Greening Your Home and Lifestyle

Turning eco-savvy is the catchphrase these days. You can do it too! After all, it is real easy to adopt green living ways and it doesn’t cost a dime. As a matter of fact, you might just end up saving money. In times when prices are shooting up and resources are scarce, everyone can make a positive change by going green. Here are a few simple things you can do if you also want to take on a greener lifestyle.

1. Recycle and reuse

The supply of many material like plastic and metals is limited. So, try to reuse and recycle as much as possible. Keep track of recycling centers and pick up services to which you can make a donation. Make use of recycling bins set up in your locality or office. One can easily reuse cloth, paper and glass items around the house. Buy recycled paper, bricks, plastics or reclaimed wood.

2. Buy eco friendly supplies

Ditch plastic and stack green tagged products at home such as bamboo mats, cloth table covers and stone crockery. Furnish your house with eco-chic goods like bamboo flooring, reclaimed wood furniture, stone islands and cloth drapes. Even insulation installed in your house can be eco friendly. Munch on organic and fair trade certified foods. Use plant based cleaners or baking soda and vinegar to scour things up in your house. Plant trees wherever you can, be it indoors or outside your home.

3. Generate less trash

Garbage thrown out of homes is bunging up landfills and polluting the environment. Recycle or reuse trash by making new objects or turning it into compost. Avoid throwing out non-biodegradables like plastics or chemical wastes like batteries and electronic chips. A good way to create less trash is to buy things that you can use for longer. Opt for recyclable batteries, sturdier furniture and durable appliances.

4. Save energy

Do not leave appliances running when you do not need them and use electronic gadgets only when required. Reduce dependence on the lights by using candles or oil lamps wherever possible and replace incandescent bulbs with florescent ones. Use cold water while doing laundry and leave your clothes to air dry. Buy locally manufactured goods as less energy is expended to transport them. Switch off the air conditioners and open the windows to cool down your house. During the winters, layer yourself with warm clothes instead of turning up the heater. Go for energy efficient appliances and if possible switch to renewable sources of power like solar or wind energy.

5. Conserve resources

The fresh water reserves in the world are depleting fast, so try to minimize use of water. Do not leave any taps running and get all leaky spouts around the house fixed. A lot of water pours out while showering, so opt for a tub or bucket while having a bath. Try biking, walking, public transport or carpooling instead of your gas guzzling car. You can also drive a green vehicle. Minimize use of paper to save another tree from being felled.

Resources like energy, metals and paper are diminishing rapidly and most products up for sale are doused with harmful chemicals or pollutants. Do your bit to fight this crisis by conserving wherever you can and buying all-natural merchandise. In fact, doing up your home the green way can also increase its resale value.

About the author: Diana Maria is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology and luxury. Beside this she’s fond of books. Recently an article on Richard Branson attracted her attention. These days she is busy in writing an article on biomass energy.

Water Power Energy

Energy in water (in the form of kinetic energy, temperature differences or salinity gradients) can be harnessed and used. Since water is about 800 times denser than air,
even a slow flowing stream of water, or moderate sea swell, can yield considerable amounts of energy.

There are many forms of water energy:

Hydroelectric energy is a term usually reserved for large-scale hydroelectric dams. Examples are the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State and the Akosombo Dam in Ghana. Micro hydro systems are hydroelectric power installations that typically produce up to 100 kW of power. They are often used in water rich areas as a Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS). There are many of these installations around the world, including several delivering around 50 kW in the Solomon Islands. Damless hydro systems derive kinetic energy from rivers and oceans without using a dam. Ocean energy describes all the technologies to harness energy from the ocean and the sea.

