Archive for the ‘Energy’ Category

Next time you think about remodeling any part of your home or maybe even building your new home, Think Green first. Whether you will be putting down a new foundation or changing the Blinds in your home there is always a Green alternative. Here’s a checklist that can help jog your imagination.

• In the Bathrooms, use high performing shower heads which use 1-1.5 gallons per minute/ 60% less than traditional shower heads.
• Thinking of repainting the house? Think No-VOC Paints. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds which are toxic.
• Keep your attic cool by installing a radiant barrier to keep the heat out.
• If you are building new or gutting rooms, remember proper Insulation is key to energy savings.
• Taking into consideration your window coverings is often overlooked, but good Blinds or room darkening curtains can help keep the heat out and keep you cooling bills down.
• Remodeling the kitchen? How about a recycling center in the kitchen making it easy and a good habit for everyone to learn. These can usually be installed right in the cabinets. And if you want to get fancy there are even Kitchen Composters out there.
• Changing your flooring? Consider engineered wood, especially ones that use recycled materials.
• Redoing the landscape? Think water conservation in your new garden. Use indigenous plants whenever possible, and consider a drip system to compliment your sprinkler system for those areas that don’t need quite that much water. Check out Xeriscaping and also remember to capture and reuse rainwater.
• Consider a Tankless Water Heater. They heat water on demand rather keeping the whole tank of water hot constantly. A lot of savings there.
• Use Solar Energy where you can, even for heating the pool.

Please leave any other suggestions in the comments…Thanks…

http://www.smithandnoble.com/sn/home.jsp

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bibi

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Every little bit that we can do to conserve helps the environment and saves money too. Here are some tips for Greening your machines.

• Power Management: he power consumption from leaving our computers on all the time, is staggering. If your in the habit of turning off the computer when you go home from the office that’s great, but we forget about the energy that is still being used when the computer is not being used, while you go to lunch, or are doing something else. “the biggest savings come from enabling Monitor Power Management (MPM) and Computer Power Management (CPM) to put monitors and PCs into low power states when not in use. This saves between $20 and $100 per PC per year, and requires little staff time and capital expenditure.” Read More
  • Tips for reducing power consumption in computers and peripherals: from EDTECH.com
  • Check your computer manual to find out how to turn on your energy-conservation settings.
  • Screen savers do not reduce energy use for monitors. Instead of screen savers, automatically switch to sleep mode or manually turn off monitors to save power.
  • Energy Star computers and monitors only save energy when power management is activated on the computer.
  • To maximize power savings with notebook PCs, put the AC adapter on a power strip that can be turned off because the transformer in an AC adapter draws power even when the notebook PC is not plugged in.
  • Don’t forget peripherals and components — printers, copiers, scanners, processors, motherboards and power supplies all have potential energy-saving features
• Bamboo, Crank and Solar Powered cell Phones: With all the millions of cell phones out there only about 10% get recycled.
  • How about a phone made out of sustainable Bamboo with a cranking charger
    • The case of the phone is totally degradable, after removing the battery, antenna and the print board it can be thrown in the compost bin. The “Bamboo” is made out of bio-plastics of renewable raw materials such as corn, and bamboo which is also a renewable resource.
    • The battery can be recharged with muscle power. It comes equipped with a cranking charger and a monochrome display for maximum efficiency. Read More
    • Check out this great Solar Powered Charger
• Energy Star Appliances: When you need to replace appliances, of course go with the Energy Star Label, it will save you about a third on your energy bill. That’s a significant savings.
• How good is your HDTV at saving Energy: Before you buy your new HDTV, consult the following chart to see how energy efficient the new TV will be. HDTV power consumption compared
• Get Paid to Recycle Electronics: There are companies out there that will pay you for mailing in old electronic devices and others have buy back program. Here is a list of a few.
  • BuyMyTronics
  • SecondRotation
  • CellforCash
  • SimplySellular
  • SellYourCell
• Mail-In Program Free of Charge: The Post Office has come out with a pilot program that allows customers to recycle small electronics and inkjet cartridges by mailing them free of charge. Check it out: USPS
• Find a Responsible Recycler: Recycle your old electronics with an Environmentally Responsible Recycler:
  • Electronics Take Back Coalition

That’s all for now…

electronics environment ewaste green machines high tech trash recycle

bibi

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In honor of Earth Day: Take a few Green Steps…

Give the Earth Some Love…

Walk to work or play. With the price of gas these days, taking this step won’t be as difficult as it seemed before. Take a walk on the wild side, walk to work, the grocery store, the library, the kids school. Who knows maybe you will like it, and will continue the trend, it’s not only good for the environment, but also good for your health.

Earth Day Footprint : Want to know what kind of a footprint you are leaving on this earth? Check out the Ecological Footprint Quiz over at Earthday.net, and here is a version of a Ecological Footprint Quiz for Kids over at Kidsfootprint.org

Buy Local but watching what you buy is just as important: If your food comes from afar, you can be sure that energy was spent to get it to you, but also the type of food you eat can make a difference… Check out this article over at GreensSAHM.com ” it’s not so much where your food comes from, it’s what you’re eating.”

