sliverstorm

once they got that rainwater harvesting system, the way they’re irrigating is completely different, and they’re paying a lot more attention to how they irrigate. It really changes behavior. Definitely people are more careful with how they use that rainwater than how they were using the potable water to irrigate beforehand.

Comment · 8 years ago

It used to be illegal to do anything except direct the rainwater, e.g. direct a downspout into your flower garden. You are now allowed 2 55-gallon rain barrels.

The bummer is, even though you can now have rain barrels, it rains infrequently enough in Colorado that it's not terribly economical to buy 55-gallon rain barrels.

At $2.77 per 1,000 gallons from the utility, with infrequent rainfall it's pretty hard to ever recoup $176 for a 110 gallon system from BlueBarrelSystems. You're looking at 580 rains required to break even- while Denver, for example, sees only 40 days with "any measurable rainfall" a year.

Comment · 8 years ago

The reason it's so fascinating though, is that because it is a many-variable optimization problem where 1) many of the variables conflict and 2) we haven't actually agreed on the desired optimum. In the end it still very much has a "you know it when you see it" quality, and nobody has come up with math that definitively says "yes this is" or "no this isn't".

Actually, it's maybe a little like spam filtering.

Comment · 8 years ago

Geography still matters because your interests are entwined with where you live, at least so long as you continue to venture out the front door.

Comment · 8 years ago

Reminds me of water rights. During droughts, huge campaigns against residential water use in California- meanwhile industrial agriculture consumes 80%+ of the water used in the state, and has no incentive to cut back.

Comment · 8 years ago

The only one who can keep up the house is owner, but as you can see in this case they'll just choose to pocket the rent.

I don't think it's just a profit thing. If you're a small time landlord, it's probably incredibly expensive to retain a gardener/landscaper for such a tiny job. On the other hand, unless you live down the street it's awfully difficult to mow the grass every week, shovel the sidewalk after snow, water the plants, and so forth.

A small time landlord has no economies of scale for professional services, but doesn't make enough money to quit their day job either. (which would give them time to do all this themselves)

Comment · 8 years ago

Naturally, a lone country road designed for speed is fine. It's when you've got a high speed road with lots of on-street parking and pedestrians right next to traffic, even house fronts, where you've got a major clash of functionalities and a safety problem.

Comment · 8 years ago

Speed, in of itself, is not dangerous

Certainly! Falling from great height isn't dangerous either, you know.

Comment · 8 years ago

I think the big picture goal of reducing speeds is much more than putting up a different sign. There's a whole movement out there pushing for denser development, reduced car-driven-development, and streets that are truly lower speed, not simply highways rebranded with different signs.

Segregating types & speeds of traffic is still good though, especially dedicated trails for pedestrian and/or bike traffic.