Marine current power, similar to tidal stream power, uses the kinetic energy of marine currents. Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) uses the temperature difference between the warmer surface of the ocean and the colder lower recesses. To this end, it employs a cyclic heat engine. OTEC has not been field-tested on a large scale. Tidal power captures energy from the tides. Two different principles for generating energy from the tides are used at the moment. 1. Tidal motion in the vertical direction – Tides come in, raise water levels in a basin, and tides roll out. Around low tide, the water in the basin is discharged through a turbine, exploiting the stored potential energy. Tidal motion in the horizontal direction – or tidal stream power. Using tidal stream generators, like wind turbines but then in a tidal stream. Due to the high density of water, about eight-hundred times the density of air, tidal currents can have a lot of kinetic energy. Several commercial prototypes have been build, and more are in development. Wave power uses the energy in waves. Wave power machines usually take the form of floating or neutrally buoyant structures which move relative to one another or to a fixed point. Wave power has now reached commercialization. Osmotic power or salinity gradient power, is the energy retrieved from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water. Reverse electrodialysis (PRO) is in the research and testing phase. Vortex power is generated by placing obstacles in rivers in order to cause the formation of vortices which can then be tapped for energy. Deep lake water cooling, although not technically an energy generation method, can save a lot of energy in summer. It uses submerged pipes as a heat sink for climate control systems. Lake-bottom water is a year-round local constant of about 4°C.

Wave Farms Expansion

Portugal now has the world’s first commercial wave farm, the Agucadoura Wave Park, officially opened in September 2008. The farm uses three Pelamis P-750 machines generating 2.25 MW.Initial costs are put at 8.5 million. A second phase of the project is now planned to increase the installed capacity to 21MW using a further 25 Pelamis machines.

Funding for a wave farm in Scotland was announced in February, 2007 by the Scottish Government, at a cost of over 4 million pounds, as part of a £13 million funding packages for ocean power in Scotland. The farm will be the world’s largest with a capacity of 3MW generated by four Pelamis machines.

Hydroelectric Dams

The major advantage of hydroelectric systems is the elimination of the cost of fuel. Other advantages include longer life than fuel-fired generation, low operating costs, and the provision of facilities for water sports. Operation of pumped-storage plants improves the daily load factor of the generation system. Overall, hydroelectric power can be far less expensive than electricity generated from fossil fuels or nuclear energy, and areas with abundant hydroelectric power attract industry.

However, there are several major disadvantages of hydroelectric systems. These include: dislocation of people living where the reservoirs are planned, release of significant amounts of carbon dioxide at construction and flooding of the reservoir, disruption of aquatic ecosystems and bird life, adverse impacts on the river environment, potential risks of sabotage and terrorism, and in rare cases catastrophic failure of the dam wall.

Hydroelectric power is now more difficult to site in developed nations because most major sites within these nations are either already being exploited or may be unavailable for other reasons such as environmental considerations

Tips For Turning On Green Energy

Deciding to install solar power system on your home or commercial building is a concrete way of improving the world we live in. It’s not just enough to “talk the talk” about going green, you need to “walk the walk” with your green initiatives. Installing a solar powered energy system, also known as green power you are making strides in your efforts for a greener world.

With every major decision that you make, of key importance is the research that you do to ensure its ultimate success. Before you make the decision to install a green energy system, you need to educate yourself on a couple of key components: Do solar economic work in my area? If not, are there other reasons to switch to solar? Are there local solar professionals that can help me integrate solar seamlessly in to my home or commercial projects?

In response to the first question, do solar economics work in my area, it is very much dependent on an individual basis. First of your location can make a big difference. Depending on your states demographics will affect the solar energy you will achieve. If you are installing solar MA or installing solar in CA which has more sun light hours will affect the bottom line. Also, if you are contemplating installing a solar powered energy system into your home or your commercial type project, it makes a big difference at what stage you plan to install the system. If you are building a home or a building from scratch then it will be far more economical to structure the solar power installation as part of the plans.

When this is done, the costs associated with the solar power installation are factored into the mortgage, thereby increasing your monthly payments ever so slightly. Plus with the government incentives being offered in so many different states, this will deduct the cost and you may even be making some money right from the start. The government credits being offered is definitely something to do lots of research about. These credits will very possibly make installing a solar powered system very worthwhile.

Another reason to switch to solar energy is because the homes sell at double the rate that another very similar home would sell at. Many builders are now implementing solar powered energy into the homes which they are building because the sale price is increased so drastically that it is a worthwhile investment. Also by installing a solar powered system, you are locking in the price that you pay for energy. Your costs will be the same each year whether or not the price of electricity skyrockets.

