Archive for August, 2009
Aug
31
Posted under
solar power
I reduced my own power bill by a huge amount and I did it without using any solar panels. Most people think that if you want to lower your power bill, you must install solar panels. This is just not true. My power bill dropped by 20% after I did the steps below and now I’m going to show you exactly how I did it.
Insulate Those Windows - I always laugh when I see someone with solar panels and single pane windows. Talk about swallowing a camel! Single pane windows are horrible. The average person loses about $2 a day in cool air or heat escaping out their single pane windows. You need to have double pane windows. Double pane windows cost a lot of money so just focus on doing one room at a time. Start with your living room and slowly work through every window in your house.
Ventilation In The Attic - Your attic stores an incredible amount of heat. If your air vents get clogged with dust, too much heat will build up in your attic and make your air conditioner run much too long. You need to clean the vents in your attic and make sure they are allowing hot air to escape through them. If you have an attic that doesn’t have vents, you need to have some put in. Go to your local hardware store to find attic ventilation kits.
Filters For Your Air Conditioner - If your air filters are dirty, your air conditioner will work too hard. You should change your air conditioner filters once every month if you want to save money off your monthly energy bill.
Change Your Stove Fan Filter - The fan that is located above your stove will get backed up with grease quickly. Fortunately, there is a filter in this fan that catches all that grease. The problem is that most people do not know that this fan even has a filter so they never change it. When this filter is clogged with grease, your fan has to work twice as hard costing you even more money.
Watch Those Lights - Lower the wattage of all the light bulbs in your home. Turn off lights when you are not in the room. Do not leave lights on at night. Just one outside light that is 60-watts will cost you about $10 a month. Dimmer lights do not save you very much. The best lights to use are fluorescent lights.
Appliances Power Usage - If you want to understand how the solar power calculate works or you want to calculate this manually you first need to estimate how many hours per day you use the appliance. You then use this formula: Wattage / 1,000 x hrs/day x $/kWh / 30 days/month = total cost per month. A refrigerator uses 540 watts per hour. If your refrigerator runs for 125 hours a week, that’s 125 hours / 7 days = 17.9 hours per day. Here’s what a month’s worth of use costs you: 540 / 1,000 x 17.9 x 0.15 x 30 = $43.50 per month. If you are using a central air conditioner (for 10 hours a day during the hot summer months) it’s costing you: 4000 / 1,000 x 10 x 0.15 x 30 = $180.00 per month.
By Todd Dornan. To learn more ways you can save money off your monthly power bill go to solar panels
Aug
31
Posted under
solar power
The sun is the most abundant source of energy on the planet and nuclear fusion is expected to continue in the sun for another 10 billion years. With minimal effort, anyone can learn how to make solar power by capturing light from the sun.
Are their advantages to solar power?
When it comes to alternative energy solutions, solar energy continues to lead the pack.
Solar power is one of the few, totally green solutions available to us today. What this means is that solar power does not use another fuel in order to work. It simple converts light from the sun into energy. Nothing bad is released into the atmosphere in order to generate solar power.
The cheapest solution out of all the alternative energy solutions available on the market today is solar power. What can be cheaper than converting light from the ultimate free source, the sun, into energy you can use to power your home? If you make your own solar power system at home and install it yourself, you can recover your initial costs in less than a year.
You can store solar power: The big power corporations do not allow you to store the power they send to your home but you can store your own power with solar. Even in the dark or during a complete black out in your area, your power will stay on because you stored your power during the day in what is called a battery bank.
Solar power systems have low maintenance costs and are easy peasy lemon squeezy to maintain. There is just not that many components to a solar power system that you have to worry about.
Anyone can adopt the following solar power systems and start saving money right now with the following:
Solar oven cooking system: You can now cook without using any electricity or gas! You can cook absolutely free! A solar oven will let you bake, boil, or roast! The only slight disadvantage to a solar oven is that it takes a while to heat up. But you will feel great knowing that you cooked your meal without having to pay the big energy corporations a penny!
Solar lighting system: You can now light up the entire house and use every electrical appliance without even thinking about having to turn anything off. The solar power system powers everything in your house even at night, thanks to the battery bank.
