rest is fairly cheap.) It has to be close though, so it's worth doing even if it's just for bragging rights.

NEXT PART

My Future Resort (p3) - Sustainability

Go Green!

That is the message for the next three weeks, and there are some simple reason why everyone should:

1. We have to in order to survive. Seriously, our world is in trouble and we need to fix it before it's too late.
2. Going green shows other people that you are smart. You're trying your best to fix it and encouraging others to fix it as well.
3. Profit.
   

I understand that many people are turned off by the ideas of recycling, paying more for environmentally friendly items, carbon credits, picking up litter, planting trees, and other stuff like that. All that is important too, but I'll instead focus on how to get profit from going green. There are thousands of great ideas out there, but many just aren't worth the time or money. I'll point out the practical and worthwhile ones that will maximize profit.

There are two ways to make profit: Charge more, or spend less. Everyone in America has heard of Wal-Mart, the world's largest public corporation by revenue. How is it that they are so successful? Part of it is that they crunch down their spending, and then reduce their prices to below all their competition while still making profit. They are more efficient than the competition. Nudist resorts can do the same, and can probably undercut traditional textile places in the process if they act soon. If it's cheaper to stay at a nudist resort instead of a motel, I bet more people would try it. We don't have many hostels in the US, so there is certainly potential.

Wal-Mart's goal is to cut spending to a bare minimum, and they have realized that going green is a way to do it. According to their initiatives: "In October 2005, Wal-Mart announced it would implement several environmental measures to increase energy efficiency." Their new stores include plenty of natural lighting, bio-fuel capable boilers, water-cooled refrigerators, xeriscape gardens, wind turbines, solar arrays, and they have acted to reduce packaging and reduce transportation costs. Coca Cola and UPS are deploying fuel-efficient vehicles. Culvers recycles their waste vegetable oil into fuel. Many new buildings are going for LEED certification. The world is going green, and making profit from it, so we need to get with the trend.

Things are rapidly changing in green technology, which makes investment difficult to justify. Why pay $1,000 for something when it'll probably be $500 next year? Another way to look at it is that it's estimated to save you $10,000 over the life of using it, so your ahead either $9,000 or $9,500. If you wait a year before buying it, and keep waiting year after year to maximize the profit, you'll end up without it and without any of the rewards. To get the reward, the loop needs to be broken, and you need to commit to buying the item even though it'll be cheaper (or better) next year.

Technology exists for a wide variety of uses and climates. To evaluate if something is a worthwhile investment, you need to figure out the cost of going without it and the cost of purchasing it and using it. This is difficult, because it relies on a lot of assumptions and estimates. Going without it should produce a cost/time graph with a straight line that rises over time. For example, a light bulb that costs $1 to buy (or $0 if you already have it) plus $1 every month will cost $13 after a year. The alternative is a compact fluorescent, which costs $10 to buy, plus $0.25 per month. The CF is a bigger investment, but the cost line rises much slower over time. After 1 year, both options end up costing $13. This is the point where the CF investment has "paid for itself". The CF will be the cheaper option every month beyond that. After 10 years, you'd save a total of $81 by replacing that one bulb with a CF.

If the light bulb in the above example is hardly ever used, a CF in it's place may take 100 years to be cheaper over-all. If this is the case, buy a bulb. Neither option would last 100 years anyway.

How do you calculate the number of years it'll take to have a green technology "pay for itself"? This is based on the intersection of two lines. Assume that the green technology is more expensive initially, and that it is cheaper per month. Let GI = green investment cost, NI = normal investment cost, GM = green monthly cost, NM = normal monthly cost. Find the length of time (in months) it'll take with: (GI - NI) / (NM - GM)

In the next three parts, I'll focus on water, electric, and heat/AC. The goal of my resort is to come as close as possible to eliminating those utility bills!

NEXT PART

The Bra-Free Lifestyle

Often enough, my girlfriend will go on rants about nudist-related topics. I always tell her to write them down, but she's not very good at writing and decides not to. Well, this time she did! I helped with a revision or two, but the writing is all hers.

Note that I've known about and have appreciated her choice since I've been with her. It goes well beyond a simple novelty -- she's pushing against culture and speaks her mind to anyone who pushes back. Why is a bra needed? It's not, in most cases. I know a couple of guys that go without underwear, because it's not really needed either. (I'm considering this as well.) Anyway, onward to her story...

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Women being forced to wear bra’s in the 21st century.

Has anyone ever noticed how men and women treat other women who choose not to wear a bra? Well I have because I never wear a bra unless I am required to wear one.

What do I normally get from complete strangers? Here are some the reactions:

Men normally come up to me and start to flirt. They act like I'm easy just because of the clothing that I wear. Generally I wear low cut or thin shirts where it's easy to tell if I am wearing a bra or not. In my past of dating men Doug is the only one that didn't care whether I wore a bra or not.

Now for the woman, so men don’t feel that they're being targeted. I have a story for you. I was at a bridal shop trying on my bride’s maid dress that my friend had picked out. When I came out of the dressing room wearing the dress, the seamstress said to me "Should I get your bra for you?" I asked "why?" She said, "Well aren’t you going to wear a bra on her wedding day?"

I looked at her and said, "no why should I?" I have never seen a face like that before until I looked at the seamstress. She had the look of disgust and surprise at the same time. I of course had to ask her, "is there something wrong?" The woman looked at me like I was the most horrible person in the world for saying that I don’t want to wear a bra.

She paused and realized that I was serious and said "Well it’s more appropriate if you wear a bra. So should I go and get your bra?" I replied, "No you shall not because I choose not to wear a bra." Is it such a horrible thing that a woman should have the ability to choose between wearing a bra and not wearing a bra?

