Boiling Water: Electric Vs. Stove Kettles

This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but apparently Blogger's posting schedule option still escapes me, so apologies for that. I've been thinking about getting my own domain so I can have more control over the entire site and not have to bend to Blogger's constraints, however that would require money being generated from a job that I am still searching for, but I digress...

I recently bought a French press to really kick my addiction to coffee into high gear. Along with the French press I also had to buy a kettle to boil the water, and this is where I had to make a decision. I could either buy an electric kettle or I could buy the traditional kettle which I would heat with my gas stove.

What the decision boiled down to [editors note: PUN!] was determining the least natural resource intensive kettle. Here is a break down of where Chicago's electricity comes from:

• 53% from Nuclear Power
• 36% from Coal Fired Power
• 7% from Natural Gas
• 3% from Wind, Biomass, or Hydro Power
• 1% Other

It is safe to assume that in the morning when I am making my coffee, most of the electricity I would be using is demand-response, which would mean that my electricity would be coming from coal.

Coal is filthy, and while natural gas still takes a toll on the environment, it is still a cleaner alternative, so I ended up buying the traditional kettle that I will heat with my gas stove.

I know that my one kettle isn't going to save the world, but I do think that the act of thinking these decisions through is good practice. It doesn't take much effort to find out where your energy is coming from, and I hope that on some level you begin to think about these options as well.

Now that I'm done ranting, I'm going to go ahead and enjoy my coffee! Have a great day!

Back To Basics: Bike Infrastructure

Living near Chicago, I have enjoyed the perks of having various bike paths throughout the city and along the lake. It is great exercise and provides and cheap way to get from point A to B without emitting any pollution or consuming fuel.

My Sweet Ride

This addresses two obvious issues that are very important to this country:

• Weight Control
• Energy Consumption

To my surprise though, job creation may be addressed through the expansion of a biking infrastructure. A study in Baltimore has shown that the investment into biking infrastructures creates more jobs when compared to a focus on traditional roadways:

Each $1 million spent creating on-street bike lanes directly creates 7.9 jobs and creates a total of 14.4 jobs when we include the indirect and induced effects,” the author, Heidi Garrett-Peltier, writes, “The two categories of road repairs have the lowest employment effects, with 3-4 direct jobs and approximately 7 total jobs created for each $1 million.

Obviously this interests me because biking reduces pollution and helps people lead a healthier life, all while being financially attractive to the government.

As I have said before, the only way any of these environmentally friendly projects will achieve staying power is if they make financially sound arguments, and as far as I can tell from this Baltimore study, a furthered investment into biking infrastructures seems like a no-brainer.