[toolingjim]

Greetings to EcoRenovator! This introduction will be a little different than most, first because I'm not exactly a new member, and second because I am not in any way shape or manner an environmentalist, a Green, or whatever it is being called these days. I am interested in effective, financially sensible and practical improvements to my life.
I actually signed up here this last summer looking for quick information on an electric mower conversion I was considering. Technical difficulties and a blown gearbox in the mower I was going to use killed that project. The mower in question was disassembled and recycled, and I ignored this site for awhile. Recently, I have decided to make some improvements to my house, and realized that I needed more information. And here I am, back at EcoRenovator.

Here's where I am coming from:
My concern with the natural world is keeping it outside where it belongs. I LIKE and enjoy without guilt central heating, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, rapid private transportation, high technology, and the infinite information access of the internet. Politically, I am a free market libertarian leaning heavily toward the anarchist side of the spectrum, an individualist in a rapidly collectivising world. As such, I am perfectly happy to let you do your thing as long as you don't try to do it to me. I believe people of good will can disagree without hatred or screaming at each other. We can share knowledge and each use it for our own needs.
Part of my interest in this site stems from the realization that many of us here are situational recyclers and restorers. Rather than buy new high efficiency or low pollution things, we rehab, rebuild, restore, retask, and renew. It may be financially necessary, or we may love old stuff, but we try not to waste. I have noticed that there is very little 'I bought it on credit cause it was flashy, cool, and new' mentality here.
I realized a while back that my hobbies have unconsciously bent this way. I am a machinist, gunsmith, and bibliophile. I like old tools, old guns, and old books. While some were bought new, all have aged until they are collectable--except me. I try to maintain and improve them as my skills allow.
There should be a balance between the old and the new. My machine tools average forty years old, but I constantly search for new and useful developments to apply to my interests. I am writing this monologue on a high performance laptop connected to the internet by a dsl line that was technically impossible twenty years ago. I use it to learn how to update a fifty year old house and repair hundred year old guns. This is what I mean by balance. I have many old books on subjects I enjoy, and many more I have downloaded from the net.
I ineed to learn more about increasing the insulation and energy efficiency of my home. In return, I offer what experience and knowledge I can bring to bear to assist others with their efforts. It shouldn't be hard to get along here, as there seems to be a minimum of political bs on this site.
I hope I can be of use and learn here.