Solar heating system: You can make your home nice and warm with a solar heating system without worrying about your energy bill.
Before you spend another dime on your monthly power bill, make sure you check Lance Jensen’s awesome free instructions on how to make solar power and how to make solar power
Aug
31
Posted under
environment
Unquestionably, and then water is the most reasonable inexpensive and widely available substitute solution to the rising gas prices in the market today. Though in it’s regular form water is definitely any sort of energy source to start with, when a proper process is utilized it could be the best source of hydrogen - a superb element that is capable of replacing fossil fuels to power automobiles and perhaps even generate energy like heat, along with it’s counterpart, electricity.
For the concept various studies have been funded to research on the possibility of water for possibly providing an alternate source of fuel and energy, which has indeed proven itself to be extremely helpful and revolutionary. In fact, the technology to make a car run on water is actually old tech and has been a patented concept for many years now, and has managed to evolve to the creation and invention of fuel saving devices that either make use of a little electric power from the battery to separate water into a gas known as HHO also known as Brown’s Gas or oxyhydrogen.
Discovery of Brown’s Gas or HHO has been know for some time but it was just recently that it became regarded as an energy source that could power an automobile - and the primary source of HHO is water. Brown’s Gas burns well and provides adequate energy equivalent to the potential of petroleum but with a better environmentally sound by-product - H2O. A regular engine burning conventional gas fuel, fuel consumption rate is comparative only to the amount of gas the engine requires to operate on the amount that is burned and in the end incombustible fuel meaning less mileage and much energy becomes wasted as pollution. There are many who are not aware but Brown’s Gas or HHO is extremely powerful since it has the atomic power of hydrogen and the chemical stability of water, which makes it thrice as potent and much more powerful than gasoline.
The government has recently posed a challenge to US citizens to obtain and drive a hydrogen powered car as soon as they can and has reserved over one billion dollars for research into how it can be done. From that challenge stemmed many processes that have all been have been brought into public view - some effective, and some were just a scam to bait gullible people. However, regardless of whatever motives are in play there are a ton of methods for the breaking down of ordinary water into oxygen and hydrogen.
It’s good to know that one does not have to spend much to make your vehicle to use water to gas technology, since, as amazing as it sounds it doesn’t cost an excessive amount of money to develop. That becomes possible because modern engines in our cars can deal with these processes with very few modifications to the system.
But how does the water to gas system function? It begins with the idea that regular water is a batter that holds a lot of energy - the most important, being hydrogen energy. Water is actually two parts hydrogen combined with one part oxygen, so it’s left to the imagination how it carries a huge amount of energy and is not related to the actual amount of energy it requires for the breaking down of that molecule. Changing water to gas is indeed, a sustainable program [that needs a lot of research] but who knows, it may yet hold the solution to our oil cost increase quandary.
Forget everything you thought you knew about ideal Water to gas. This website Water to gas shatters all the current myths and gives it to you straight.
Aug
31
Posted under
environment
Hydro-power has been used for a variety of functions over the years. It was used in flour mills, where water-wheels turn a shaft, that ground the flour, and even in irrigation system thousands of years ago. These days, it has a more prominent role as a renewable source of energy.
Nowadays hydro-power is generated in 3 different ways: hydroelectric power, tidal power, and wave power.
Hydroelectricity:
Hydro-electric dams produced up to 90% of the world’s alternative energy, so it plays a vital role. Here, dams release water through huge turbines, which are spun by the force of the water.
The benefit to this type of hydro-power is the dam serves two purposes - to store water and to produce power. In fact, the water has so much stored energy, that it is capable of generating thousands of megawatts of power to light up an entire city.
But there a number of environmental and social concerns with building these large dams. They affect the spawning patterns of various fish, they can wipe out entire communities as they flood the land, and destroy natural vegetation.
Tidal Energy:
Using the tides is the second most common form of hydro-power. Here, electricity is generated by using the low and high tides.
France and Russia have successfully used tidal power since 1966. One system is used in large bays and estuaries where water from the high tide is dammed up and diverted through turbines at low tide.
Because it works with the tides, the system is very predicable. However this is also its pitfall, since it only works every 6 hours when the tides changes.
