December 2014
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Volume 68, Number 12, December 2014
“The Rural Voice of Nebraska”
Staff Editor Wayne Price Editorial Assistant Kathy Barkmeier
Published by the Visit us at www.nrea.org General Manager Troy Bredenkamp President Randy Papenhausen, Cedar-Knox Public Power District Vice President/Secretary Ron Jensen, Loup Valleys Rural Public Power District
Contents Features
Creating Replicas with Resin Icon Poly, a custom resin fabrication company in Gibbon, Neb., started with one man’s hobby of making resin molds. The company makes resin castings for films and television as well as public art projects.
The Hallmark of Public Power
Advertising in the Rural Electric Nebraskan does not imply endorsement for products by the Nebraska Rural Electric Association. Correspondence should be sent to Wayne Price, Editor, Rural Electric Nebraskan, Box 82048, Lincoln, NE 68501. The Rural Electric Nebraskan is printed by Quad Graphics, 2300 Brown Ave., Waseca, MN 56093. Form 3579 should be sent to the Rural Electric Nebraskan, Box 82048, Lincoln, NE 68501. Periodicals postage paid at Lincoln, Neb. POSTMASTER: send address changes to the Rural Electric Nebraskan, 1244 K Street, Box 82048, Lincoln, NE 68501. Publication numbers are USPS 071-630 and ISSN 0193-4937. Rates: $10 for one year; $15 for two years; $20 for three years, plus local and state tax.
December 2014
12
Pat Pope, president and CEO of Nebraska Public Power District, explains how NPPD has been responding to customer demands and meeting industry regulations since the district was formed in 1970.
Treasurer David Keener, Niobrara Electric Association, Inc. Published monthly by the Nebraska Rural Electric Association, 1244 K Street, Box 82048, Lincoln, Nebraska 68501, (402) 475-4988.
6
Departments EDITOR’S PAGE
4
SAFETY BRIEFS — Murphy
16
CUT YOUR UTILITY BILLS by James Dulley
18
RECIPES
20
ADULT PEN PALS
21
MARKETPLACE/CLASSIFIEDS
22
On the cover Kyle Vohland shows off a fire hydrant made of resin produced by his company, Icon Poly. See the related story on Page 6. Photograph by Wayne Price
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EDITOR’S PAGE
Turning the page on the Adult Pen Pal Service t is with a touch of sadness that I must dating sites, such as eHarmony.com and report that the Rural Electric Nebraskan Match.com, has grown steadily over the years. will no longer offer the Adult Pen Pal And in today’s society, people do not want to Service beginning in January 2015. The wait weeks or possibly months for a response. decision to stop this service wasn’t easy but I’m not saying the United States Postal was reached as the number of submissions Service is slow but when compared to the over the past few years nearly instant response has severely declined. In time of the electronic fact, pen pal ads were so world, most people would few that submissions prefer instant Response #A-1: Tall, gratification. I don’t were printed in less than attractive, blue-eyed, Christian really blame them. half of the previous 24 gal, 39, home oriented, rural issues because there Merritt fashioned the were less than six educator with two children. Also adult pen pal service submissions received for humorous, sensitive and giving. after one that was the month. It is the Seeks tall, caring, understanding, running in Ruralite policy of the Rural secure, vice-free Christian magazine, which serves Electric Nebraskan to readers in the Pacific gentleman. run Adult Pen Pal Northwest. He noted the submissions only when service was extremely at least six letters have successful in the been received by the Northwest but expected Nebraska Rural Electric the number of Association office in a submissions would be DEC- 2: WidWM, 64, NS, social given month. fewer given our state’s drinker, 5’9’, 190 lbs, semi-retired Jack Merritt, a former population. farmer/carpenter. I live on my fameditor of the Rural “Whether or not the ily’s farm in Northeast Nebraska. Electric Nebraskan, service is continued will Enjoy gardening, fishing, raising began the Adult Pen Pal be determined by its livestock, & chickens. I am cheerful Service on a trial basis in value to our readers,” friendly! Like to meet lady any age the April 1990 edition. Merritt wrote. with similar interest. There were seven ads in I would have to say the first month. that, overall, the adult He explained that he had conducted an pen pal service was a success. Readers found unofficial poll which resulted in 10 readers it to have value. It would often be listed as a expressing their favor of the service. No one favorite page on readership surveys. In its was opposed to the idea, however, two people heyday, it helped a large number of were concerned about confidentiality. Several Nebraskans connect and, in quite a few cases, wondered about the cost of the service. find love, marriage and family. The Rural The cost of submitting an ad for the Electric Nebraskan has received letters from inaugural issue was $6, to cover handling and readers that met their spouse through the mail forwarding costs. The cost never changed service. in the service’s 24 years of operation, even If you met your spouse through the adult though the cost of a first class stamp went pen pal service, send me a letter. I would love from $.25 cents in 1990 to $.46 cents in 2014. to hear your story. I will print some of the I suspect that the submissions have declined letters I receive in a future issue. as technology has changed. When the service As the editor, I am glad that the magazine was able to bring people together and help started it was a way to connect with likethem find some happiness. I sort of think that minded people with similar backgrounds from is what Jack Merritt was trying to accomplish Nebraska. People are able to connect on the when he started the service. Internet now and the popularity of online
