BrianW

What an absolute torch of a month here on the shore. KHVN put up a +24 low departure last night with a 67.

If you have solar then a heat pump is a no brainer. There is no cheaper or cleaner source of heat then using 450% efficient heat pumps powered from the sun. Since my 6 year old panels reached their ROI my heat is essentially free. My Eversource bill is $9 month year round. There are huge rebates in CT for heat pumps. CT along with most of the New England states are leading the nation and pouring big money into converting people to heat pumps. My friend just got a $10k heat pump system that only cost him $4k after the state incentives and federal rebate. At current oil and gas prices and even with CT's high electric rates a heat pump would save you more than 50% over oil even if you bought the electricity. https://energizect.com/your-home/rebates-and-incentives

Run the heat pump as much as you can. It will save you a ton of money on oil. I think I recall you had a Mitsubishi Hyper Heat installed? Maines electricity is 79% renewable and the cheapest in New England. That's why the state is aggressively deploying heat pumps. Here is a fuel cost comparison for Maine using the EIA statewide averages. Your cost may actually be lower as Maine has some areas that have real cheap electricity. Cost per million btu. Fuel oil at $3.10 a gallon with 85% efficiency. $26.04 Mitsubishi Hyper Heat with COP of 4.5 powered from Maines .14 kwh electricity. $9.33

KBG sod came out beautiful. Lawn is growing the best it has all year. Been mowing every 3-4 days.

It might be because of the state incentive. They probably did a site survey and they can very accurately model what your roof will produce. You probably have too much shade and the state bases the incentive off the estimated yearly production. Let's say there are 2 5kw systems on roofs. One is in full sun and will produce 6000 kwhs a year. The other is partially wooded and will produce 3500 kwhs. The full sun system will get the full state incentive of lets say $8k. The other only gets $3k and will take twice as long to payback. I used Aegis Solar a local company in Branford.

I assume you use a lot of oil with 2 tanks?You should look into installing a heat pump or mini split. You could cut down your oil usage big time and save a ton. Vermont has really good rebates on them. Vermont's electricity is also mostly from Hydro Quebec and way cheaper than other New England states. I just crunched some numbers on a fuel cost calculator using your $3.07 oil price compared to a good heat pump. Here are the cost per million BTU. Fuel oil at $3.07 a gallon with 85% efficiency. $26.04 Mitsubishi Hyper Heat with COP of 4.5 powered from VT's .17 kwh electricity. $9.35. Anyone with a heat pump should run one as much as they can this winter. With gas and oil at record prices they will be way cheaper to run this winter as you can see above.

There is a palm tree nursery in Cheshire that rents them for the summer and they store them inside in the winter. They have become really popular the last few years at places. I read an article that the guy started it as a hobby and it just took off. His business is booming. People also plant hardy ones along the shoreline that survive year round. https://www.ctpalmtrees.com/

78 for the high. Still haven't been below 51 here. Everything is still green including the palms at a nearby bar on the shore.

You should see the increases on the CT shoreline. Many areas now have over 200 growing days. This is a cool study where they had temperature data all the way back to 1788 at Yale. The average length of the growing season over the past 47 years (1973-2020) is 26 percent higher than the average length of the growing season from 1788 to 1866, an increase from 126 days to 159 days. Since 2004, the length of the growing season has been equal to or exceeded the modern-era average every year, but five. https://longislandsoundstudy.net/ecosystem-target-indicators/length-of-growing-season/

It's still 71 here at 2 am. A nice +26 departure on the overnight low....

Todays another great beach day and I bet we hit 80 again here. The sound is still around 70 here and I just walked my dog by the beach and people were in the water. You notice the insane amount of baby crabs everywhere?

What a stretch of dews here.

81 for my 3rd 80 this month.

This is very true. I know a ton of people in especially the skilled trades that took some time off as they made so much money the last year and a half.

Tons of buds and flowers here. My Hibiscus and Hydrangeas are still blooming. +17 overnight low departure here with a low of 63. Average low is 46 at HVN.

Going to be an expensive winter for heating. The EIA just released their winter fuel report. Heating oil, natural gas and propane are at record highs and almost double what they were a year ago. Electricity is going to go way up as well due to most of our generation in New England being natural gas fired. The average heating oil price in New England is now over $3 gallon and expected to go higher

Let's hope there is progress in this. I know a ton of people who's lives have been messed up from Lyme. Drug treatment for Lyme disease could lead to its eradication The discovery that a chemical is deadly to the bacterium that causes Lyme disease but harmless to animals might allow the disease to be eradicated in the wild. “Lyme disease is well-positioned to be eradicated,” says Kim Lewis at Northeastern University in Boston. “We are gearing up, the first field trial will be next summer.” https://www.newscientist.com/article/2292543-drug-treatment-for-lyme-disease-could-lead-to-its-eradication/#ixzz78yklk9vA

Welcome to the tropics. 77 here under full sun and 80 looks possible.

A billboard for heating oil that's been at $2.39 all summer just jumped 30 cents to $2.69 the last week or so. I'm sure it will be $3 once it gets cold. Natural gas prices are sky high as well and I think they are double from last year. I have been on solar and heat pumps for my heat for the last 3 winters. Best investment ever. The state and federal rebates for both paid for like half the cost. Electric bill is just the $9 connection charge every month.

Electricity is .05 a kwh in Quebec while those in Massachusetts are paying like 5 times that at .24 kwh. The New England states all have some of the most expensive electricity in the US. Hydro Quebec has an insane amount of excess hydroelectric capacity up north and bringing that cheap power in would certainly drive down prices.

You ready for your 80's today? Mostly sunny to start today, then should see partly to mostly cloudy skies this afternoon as a mid level cloud deck over wrn NY/PA advect eastward. Despite these clouds temps should be on the warm side, with highs reaching 80 in near the CT river valley which should be one of the last areas to cloud over.

Anyone know what weed this is? I'm having a hard time identifying it.

Didn't realize that same data was on that site when I was looking for average temps. Anyways thanks. That site has the CDD and HDD as well which I have been looking for.