The latest tidal power system operates where large windmill-type turbines are placed in shallow water, and spin slowly as the tide comes in and goes out.
Since this system is an underwater version of a wind turbine, the technology is up to date and refined. Also, water has a high density than air, so the turbines can spin in the lightest of currents.
The problem is these turbines can only be built in shallow sea floors, where marine life can be damaged and other enterprises, such as oyster farming, is affected.
Power from the oceans waves:
This is the latest in hydro-power technology. Here oceans surface waves displace and compress air that is then fed through turbines, that generate power. These systems are either attached on floating platforms in the open ocean, or built along the shore where waves break.
Although this technology is relatively new, it has been estimated that there is enough energy in ocean waves to produce up to 2000 Megawatts of power.
However, wave power systems do have environmental concerns. Their hydraulic fluids could leak out into the ocean, causing water pollution. And the fixed structures on the coastline, can damage the natural plant and animal life on the seafloor.
Conclusion:
Man has developed innovative techniques to harness the power of water to produce electricity. But, like most renewable energy solutions there will always be social and environmental impacts.
See how you can make your own DIY Renewable Energy and cut your electricity costs on half. Read the Earth4Energy review now and see whether it is really possible.
Aug
31
Posted under
environment
Has an ordinary man solved the energy crisis by using trash to create a DIY solar system?
An ordinary citizen, albeit brilliant, has solved the energy crisis and our dependency on oil. He has created a 6 kwh solar system one can make at home for under $5,500. If a 6 kwh system was build with PV panels, it would cost about $80,000 to install.
After 20 years of the U.S. Department of Energy funneling tax paying dollars to big oil companies like Exxon and Chevron, neither of them could come up with a solution as cheap and as powerful as this. What a scam! The U.S. Department of Energy and big oil do not want this kind of solution to hit mainstream America because they can not make money off of it. The U.S. Department of Energy wants to be able to tax a solution, while big oil wants to keep you as a dependent customer. They can not stand a solution that involves you producing your own energy from the sun.
Big oil and their lobbyists that buy Congressmen will not let a DIY homemade solution reach mainstream America. They will not and can not allow you to create your own electricity completely free.
The truth gets much darker than this. The oil trade is killing average people in Nigeria, Burma, and other countries. Nigeria and Burma are just two countries in which big oil has brought great harm and death to average people. Big oil is telling the Nigerian government where they want their luxury houses to be built. The government is sending in bulldozers to remove entire neighborhoods of poor people. They are even destroying churches. You can find videos of what is happening in Nigeria courtesy of YouTube.
In Burma, it is just as bad. The United Nations Security Council has condemned the treatment of civilians by the Burmese military junta. At the request of big oil, namely Chevron, the Burmese military has enslaved villagers along the path of construction of a pipeline. Here are the words of a Burmese citizen, “Before the pipeline came, there were no problems with soldiers. No soldiers were even in the area. One day, while we were planting rice, the soldiers came. When the pipeline reached us, we were forced to work for the white people. The soldiers forced us to be slaves. If we did not work for the white people, they said they would kill us. Because of the white people, our village was destroyed and we had to run into the jungle. They shot at my husband while he ran away. I waited for him to return. I had my children with me. A soldier came up to me and hit me with his gun. I fell and hit my head on a stone and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I saw my baby burned alive in the fire. She did not cry. Her body was burned and all black.”
So this ordinary American created a DIY homemade solar system that could end our huge dependency on oil. The U.S. Department of Energy has given big oil millions of dollars in so called “research grants” for alternative energy development. Notice that no one has produced a solution as good and as cheap as this ordinary American in the video below. Has the U.S. Department of Energy been running a scam on tax payers that has benefited big oil for all these years? I think it is a valid question after we see what a man with no research budget whatsoever has come up with and even used parts from the trash to build it.
If you think Im making all this up, watch the video below and decide for yourself.
By Lance Jensen. Read more about big oil and the solar power industry and how you can build your own solar panel system see diy homemade solar panels
Aug
31
Posted under
environment
Has a dumpster diver created a DIY solar system that brings affordable energy to all?
