Geeks and God Podcast

Hey guys! Great to see more people talking about these issues. One think you guys didn't talk about enough in my opinion was global warming. I understand that you say that it isn't really your thing, but I think that it should be! The two most important issues that face us at the moment are in my opinion:

• Global warming
• Peak oil

I think that people who have listened to this episode really should know that what you have discussed is only the start of what people should be doing.
I am part of a movement called the Transition Town initiative (http://transitiontowns.org/). This initiative aims to tackle the above problems through grass root change. At the moment most of the towns are in England but I hope it will spread to America and the rest of the world too.

This can be a pretty controversial topic, but I think you guys handled it pretty evenly. I'm pretty sure that WYSIWYG Editors was still your most controversial episode. ;-)

A couple of quick comments here:

First, I gotta give props to Pastor Dion Garrett. On his Earth Day episode of The Six Podcast, he framed the whole discussion of the environment between God's cursing of the Earth in Genesis 3:17-18 and the New Heaven and New Earth foretold in the Revelation. That has really changed the way I view our stewardship responsibility as occupants of a decaying planet.

Second, I have a really long commute. I don't speed, but I do tend to stop on the accelerator to get up to speed limit. Lately, I've been trying to remind myself to always drive as if I were on fumes and trying to make it to the gas station. I don't always succeed, but I try. I should go back to tracking my gas mileage at every fill-up. That would probably encourage me to stretch the miles as far as possible. Remember to check your oil and keep tires properly inflated.

Third, you've inspired me to look into practical solutions for recycling batteries.

Fourth, server consolidation using VMware (or similar) can help reduce electricity consumption in church (or other) data centers. For churches with larger networks, there have been some good discussions about power monitoring and conservation over on the Church IT Podcast. IIRC, this included some talk about which cost savings were actually too small when compared to lost productivity.

Micah

This episode reminded me of a set of talks given by Amory Lovins on the topic of "Energy Efficiency". These are a great place to start thinking about the future of the planet.

Amory Lovins is the "Chairman and Chief Scientist" of the "Rocky Mountain Institute". He has also appeared on a Charlie Rose conversation and there is also a video of a talk from TED, the Technology Entertainment Design Conference.

Also, you might like to listen to: "Google's Solar Photovoltaic System".

There is something that could be better than both hybrids and used cars, for some at least. And here are some geeky stats to back it up.

The US Census Bureau publishes stats on how people get to work along with their regular census materials every 10 years. One of the things I ran across recently was info on how we get to work. So I looked at Philadelphia, the closest big city to my home.

In 1980, 60% of the Philly population drove to work alone in a car. In 1990, it was 69%, and in 2000 it was 73%. With that trend, this year we should be up to 75 or 80% of the population alone in their cars driving to work every day. The numbers in other big cities are similar.

All of the other categories of traveling to work went down, like car pooling, train, bus, walking and bicycling (my personal favorite). In addition, the number of miles traveled to work went up, and the amount of time spent commuting went up. Something like 10 million people commute more than an hour each way.

To me, this is insane. We are moving farther away from the city, but also expect to get into the city every day in our cars, in privacy. Needless to say, the amount of resources we expend doing this, is enormous.

If more of us moved closer to our jobs, or at least closer to a mass transit terminal, we could make a big positive impact.

Just listened to the cast. And no, I am not offended that you did not play my comment on the show (this is Rick.) I think I was rambling a bit anyways :) and since it is your show, you call the shots.

I volunteer at my church in the A/V department. We have started to find places to cut to get back on costs. One of the really costly things that we are watching now are those really expensive projector bulbs. We have four large projectors that normally are used on practice and then during the service. Something SO simple that we realized is that two of those projectors was just a copy for the congregation to sing along. Guess what, they are not there during practice! So that saves us 8 hours of life per week just by keeping them off. That is about $400 a year. Talk about easy.

Progammable thermostats. One thing that I think that you should know is that you do not want the heat to go up too high in a room. Reason being is that sometimes, depending on how hot it is, it will take more energy to cool it down, than to keep it at a contant temperature. In Arizona, where I live, our utility company recommends keeping the temperature within 8 degrees because it is more efficient AND it also takes less toll on the energy production systems. Imagine what happens when a half a million people come home and kick on the A/C at 5:30pm after work. So, depending on where you live, check with your utility company to see what is more effective and efficient for your locale.

So, I appreciated the show and hopefully others see what you are trying to say. Taking care of God's creation. There are a lot of things that are painless.

This helps with the huge paper waste that comes from newspapers. I used to use Newstand to subscribe to the USA today. Everymorning I would wake up to the cover of USA today on my desktop. These are full versions, exactly like the print versions. You can highlight and search text and web links are all hyperlinked.

Runs on both PC and Mac but limited amount of mac publications at this time.

This is one way to go a little greener.

Rob & Matt, I wholeheartedly agree with your position on conservation. I've met far too many Christians who could care less about God's creation. I used to be one...

Four years ago, we moved into our home and began recycling. To my shame, the only reason we did is because they would pick up the recyclables for free but it cost $2.17 per can of trash. In the ensuing years, I have really come to see the value of it. We now recycle more than we discard.

We wait to run the dishwasher and washing machine until they are full, turning off lights and other electronics we’re not using, turn down the thermostat (or up…and retreat to the basement on really hot days) and sometimes ride bikes for quick shopping trips. All of our yard waste and some table scraps are composted.

Other ideas include simply buying less. It takes energy to manufacture and distribute everything we purchase. So let’s use less stuff. When you do want something, check out resale. Quality varies dramatically depending on your area, but we buy many of our clothes second-hand. I have a fond affection for the Aloha (or Hawaiian) shirt. I can go to the mall and get a national brand for $40 or I can go to the resale shop and find authentic ones made in the islands for $6. The question which now begs to be asked; As I have a basement crammed full of stuff; why not give it away to friends, sell, or donate to charity and share some of my excess?

On hot days, I like to BBQ outside. This keeps the oven off and the a/c bill down. On cold days, I put the plug in the kitchen sink while the (portable) dishwasher is running. The sink fills up with hot water and that heat is not sent down the drain. The next morning I pull the plug all the room temp water drains out. (Gents beware: When I tried this energy tip with the shower, my wife freaked out.)

Remember when we used to wear suits? A suit was supposed to be dry cleaned not more than two times a year. So why do we have to wash everything we wear every time we wear it? At the end of the day, take a look. If you only wore your shirt for a few hours consider hanging it back up and giving it another go. Once you're OK with that, ask yourself if you really need a shower every single day. If you do, you might need to see your doctor.

After washing bath towels, hang them up to dry and allow them to become cardboard-stiff. Then, place them in the dryer with the next batch of color-appropriate clothing. They will still come out nice and fluffy but you didn't have to burn a bunch of BTUs to get them that way.

Someday I’d like to tackle solar cooking.

Blessings!

-NP

Another way to make your IT operation more green is to stretch the use of old equipment instead of following the trend to buy new every three years. Groups like Free Geek (www.freegeek.org) work to rehab old computers and make them useful again -- and provide valuable tech skills training in the process.

There are so many discarded computer resources around that, if done right, one could build an entire church IT infrastructure on re-used equipment -- saving both the environment and a lot of cash.

Another way to be more green.. Buy produce and other goods that are locally grown. Locally grown items are not shipped/trucked and thus consuming resources. Plus its good for the local economy.