Natural Microsystems

By James Redder

There is nothing radically new about learning how to solar power your house since solar energy has been around since the beginning. However, the widespread use of how to solar power your house is something that has been around for sometime but not widely used do to cost of installation and ongoing operational costs. However, due to raising fuel costs and the use of technology to make using how to solar power your house more efficient, there has been increased discussion of using this alternative energy. Despite the increased awareness most people are completely unfamiliar with the process of using this alternative energy or what costs are involved. It is our hope this article will give some insight on how to solar power your house.

For those interested in having solar power for the home installed it become critical to examine the companies that provide such panels as well as the process involved with installing the panels. While this is not necessarily complicated of a process many people assume that it will be a wildly difficult installation mainly because they associate solar panels with futuristic, science fiction imagery.

Having An Estimate Performed

Before making a decision on whether or not how to solar power your house is an idea that one should embrace based on cost, it is critical to have a company that provides solar power panels to visit your home and provide an estimate. After all, you do not want to base your assessment on an inaccurate cost so having an estimate of installation performed would probably be the wisest move to make.

Getting estimates from companies that perform solar power installations is usually a free endeavor. They will come out and size up the job and give you a comprehensive checkpoint of what work needs to be done and the cost. Like all similar work of this nature there is no obligation to buy.

Now That You Know

The widespread use of how to solar power your house has been hampered by the mostly erroneous estimates of it’’s installation and operational costs. As compared to other existing forms of power the costs associated with how to solar power your house are not necessarily cheap, but no where near as expensive as has been suggested. The cost of each individual application and implementation of this technology will have to be based on individual assessments and the plan of usage. This being the case then having the aforementioned cost estimates performed can be valuable in making sure you base your decision on whether or not to use solar power being based on accurate estimates as opposed to wild speculation. You should now have a good grasp on the concerns associated with how to solar power your house.

About The Author

James Redder makes it easy to understand solar energy, quickly & easily. Learn the essential keys to harnessing alternative energy. Goto http://www.selfmotivationresources.com to receive more information.

By Mike Hirn

The amount of land dedicated to forests, particularly old growth forests, could significantly reduce global warming. Forests are an important use of land in most countries, and in modern times they take on a new, environmental significance. Plant life scrubs carbon dioxide from the air. Carbon dioxide is a main cause of global warming and can be eliminated just by being in the vicinity of certain plants.

Trees are the best carbon dioxide scrubbers found in nature. Old growth trees are especially good at removing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it within their cells. For this reason, old growth trees need to be preserved. The lumber trade argues that the old growth trees can be easily replaced by new trees, but this is simply not the case. New trees do not possess the abilities that old trees have of preventing global warming by trapping carbon dioxide. Some proponents of cutting suggest that certain new trees are capable of trapping more greenhouse gases than the old trees. This is not true when you compare the new special trees to trees that have many decades of growth.

Several studies have been done to estimate the potential impact on global warming caused by deforestation of tropical rainforests. Loggers do not just take out mature trees for lumber. People who want to clear a place to live, work, or farm in the jungle do so by cutting and burning large portions of rainforest land.

Deforestation increases other greenhouse gases, including methane and nitrous oxide. Global warming is a foreseeable reality when the rainforest and other forests are destroyed.

Preventing global warming should first focus on cutting greenhouse gas emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels. However, deforestation comes in a close second as a cause and should also be part of conservation efforts.

When people learn that forests are important in stopping global warming, they can help preserve them by refusing to use lumber that comes from old growth forests and rainforests. Laws have been proposed to curtail logging as a way to prevent global warming. Bans on clear-cutting, a practice that destroys acres upon acres of old growth trees, have also been suggested.

It is easy and tempting to continue to blame the deforestation problem on “those people” clearing land in the rainforests. The truth is that a tree in your neighborhood is as valuable as one in the rainforest when it comes to removing carbon dioxide. It is important to think and strategize on a global scale but it is important to also act on a local scale. We may well have more impact on the actions of those in our sphere of influence than those half a globe away. Look in your backyard, is there room for a few more trees? If so go plant some.

