BTW please dfine abbreviations for us newbies SREC? BTW those of you who say like PA doesn't provide incentive enough, need to get the old email and poison penout and start bugging you senatorss and congress men to increase the payback for selling energy back, the energy companies hate this new solar technology, they can't bend some people over the barrel and you know >>>>> them! Btw how do you sell Dirct current back to the power grid??? Is there an dc inverter to AC? I watched a program where Ed Begley and his wife went around and helped people pick and chose the best systems and enegry efficint items for them, he actually went to Larry Hagman's house Larry has a three meter kw generating solar array not very big considering the amount of enegry produced. He said his system installed with the conversions to ac with inverters cost him something like $300.000 If I recall he said his electric bill for his estate used to run around $13,000 a year(??) once he turned on system the power companby had to pay him some amount of money each month and his system would be paid for in like 2-3 yrs if I recall correctly, plus he actually ran t power to 8 homes in the valley below him at no cost to the residents, he said one guy was a truck driver with several kids and economy was hitting guy hard so that was his firts free energy install.....nice guy. Wind power on small scale not gonna provide enough power and the huge electric company wind mills are so terrible, eye sores in the woods and mountains and they fail after a few years, all it takes is a big bird strike and there go the 80fot long blades and the system will self destruct from imbalance! and if you live near them the sound has to be extremely annoying whoooosh, whooosh, wooosh hour and hours on end! I am working on an invention that will revolutionize the solar heated water systems, I will market this and become a billionare in a short time! Ground source heat pumps are the way to heat and cool without using enormous amounts of electricity, 18" to 24" down 68 degrees F perfect cooling temp in summer and also for heat in winter, (they have auxillary heater in case it dips to below zero) the only electricity is the circulating motor and blower! Up front costs expensive but at reduction from $200 a month down to say $50, that $150 plus the amount for payment will cut repaying loan in half! I am on limited income and do not pay taxes so unfortunately we disabled or older folks that own homes do not get to take the interest deductions(low income no huge portfoilio)or the enegry savings deductions. I sure would install the most energy efficient sytem if they would give us a cash rebate kinda like the first time homebuyers credit! I got that cause that was a direct payment and had to call IRS for them to explain that yes I was qualified even though I don't pay federal or state taxes! I installed new energy efficient windows could not take the $1500 credit, installed new energy efficient french doors to cut down on the wind whipping throught he old doors could not take the $1500 per door tax credit, so I end up paying more in the long run cause not recovering some of the costs of updating! BTW ground source heat pumps can not only be installed by the 6 loops dug inb your lawn area, but they also can in town house or close quarters be drilled straight down in loops! I am fighting with the rest of the board members on the solar panel ban, systems aren't like the big old pvc pipe systems running all over the roof, they can be mounted on the roof or the sides of houses but they dont want them! I remeber back in the oil embargo in the 70's the government made the power companies offer low interest loans added to electric bills to upgrade windows and insullation, and cut energy loss from old windows etc, they should do the same thing now make the energy companies allow low cost energy loans to install solar panels, ground source heat pumps, geothermal wind etc. Just thought I woul add my 2 cents in

pinecone, Libraries are great! I'm a lucky guy - I visit seven libraries, routinely, even more on an occasional basis! I used to live in this city, with a library card, and about 9 libraries, but my card became invalid when I changed address to a nearby county. The city library issued me a temporary card, to be validated when I got a card in that county, which I did, and had the temporary one validated: I am in one of those libraries now. In the meantime, I visited the main library in a nearby city, in another county, and they issued me a card for their county, as many with my post office address reside in it - but I don't, actually. So I frequently visit about 7 libraries - I have a list of their hours in the car. As they have inter-connection, I do not have to pay a fee to any of them. I do feel that I should make a (tax-deductible) charitable donation to one or more of them, though, as I use their facilities quite a lot. As I travel, I find that quite a few libraries in various jurisdictions allow me to use their internet-connected computers for a limited time, without fee - occasionally one asks for a fee. Good wishes to you and yours. ole joyful

We've only had the granite for a couple months but we totally love the look of it! We had a slab picked out that had a lot of greyish areas along with the caramel and cream swirls and we thought we really loved it. But when they went to cut it, they noticed a number of scratches in areas that made it un-useable. So they asked us to come and select another slab. The longest run in our kitchen is 9 ft. and they had two smaller slabs that they couldn't use for some of the large kitchens. So they showed them to us and it was love at first sight. The scratches in the other slab were meant to be! It is more overall black with lovely streaks and swirls and we are so glad we had a chance to choose it. But... I was told by many people and did lots of research on the web, that this granite is particularly dense and durable. And that dark granite is more durable than light. But early on I managed to make a tiny scratch in it. I had a ceramic urn as a kitchen catcher. It was glazed except for the bottom which was a rough grainy texture. I was going to put a protective base on it and hadn't yet. When I slid it on the counter I could feel it scratching. I used a bit of black felt pen and even I can't find the scratch anymore. But it was an eye opener! Maybe this is normal. I don't know since its the first granite we have had. But we sure love the look of it.

DONE. DONE. DONE. There are 3 gallons of wall paint on my porch. DONE. I finally got to an HD which had a better paint section, and they had those Glidden "post it" style packs of sample sheets. I picked up one that had a few intriguing colours in it, went home with it last night, slapped two on the wall, liked 'em, checked it this morning and went and bought paint. If only I'd gone to HD first. The sample packs are $2.99 for the whole palatte - THAT's more like it! I've gone back to a neutral, called "Bonjour Beige", and we'll do the trim in Valspar's "Drumskin" which is a faintly coffee-tinged magnolia white that tones beautifully with the milky-tea colour of the wall paint. Somehow BB manages to have both warm AND cool undertones, doesn't turn pink, or yellow or grey on the wall but adds a hint of mocha AND green without being GREEN. I may wind up changing it down the line if I want more bling, but for now - this gets us over The Paint Hump. THANK GOODNESS!!!!