Cashed it the day I got it. I'll probably just sit on it until I see for myself just how bad this carbon tax on fuel will be since diesel will take the biggest hit. Was kind of funny because my sister wasn't the only one who had the idea (she dragged me out to cash each of our cheques). Her bank had a line up to the door with people ready to cash their own.

Listening to CBC radio on the way home a few days ago I noticed that not one of the callers whole heartedly supported the idea. Seems a little rich to put another tax on fuel since we are already running a surplus. Is this too political for discussion here?

 

I cashed mine. Was gonna buy a new fly rod. I ended up buying a weed wacker instead. Wife says she will buy me a new rod.

It's going to make fuel and many other things cost more, as the already high fuel costs have.(trickle down effect) I guess my view on the whole thing is that I can't do much about it so I will deal with it as best as I can. I will still pull my 5th wheel just not as far.

 

Cashed mine and paid for Dustin's swimming lessons with it....

 

My wife cashed ours and they went to general expenses.

 

Man oh man you guys, That was spost to go to making your carbon foot print smaller!

Mine almost paid for my(OUR) new tires, so we can put many a happy mile on the road to were ever we want to.

 

If I say whats really on my mind about global warming, carbon taxes and the BC government (including the opposition!!!), I would probably get arrested let alone booted off of FTE

When you look at the big picture, I'm not even slightly interested in reducing my carbon footprint but I am interested making my truck and home more efficient and reducing operating cost. Only problem is that I own a 22 year old ford that looks like nothing more than a beater, even if it does get over 20 MPG @ 115 KPH (got 9 MPG when I bought it).

Both my parents also got a cheque, they will probably just use it toward general expenses as well. We already have a few compact fluorescent lights around the house, but considering the heavy equipment in our home business, its not even a drop in the bucket as far as saving the planet goes. If LED lights ever get cheaper I would be happy to buy as many as I can get my hands on though. Way more efficient and no mercury to spill if it breaks. The light from LEDs also don't seem to make me want to slit my wrists as much as fluorescent do.

Built two light trailers with LED lights and they are easy to work with and very reliable. They are the only lights that can still work after being dunked in salt water repeatedly.

Oh, and Its a little late, but Hi every one! I was a chapter member for a while but never got around to posting here before.

 

Hey wallz where are you on the North Coast. I am working in Bella Bella right now.

 

You've said it about right David85... The two $100 cheques we got paid for the LED lights I bought at the Eco-Fair in Van a few months back. The lights are great but very expensive ($25 per bulb). See Green & Clean Energy Co. Ltd. out of Ontario at www.GreenAndCleanDirect.com

Our family has cut down our carbon foot print somewhat recently (we drove the '76 F250 only about 200Km last year). I suspect, the best thing is to slowly get away from fossil fuels as best (and reasonably) as you can no matter what policies the various levels of government bring in. We have to help ourselves.

Here's some of what we have done:
1 use transit more(easy for city slickers)
2 two midtwenties 'kids' have not bought cars(borrow ours when necessary)
3 double up shopping trips & always phone store before going to buy something (is it there?) Only grocery shop by car once per week now.
4 gas lawnmower/edger sits in garage - use electrics now
5 timers and CFL/LED lights for all outside lights. Many CFL inside
6 buy BC/Washington State produce almost exclusively (try to follow the 100 mile rule)
7 looking for second free small greenhouse (headstart on growing season)
8 five new fruit trees (over 100 apples last year!!!)
9 no flying or long distance pleasure travel (stay in BC)
10 recycle fanatically (our total garbage volume is now down to less than 1 cubic foot per week) Check out "Pacific Mobile Recyclers" for all plastics/styrene
11 improving house insulation (saving for more double glazing)
12 "Apricus" Sidney tube solar roof collector for hot water is being planned (very expensive) Partially install ourselves.
All it takes now is effort, and money -at $1.50+ per liter, we're out of time!