About The Author

Knowledge is the key to solving problems associated with the Global Warming and Climate Change situation. You can get more information at http://www.globalwarming-101.com

By Jim Haynes

Why all this discussion about going green first of all you may be asking? Well simply put, more and more people these days are very concerned about doing what they can to lower their fuel bills, use energy more wisely and trying to reduce the amount of garbage that ends up in the landfill. The whole point of going green is to find some best practices, whether they are at home, at your place of business or simply in our everyday lives that will help us to achieve this goal. So here are a few random tips looking at cars and the home to get the reader started.

With respect to cars you can:

1. Keep the air filter clean:
o Just like humans, cars and vehicles need to breathe properly also. The dirtier the air filter the harder the vehicle will have to work thus burning more gas and hurting your wallet even more.

2. Car pooling with people who you like:
o Obviously if there is another passenger in your car, that is one less car off the road if he or she is accustomed to driving. Remember though to let your passengers know that they have to respect your vehicle, do not let them slam your car doors or let your doors slam against a wall, other cars or stationary objects. You might end up spending more money fixing the damages than what you might be trying to save by going green.

Also remember that with more people in your car, you will have higher gas expenses but considerably less gas will be used compared to having your passenger drive their own car. Ask your car pooling buddies if they will pitch in for gas, since gas seems to be going up all over the world and probably will not return to levels which we are used to.

3. Hand wash your own car:
o Many of us love our cars and some but not all, wash our cars at home. It is true there are car washes at your local garage or gas station but there are still many countries where it is not the custom to go to a car wash. So for those who still wash their own car by hand, try using a bucket and water instead of the hose.

In other words, fill the bucket with some water and get a sponge and wash the car yourself. You can use a scrub brush for the tires since that surface is tougher. You will be amazed at how far a bucket of water can go and you will not constantly have the water running when the hose is not in use.

In your home there are many possibilities but a few are as follows:

1. Recycle your glass and plastic bottles:
o Even if you are the one who does not go to the recycling center, there is nothing wrong with putting your bottles into separate bags and placing them by the trash. In many cities around the world, the less fortunate collect bottles and return them to the recycling center themselves to collect the few cents per dollar.

Help do your part by separating the bottles into their own bags, instead of having such people go through your garbage looking for bottles and causing a mess on the sidewalk or around your garbage collecting area.

2. Find creative ways to use items:
o Think of a way to reuse items before throwing them out. If you ship things frequently, maybe hold onto clean items such as egg boxes, cartons that are washed out or simply boxes that you may receive. These can be reused for shipping and packaging purposes.

3. Solar heating:
o Use a solar heating system for your water, if available in your country. In many developing countries such as certain islands in the Caribbean, they have been using solar heating for decades now. You basically have a tank of water on your roof, with solar panels connected to it and the heat from the sun heats the water which is stored in the tank.

True that in countries which have the winter season or where it is not hot all year around, some sort of backup system will have to be used. But the point is, for those few months of spring, summer and fall where it is possible to have the warmth of the sun to heat your water; this is a viable and cheap alternative.

Obviously, there are many other areas which you can look at whether it be with your electronics, personal self with respect to walking instead of driving, you can look at generating your electricity at home with the use of home based wind wills and even with the food you feed your pets.

I hope this article has allowed people to realize that it is the simple things which can allow all of us to get started on going green within the home and our businesses and that we can help create or leave behind a better Earth for future generations.

About The Author

For more tips on going green within the home, please check out Jim Haynes eBooks at http://www.jimhaynesebooks.com for more information on going green and hopefully helping to make the planet better.

By Jerry Work

In the U.S., most people probably think of bamboo in terms of a thin reed used for decorative purposes, such as a houseplant or rug for your living room. But the reality is that bamboo is a fine resource for use in construction. Bamboo is not really a tree; it’’s a grass - a grass that can grow 120 feet tall and 13 inches thick. That’’s quite an impressively growing grass, and one that can be used very effectively for building things.

Thick bamboo poles harvested from giant bamboo as described above are much stronger than comparably-sized wood - two to three times stronger, in fact. Even more impressive is the great multiple of building material that can be harvested from a single bamboo plant as compared to a wood tree. Whereas a tree generally requires anywhere from 10 to 50 years to become mature enough to harvest, a bamboo plant can be harvested in only 7 years, resulting in a total lifetime output of up to twenty times that of wood. In fact, in the time it takes a single bamboo plant to mature, its clump, which will include multiple stalks, can produce 200 poles. In the same size area of land, a bamboo crop can produce 20 times more timber than wood.