Lastly, finding local solar professionals to integrate solar energy seamlessly into your home is the single most important part of the process. Do your homework and find an experienced local installer. Talk to the professionals in your area and see whom they recommend. Using a company who has vast knowledge of the systems will lend you a company that will be able to work with your from start to finish to customize a solar energy system that is right for you. Over the last few years switching to green energy has become an increasingly popular trend. This is of great benefit to you as there are more and more experienced professionals in this industry to assist you in making the switch to green energy.

Lisa Greenwald is a customer care coordinator for Greenpowerdevelopers.com. She has a vast amount of knowledge in alternative energy solutions and has assisted many clients in making the change to a solar power energy system.

Water Power A Form Of Kinetic Energy

Energy in water (in the form of kinetic energy, temperature differences or salinity gradients) can be harnessed and used. Since water is about 800 times denser than air, even a slow flowing stream of water, or moderate sea swell, can yield considerable amounts of energy.

There are many forms of water energy:

Hydroelectric energy is a term usually reserved for large-scale hydroelectric dams. Examples are the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State and the Akosombo Dam in Ghana. Micro hydro systems are hydroelectric power installations that typically produce up to 100 kW of power. They are often used in water rich areas as a Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS). There are many of these installations around the world, including several delivering around 50 kW in the Solomon Islands. Damless hydro systems derive kinetic energy from rivers and oceans without using a dam. Ocean energy describes all the technologies to harness energy from the ocean and the sea.

Marine current power, similar to tidal stream power, uses the kinetic energy of marine currents. Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) uses the temperature difference between the warmer surface of the ocean and the colder lower recesses. To this end, it employs a cyclic heat engine. OTEC has not been field-tested on a large scale. Tidal power captures energy from the tides. Two different principles for generating energy from the tides are used at the moment.

Tidal motion in the vertical direction – Tides come in, raise water levels in a basin, and tides roll out. Around low tide, the water in the basin is discharged through a turbine, exploiting the stored potential energy. Tidal motion in the horizontal direction – or tidal stream power. Using tidal stream generators, like wind turbines but then in a tidal stream. Due to the high density of water, about eight-hundred times the density of air, tidal currents can have a lot of kinetic energy. Several commercial prototypes have been build, and more are in development.

Wave power uses the energy in waves. Wave power machines usually take the form of floating or neutrally buoyant structures which move relative to one another or to a fixed point. Wave power has now reached commercialization. Osmotic power or salinity gradient power, is the energy retrieved from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water. Reverse electrodialysis (PRO) is in the research and testing phase. Vortex power is generated by placing obstacles in rivers in order to cause the formation of vortices which can then be tapped for energy. Deep lake water cooling, although not technically an energy generation method, can save a lot of energy in summer. It uses submerged pipes as a heat sink for climate control systems. Lake-bottom water is a year-round local constant of about 4°C.

Wave Farms Expansion

Portugal now has the world’s first commercial wave farm, the Agucadoura Wave Park, officially opened in September 2008. The farm uses three Pelamis P-750 machines generating 2.25 MW.Initial costs are put at 8.5 million. A second phase of the project is now planned to increase the installed capacity to 21MW using a further 25 Pelamis machines.

Funding for a wave farm in Scotland was announced in February, 2007 by the Scottish Government, at a cost of over 4 million pounds, as part of a £13 million funding packages for ocean power in Scotland. The farm will be the world’s largest with a capacity of 3MW generated by four Pelamis machines.

Hydroelectric Dams

The major advantage of hydroelectric systems is the elimination of the cost of fuel. Other advantages include longer life than fuel-fired generation, low operating costs, and the provision of facilities for water sports. Operation of pumped-storage plants improves the daily load factor of the generation system. Overall, hydroelectric power can be far less expensive than electricity generated from fossil fuels or nuclear energy, and areas with abundant hydroelectric power attract industry.

