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.

Solar Energy Has Many Uses

Solar energy is the sunshine and the heat from the sun, is free and is infinite. All living matters on earth depends on it. Solar energy induce no air and water pollution, but there is still some impacts on the environment although indirect.

Photovoltaic cells (solar panels) used to convert sunlight into electricity uses silicon that also produce some waste materials. There are also large solar thermal farms and these farms can also be harmful to the environment and desert ecosystems if not properly managed.

Solar energy has many uses, for example, in agriculture. Greenhouses convert solar light to heat to enhancing the growth of plants and crops. Greenhouses has been around since the Roman times, today’s modern greenhouses were first built in Europe in 16th century. Greenhouses are still an important part of horticulture nowadays,

Daylight systems are being used in homes and businesses to maximize the energy released by the sun. It is used to provide interior illumination replacing the artificial lighting. Daylight systems include sawtooth roofs, light shelf, skylights, and light tube. Daylight systems when they are properly applied can cut down lighting-related energy consumption by as much as 25 percent.

Solar energy can also be formulated into solar thermal technologies which can be used for water heating, space heating, space cooling and process heat generation. Solar energy can also be used to distill water and make saline or brackish water potable or drinkable.

The solar water disinfection or SODIS involves exposing water-filled plastic polyethylene terephthalate or PET bottles. This process takes a long time, since the exposure time varies on the weather conditions. It requires at the least of six hours to two days during days with overcast conditions. Today, there are more than two million people in developing centuries use SODIS for their daily drinking water needs.

As well sunlight can be converted into electricity using photovoltaics or PV. PV has been mainly used to power small electronics like a calculator powered by a single solar cell to homes and businesses using solar panels. Using solar energy for water and space heating is the most widely use application of solar energy. While ventilation and solar air heating is also growing in popularity.

Solar cells, also called photovoltaic or photoelectric cells are use to convert sunlight directly into electricity. Also, solar furnaces use a huge array of mirrors to concentrate on the Sun’s energy into a small space and produced very high temperatures. Solar furnaces are also called “solar cookers”. A solar cooker can be used in hot countries to prepare food.

With all the benefits if using solar energy, there is still a downside for this alternative energy source. It does not work during night time. The cost of setting up solar systems is expensive, but the benefit of using solar energy when cumulated is so much more especially with decreasing prices as more users opting to use this source of renewable energy.