An ordinary citizen, albeit brilliant, has solved the energy crisis and our dependency on oil. He has created a 6 kwh solar system one can make at home for under $5,500. If a 6 kwh system was build with PV panels, it would cost about $80,000 to install.
What really gets my goat is that the powers that be in the United States want us all to think that after 15 years, and hundreds of millions of dollars in “government grants” to big oil companies to develop alternative energy projects, they could not come up with a system with this much yield for so cheap. Whatever! Chevron, Exxon, and the U.S. Department of Energy are not interested in these kinds of DIY homemade solar systems because they can’t make money off it. Big oil wants an alternative solution that keeps you as a paying customer while the U.S. government wants to be able to tax the solution. If everyone could pull as much energy as they needed completely from the air, the government could not get tax revenues with such a system, unless they taxed sunlight. Both big oil and the U.S. government only want an alternative energy solution that enriches them.
Big oil and their lobbyists that buy Congressmen will not let a DIY homemade solution reach mainstream America. They will not and can not allow you to create your own electricity completely free.
But it actually gets far more sinister than just this. Nigerians are being killed in the name of the Oil trade. Nigeria is just one country of many where in order to get oil from a country, we have brought great harm to the average person. In Nigeria, big oil executives are actually telling the government what poor neighborhoods they would like bulldozed in order to make room for luxury housing for oil executives and American workers. You can actually watch a video of houses being demolished and even churches all in the name of oil and gas for the American consumer.
In Burma, it is just as bad. The United Nations Security Council has condemned the treatment of civilians by the Burmese military junta. At the request of big oil, namely Chevron, the Burmese military has enslaved villagers along the path of construction of a pipeline. Here are the words of a Burmese citizen, “Before the pipeline came, there were no problems with soldiers. No soldiers were even in the area. One day, while we were planting rice, the soldiers came. When the pipeline reached us, we were forced to work for the white people. The soldiers forced us to be slaves. If we did not work for the white people, they said they would kill us. Because of the white people, our village was destroyed and we had to run into the jungle. They shot at my husband while he ran away. I waited for him to return. I had my children with me. A soldier came up to me and hit me with his gun. I fell and hit my head on a stone and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I saw my baby burned alive in the fire. She did not cry. Her body was burned and all black.”
Now keep in mind that an average, ordinary American, albeit very intelligent, created an affordable DIY solar power system. The U.S. Department of Energy has been giving big oil companies like Chevron millions of dollars each year of tax payers money to create an alternative energy solution to break us from our dependency on oil. It sounds like big oil has been running a tax payers scam using the U.S. Department of Energy as the vehicle. During the Bush Administration and Republican control, the Department of Energy was staffed with pro big oil corporate executives and lobbyists. They have come up with very little and yet here is an ordinary citizen without any kind of multi-million dollar tax payer funded research budget, and he has created an affordable solar energy solution.
If you think Im making all this up, watch the video below and decide for yourself.
Written by Lance Jensen. To discover more solar power secrets they do not want you to know about go to diy homemade solar panels
Aug
31
Posted under
environment
There are quite a number of companies today who don’t just supply home wind generators, but also install them for you, however these can be quite expensive. If you are thinking about installing this renewable energy source in your home and your budget is tight, you may want to think about building a wind generator yourself.
One thing that you may not realize is that by building one of these yourself you may only need to spend around $100 - 200 instead of the several hundreds to thousands that these companies charge. It can also prove to be a very wise investment as your electricity bills over the next few years can be reduced by thousands of dollars.
What you may also have not discovered until now is that when you are thinking of building a wind generator for your home is that the parts you need can easily be bought online or at your local hardware store. So if you were concerned that getting the parts was going to be difficult then think again.
But before you do start building your own wind generator there are a number of things you need to take into consideration first. Below we look at just what some of these things are. If you keep these tips in mind it will help to ensure that you build a wind turbine system that will last a very long time.
Tip 1: The Base - The base of your wind generator should be one that provides enough support on which it can stand. The best material to make the base with is concrete. This will allow the supports of the wind generator to be held in place firmly no matter how strong and fast the wind blows.
Tip 2: The Tower - It is best if you can afford to construct the tower from metal, but again if money is tight then go for the thickest, strongest plywood you can. This will ensure that not only is your tower sturdy but is also able to cope with all kinds of weather conditions.