I by Wayne Price
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yle Vohland considers himself an artistic industrialist and something of an “oddball” in his industry. He transformed his artistic ability as a young man into a full-time profession with clients from coast to coast. He worked on computers at Gibbon Packing after high school in what is now referred to as the Information Technology field. He had a hobby of mold making since 1989 and during that time there was an evolution in polyurethane resins, more environmentally friendly versions from Europe. They didn’t smell or make you sick, he said. In his spare time he started working on different processes to use the new resins in his mold making. “It was just something I enjoyed but I never dreamed it could be a business,” he said. His brother, a volunteer fireman, asked Kyle to make a resin fire hydrant. It was the largest thing he had made at the time. He made a mold of a real fire hydrant and cast it using a rotational method that hadn’t really been used like that with the new polyurethane resins. He made it and then someone else wanted one. Word spread and he found himself making more and more. He started selling them for $99 and could make three per week, doing the rotation process by hand. People wanted them faster than he could make them. He took his business to the world wide web and started a website, replicahydrants.com. His success didn’t go unnoticed. He was contacted by the company that made the fire hydrant he used for the mold, saying they had the copyright on the hydrant design. He was able to negotiate an agreement with the company which gave him a license to reproduce the fire hydrant. He just had to supply them with replicas they could use for their sales team. A producer for the film Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carrey, got in touch and wanted a fire hydrant. It wasn’t long before the prop department called wanting another street scene prop and said “you made
K
Creating Replicas with Resin 6
Rural Electric Nebraskan
a fire hydrant, can you make this?” Things just sort of took off from there. He bought a machine used for plaster casting but he used resin instead. The machine uses a two axis rotation which spreads resin, introduced from the bottom of the mold, throughout the entire mold. A chemical reaction causes the resin to harden. Resin is poured in multiple layers adding strength to the mold. He started his business in a space above Arlene’s Cafe, which was owned and operated by his mother. The resin he used came in five gallon buckets and was carried up a flight of stairs to the shop. In 2004, when business picked up to the point that he started buying resin in 55 gallon drums, he bought a building near Odessa, Neb. “The shop didn’t have an elevator so I knew it was time to move,” he said. In 2008 Icon Poly moved again as the business expanded. He purchased an old veterinarian’s office at Gibbon, Neb. and added a 50x100 foot building to it. He has bought another building to use for metal fabrication and storage for molds. Only two shops in the United States that had the capability to do the level of detailed work. That gave him a huge advantage over the others during the slow economy. He made the right investments at the right time, keeping up with changes in technology over the years. He can do 3D milling using foam to create sculptures, rather than creating an item with clay. They have a 3D laser scanner and computer software that creates 3D files of objects. “There are companies out there doing the same mold, they’re just not using the same process,” he said. “We have a much higher efficiency in manufacturing.” Now he does props for movies and television, mostly street scene props. Icon Poly also does trade show items and work for individual artists, including public art projects. Another company was doing the bulk of the work on public art projects but they couldn’t do the details. Icon Poly made parts for them. “They went out of business and
December 2014
Above: Icon Poly uses 3D technology to create models. Left: Kyle and Daniele Vohland Below: Remington Vohland pours resin into a fire hydrant mold. Photographs by Wayne Price
many communities turned to us so we started making those,” Vohland said. He has 300 stock molds of items they can make, including dolphins, bears, guitars and light bulbs. “We have many different clients at different levels,” he said. He has the ability to plug their project in at any level. Artist might sculpt a small maquette and send it to him. He can do a 3D laser scan and create larger models. “It doesn’t matter what level things come in, we will work with them on any aspect, from doing a portion of the work or doing it all,” Vohland said. His wife, Daniele, and their son and daughter all work at the business. Icon Poly is an electric customer of Dawson Public Power District.