Bamboo can be used in the creation of flooring, structural beams, fencing, and wall paneling, among other construction-related items, not to mention its use for thousands of non-construction products, such as furniture, fuel, food, and musical instruments. One caveat to the use of bamboo in the U.S. for structural purposes is supplying materials that meet American building codes, which relate to issues such as having adequate strength to withstand wind, rain, and fire. In recent years, bamboo manufacturers have worked on new products that meet these standards. As technology continues to improve, the acceptance and use of bamboo as a structural material should only increase.

Building panels made from bamboo are sometimes reinforced with steel brace panels. These brace panels can be dressed with bamboo covers to hide the reinforcement. The steel plates are bolted to wood or concrete foundations. In addition, bamboo poles can be joined using mortise and tenon joinery, which involves two bamboo pins. The resulting structure, given bamboo’’s increased strength relative to wood, is very strong and resistant to hurricanes and other forms of severe weather.

One interesting aspect of bamboo is that it can be molded much like a metal. A bamboo rod is normally very stiff, but if heat is applied evenly to a particular area, it can be gently bent. After cooling with air or water, the bamboo regains its stiffness with the new shape intact. This is definitely an art, as the heat must not be so great that it burns the plant fibers.

Though the focus of this article is on bamboo’’s use in construction, it is definitely worth mentioning that bamboo is very good for the environment, generating 30% more oxygen than trees. Bamboo is an excellent resource for improving air quality, as it can reduce carbon dioxide by up to 12 tons per hectare (100 acres). So…bamboo is excellent for the environment, grows quickly and in abundance, and can be turned into building material that is much stronger than wood. Without question, in the coming years bamboo will grow in popularity as an environmentally friendly construction material in widespread use.

About The Author

For more information about bamboo or bamboo flooring, visit http://www.WorldFloorsDirect.com, a company specializing in wood flooring that originates from managed sustainable forests.

By Michael Beikircher

It is renewable because the fuel is sourced from trees which can be planted as per convenience. Hence this is a very clean fuel which poses no harm to the environment. However, although it is a very versatile fuel it does have certain drawbacks.

Cinder: a hindrance to heating systems

Most people used to think that wood pellets once heated would eventually transform into a fine ash like substance. However, with an increase in its usage in many homes across the globe, news has surfaced that the wood pellets do not turn into ash. Instead they result in a hard residue which resembles cinder which eventually blocks up the heating system itself. This has led to several heating systems getting spoilt. While this phenomenon is not very common sometimes the ash can clinker which eventually results in cinder formation. This necessitates daily checks into the heating system and removal as well as cleaning of the fuel plate. However, most homes have not experienced such a problem and usually the wood pellets burn into a fine ash which does not disrupt the functioning of the heating system. Also most of the time the cinder formation happens on the grate portion of the heating system instead of the firebox. This can be eliminated on a periodical basis.

Why does cinder form?

There are many reasons why cinder can accumulate as a result of burning wood pellets. Sometimes if the pellet furnaces are at very high temperatures of combustion then it can result in cinder formation. At other times contaminated wood pellets could also be the culprit in which case an abundance of minerals can pose a problem. This can happen even if the pellet boilers are in perfect condition. Therefore consumers facing such a problem are typically asked to contact the pellet manufacturer for free exchange if the boiler is found in good condition.

How to avoid the condition

With more and more consumers complaining about the formation of bed ash in their heating systems, it has created a negative publicity for wood pellets which were otherwise perceived as a great fuel source. Hence more companies are researching into its causes and how it can be avoided. The findings conclude that using fuels which are rich in ash content such as bark as well as logging residues should be avoided in pellet burners. Even the burner type can result in the extent of bed ash formation inside the heating system. The concentration of deposits inside the wood pellets will also affect the quantity of cinder formation. It has also been found as per research that a high concentration of silica in the pellets also can lead to a high concentration of bed ash.

The silica content in the wood (from which wood pellets are sourced) can come from the water of the soil. The water may carry the silica in the form of dissolved ions which then get absorbed by the tree bark.

About The Author

Michael Beikircher contact person for wood pellets at Beikicher Grunland GmbH, Lana, Italy. The offical website address is http://www.pelletdilegno.com.