Tip 3: The Blades - You can make the blades for your wind generator yourself, but ensure that they can move easily and won’t be hindered by any other part of the construction. In fact, for those who are building a wind generator for the first time, purchasing premade quality blades will be your best option as this will ensure that they are able to create the amount of energy needed to meet one’s power requirements.
If however you intend to make your own do so using PVC or plywood. Also, you must make sure that the size of the blades is in equal proportion to the size of the tower you have built or purchased. If the blades are too large the tower won’t be able to hold them, too small and they won’t create enough energy. It’s crucial that you get this part right.
Tip 4: The Gear Box - It is important that when building a wind generator you think about the kind of gearbox you are going to be building or buying. If it is of an inferior quality then you risk a chance that the blades will not turn as freely as they should and the levels of energy produced by them is going to be much less than you need.
Check out the #1 Rated “Building a Wind Generator” Step-by-Step System! Find out how to build a Professional Quality wind turbine for almost nothing at BuildingaWindGenerator.com
Aug
31
Posted under
environment
There are many benefits to recycling gold. You can sell gold jewelry that is just sitting around collecting dust and make some money. Recycling gold is also good for the environment. Recycled gold is melted down to liquid form and then molded into a new product or piece of jewelry. Gold prices are at a all time high so you will be surprised at what you can get for the old pieces of jewelry that you have been saving.
The demand for metals is increasing at a faster rate than the mining industry can supply. Recycling of gold and other precious metals helps fill the gap between the growing demands and decreasing supply. When you recycle you also help save the environment by the not depleting more of our natural resources.
When they mine for gold it waste a lot of water; not only does it take an enormous amount of water it also contaminates the water sources it draws from. The majority of gold that is mined in the United States comes from Nevada. The Nevada Gold Mines consume more water every year than all of the population of Nevada combined. One gold mine can consume 100 million gallons of water every day. The harsh chemicals that are use to refine the ore further pollute the ground and destroy local ecosystems.
The mining process that is used to extract the ore from the surrounding rocks amount to a huge amount of waste; a large part of it is in the form of discarded rock that is saturated with chemicals and solvents. This means for every ton of pure gold that exists there is three million tons of waste to dispose of. Eventually the chemicals and solvents in the discarded rocks will find their way into our ecosystem. This in turn will affect native plant life and the animals in the area of the mines.
The end goal of any mining company is to process as much gold as possible and this means that the more they mine the further underground they have to go. This makes mining a determent to our natural resources. The profit is huge for gold so the mining companies use the last technologies and processes to get as much gold as quickly as possible. Even though they are mining more efficiently they are still depleting our natural resources. This is why recycling everything and anything we can, including precious metals is becoming more important every day. You can help to do your part for the environment by recycling you precious metals and looking for jewelry that is made with recycled metals. You can clean out your jewelry box and get rid of things you never wear and it will give you more space. You can always take the money from the gold you sell and purchase a piece of jewelry you have had your eye on. Gold recycling is a easy and fast way to recycle your unwanted gold jewelry and make some money at the same time.
The best online resource to sell gold or sell gold coins can be found at http://www.refinity.com
Posted by Morgan Robinson
Aug
31
Posted under
environment
An area that has adequate wind can simply have a wind-based energy system that enhances the energy provided by the local utility company. A residential wind turbine is a great alternative source in meeting energy requirements. It is often configured in combination with a photovoltaic system, as most of the parts required for wind power generation are also needed for solar power. Once ensconced on top of a tower, a wind turbine accumulates kinetic energy from the wind and transfers it to electricity attuned with a home’s electrical system.
Most homes which use residential wind power also draw electricity from their local utility company as well. If wind speeds are below the turbine’s cut in speed (typically 7-10 mph), then the turbine will produce no power and all of the home’s energy needs will be met by the utility company. However, when wind speeds are above the turbine’s cut in speed, then the turbine generates power, lessening the amount drawn from the power grid. Any electricity produced which is above and beyond that needed for the home may be sold back to the local electricity supplier.
