I don't believe it's a waste of time (obviously since I'm one of the organizers). But also, the United States and Israel are the only 2 countries that have consistently voted against this measure when it comes up (and it does almost yearly).

This year at the Summit of the Americas hosted by the US in Los Angeles, where countries from all over North and South America met to discuss the future of the continents, many refused to send delegations or sent lower-level delegations than they normally would have. Why? Because the United States decided to exclude Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. The countries that denied or limited their participation weren't necessarily left-wing and some are unapologetically right-wing. They simply decided to stand up to US bullying.

So no, I don't think it's a waste of time because opinion is turning against the US on this issue, and the US is the primary obstacle to progress on this and only upwards pressure from the people on this will change the course of the United States regarding the blockade.

Well, nearly every time (and it's come up something like 30 times), only 2 countries vote against this measure – the United States and Israel. Every other country basically sees the blockade as criminal. It has been a complete failure in its goal (bringing down the government of Cuba) and only hurts the people of Cuba. The very people the US claims to be so concerned about. It's hypocritical. Ending the blockade would give the US more legitimacy in the world when it comes to national sovereignty.

What a waste of time.

What's in it for the US to end the blockade?

BGE used to offer a $300 rebate for buying specific smart chargers. That program ran out of funding a few years ago and they replaced it with a program that gives you a $50 gift card each December if you install a participating smart charger, enroll it in their system, and do 90% of your charging for the year during off peak hours. I linked the program details above.

There are separate rebates available from Maryland and the Federal govt for 40% and 30% of the cost to install a charger respectively. Definitely worth researching as they can save you a lot of the cost. I got my charger free with my car but was still able to submit for the state and federal rebates for the cost to pay an electrician to run the service to the garage.

Be sure to keep all invoices and receipts.

https://energy.maryland.gov/transportation/Pages/incentives_evserebate.aspx

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-finance/ev-charger-tax-credit/

Lake Kit is flatter than the other lakes.

Lake Elkhorn is probably your best bet if you're looking for decent length and flat. It's only got one real hill on it, and if you go around the right direction it should be easy enough to avoid either climbing too steep or gaining too much speed.

Alternatively, the trails behind Wilde Lake are pretty flat, but tend to have some debris on them that might trip you up.

There is also a trail that connects almost all of those parks together, and from what I've seen through google maps its pretty flat and clear. I think it starts somewhere in Savage and goes at least as far north as Centennial.

Mine's on the list, but I also have a BGE-recommended charger that can also do scheduled charges. I will definitely look into this thanks!

I have it as well, and I'll just comment that the other commenter is right in that BGE is able to separate out car charging from non-charging, which was at the same right everyone else gets.

So the whole system needs to know how much energy was used to charge your car. So they need either a smart meter, or your car can tell them. So if you own a Tesla (or any vehicle on this list I'd imagine), they just use that.

So I now tell my car to start charging at 8:00 p.m., and I save a few dollars on every bill. Weekends are also at the low rate. It's not a huge money saver, though.

Thanks; I'll look into it. I have a ChargePoint charger specifically for this reason but then it fell thru.

Sure it does. You just have to take some logs and soak them in wood.

also, for indoor the columbia association roller rink is a lot of fun

columbia lakefront on not too busy hours!!

I have this. You can now have it (via EVPulse) so that you get the regular BGE rates that everyone else pays for everything EXCEPT you get the special rates just for your car charging, which is something like 5c/kWh during off-peak, and like 22c/kWh peak.

The way it works is basically via bill credits. EVPulse reports how much you charge and when to BGE, then BGE subtracts (or adds) to your bill based on that information. You see these as separate line items on your bill.

Wood burns? Nuh-uh.

All of this is so confusing…

No that ran out of money back in 2020. There are Fed and State ones tho. Unfortunately the Fed one required paper filing...

Yes and no; the last time I looked, they have special rates with the right chargers (which I have). The problem is the rest of the house is at a rate that is insane so there's no way I would've saved money.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but it was like "4c/kWh for charging off-peak, 14c/kWh for everything else" vs "flat rate of 7c/kWh."

If anybody actually does have it, I'd love to see if I'm wrong. But when I called and talked to them, they claimed if I don't have a smart meter then the L2 charger on the WiFi isn't sufficient.

ETA: Based on other comments, this seems to be outdated information (yay!) from ~2020. I need to get off my ass and make some phone calls.

I want to preface this by saying I realize you mean "could" as in "is allowed to", but for some reason I thought you meant "Huh, I didn't know wood burns."

The charger rebates ran out of funding a few years ago. Now they offer a $50 gift card annually if you do most of your charging during off-peak periods. Of course this requires a compatible smart charger that allows them to monitor usage.

https://www.bge.com/SmartEnergy/InnovationTechnology/Pages/Residential-Charger-Rebate.aspx?_ga=2.114404039.1385538210.1666565957-918204924.1666565957

They also offer rebates on lvl 2 chargers

Thanks

I compare Pub Dog to KISS. Beer is ok enough, pizza is pretty decent, and the price is right. Nothing super amazing, but all of it as a combined unit is pretty great.

EVpulse is the service itself I believe

https://www.bge.com/SmartEnergy/InnovationTechnology/Pages/EVTOURate.aspx