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Will there be enough coal for winter power demand? by Steven Johnson
ail customers and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association want the Surface Transportation Board to take steps to hold carriers responsible for delivery woes. They have asked the board to require a public, coal service recovery plan from BNSF Railway Co. “We believe that the situation with coal service has already reached dangerous levels and is on the verge of become dire, not only imposing additional costs on consumers generally, but also posing a threat to the reliable operation of the power grid this winter,” according to an Oct. 31 letter to the STB from NRECA
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CEO Jo Ann Emerson. Also signing the letter were Susan N. Kelly, president and CEO of the American Public Power Association; Thomas R. Kuhn, CEO of Edison Electric Institute; and Charles D. Gray, executive director of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. They were among several utility representatives who expressed frustration with ongoing shipping delays that have beset grain, fertilizer and other commodities in recent months. According to the Energy Information Administration, coal stockpiles at power plants are
“relatively low” for this time of year. At the end of August, the amount of generation capacity with less than 60 days worth of coal left to burn jumped to 63 percent, up from 42 percent in August 2013. Rail moves about two-thirds of the coal to U.S. power plants. The board has taken some action on requiring railroads to provide updates on those cargoes, but has not done so for coal. That’s a concern, utilities say, because the early coal transportation returns for winter 2014-15 are not promising. La Crosse, Wis.-based Dairyland Power Cooperative has curtailed generation because of missed or delayed shipments in the past, and might be forced to do so again. As a result, the G&T has had to seek alternative power sources, which can incur higher costs, said Sean L. Craig, manager of fuel supply at Dairyland. “Unfortunately, there are no signs that BNSF’s service will improve soon,” Craig wrote the board in a Nov. 3 letter. BNSF acknowledged that its service has fallen short of customer expectations, and said it is working to resolve the backlogs. But in a STB filing, the Fort Worth, Texas, giant said the problem has not reached an emergency level, so the board doesn’t need to intervene. Consumers United for Rail Equity disputed that contention, however. The shippers coalition, which includes many co-ops, said regular reports on coal service delivery are essential because of the role the fuel plays in the nation’s power supply. “Without adequate stockpiles of coal on hand prior to the onset of severe winter weather, the risk of widespread outages of electricity is greatly increased,” CURE President Steve Sharp wrote the STB on Nov. 3. “CURE and its members ask the STB to take this threat to the reliability of our electrical system seriously and take action to do what you can to help mitigate this risk.” Source: Electric Co-op Today
Rural Electric Nebraskan
Photo credit: iStock
We must stop the U.S. from becoming the next Germany ike an out-of-control carnival ride, the EPA’s energy plan goes too far, too fast jeopardizing the wellbeing of millions of American families in the process, including members of the Nebraska Rural Electric Association. Unless sidelined, the proposal will force our nation down the road to more expensive energy. We need only to look to the situation in Germany to get a first hand account of the dangers of this approach. The German government spent the past 10 years changing their energy portfolio by government fiat, and it has cost consumers dearly. To boost the expansion of renewable energy production, the German government taxed consumers heavily through fees on their electric bills. In the end, Germany did see expanded renewable energy production, but they also saw extremely high electric bills. In the wake of the proposal,
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December 2014
German residential consumers pay approximately 40 cents U.S./kWH, compared to about 11 cents for residential customers in the United States. And, while the Germans raised their rates to pay for clean energy, Germany’s use of coal is actually at its highest level since 1990. While Germany’s renewable subsidies did have some impact on the nation’s CO2 emissions, those reductions cost them a mind boggling $259/ton. According to Der Spiegel, a German news magazine, more than 300,000 German households a year see their power shut off because of unpaid bills – forcing electricity to become a luxury good and spawning what German charity groups call the ‘energy poor.’ Make no mistake, the EPA’s proposal picks winners and losers and sets the U.S. down the path that’s been paved by Germany. In addition
to fundamentally altering how Americans use electricity, the proposal will trigger higher prices for many consumers and local businesses. The German “all pain, no gain” model cannot become an American reality. Supporting the environment and a true all-of-the-above energy policy are not mutually exclusive. America's Electric Cooperatives recognize that a true all-of-the-above energy policy provides a gateway to affordable and reliable electricity for our consumermembers. In fact, since 2009, public power districts and electric cooperatives in the U.S. have doubled their renewable energy capacity and have made longterm investments in wind, solar and hydro energy production (without German-style mandated fees). Turning affordable and reliable electricity into a relic of the past is the wrong approach.