Read Green and Make Some Money while your at it: Intriguing book by author David Bach discussed over at TheGoodeLife.com covers 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth (and Get Rich Trying)!

Save Gas: Don’t Turn Left: Huh????? Groovy Green has a story on how UPS saves gas…UPS-No Left Turns Allowed

It’s not all about “Good Energy Policy” : Follow the reasoning of the “No Impact Man” for whether Individual Lifestyle Changes will make a difference.

Get rid of those water bottles: give up convenience for the environment. Here are 5 good reasons to give them up on Earth Day… from LighterFootstep.com

Lose those Hazardous Chemicals : Learn to identify hazardous chemicals and replace them with greener, healthier ones that do the job just as well. Clean Green to Stay Healthy and Save Money

Earthday is the perfect day to start a garden, an Organic Garden at that. Here are some great tips for doing just that.

Put the Three R’s to work: How about Reduce,Reuse, and Recycle. Salvage Yard finds are a great place to start putting some Green Style in your home…

Noise Pollution: Imagine a world without noise. GreenLivingTips.com makes some great points on the effects of Noise on the Environment. Make Earth Day your No Noise Day…

Anything you and I can do, will help…

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bibi

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In case you haven’t heard yet, Lights Out America and Earth Hour are events that started last year where many cities throughout the U.S. and the world turned off their lights simultaneously for one hour. It was a great success and a trend has begun.This year the event will be happening on the same day, March 29th world wide…If you would like to join the Global Lights Out Movement, all you have to do is turn your lights off for one hour on March 29th, from 8-9pm, wherever you are.

Check out all the cities involved: Is your City Involved?

Sponsor a candlelight dinner at home or better yet your favorite restaurant, invite your family and friends. Make it fun… Make it every year, make it more often…

If you’d like to get more involved in this and other projects, Sign up at Earth Hour, Join the world…

Tell your friends…send them this link: Join Lights Out Movement.

Earth Hour Lights Out America Lights out movement

bibi

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The price of oil is at an all time high of $105 a barrel. Opec’s decision not to increase production has not helped along with the steady decline of the U.S. dollar. The price oil is about 75% higher than it was a year ago. If that is not enough impetus to move in the direction of alternative energies, I don’t know what is.

We are being held hostage to our own addiction to oil, it is our drug of choice. Let’s at least admit that. We send billions of dollars to foreign nations to purchase oil, money that could otherwise be put to work right here. While the middle east is experiencing an economic boom due mostly to high oil prices, the U.S. and Europe are facing recession. Didn’t the same thing happen back in the 70’s. I was a kid but I remember the lines, do you? By not addressing our dependence on oil, the story repeats itself and here we are again in the same place we were almost 40 years ago. We didn’t fix the problem then , and the problem is still not fixed. What are we waiting for? Can we muster the vision that the last generation didn’t have?

The House of Representatives has passed bill H.R.5351 adding $18 billion dollars in new taxes on the biggest Oil companies over a 10 year period, which comes to $1.8 billion dollars a year. Sounds like a lot of money, but lets not forget the oil companies earned $123 billion just last year. The purpose of the extra taxes is to put them to work on renewable energy industries, keeping jobs and the money here helping the economy. The bill also gives credits for more efficient homes and Plug-in Gas/Electric Hybrid cars. Read More.

Unfortunately it now has to pass the Senate and then Bush is already expected to Veto it. A similar bill passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate.

How about we give it a push, let’s let the Senate and the president know how we feel about our dependency on foreign oil.

E-mail your Senator… Your Senator Here

alternative energy h.r.5351 oil prices

bibi

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Bush’s Budget proposal came out today and the verdict is…

Highlights for the Energy Department’s Budget Proposal:

• $400million to research and $241million to demonstrate technologies for cost-effective carbon capture and storage for coal fired power plants.
• $1.65 billion in investment tax credits and loan guarantees for commercial deployment of technologies central to carbon capture and storage
• $242 million for Nuclear Power 2010
• $302 million for Advanced Fuel Cycle
• $156 million for making Power more competitive by 2015
• Supports vehicle technology program: lithium-ion batteries, plug-in hybrids, drive-train electrification
• Doubles the capacity of Petroleum Reserves to protect against oil disruptions
• Renewable Hydrogen: $209 million for Power Marketing admin and $3.5 billion for Bonneville Power Admin.
• $4.7 Billion to the Office of Science for future energy technologies and environmental solutions
• $5.5 billion to clean up Nuclear research and weapons productions sites.
• $495 million for the Yucca Mountains Nuclear Waste repository
• $6.6 billion for the transformation of Nuclear Weapons into smaller, safer , more secure and less expensive
• $1.8 billion for the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation

If you’d like to read the whole Department of Energy Budget Proposal: Energy Budget

If you’d like to see a summary of the whole budget: Budget Summary

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bibi

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