The Economics of Turning Water into Wine? No. Turning Water into Electricity

 

At the beginning of a this experiment, an economist said using water was cheaper than using electricity to control our environment. A scientist said it couldn't be done. So, the economist set-up the scientific experiment.

After several months, the economist was pleased that the scientific experiment was a success -- cooling a home with water is much cheaper (more economical) than with electricity.

Independently, the scientist happened upon an economic theory -- cooling a home with water is much cheaper than with electricity.

This confirmed a major breakthrough. Substituting water for electricity had not been done before. It was like comparing apples to oranges. Now, it was like comparing apples to apples... or, perhaps like turning water to wine?


Sidd said:
yesterday i was outside hosing down the windows
(yes i checked to see they were shut first...)

when i began to tink...

the aircon was humming ...
the sun was shining bright ...
and the water dried rapidly ...
evry cubic foot of water that evaporated took 61000 BTU with it ...

now lets think about aircon efficiency ... the aircon was put in in 1992 .. that year the feds mandated SEER ratings of 10 that means the aircon had to move 10 BTU of heat outta house for evry BTU of electric that it ate

of course after 10 yrs the aircon is not as efficient ... but lets use 10 as a bestcase...

so evry cubic foot of water evaporating off the side of the house makes the aircon eat 6100 less BTU of electric ... thats 1.78 KWh

electric is approx 8.5 c/KWh here ...

so evry cubic foot of water that evaporates saves 15 cents of electric

water is 4c/cubic foot here

u can do the rest of the math...

there are worse ways to spend the afternoon...


and seeing that today is another nice hot sunny day...
and that i have to hose out my recycling trashcans...
i broke the hose out and thought some more

the first thing i thought of was a cold beer

that taken care of, i set it down and crawled behind the groaning aircon compressor in back

i see a 15 amp 220V circuit, actual running rating is 12 A (with various fusing options for startup current...and does not include fan motor indoors... so i will use the 15 A number...)

that works out to is 3.3KW unit .. eats 3.3KWh per hour

1 cubic foot of water saves 1.78 KWh

so evry cubic foot evaporated shuts my aircon off for 32 minnits

so i crawled out, took a deep swig, smiled broadly and set the hose on 'kill'

of course... this is an experiment... so i need to keep trak of indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, and water usage and a buncha udder stuff like aircon running time ... and utility bills ...

in my copious spare time ... watch this space for further details


I reply:
SHHHHH! Don't tell anyone!

hehehee

this is what i was afraid of... what happens if everyone starts doing it?

that is why i insist on using waste or re-cycled water... cuz if everyone starts using tap water... the price of water and of electricity will likely strive for equilibrium.

 (water companies will be able to demand a higher price
 from you... what would you pay up to... 14.995c/cubic?)

(This is a great example of The Golden Rule of Social Justification.)

what would that look like... almost a 400% increase in the price of water?

of course, that assumes the supply of fresh water won't decrease.

 (water supplies will decrease as we won't be able to
 manufacture fresh water fast enough)

a businessman's dream come true... increase in demand while there is a shortage of supply.

as an example, i expect that water will pass the price of gasoline/gallon

and, that's why the roof collection system -- personal water supply at no cost


by the way,
what did you say the name of your local water co. is?

cuz...

man and with his proverbial hose in hand...hmmmm... yes.

this is indeed an independent verification.

HOSERS
but first a word on hoses in hand. i, like any real man, love the feel of a big 'ole hose in my hand. so, to satisfy this need i put a sump pump into a 5gal bucket... hook it up to a hose... and pump it! a 5gal bucket of recycled water usually covers a complete section of roof. when i'm really craving the need to squirt my hose, i stick it in a 44gal garbage can full of collected rain water.

however, i realize that this method requires more work and effort... and that hooking the hose up to public water is so cheap and easy. therefore, i think most men will take the easy way.

thus, sidd has given our 'lil water co. experiment independent verification. (see widgette.com/stock_portfolios/water.html)

thanx.

WATER CO's
the water portfolio is part of the 272 stocks the game co. currently owns.

sidd's verification has signaled a change
(sidd + h2o delta position)

this morning at 9:30 we started aggressively buying additional positions in water co's (based primarily on dividend yield's of the test portfolio. calif. water svc is currently the highest at 4.39% ticker symbol = CWT)

our economic forecast calls for a correction in the stock market during the next quarter. as we see buying opportunities, we shall buy.

STOCK MARKET INVESTING
if i know a child is going to get a bunch of toys as presents, i sometimes prefer giving them shares of stock in the toy company. a few years ago, i gave some kids shares in Pixar. they always like their movies. after becoming shareholders, they got a nice surprise when the annual report came with collectors edition posters of Toy Story.

well, since that time the stock has more than doubled in price. yesterday they sold half their shares (wanting to keep at least the same dollar amount invested in the company... cuz they still like the company.) now, having liquidated the value of the initial investment, the shares are just "gravy"

with the proceeds, they are going to:
1) invest 66% of it in a survival kit stock portfolio
2) use 33% to live for the moment

i relate this story because the kids made these choices on their own. they also have been part of the water management experiment... and have watched sidd, the waterfall house, and the stock market.

GREED
some might look back at earlier email threads and say... WAIT! how can you guys talk like this when you say greed is such a problem... aren't you being greedy?

A: no

we are making investment decisions based on other people's greed (not our own)

we have not been able to stop other's greed. instead of dying trying... we're just preparing for it.

and, perhaps more than just preparing for it... but using all available resources to help deal with the results of greed. what better way can we help prepare for the more helpless humans? what about the widows, the widowers, the orphans, and for that matter -- all the children?

we talked about hoarding and preparing for ourselves, but what about those who really need our help? how will they store inventories? how will they rotate perishable supplies?

why not make them the owners and producers of the things we will all need? then, they will be our boss. in the event that we "able body" humans are all too selfish, they will be able to demand our help.

The Widows, Widowers, Orphans and Non-orphans Fund
(Survival Kit)

The Waterfall House

The Game Of Living

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