9
Don’t Take the Merry Out of Your Christmas efore your family puts up a tree or hangs the bright decorations. Gifts trigger injuries, too. Toys that are stockings this holiday season, start a new not used as intended or used without proper supervision tradition. Put safety at the top of your list. Too lead to avoidable accidents. Electrical shocks, burns, or often the twinkling lights people see are on top of a fire injuries from sharp, pointed, or moving parts are to blame truck or ambulance—the result of holiday accidents that for many of these injuries according to the Consumer could have been prevented. Product Safety Commission. Trees and lights are danger-prone holiday decorations. When it is time to deck your halls, take these According to the United States Fire Administration, precautions to ensure the safety of you, your family, and Christmas trees start an average of 260 house fires each holiday guests: season, resulting in more than $16 Trees million in property damage. Another Real or artificial, short or tall, 150 house fires are sparked by Christmas trees are often the culprit holiday lights and decorative for danger. Incorporate these safety lighting, costing $8.9 million in guidelines in your decorating damage. Typically, all of these fires routine: are more severe and damaging, • Make sure an artificial tree is resulting in twice the injuries and labeled “fire resistant.” Be aware five times the fatalities per blaze that “fire resistant” does not mean compared to average winter home “fire proof.” Exercise caution when it fires. comes to your tree. Unsafe practices while putting up • Make sure a live tree is fresh decorations are to blame for even and green. Dry, brittle limbs and Above: Don’t overload outlets during more injuries. Nearly 6,000 shedding needles are a breeding the holidays. individuals visit emergency rooms ground for sparks. Water a live tree Top: Inspect lighting wires each year for falls that occur. Four regularly to prevent it from drying periodically to make sure they are thousand more are treated for out. intact and not warm to the touch. injuries associated with extension • Place any type of tree away Photographs provided by Sara cords. from heat sources such as fireplaces, Peterson But safety steps don’t end with vents, and radiators.
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Rural Electric Nebraskan
by Sara Peterson
Lights Festive lights give homes a magical glow both inside and out. When decorating this season, a few simple safety tips can keep your spirits bright. • Do not overload electrical outlets. Most lights are designed to connect no more than three strands. Inspect the wires periodically to make sure they are intact and not warm to the touch. Do not mount or support light strings in a way that might damage the cord’s insulation. • Never leave lights on overnight or when no one is home. • Only use lights that have been approved by an independent testing laboratory. • Replace any strands that show signs of damage, such as bare or frayed wires, broken bulbs, or loose connections. Faulty lights can send an electrical charge through a tree and electrocute anyone who comes in contact with a branch. Gifts The thrill of holiday presents is quickly forgotten when a gift leads to injury. Here are a few suggestions to keep children safe: • Select gifts that are age appropriate for the recipient. Toys recommended for older children pose too many risks for younger children to use safely. • Educate children on electrical safety when using any new toy or product that requires an electrical connection. • Review all instructions and safety guidelines included with new products before you allow the child to use it. This ensures the safety of the child and protects the integrity of the product. Make sure safety ranks at the top of your “to do” list this holiday season. Like the old Christmas song says, there is no place like home for the holidays—especially when your family is safe and your home is filled with good cheer. Sources: United States Fire Administration, Consumer Product Safety Commission
December 2014
‘Tis the season for family, fellowship – and lots of cooking by Katie Kothman-Haby
o matter what or how you celebrate, energy use tends to increase over the holiday season. With more guests in your home and activities taking place, your electric meter spins a little faster than usual, costing you more money. Start the New Year off right. Celebrate the holidays efficiently so you don’t have to worry about a high electric bill.
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Decorating • If you choose to decorate with strings of lights, consider LED (light emitting diode) options. They use over 80 percent less energy than traditional strings of lights and have a longer life. Make sure to purchase high quality strings from reputable sources. Safety and the lifetime can be compromised in less expensive LED strands. • Solar powered lighting options are also worth considering for decorations. Instead of having a plug handy, make sure you have a proper location for the solar panel that powers them. • Place strands of electric lights on timers so they automatically turn on in the evening after the sun sets, and turn them off around bed time. You won’t have to spend time thinking about plugging and unplugging them, and you won’t have to spend money powering them when unnecessary. • Decorate with less lighting. Consider a natural, vintage feel for your decorations. Use items like pinecones, greenery, candy canes, popcorn strings and gingerbread. The whole family can get involved with decorating the home with these safe and festive items.
