West of Tulsa

Based on data from a Coldwell Banker study of similar homes, Tulsa  was ranked the sixth least expensive area to live in the US.  Looking at the other areas, I would take a guess that we are the nicest place to live of the top six. 

MSN Article on 10 Most Affordable Metro Areas

If you’ve driven down Riverside drive near 61st recently, you have seen the amazing pile of steaming mulch.  It really is amazing, and boy, does it stink?!

An article in the Tulsa World from February 15 was on my Google news feed for Sand Springs.  Apparently, the city is hauling the mountain of debris from September’s ice storm to a site just west of Sand Springs to be used for mulching on some private land. 

There are nearly 3 million cubic yards of mulch to be hauled away!  Strangely enough, area residents are not allowed to pick up some mulch for their own yards.  However, their tax dollars are being used to pay a contractor over $7 million (3.97 per cubic yard) to deliver the mulch to the private site.

Where is this ‘private site’?  Who owns it?  Why do they get to keep $7 million in mulch?  Just wondering.   Check out the article at the link below.

Tulsa World: OK given to haul off mulch piles

UPDATE: There is another article from this morning about the mulch.  It’s actually a cause of air pollution! 

Too Mulch to Bear from the Tulsa World

This is a pretty cool web page for those that are interested in improving the energy performance of their homes, current or to-be-constructed, as well as the rest of your life.  It’s full of info on products as well as resources for things such as tax credits for efficiency purchases like solar arrays.  Check it out.

EERE: Consumer’s Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Everyone knows that fluorescent light is weird.  It doesn’t feel white.  It feels fake.  Now, everywhere you look, the boxes say full-specturm light.  Really?  They still feel artificial to me.  Full-spectrum means that it is a replication of daylight, and my CFLs don’t feel like that. 

Okay, so thanks to Gmail’s little strip ads at the top of my inbox, I found a most interesting company called SoLux.  They make low-voltage light bulbs that are patented for being able to reproduce the full daylight spectrum of light without the UV downsides.  These bulbs are the kind that you see in the small, recessed cans or hanging from the pendant lights in many stylish kitchens.  They cannot replace your existing incandescent bulbs that screw into your lamp, but the upsides may be worth sending that old lamp to the Goodwill.   

I was intrigued by the company’s analysis of light from fluorescent bulbs that claim to be full-spectrum.  Of course, they are defending their turf, but the data was interesting.  As anyone who has ever owned a CFL knows, they are not a nice light.  This info confirmed why we all seem to feel that way.

Another reason I kept reading was the fact that low-voltage bulbs contain no mercury, and as my buddy Chris Butterworth  reminded me yesterday, fluorescent bulbs are sensitive to burning out by being turned on and off too frequently  ( my CFL burnouts occurred in rooms where the lights are almost always ablaze).  Plus, there’s no annoying flicker and warm up time while you sit in the dark for your light to ‘warm up’. 

With retro-fit can fixtures that can be installed by the mechanically inept and various trim packages to achieve the look you want, anyone can convert from incandescent flood lights to low-voltage daylight.  While they aren’t as efficient as CFLs on an hourly basis, at least you can turn out the lights   I’d like to see someone compare the efficiency of CFLs that have to be left on for long periods of time to reach their 7 year life with that of low-voltage bulbs that run on small amounts of power and can be turned off at will by a person or by a motion sensitive switch.  My guess is that the CFLs would lose.  3 hours per day at 50 watts is less than 12 hours per day at 13 watts.  Not to mention the mercury, which is why I wrote about CFLs in the first place.  With low voltage, there’s no waiting around until one of the hazardous waste events to recycle your toxic light bulbs. (Tulsa has nowhere to recycle CFLs outside of the hazardous waste recycling events.)

And they look better too.  Sorry for the long post.

-Chris

Compact Fluorescent bulbs seem like a great idea, but they do contain mercury, which is EXTREMELY toxic.  Does that make switching to the much-heralded energy-saving CFLs bad for the environment?  According to the EPA, the answer is "no." 

The EPA’s Energy Star program states: "A coal-fired power plant will emit 13.6 milligrams of mercury to produce electricity required to use an incandescent light bulb, compared to 3.3 milligrams for a CFL."

Now, that’s great if the CFL lasts the claimed life of 7 years.  Then, the CFL comes out far ahead.  However, I’m becoming a larger skeptic of the long term affect of using CFLs in America’s homes and commercial buildings.  My skepticism come from the fact that I have replaced many of the incandescent bulbs in my home with CFLs, and they have not lasted as long as they claim.  Perhaps my house has major electrical issues, but I’m doubting that since it’s only 13 years old.

Since the beginning of the summer, I’ve replaced 4 CFLs of different types around my house.  Two didn’t even last 3 months.  So, how does that happen when it’s supposed to last me 7 years?!

As you make your decision about which products to use in your home, whether it’s cleaners, paint, energy-saving appliances, or light bulbs, think about the long term benefits as well as the short term ones.  While my experience is definitely not scientific proof that CFLs are going to cause more mercury to be leaked into soil, it’s enough to raise questions for me as to whether or not this is a worthwhile technology or just another short-sighted, over-hyped fix with long term ramifications.

Personally, I’m waiting for LED lighting to become cheaper.  It looks much more stylish than goofy spirals (or awkward looking globes around goofy spirals) anyway!

Okay, I’d like to state that this is a for-fun activity. It doesn’t really mean anything, but I was working playing with some MLS data and thought this would be interesting. For anyone that may be tempted to jump on my use of an average or a neighborhood-wide statistic, this was just FOR FUN. I was solely interested in seeing how different neighborhoods stack up based on their 2007 sales data. Where does your neighborhood rank? (Mine is further down the list than I thought L)

Check out this info from Fast Company magazine.  I know many real estate agents use Treo smartphones.  So, beware of having your phone hijacked.

Hacking Smartphones

Being that my family has been living with my mom for three days because of the massive ice storm that has caused power outages throughout the middle of the country, backup power has been an important topic of discussion. There are many options for backup power generators, but you have to understand your power needs in order to make sure that your money is well spent. The web is a great place to start your research, and I’ve found a couple of resources that are especially informative. Let me know if you know of others.

• Home Generators Guide – This is a great explanation of estimating your power needs and acquiring the proper equipment.
• Guardian QuietSource on Amazon – This is a specific generator page with a thorough yet simple explanation of generators and setups.

The owner of a local plumbing company has a radio show, which airs on Saturday mornings, about homes and home-related technology.  He mentioned that he was only allowed to make two decisions regarding his new home - install a urinal and the kitchen faucet.

Yes, I said he put a urinal in his house. I couldn’t believe it either. I think my wife would smack me in the side of the head if I suggested doing something like that. However, it seems that there are some pretty significant benefits, many relating to cleanliness, to having your own urinal. 

Obviously, the benefits are large for high-traffic commercial buildings.  Savings on water bills can be enormous.  Because there is no touching of the unit, germs are passed less frequently.  Last, but no least, odors are eliminated.  The radio show host’s favorite benefit was the lack of work involved in cleaning the bathroom after his 3 year old goes potty.

For more information, check out waterless.com

Thinking this is just too funny,

Chris Autrey

Just like the title says, I’m all for developing the Arkansas river, but as Michael Bates of Batesline points out, the item on the October 9th ballot is ill-conceived.

For a great commentary on the River tax, see Michael Bates’ article.  I won’t waste time trying to summarize his well-thought out words.  I’d probably butcher it, anyway!