This week we picked through the orts and leavings of the grand military feast and scored a good deal:  A slightly used 12,000 BTU air conditioning unit painted in the classic Army olive drab and stored in a super-slick Hardigg plastic case.  If it worked in Iraq, it should work in Florida, too.  So, Greenfire goes tactic-cool with this newest acquisition.  No telling what Uncle Sam might have paid for this unit  --remember the Pentagon's $600 toilet seat?--  but the AC unit cost Greenfire $400 (including the Hardigg case) on the secondary market.  Spoils of war and all that.

We also contacted the local electric utility to get temporary power to the site.  Kind of bummed that we had to do that, but independent power for the barn is still at least a few months away.  And, since the per-watt cost of solar power is rapidly dropping every month, in this case delay also carries with it the prospect of buying cheaper solar panels a few months from now.

Reasonable projections show that if market trends continue in about 2015 the cost of solar electricity will reach parity with grid power.  If so, this will be an inflection point in the energy history of America.  Everything changes.  It creates a new paradigm for self-sufficient living that offers both low expense and modern convenience.  You, dear reader, need to absorb this lesson and prepare yourself for a new reality.  Your house and even your car will be powered by the sun for less than you're spending now on electricity from your utility.   Revolution is in the air.  Rise, America, and unplug from the grid!