 

I didn't realize LEDs were that cheap already. Last I heard they were more like $90 each. I would much rather go with LEDs that CFLs or incandesants because of the extreemly long service life and 95% efficiency. I'm actually wondering if I can swap the lights on my truck eventually. For produce it would be nice to stay with local, but when it comes to fresh grapes, nothing beats what they grow in Chile. For apples, they are OK in BC depending on who grows them. Wax is still used on many local brands unless the backyard growers are cheap enough, than we get REAL loccally grown produce.

I work at home, so theres no daily commute to pay fuel for. Public transit is completely useless for my lifestyle because I'm always moving something big or heavy with my truck for our business. Campbell River has a Blue Bin probgram that started this spring. Its been a huge hit with virtually everyone on my street using it. Only problem is the bins are not big enough!

We also have plans to buy a used car, maybe a corrola or camry from the early 90s and convert it to electric. Again, screw algor and david sizuki, this is because it would save on gasoline and because it would be a fun project. Batteries have come a long way in the last 5 years and we can finally get a usable range of 100 miles or more if we pay full price for the batteries.

I will definately look into LEDs though.

 

David85: We bought a pair of 4 foot long T8 Retrofit 15Watt LEDs to try out in a standard fluorescent unit in our basement. Instead of the usual 40 Watt consumption for a 4' tube, these only use 15W. Not only that but since you can ignore the ballast, you save quite a bit of power loss due to the inefficiency of the ballast (I haven't been able to find a source for ballast efficiency info yet). Then there's the toxic disposal issues which LEDs avoid completely. At the fair, we got the T8 LEDs for $50 each and the 3 Watt A19 (non-dimmable)medium base bulbs for $25 each. One nice thing about getting stuff at the fairs is there are no shipping charges and usually a discounted price.

Concerning LEDs for your truck: there are a number of sources for LED bulbs which fit right into the factory light unit. Look inline and you'll find some. I bought a pair of 4" Round Red PremiumSTT LED units (54 LED lights in each) from Flora Public Safety Equipment Inc (www.florapse.com) for one automotive project. Haven't had time to install them yet.

There is a guy on Vancouver Is who is well known for excellent auto electric conversions - he sells to the States a lot from what I've read but I can't remember his name...

All the best!

 

$100, that's almost half a tank of diesel.

Don't forget to fill up TODAY because it goes up 2.5 cents at midnight.

 

[QUOTE=Mr. Fixit;6301486]
There is a guy on Vancouver Is who is well known for excellent auto electric conversions - he sells to the States a lot from what I've read but I can't remember his name...
/QUOTE]


This guy?
Canadian Electric Vehicles Ltd.

 

Yes, luv-mud: that could be the guy. I remember he started out converting passenger cars. Don't know much about it.

 

That would be Randy. Met him a few years ago when I still had my learner's license. He was not impressed with my idea of converting my F150. He said it was too big and heavy, I was a little full of myself though.....

He's actually located in Errington on Vancouver Island. He has a good line of parts like electric powersteering pumps and electric floor shifters. Haven't seen him in years but he does have some stuff that others on the electric car forum have been interested in. Only does low speed or light vehicles. Older Chevy S10 is his favorite donor for a conversion vehicle.....

You might have seen the report in CBC's The National when he was having trouble certifying his low speed electric utility truck.

$0.025....mehh, not really worth the trip to the cardlock. These guys know what they are doing. My rear tank is full and the front is about 1/2 full. Being a diesel I like to keep them full as much as possible.

Mr. Fixit, how is the light off of those LEDs? I've seen small examples of LED flashlights that seem to produce a more complete light spectrum that is nice to be in compared to CFLs or even incandescents. I'm actually hoping that there may be some LED headlights out there for my truck. If I ever convert car to electric, it will be a good way to maximize the efficiency. There would also be a slight gain in MPGs for night driving on a gas or diesel vehicle if the headlights go from 5% efficient to 90%+.

I think the fluorescent tubes are usually somewhere between 40-60% efficient. Thats at least 8x better than regular lights, but still not as good as LEDs and not as reliable. Cold can be a real problem with them too.

 

In sunny Prince Rupert.