Cooking • Cook with your microwave, toaster oven or slow cooker whenever possible. Small appliances cook quickly and more efficiently than your oven. • When you do use the oven, cook more than one item at a time. Have a ham, sweet potato casserole and rolls that all need to cook in the oven? Make some adjustments to cooking temperatures and times, and put all your dishes in at once to take full advantage of the heat that’s being produced. • Don’t peek! It’s tempting to open the oven door to check on holiday treats. Use the oven light instead, and keep the door closed. This will keep the heat where it belongs – inside the oven. • Glass and ceramic dishes allow you to cook food at a lower temperature than metal baking dishes. If the recipe calls for a metal baking pan and you substitute glass or ceramic cookware, reduce the temperature by about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. • Have food defrosted before you cook. Simply planning ahead can cut cooking times and energy use in half. Place any frozen dishes in the refrigerator the night before so they are ready to go in the oven the next morning. Around the house • Turn down your thermostat a few degrees. Extra people bustling around the home and the oven warming food will heat up your home a few extra degrees. Take advantage and adjust your thermostat accordingly. You will save some money on your bill, and your guests will still be comfortable. • Wait until you have a full load to wash dishes.
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The
OF PUBLIC POWER – the gift of banding together
From the PRESIDENT & CEO OF NEBRASKA PUBLIC POWER DISTICT - Patrick Pope
Reliability Maintaining a reliable electric supply is no easy task
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eliable electric service is a luxury we often take for granted. Unfortunately, we may not think about how important a reliable energy supply is to us until we have to go without it, like during a severe storm. For Nebraska’s public power providers, reliability has many components. Reliability is considered at every step of the electric delivery process, from the point of generation to delivery into our homes and businesses. Reliability can be impacted by the different generation resources used, by the age and maintenance of utility infrastructure, by security concerns, and by the ability to deploy a trained workforce to restore power in the event of an outage. Reliability begins by choosing the best generation resource for our system needs. Nebraska’s generation mix is a diversified portfolio of resources which include coal (73 percent), nuclear (17 percent), natural gas (4 percent), hydroelectric (4 percent), and renewable resources (2 percent). Each of these generation resources provides its own positive and negative attributes which can include cost considerations, environmental impact, and the availability of that resource. In regards to relatability, not every resource is created equally. Base load resources like coal, nuclear, natural gas, or hydroelectric power can run continuously and can be
actively controlled to follow load and meet consumer demand. Variable resources like wind and solar, however, rely on environmental conditions which can be hard to reliably predict. As wind speeds vary or cloud cover changes, the electric output from these generation resources can fluctuate dramatically and in an unpredictable manner. This complicates an already difficult load-balancing process. Unfortunately, most power plants were not built to be continuously ramped up and down. Unlike your light switch, they cannot be turned on and off at a moment’s notice. From the power plant, electricity travels at the speed of light through
Nebraska’s electric rates are among the top 15 lowest in the U.S.
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transmission and distribution lines to end users. What many don’t know is that there is currently no economical way to store large amounts of electricity. There are no large battery systems capable of storing excess capacity for a later time when that power is needed. The moment we turn on the light switch, a generator must be running at that instant to meet that demand. This means that Nebraska’s electric providers must balance the energy needs of consumers with the generation supplied. This requires a complicated balancing process which takes into account customer usage trends and weather forecasting to help predict demand.
Visit the website at: www.workingfornebraska.org Rural Electric Nebraskan
Above: Norris Public Power District crews work together to build a power line in Gage County. Left: Ice and wind destroyed a section of power line during a winter storm. Load control centers monitor electric generation and demand at every minute of every day, relaying messages to power plants telling them to increase or decrease generation to match consumer demand. If demand exceeds the amount of generation available, blackouts could occur. Reliable electricity is also the result of a complex infrastructure of substations, transformers, and miles of transmission and distribution lines. The electric grid must be constantly monitored, controlled, and maintained to ensure reliability. Some of the most
common causes of electric outages are related to animals and trees coming into contact with power lines and weather related incidents. The electric grid has many safeguards designed to isolate these outages. Circuit breakers along the power lines will trip isolating an outage and in many cases electricity can be redirected along a secondary path keeping the lights on for customers. Electric providers have also incorporated new advances in technology which can help to pinpoint the cause of outages, decreasing the time needed to identify the source, make
repairs and reenergize electric lines. Despite all efforts to maintain electric infrastructure and provide reliable service, Nebraska’s severe weather can take a toll of our electric system. In the event of an outage, rural electric membersystems work together and employ a workforce of dedicated men and women that are called into action. These individuals often work in extreme and dangerous weather conditions to ensure you continue to have electricity. Often working at night during severe storms, lineman must travel through flooded roads identifying storm damage. Once damages have been assessed and the source of an outage identified, rural electric systems have developed emergency response plans to restore service as fast as possible. This usually means that individuals work in a way that will get electricity restored to the most people as soon as possible. Major repairs involving substations and transmission lines may affect thousands of people and will need to be repaired before distribution lines and individual outages will be fixed. Nebraska’s energy experts are managing the demands of a complex electric grid while responsibly increasing the use of environmentally friendly renewable energy resources and doing so with fewer outages than our neighboring states. A reliable electric supply is a result of a complex system of multiple generation resources, miles of transmission and distribution lines, a complex load monitoring system, and a dedicated workforce willing to work in extreme conditions to keep your lights on. Nebraska’s rural electric member-systems are working hard to keep your lights on and we are proud of our record.
