A definite great read..Tony Brown

If you want the prospectuses from the recently pulled offering, I can e-mail them. There might be some changes, but probably not very much.

BTW the Trust terminates if the CS index moves more that 33.3% and stays outside that range for three consecutive months.

Cheers,

Ed Hynes, CFA; Hello:

If you want the prospectuses from the recently pulled offering, I can e-mail them. There might be some changes, but probably not very much.

BTW the Trust terminates if the CS index moves more that 33.3% and stays outside that range for three consecutive months.

Cheers,

Ed Hynes, CFA;;

Ah! Yes, that puts a little perspective on things!

Thanks for your reply.

Ted S.

I relate the Second Law as applied to the earth as a system (although not a closed system since energy is incoming and radiated) to an analogue of the saying that “in the long run we are all dead”. Fortunately, the long run could be hundreds of thousands of years, or longer, from the perspective of the Second Law. I think it is far more likley that the long run in the thermodynamic sense will be foreshortened by environmental degradation or interplanetary collision.

From a philosophical and scientific curiosity point of view, addressing the thermodynamic limits of planet earth is an intriguing subject. From my professional perspective as an investment manager and family financial planner, it takes a back burner to my analysis of what trends are important for my clients over their lifetimes.

You have raised a very interesting set of questions. I’m sure they will not be erased from my mind – I am just not consciously bring these to the foreground. Who knows what will emerge from such subconscious manipulation. I thank you for taking the time to send your detailed comment.

You might find some of the things I publish at http://seekingalpha.com/author/john-lounsbury/articles
and http://seekingalpha.com/author/john-lounsbury/instablog
interesting, in addition to my efforts at TheStreet.com

Please make comments any time you feel stimulated to raise issues – I get much benefit from them.

I just read your article on theStreet.com, ‘Enter the Zero-Energy House’. I noted that your studies at University of Vermont, Columbia University and the Illinois Institute of Technology included chemistry, physics and mathematics, so that lead me to pose a question/suggestion for future consideration.

The generally accepted definition of a ‘zero-energy house is one with a net energy consumption of zero’ while accurate, seems to me a bit misleading to those that have not had the benefit of analytical training and could lead to the perception that a zero-energy home has a net energy consumption of zero, making the owner/builder etc. feel good about this type of structure. Being zero energy, these structures are good for the environment, right? Producing excess energy during daylight or sufficient wind conditions, buying from the grid when those conditions are not true, for a net across the electric meter of zero KWh used.

My question/suggestion is this: Please address the details of ’spinning reserve’ necessary to support an electric customer that purchases electric power from a utility. My foggy recollection of rudimentary gas and steam turbine power plant design from engineering school is that first, turbines take days to spool up and down, and that even during maintenance the shafts are kept spinning at a very slow rpm to prevent weight from warping the shaft. Second, it seems that we had to size capacity for peak power demand.

The net effect of these two design requirements is that even when a customer is not buying power, the plant must keep the turbine spinning and consuming fuel as if the customer were consuming power. That allows power to be available when the customer ‘flips the switch’.

The consumer that purchases or converts a home to be a ‘Net Zero Home’, if tied to a grid that has electric power produced by the combustion of fossil fuels, then also has a ‘Net Zero’ reduction in their carbon footprint. In other words, if a power consuming structure is tied to the grid, they exist as a component of peak power demand so the reduction in carbon footprint is minimal.

You mentioned energy storage at the end of the article, which in my opinion is the area of greatest importance, for without it, the impact of the other energy saving efforts are minimal.

Another related but potentially more important topic would be the relation of building climate control and the Second Law of Thermodynamics – how the process of cooling a building makes it more difficult to cool the building. I have not seen this addressed, but it occurred to me the other day while eating a sandwich in the cool interior of a sandwich shop on a 102F Texas afternoon. Mechanically cooling these buildings has to be a major contributor to environmental warming and a battle we can’t win in the long run. I am sure that some thinkers have published thoughts on this, I have just been to busy otherwise to seek them out.

Thank you for your article and your thoughts.

Best Regards,
Ted Spradley
Houston, TX