By Mike Hirn

An Ice Age brought on by global warming was the scenario depicted in the movie THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. While the science on which the movie based has been called into question, there may be some merit in the theory that global warming could cause an Ice Age.

Why is Europe’’s climate comparitively milder than other places at the same latitude? Alaska and Greenland, both the same distance to the North Pole as Europe, are covered with ice and permafrost while most of Europe is not.

The ocean currents called the Gulf Stream bring warm waters up to Europe from the Caribbean. This water brings warmth to the countries in its path. Cooler water from Europe feeds back into the loop and causes the water to flow back to the Caribbean in a continuous cycle.

The Gulf Stream has been significantly weakened in every major cooling event, including the last great Ice Age. In the past this weakening has been brought on by natural events. In current times, global warming brought on by human activities could be the cause of slowing or even stopping the Gulf Stream. If this were to happen, the cold waters would stay in the area of Europe and the Northeastern US and could mean an Ice Age for those regions.

If an Ice Age occurs, it will likely be due to the melting of polar ice. This will dump large quantities of cold, fresh water into the ocean. It would disrupt the Gulf Stream and cause the cooling of many areas that now have milder climates. The return flow of cold water from Greenland, which goes back to the Caribbean, has already showed a weakening over the last 50 years. There has been a twenty percent decline in the amount of current flowing in this direction. It stands to reason that the warm waters returning from the Caribbean have also decreased in volume. The change would not be gradual. This is a phenomenon that takes place rather quickly. Perhaps it does not happen as fast as depicted in THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. However, it could happen within a few short years.

A slowing or stoppage of the Gulf Stream would affect the entire earth. Observations have been made of current data and historical information gleaned by studying the ocean and the lands around it. With all the information at hand, it appears that it is indeed possible that global warming could bring about a modern Ice Age.

About The Author

Information is the key to dealing with the Global Warming and Climate Change situation. You can get more information at http://www.globalwarming-101.com

By Derek Dashwood

Chinese antiques logic and learning can forestall modern solutions while they apply such common sense in other ways. We have and will criticize the government of China for being so slow and cautious about granting more democracy to their vast population.

Free speech to the people has never been, and the unknown can be a great worry. India was granted independence and all those voices makes it difficult to get any progress created.

In China, if any level of government decides that a valley is needed for a hydro dam, then with reluctant families who live and have ancestors buried in that valley, the army sees to it that the people who have lived there for thousands of years will leave. If necessary followed by a soldier with a bayonet.

But among this control of people, China is also encouraging the creation of septic tanks that basically recycle. Documentaries show hoses from human and animal waste locations that drain into a cement tub in the ground; becomings a bubbling stew of waste. And from the center of the tank, with two hoses coming in, is one hose feeding back out.

The camera follows this hose and we see it has been placed in the rafters of their modest home, and feeds down the wall to the kitchen stove. Here, the camera still running, the happy young wife with her two children and smiling husband nearby turns on the gas stove. She pours in vegetables and spices and pieces of chicken for their dinner.

Through a translator, the wife explains how much easier and cleaner life is now that they have a gas stove. She saves hours daily by not foraging for sticks to make fuel with, or coal from the hills. The house was always thick with smoke and her children seemed unwell. As for herself, she rarely felt well. Now, life is so much more filled with ease and some small comforts.

The new gas stove burns clean and the house is clear of smoke and soot. The children no longer have colds and coughs, and she radiantly smiles she has never felt better. They even now have time to all go for a walk together in the evening just to enjoy the end of the day. That never could happen before.

Now they save hours each day by not longer having to search for fuel. This additional time allows them to make repairs to their farm equipment and the home they never had time to. They even find themselves sitting around and laughing with the spare time they can now enjoy, and they now feel rich.

The documentary shows that this is being encouraged and paid for by the government of China, and we think with all the criticisms back and forth about melamine and dirty soil, bloody oil, that this is a true good news story that China should be very proud of, and that we all should encourage among the poor of China, and everywhere.

We see examples of people in India and Africa caught in that prehistoric web of gathering sticks to cook the food. It seems we need to encourage several billion of these recycling septic energy systems.