Next Month: New Technology December 2014
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SAFETY BRIEFS
Keep holidays bright and safe with electrical awareness he bright, festive holiday season can also be a time of potential hazards, injuries and even death. No, not from a fracas at the mall over the last holiday necktie just before the family gift exchange, but from electrical holiday decorations. Those beautiful Christmas trees, holiday lights, and festive ornaments take a significant toll annually by contributing to fires, electrical burns, and even death. On average, 5,000 people visit the emergency room each holiday season, says the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). More seriously, the holiday season will record an average of 400 fatalities and 130,000 fires that are attributed to electrical decoration mishaps. Why do so many electrical fires occur at Christmas? Consumer research indicates that 76 percent of homeowners decorate their homes,
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and 70 percent will use electrical decorations. However more than 20 percent of those homes will leave decorations on throughout the night or when no one is home. Since Christmas trees usually cannot be blamed for spontaneous combustion, the National Christmas Tree Association says overloaded electrical outlets and faulty wires are the most common cause of fires. Holiday decorative lights are involved in more than 200 home structure fires per year, causing more than $7.5 million in direct property damage according to the National Fire Protection Association. To avoid being part of the statistics, create a safety checklist to follow when preparing your home for the holidays: • Carefully inspect each electrical decoration. Cracked or frayed sockets, loose or bare wires, and loose
connections may cause a serious shock or start a fire. • Always unplug electrical decorations before replacing bulbs or fuses. • When hanging decorations, do not connect more than three light strings together. • Never attach electrical decorations with nails or staples. Use plastic hooks. • Turn off all indoor and outdoor electrical decorations before leaving home or going to bed. • Plug outdoor electric lights and decorations into circuits protected by ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) to prevent electric shock. • Before using any electrical decorations outdoors, make sure the product is approved for outdoor use. • Look for ENERGY STAR qualified LED products to light interior and exterior environments. • Opt for LED holiday lighting instead of traditional incandescent light strands. • Always look for the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) or other testing agency label when shopping for new electronic devices. Source: www.SafeElectricity.org
Rural Electric Nebraskan
Machines don’t milk the cows. Power does. Like a great worker, power gets it done. Power enables agriculture and industry to prosper. So electric cooperatives across the West are working hard to make sure that power is reliable, affordable and responsible. With their power supplier, Tri-State, co-ops are innovating to help homeowners, farmers and ranchers, and businesses use power wisely. In doing so, members of electric co-ops save money and make better use of resources. Learn more at PowerWorksForYou.coop.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association • P.O. Box 33695 • Denver, CO 80233 Wholesale power supplier to 44 electric cooperatives in Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska and Wyoming.
CUT YOUR UTILITY BILLS
Improve Comfort with In Floor Electric Heat by James Dulley
I often feel chilly in my home, Q :especially during the winter months. I know electric resistance heating can be expensive to use, but I really like the idea of in-floor heating. Does it only work with tile flooring, or can it be used under carpet? What types are available?
your body. When one's feet are warm, your entire body feels warm. In-floor heating reduces the extent of heat stratification where the hot air from a forced-air furnace naturally collects upward, near the ceiling.
