I got blown away by a Prius doing probably 90+ on the highway.  Gotta wonder if the driver understood the reason people by Prius’.

Check out this video.  Shows that a lead foot on a Toyota Prius loses the gas economy war to a high performance BMW M3 sedan.

photo credit: TheTruthAbout…

I saw an article that mentioned that the artificial sweeters used in chewing gum could cause problems. A Google search shows many articles that talk about sweeteners such as Sorbitol, Mannitol, and Aspertame causing stomach problems in some people.  Better living through chemicals. Also the mechanism of chewing causes swallowing lots of air, which can cause gas and bloating.

Let’s not even get into all the waste gum packaging has or gum littering the ground…

We recently covered Tankless Water Heaters. A new product is the Hybrid Water Heater. Like ones from Eternal and GE.  Hybrids have 2 modes of operation. With low flows it has a fixed gas input rate from the preheated water, with higher water needs, it uses a flow sensor like a tankless.

It is much higher in efficiency than a regular water heater but hold less hot water, usually less than 10 gallons.  Tankless water heaters do not have the capacity to satisfy multiple water uses at the same time. Energy star standards are emerging for these new items. These units can be up to 50% more efficient.

These items are not cheap, they start around $1800 for a 180K BTU, 15GPM model.

Tankless Water heaters produce hot water as hot water is requested.  Traditional water heaters have large tanks to store and heat water, so they continually have to keep the water heated.

Tankless Water heaters use electricity or gas to quickly heat water that is needed.  Different units are capable of product hot water at different rates. Gas units generally perform better.  Large units or multiple units are required if you need to have say a kitchen sink, shower, and other things operating at the same time. Savings up to 30% can be realized.

Some key items to look for are electrical needs of a unit, or gas and venting needs. Many gas units require a certain size of gas inlet and exhaust vent size.  I found these requirement prohibitive in my installation attempt.

Energy star tax credits upto $1500 are available.

Hard to believe but CFL sales  actually dropped in 2008 compared to 2007.  One article blames it on the economy.  People want to save money but short shortsightedly buy the cheaper priced bulb. Some people do not light the light color emitted, but may not realize there are CFL bulbs with different emission colors.

” Lighting accounts for some 20% of residential electricity use in the U.S. — a lot to fritter away as wasted heat. Yet about 80% of all bulbs sold to U.S. consumers are incandescents, which often cost less than 25 cents apiece, about one-tenth the price of a compact fluorescent.”

In the coming years, incandescent bulbs will be slowly phased out, so people will have to buy CFLs or LED bulbs.