When people have extra hours of time in their lives, they have always applied that to lifting themselves from poverty, to low income, to middle, and so have we always pulled ourselves up by our own boots. This seems one natural power house to help cool down on a budget.

We all need to start somewhere, and they are doing so on a modest budget. This is a powerful way for very worthy things to happen and we should help.We don”t need to get off the pot to make it happen, we need to direct our gusto back into our own gas stove. The lady in China says it smells pure and clean.

What keeps us from directing our own wind from filling out our sails? Besides pride. That which occurs just before a fall.

About The Author

Derek Dashwood notices how science is measuring everything from bliss to happiness and we find that amazing at http://www.chineseantiquesshop.com

By Thomas Pretty

The car hire industry has been criticised for many years over a poor environmental record. Campaigners have argued that the use of a hire car means the traveller is journeying in a selfish non-environmentally friendly fashion, claiming that if the traveller was to take public transport the impact upon the environment would be lessened to some extent. What campaigners negate to realise is that public transport is not always an option, in rural areas sometimes car hire is the only solution.

A rather weak argument developed by the car hire industry is that the use of a hire car is a valid and friendlier alternative to car ownership. Car ownership however is growing and if the car hire industry wants this argument to hold water, they have a long way to go. Thankfully the industry is making moves towards greener options when hiring cars, this conscience can be seen as a general response to a wider growth in concern over the impact the human race is having on the planet.

One move is an attempt to provide greater options for greener cars. This involves car hire companies investing in the acquisition of fleets of hybrid and low emission cars that have a less detrimental effect on the environment. For example the Swedish franchise of a large car hire company have invested in four hundred ethanol powered cars whilst in the United States over a thousand hybrid cars have been introduced by the same company. The name of the game is to reduce the emissions produced by the fleet by making a large constituent of the fleet either bio-fuel or hybrid cars.

Another major initiative by car hire companies is to publish information on the carbon emissions from each car in their fleet at the time of hiring. This is hoped that customers will see the environmental impacts in black and white and will respond by making greener choices. This has been heralded as a major step in the car hire industry; although not enforcing greener choices upon customers the pursuit of this policy subtly puts the choices into customer minds. As it is believed that most people have some form of environmental conscience, the move is hoped to reduce emissions as customers will readily adopt cars with fewer emissions.

Another tactic being fiercely pursued in the car hire industry is carbon offsetting. This process involves the company accounting for all of the carbon produced in the form of emissions by the entire company. The ways in which the carbon is being accounted for includes planting swathes of trees to create new woodland habitats and financing greener energy production techniques as well as new eco-friendly agricultural methods. The ultimate hope of a carbon offsetting policy is to make a company carbon neutral through a combination of these strategies.

The process of carbon offsetting is not yet however standard; seemingly, although car hire companies are heading down this route there is usually a premium to make your journey carbon neutral. Once again it is about providing the consumer with the choice of being eco-friendly, no company is going to increase their prices and forcibly ensure their customers are conscious of environmental concerns. Unfortunately there will always be a competitor who is willing to undercut their prices at the expense of the environment.

Although some players in the car hire industry can be applauded for their environmental efforts the changes are in no way widespread. Unfortunately for company executives the pursuit of eco-friendly policies is usually less cost effective than regular strategies. At least the industry can say it is trying, providing people with the option of being eco-friendly through carbon offsetting and cars run on less harmful fuels is a step forward. As long as most of us are willing to save the environment for the sake of our wallets, the transition to a completely environmentally friendly car hire industry should be possible.

About The Author

Environment expert Thomas Pretty looks at how the car hire industry is pursuing environmentally friendly strategies. To find out more please visit http://www.budget.co.uk/

By Kenneth Scott

Safety of environment and pollution are the current hot topics of our age. Every other day we get to read or see news talk shows being held on television channels on these two issues. This concern of the professionals is justified. The way the majority of the population is going about littering and polluting, it is not far when even the pollution control equipment will be unable to mange it.

Have you ever tried to give a thought to the extent of pollution and the harm that it does to the environment? Most probably the answer is no. If the answer is yes, then have you ever tried to do something about it? Probably you too are not aware of the amount of research that is being done to develop new pollution control equipment to meet fresh challenges.