You’re absolutely right. Electric A :resistance systems are expensive to use for heating the home. This is why most homes with all-electric heating use heat pumps, which are more energy efficient. Geothermal heat pumps can be several times more efficient than resistance heating and provide inexpensive central air-conditioning. Electric in-floor heating, which can be used under tile, carpeting and hardwood, is technically no more efficient than an electric resistance furnace. However, it can be less expensive to operate because it pinpoints and improves comfort. And besides, what’s better than stepping onto a heated-tile bathroom floor in the morning? A home loses less heat through the walls, ceiling and windows when the indoor temperature is lower. The amount of electricity used is typically several percentage points less for each degree the thermostat is set lower. With improved comfort from in-floor heating, you should be able to lower the thermostat setting considerably and not feel chilly. Another energy saving advantage of in-floor heating is the fact that each room can have a separate thermostat, allowing you to set different temperatures in various rooms and heat as needed. Instead of heating the room air, a warm floor radiates heat upward to
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Electric radiant heating cable/mesh is placed on a kitchen floor before the ceramic tile is installed. The manufacturer can advise about how much to use. Photograph provided by Heatizon In-floor heating is most commonly used in a concrete or tile floor with high thermal mass, but some types are specifically designed to be used under carpeting, hardwood or laminate flooring. It can actually provide better comfort under carpet and hardwood because their low thermal mass allows the system to respond faster to thermostat changes. In a concrete slab or under a tile floor, electric heating cable is usually laid in a serpentine pattern. In one design by Nuheat, long cable guides are nailed along the outer edges of the floor. Selecting how many slots to skip between cables determines the total cable length and heat output. It also simplifies even spacing. Once
the cable is in place, it is covered with concrete or thinset for tiles. For use with carpeting, thin mats or sheets with electric cable embedded in them are placed on the floor before the carpeting is laid. The manufacturer can calculate the amount your rooms need, and the cable is available in 120 or 240 voltages. Some of the systems for smaller areas are designed for do-ityourself installation. WarmlyYours has a unique design with thin electric heating cables embedded in a strong fiberglass mesh. This is particularly effective for use under hardwood flooring and laminate. If you're thinking about this option, first check with the hardwood-flooring manufacturer about the maximum allowable temperature to avoid excessive drying of the wood. Consider installing a special programmable thermostat with a laminate and engineered wood setting to protect the materials. Another design by Heatizon uses a low-voltage heating mesh. This mesh is only about one-eighth inch thick and is stapled directly to the subflooring. Being a safe low-voltage, installation is relatively easy. WarmlyYours also offers a wafer-thin heating kit which is placed between the pad and the carpet. With in-floor heating, you do not have to cover your entire house (or even an entire room), so you can add to the system as your budget allows. People sometimes add small custom mats or sheets in front of a mirror in a dressing area or workspace to pinpoint heating needs. At a home center store, a 10-foot by 30-inch heating mat costs about $200, and a matching programmable thermostat is about $140.
Send inquiries to James Dulley, Rural Electric Nebraskan, 6906 Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244 or visit www.dulley.com.
Rural Electric Nebraskan
Regionalism exhibits on display at Bone Creek Museum
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his season two art exhibitions at Bone Creek Museum are dedicated to Regionalism, a Realist movement of the 1930s and 40s which countered the Modernist avant-garde styles from Europe and New York. Regionalists depicted their home places and iconic American experiences. Regionalist Works of Grant Reynard is on loan to Bone Creek Dale Nichols, "Chicken for Dinner," 1935, oil on canvas, 30x40", Collection of Museum from Museum of Nebraska the David City Public Schools Art in Kearney, Neb. from November Dale Nichols (1904-1995) is the Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney, and 3 through March 1, 2015. North Platte. Today, his work is cornerstone artist of the Bone Creek Reverence for the Rural -included in the collections of: the Museum collection. He was also the December 3 through May 3, 2015-Library of Congress, Washington, fourth most famous Regionalist features works of Dale Nichols and painter after the Big Three: Grant DC; Metropolitan Museum of Art, other Regionalist artists from the Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and New York; and Sheldon Museum of Bone Creek Museum permanent John Steuart Curry. In 1940, an Art, Lincoln, Neb. collection. Illinois newspaper Grant Tyson Reynard actually called the was born in 1887 in group the Big Four, Grand Island, Neb. He with Nichols listed moved to New Jersey in among the other 1914 to become a well-known names. freelance illustrator, Bone Creek attending the Harvey Museum’s mission is Dunn School of connecting people to Illustration. It was here the land through art. that he met and became Regionalism is an lifelong friends with influential art Dunn, Charles H. movement at the Chapman, Frank Street, heart of the larger John Steuart Curry, and theme of Harry Wickey – all agrarianism. These prominent artists. exhibitions present In the 1950s Reynard’s works of art that focus began to shift from convey nostalgia for illustration to his own farming methods of creative work. Reynard the past and the way returned to Nebraska many still make almost every summer to Grant Reynard, “The Benign Bulls,” 1955, oil on panel, their living conduct lectures and art Courtesy of Museum of Nebraska Art cultivating the land. classes in Omaha,
December 2014
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DOWN HOME
RECIPES
Japanese Fruit Pie 1/2 cup butter or margarine 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup flaked coconut 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts 1 tablespoon vinegar Melt butter or oleo; stir in sugar & vanilla. Beat eggs and fold into mixture. Add raisins, coconut, & pecans. Add vinegar last. Mix well. Pour into 8 or 9 inch pie shell and bake 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes or until set. Recipe is similar to a pecan pie but different.