According to the Wikipeida:

Some have questioned the practical need for the bra given that some women prefer to go without a bra on a regular basis. The bra has become charged with political and cultural meanings that overlay its practical purpose. Traditionally it is viewed as symbolic of a young girl's coming of age. It can also be interpreted as a feminine icon. On the other hand, some feminists consider the brassiere a symbol of the repression of women's bodies. It was originally developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

I work in a nursing home and I sort of understand their reasoning for staff to wear bras. Because the breasts are pieces of skin that attract men to the woman. The other reason is for women's safety with dangerous residents, which they like to grab on to available parts of skin. Sure I guess I could understand that is it’s a safety issue. I just wish people would be more accepting of my decision, and treat me the same as a bra-wearing woman. For the only difference between a woman who wears a bra and a woman who doesn't wear a bra is the bra.

My Future Resort (p2) - Land

Personally, I find land to be a wonderful investment. It is my life goal to scoop up as much as I can, because I know that with the exponential increase in population and simple supply/demand economics, my land will be worth exponentially more later on. I would prefer to buy land instead of a new car, nice house, vacations, gadgets, or most anything else. The more land I get, the merrier. I'll continue on this topic later on...

What would make an ideal nudist venue?
1. Seclusion -- So nobody can peek in, and to avoid trouble with the laws.
2. Sunshine -- Just because it makes us happy.
3. Space -- We need room to run around.
4. Accessibility -- It should be easy to get to.
5. Comfortable -- Few bugs, clean air, good weather, etc.

Let's start with an idea that's way out there -- a space station! I don't see any reason why the residents of the International Space Station should wear clothes. Maybe they don't when they're not on TV, who knows! This type of venue has plenty of seclusion, an unhealthy abundance of sunshine, and I'm sure it's comfortable since the environment is completely controlled. However, there isn't much space (inside) and it isn't accessible by any practical means (yet). The price is the killer, since it's far beyond what we can spend. Along similar lines, a nice tropical island has a lot more space, but isn't too accessible either. Let's move on to the slightly more realistic ideas...

Caves and other underground dwellings are an interesting option. They have plenty of seclusion, are somewhat accessible, have all the space that can be dug out, and are are free from most pests. Sunshine can be brought in for lighting and heat. Several places exist that look comfortable, like the vapor caves, Ainsworth hot springs, Banff hot springs (with natural light), most of Coober Pedy, Cheyenne Mountain, and many people's homes. I haven't investigated this option much, but it seems like it would be expensive to dig. Even natural caves require a lot of work to make comfortable and safe.

How about something extremely accessible? For the city-based nudist venue, we have a few different options. A typical house could be a nudist venue, except that it lacks on several of the requirements above and wouldn't be successful. For added space, a warehouse could be made into a nudist rec center, but it lacks sunshine and fresh air.

There is a possibility that is the size of a warehouse but also includes sunshine -- a castle. Many castles that I've seen have a large open lawn within the compound. Honestly, a castle-type structure would work nicely as an urban naturist retreat, since it mostly satisfies the requirements above. Walls would maintain privacy from all the neighbors, so that a large lawn could remain secluded. Like any castle, the building part can hold all the facilities, guest rooms, weapons, and gold. Although a real, big, brick castle is beyond practicality, one could take ideas from it to build a structure that has large walls on all sides, thereby making a large secluded lawn in the middle. I know this has been done already by a lot of resorts, since it seems to be the ideal solution for urban nudism.

Maybe the best option, and most realistic option, is to stick with rural land. It lessens the accessibility, but can greatly increase the space for the same amount of money. Although location is important, the quality of the land needs consideration as well.

Valleys and sometimes flatlands are bad because there tend to be a lot of bugs. Flatlands are generally more windy, but in order to have seclusion and privacy there needs to be trees or some sort of wall. These block the wind, so that bugs can't be blown away. Also, both of these places don't really have the best privacy, since someone can easily peep through the trees.

Here's a piece of advice for any venue which has a bug problem: Build or buy bat-houses. They're almost free, and the increased number of bats will cause a huge reduction of bugs. For specific types of bug problems, do some research to see what the natural predators are, and lure them in.

My ideal solution, and the land that I hope for, is 100 or so acres that covers an entire hill. This isn't cheap, maybe $400k around my area, but it's the ideal place to have a nudist venue. The hilltop provides privacy with both trees and steep land, so that it's highly unlikely that anyone would climb it just to peep. This allows only one point of entry -- the road up. This is similar to the castle-type structure I mentioned before. The higher altitude means it's breezy, so all the bugs get blown into the valleys. There's plenty of sunshine, and plenty of room. This is my choice for the rest of the series, although I do have one other tempting option.

For about the same price as my big chunk of land, I can buy something else which has plenty of seclusion (castle-style), sunshine, a reasonable amount of space, limited but easy urban accessibility, reasonable comfort, and has a proven track record for filling up with nudists. Boats! I don't mean little boats either, for around $300k I could buy a pretty big cargo vessel. Then, astroturf (or an eco-friendly alternative) could be laid on the deck. Or, better yet, thick carpet could make the floor more comfortable than hard metal. Add in a hot-tub, pool, and some games and we're set! This nudist venue could travel all around the world. It could park at profitable cities during their summer as an ad-hoc urban nudist resort, and it could offer specialty cruises for less than the giant cruise ships. Later on we could always upgrade vessels, or add to the fleet with other boats like a floating hotel. This makes for a tempting idea -- is anyone willing to do a joint venture? It would be nice if nudists had their own permanent cruise ship, instead of borrowing others for a very limited time. The only problem is fuel costs, but engineers are working on that.

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