The fact is that the majority of the population is ignorant about this aspect of living and do not care for any pollution that does not affect them directly. The worst part of it all is that people keep on throwing garbage without realizing that ultimately it is going to affect them too.

We see people littering streets without caring for the problem that it may cause. Small empty packets of chips or a beer can, or gum wrapping may appear to be miniscule on their own but when millions of people through each one of them they all accumulate to become a huge garbage dump. It is indeed an irony that people would want their cars to look spick and span and care two hoots about the environment around them while throwing garbage out of the window while driving.

Even if we imagine a litter free utopia, there still will be garbage to dispose and would require pollution control equipment. Pollution has a very detrimental effect upon our environment and has necessarily to be handled in a way that it causes minimum or no harm to the environment. It is our bounden duty to preserve the environment and leave it in a better condition than we got from our ancestors.

A small study of the pollution control equipment and the type of efforts being made by experts to manage pollution will make you realize the gravity of the situation. Simply try to do some serious search online to get an insight to the problem. Surely, you will think twice before throwing even peanut shells out of your car.

About The Author

To find more environmental advise and pollution control equipment visit http://environmentadvice.com

By Ann Knapp

With curbside recycling programs available to more than half of all Americans, there’’s no reason you can”t easily set up your own at-home recycling center. Still, the EPA estimates that while 75 percent of what Americans trash every week could be recycled, only 25 percent is. There is still more to be done. Most recycling programs accept certain types of plastics, paper, and glass. Set up and maintenance of your at-home recycling center can be a fast, simple undertaking.

Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate

Things You”ll Need
A designated spot for your recycling center
Sturdy plastic containers
Compost Bin
Trash Cans
Trash Bags
Labels and Marker
Utility Knife

Steps
Step One
Find an area in your home, garage or apartment where your recycling center will be located. Your space does not need to be large. A corner of the kitchen, a storage closet, or spot in the garage will work nicely.

Step Two
It’’s important to use sturdy containers to store your recycled materials. Designate each container for one type of recyclable. For example, you might label your bins (using your labels and marker): plastic, newspaper, cardboard, and aluminum.

Step Three
To recycle tin and/or bi-metal cans, wash them out and remove the labels. Flatten the cans to conserve space.

Step Four
To recycle aluminum, check first to make certain the cans are aluminum. Use a magnet if in doubt, as aluminum will not be attracted to the magnet. Rinse the can and flatten to save storage space. Keep aluminum cans separate from other aluminum products.

Step Five
When possible, purchase returnable or reusable bottles. To prepare glass for recycling wash the glass and remove and properly discard all metal caps and rings. Keep the glass separated by color, if necessary. Glass that should not be recycled includes: Pyrex, light bulbs, glass tableware, mirrors, windows, and broken glass.

Step Six
Recycle all white office paper, mixed-color paper and newspaper. Depending on your community’’s recycling program, these may need to be separated by type and/or color. High-grade paper would include computer paper, tab cards, ledger paper and copier paper.

Step Seven
To recycle newsprint, keep papers stacked in a fire-safe area. Tie papers in stacks or bundle in brown grocery bags, if required by your local recycling program. Most recycle programs do no accept magazines, shipping envelopes, or envelopes with windows.

Step Eight
To recycle corrugated cardboard, which is made up of two layers of heavy cardboard with a ribbed section in between, use a utility knife box cutter to safely cut the box and flatten for easy storage and transport.

Step Nine
According to Earth 911, managing your organic material at your home not only decreases the amount of material that you send to the landfill, it can also help turn your organic waste into a landscape asset. Composting bins allow homeowners to recycle their biodegradable food scraps and yard waste. Bins are designed with air vents which accelerate the composting process. Compost bins can be placed outside in your backyard or near the garden. Compost improves the soil, thus creating a better environment for your plants.

Tips & Warnings
Keep the containers clean before recycling. Leaky soda cans or food containers could pose ant or mice problems. If you choose to take your recyclables to a buyback center, it’’s a good idea to keep recyclables separated for easy drop off. Be informed on how to safely dispose of unwanted medications, grooming products, and hazardous household waste.

About The Author

Ann Knapp writes for Safecutters, Inc., which provides an online store of utility knife box cutters for opening shipping boxes and shipping packages, as well as safety knives to open moving boxes and packages. For more information visit http://www.safecutters.com.