However, there are several major disadvantages of hydroelectric systems. These include: dislocation of people living where the reservoirs are planned, release of significant amounts of carbon dioxide at construction and flooding of the reservoir, disruption of aquatic ecosystems and birdlife, adverse impacts on the river environment, potential risks of sabotage and terrorism, and in rare cases catastrophic failure of the dam wall.

Hydroelectric power is now more difficult to site in developed nations because most major sites within these nations are either already being exploited or may be unavailable for other reasons such as environmental considerations

Wind Power An Alternative Energy

A wind turbine needs air, lots of it to turn the blades. A modern wind turbine ranges from 600 KW to 5 MW of rated power, although for commercial use the output range is typically 1.5-3 MW.

Because wind speed is not constant, a wind farm’s annual energy production is never as much as the sum of the generator nameplate ratings multiplied by the total hours in a year. The ratio of actual productivity in a year to this theoretical maximum is called the capacity factor. Typical capacity factors are 20-40%, with values at the upper end of the range in particularly favorable sites. For example, a 1 megawatt turbine with a capacity factor of 35% will not produce 8,760 megawatt-hours in a year, but only 0.35x24x365 = 3,066 MWh, averaging to 0.35 MW. Online data is available for some locations and the capacity factor can be calculated from the yearly output.

Globally, the long-term technical potential of wind energy is believed to be five times total current global energy production, or 40 times current electricity demand. This could require large amounts of land to be used for wind turbines, particularly in areas of higher wind resources. Offshore resources experience mean wind speeds of ~90% greater than that of land, so offshore resources could contribute substantially more energy. This number could also increase with higher altitude ground-based or airborne wind turbines.

Wind power is renewable and produces no greenhouse gases during operation, such as carbon dioxide and methane.

Wind Power Market

At the end of 2008, worldwide wind farm capacity was 120,791 megawatts (MW), representing an increase of 28.8 percent during the year, and wind power produced some 1.3% of global electricity consumption. Wind power accounts for approximately 19% of electricity use in Denmark, 9% in Spain and Portugal, and 6% in Germany and the Republic of Ireland. The United States is an important growth area and installed U.S. wind power capacity reached 25,170 MW at the end of 2008.

Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, in Texas, is one of the world’s largest wind farm at 735.5 MW capacity. It consists of 291 GE Energy 1.5 MW wind turbines and 130 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines. A proposed 4,000 MW facility, called the Pampa Wind Project, is to be located near Pampa, Texas.

In the UK, a licence to build the world’s largest offshore windfarm, in the Thames estuary, has been granted. The London Array Windfarm, 20 km off Kent and Essex, should eventually consist of 341 turbines, occupying an area of 230 km². This is a £1.5 billion, 1,000 megawatt project, which will power one-third of London homes. The windfarm will produce an amount of energy that, if generated by conventional means, would result in 1.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year. It could also make up to 10% of the Government’s 2010 renewables target.

Wind Farms

Wind power is one of the most environmentally friendly sources of renewable energy

A wind farm, when installed on agricultural land, has one of the lowest environmental impacts of all energy sources:

* It occupies less land area per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity generated than any other energy conversion system, apart from rooftop solar energy, and is compatible with grazing and crops.
* It generates the energy used in its construction in just 3 months of operation, yet its operational lifetime is 20 to 25 years.
* Greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution produced by its construction are low and declining. There are no emissions or pollution produced by its operation.
* In substituting for base-load coal power, wind power produces a net decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, and a net increase in biodiversity.
* Modern wind turbines are almost silent and rotate so slowly (in terms of revolutions per minute) that they are rarely a hazard to birds.

Studies of birds and offshore wind farms in Europe have found that there are very few bird collisions. Several offshore wind sites in Europe have been in areas heavily used by seabirds. Improvements in wind turbine design, including a much slower rate of rotation of the blades and a smooth tower base instead of perchable lattice towers, have helped reduce bird mortality at wind farms around the world. However older smaller wind turbines may be hazardous to flying birds. Birds are severely impacted by fossil fuel energy; examples include birds dying from exposure to oil spills, habitat loss from acid rain and mountaintop removal coal mining, and mercury poisoning.