Mildred Marcum, Spencer, Nebraska
One-Dish Beef Stroganoff 1 pound Lean Ground Beef 1/2 pound sliced button or cremini mushrooms 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves 2 cups uncooked whole grain wide noodle-style pasta 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium beef broth 1 cup frozen peas 1/4 cup regular or reduced-fat dairy sour cream plus additional for topping 1 tablespoon regular or coarse-grain Dijon-style mustard Salt and pepper Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add Ground Beef, mushrooms, garlic and thyme; cook 8 to 10 minutes, breaking Ground Beef into 3/4-inch crumbles and stirring occasionally. Stir noodles and broth into beef mixture. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook 9 to 10 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring twice. Stir in peas; continue cooking, uncovered, 3 to 5 minutes or until peas are heated through, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in 1/4 cup sour cream and mustard. Season with salt and pepper, as desired. Garnish with additional sour cream, if desired.
Holiday Cranberry Salad 2 (3oz) package cherry gelatin 2 1/2 cups boiling water 1 (10 oz) package frozen strawberries 1 (15 oz) can crushed pineapple, drain 1 (14 oz) can cranberry sauce (either kind) 2 cups miniature marshmallows Dissolve gelatin in boiling water, add frozen strawberries. Stir until thawed. Mix drained crushed pineapple and cranberry sauce together in a bowl and then stir into gelatin mixture. Add the marshmallows. Pour into a 9 x 13 inch pan or a large glass bowl. Refrigerate.
Delores Hansen, Stanton, Nebraska
Cheese Dip 1 pound Velveeta cheese (light Velveeta does not work) 3 tablespoons milk 1 tablespoon grated onion 1 tablespoon horseradish Dash salt 1 container whipping cream (pint size) Cut cheese in chunks and add the milk. Melt in double boiler. Let cool. Whip cream and add onion and horseradish. Blend melted cheese and whipped cream together. Cool in refrigerator. Good as a vegetable dip or with potato chips.
Jackie Cox, Oak, Nebraska
Recipe provided by the Nebraska Beef Council 20
Rural Electric Nebraskan
DEC- 1: M, 60, liberal one time hippie seeking fit, thin or height weight proportional (HWP) liberal female, R&R, hotrods, live music from northeast Nebraska. No cowgirls or drama queens.
Go with the low flow id you know that just making hot water can consume up to 20 percent of your home energy dollars? For some, the shower can be the largest single culprit of hot water use. A 10-minute shower can consume up to 50 gallons of water with a standard showerhead. These inexpensive, easily installed showerheads use about half as much water as the typical showerhead, but give you the same water pressure and the same great shower. There are many different low-flow showerheads available, including designer and hand-held models. If you've tried one of the older versions of the low-flow showerhead and didn't like it, try again. The new models are vastly improved and can really help you save money on your electric bill. By forcing the water through smaller openings, the low-flow showerheads increase the water velocity to create a fine spray pattern. Source: Alliance to Save Energy
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December 2014
DEC- 2: WidWM, 64, NS, social drinker, 5’9’, 190 lbs, semi-retired farmer/carpenter. I live on my family’s farm in Northeast Nebraska. Enjoy gardening, fishing, raising livestock, & chickens. I am cheerful friendly! Like to meet lady any age with similar interest.
To write To respond to one of the adult pen pal requests, write letter, place in envelope, seal and affix first class postage. Address to full, correct response #, c/o Rural Electric Nebraskan Adult Pen Pal Service, P.O. Box 82048, Lincoln, NE 68501. Your letter will be forwarded unopened. Do not send money or additional postage; forwarding is prepaid. Enclose your full mailing address for return correspondence. Once again . . . it is very important that all responses carry the full response number—both month and number—to be properly forwarded.
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Before you switch on the lights, we’ve already put up the poles, connected miles of wire and flipped more than a few switches of our own. All to make sure your life is always “on.” Learn more about the power of your co-op membership at TogetherWeSave.com.
YOUR ELECTRICITY ISN’T SOMETHING WE TAKE LIGHTLY.