In general, a wind turbine can lower a homeowner’s electric bills by around 50% and up, depending on the exact wind power system and number of turbines used. How much a smaller wind turbine will save exactly all depends on the power usage of the home and the average wind speeds in the area, among other factors.
Wind systems are very sensitive to the average wind speed in the area, so if it were a concern, a turbine owner should have at least an average wind speed of 10 miles per hour and be paying at a lesser fee for electricity.
However, home owners don’t usually need to take measurements of wind speed in order to use residential wind power systems. This data is already freely available without having to do your own tests; though you may want to look up the average wind speed in your area before you install. If you happen to live somewhere which has enough wind to make a residential wind turbine cost effective, then you may go ahead and install the residential wind turbine in confidence.
A typical residential wind system makes less noise and does not interfere with a television’s reception at all. A wind turbine is easily rigged to virtually any residence without the hassle to change any appliances or wiring. In most cases, the utility will set up a second utility meter to gauge how much excess electricity it is purchasing from the turbine owner.
Complete, ready to install wind turbine systems are readily available, though homeowners can also choose to buy the necessary parts and install it themselves. Purchasing a ready to install system costs a bit more but comes with more comprehensive support if needed. Installing a wind turbine on one’s own requires a little more technical know-how, but also a significant savings over a ready to install system. People interested in a residential wind power system should look into the pros and cons of each option for themselves to choose which is best for their needs.
A home wind power generator can save homeowners a considerable amount of money as well as being environmentally sound. A wind turbine creates no pollutants and reduce your reliance on greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels; it’s good for the Earth and great for your pocketbook.
See how to build a wind turbine for your backyard and save your hard earned money on your hydro bill. Find out how to build a homemade wind generator and you can save lots on how much it would cost of purchasing one and still make lots of power.
Aug
31
Posted under
environment
In 2000, a major environmental disaster occurred which hardly made the headlines internationally and except for those involved in the gold recycling and refining business, it made little impression on the world outside of Romania where the incident occurred. During the night of January 30th, a dam gave way and flooded the valley below. The water brought with it well over 100,000 cubic meters of heavily contaminated water laden with 120 tons of cyanide delivered directly into the Romanian river network.
Where did all of this contamination come from? The dam waters were utilized by a gold refining plant which took gold bearing ore and extracted the precious metal from it. Many people are completely unaware that the gold refining process requires such environmentally damaging agents to obtain the metal but sodium cyanide is one of the most popular and lethal substances used to extract gold from gold ore.
In addition to sodium cyanide, other reagents are used including large quantities of zinc which then requires sulfuric acid to clean that out of the solution before the gold (and silver) can finally be removed for smelting.
Zinc is highly toxic and sulfuric acid is responsible for the deaths of many European forests due to acid rain in which sulfuric acid is the key active component. The final gold and silver sludge which is created is smelted into metal ingots which are very pure - 99.9999% pure. This requires huge amounts of energy to achieve further increasing the carbon footprint and environmental impact of gold and silver processing. Now let’s contrast extraction of the precious metal from base ore with recycling gold and silver.
Extraction of pure metal from existing gold bearing materials, usually jewelry but also other components such as computer components, results in a huge environmental saving. There is very little use of highly toxic materials and those which are utilized are done so in highly contained and safe locations. There is a huge difference between a gold ore operation using an open pit filled with sulfuric acid and a factory process which is recycles the sulfuric acid it is using for reuse over and over. In addition, there is a much reduced use of toxic extraction processes as the gold and silver metals are already in a highly purified state and are simply encased in a different form such as a ring or as a component on a computer motherboard.
Energy levels required to smelt existing gold and silver back into an ingot for reuse is also greatly reduced. Huge amounts of energy are required to further refine and separate gold and silver from the “sludge” created by ore extraction but existing gold and silver jewelry simply needs to be melted to be reformed into ingots.
Recycling gold and silver is very cost effective in financial terms but the environmental impact is greatly reduced and it is far more efficient and beneficial to recycle gold rather than extract it from the base ore. This in turn allows relatively high prices to be paid for second-hand jewelry especially in the current climate where gold and silver are in demand.
The best online resource to sell gold or sell platinum can be found at http://www.refinity.com