Here's some info: Here is a link that might be useful: 2009 Federal Tax Credit info

Hi, There is a tradeoff between a greenhouse designed primarely to raise plants and one designed primarely for house heating. To get maximum house heating, you would build a greenhouse with as little thermal mass as possible. With little thermal mass, it heats up quickly, and while the sun is shinning you transfer this heat to the house fast enough so that the greenhouse does not go overly high, which would increase losses to the outside. After sunset, you close off the greenhouse, and let it cool down -- since it has little thermal mass, it will cool quickly, and, if you are in a cold climate it would drop below freezing and kill plants. For a greenhouse designed mostly to riase plants, you add thermal mass to the greenhouse. This heats up during the day, but the heat that goes into the thermal mass is then not available for house heating -- so you get less heat to the house. At night the extra thermal mass in the greenhouse keeps the temperature up and may be enough to keep the plants alive -- although some heating may still be required. Ideally, a plant growing greenhouse has some form of insulating curtains that that can be put in place at night to reduce the heat loss. You can have a greenhouse that both provides some house heat and plant growing, but you won't get as much house heat out of it as one that is designed only for house heating. The Shapiro book that I mentioned before, covers all this in good detail, and provides design procedures each type of greenhouse for various climates. On getting more info on the tax credit, maybe your states web page that describes the program has a phone number? Gary

I know it is unpopular to those with low income to be hit with a flat 10% income tax but consider this. I have seen that people are more invested in something and the outcome when they have a personal investment. If you are paying 10% of your hard earned income as Federal income tax, you will be more concerned about how those dollars are spent. You will tend to vote more, take the time to research where the money is going, etc. . . because of the impact it has on your income. It truly is your government and your country when you own part of it. I say this from a perspective of helping those in need and seeing the difference between those who have no problem getting a hand out and those who prefer a hand up. Economically I think a flat 10% income tax across the board would surprise people with how much more revenue would come in to pay a balanced budget required to be passed and approved October 1 each year instead of pushed back until January and then again depending on the politics at the time. The tax should perform its function of supporting the government and not be used for something it is not intended to accomplish which is social reform or social adjustments. The budget should be finalized by October 1 period, end of story. No budget no government until one is approved.

> They are awful -- the light they give off is hideous. You must be buying the cheap ones. Good quality CFs are essentially indistinguishable from incandescents when installed in fixtures where the bulb is behind a shade or diffuser. I have asked guests to tell me which of my table lamps has an incandescent and which has a CF. Most can't tell the difference, and the others guess wrong about as often as they guess right. CF lifespan is an average. If the rated life is 6 years, some will fail in 1 month, some 6 months, some 3 years, some 9 years, some 12 years ... you get the idea. The fact that one or two you put in failed early is mostly likely just your bad luck. I probably got the ones that balance out yours, because I've have very few premature failures. :-) You can't really tell whether the brand is reaching its lifespan claims until you've bought and used a few dozen. To find out what's really going on, mark the installation date on the base. Keep records. Don't just get upset and give up because a couple of them failed early. Also consider how you use the CF. If you turn the light on and off more than 2 or 3 times a day, that shortens its lifespan. If you fit it into a fixture that traps heat in the bulb's electronic base, because the bulb is enclosed by a shade and/or is upside down, that shortens its lifespan. So don't do those things if you can avoid them. Try to install the CF in an open fixture, with the base to the side or bottom. LEDs sold for home use are still less efficient than CFs (lumens per watt) and cost much more. Be warned that there is a fair bit of fudging going on with manufacturer's claims of incandescent equivalence, just as there was in the early days of CFs. I've seen LED retrofits claim equivalence to 40 or 60 watt incandescents - but when I checked the actual lumen output buried in the spec sheet, it was closer to 15 or 25 watt incandescents' lumen output. Caveat emptor. Someday LEDs will no doubt be better than CFs and may even be cheaper. But they are not yet ready for prime time. They may nevertheless be good for commercial situations where replacement is by highly-paid workers. There the longer life makes a real difference. LEDs also excel right now for extremely dim lights, such as night lights, where both fluorescent and incandescent lights have relatively poor efficiency. Bottom line on CFs: anybody can cite specific cases where one or two specific CFs didn't save him money. That's interesting information, but not very helpful in making a yea or nay decision. On average, when you consider the reduction in electricity use, CFs are almost always a winner.