Save Live Earth Today

Tips to save the Earth

2007-10-15T02:27:00.000-07:00

Look around your house. How many appliances and electronics are plugged in all the time, but rarely used? What kind of light bulbs do you have? Is there a second fridge in the garage?

Your home is the first place Chester the Crab is looking at in our "Green Challenge" series, which will continue for several Thursdays in the Life section of the Daily Press and online at dailypress.com/gogreen. Go to the Web site to measure your "carbon footprint." The "challenge" is to then reduce your footprint by 15 percent.

The tailpipe of the American gas-guzzler is fingered most often as the culprit for this country's oversized contribution to man-made greenhouse gases. But the American household isn't far behind.

The average two-person household in the U.S. produces between 26,000 and 33,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year just by electricity use and by burning either natural gas or heating oil. That's five times more than many industrialized countries.

So, the good news is, there are plenty of opportunities to cut down on that number.

Use some of these tips and try to reduce your home or apartment's carbon footprint by 15 percent

The standard rule is: You produce 1.37 pounds of carbon dioxide with each kilowatt hour of electricity used — or, you save 1.37 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere with each kilowatt hour you don't use.

The fridge

Is there a fridge in the garage, just to keep some extra Cokes cold? It's probably an old one, too. Still using an old fridge in the kitchen? Replace it with an Energy Star model and cut electricity use in half. For those who already have a new fridge, wipe down or vacuum dust off the condenser coils once a year, and make sure the seals on the doors stay tight.

Annual CO2 savings for unplugging your extra fridge: 1,100 pounds.

Lighting

How many light bulbs are in your house? Can you replace half a dozen? Replace oft-used incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. If every home in the U.S. replaced five light bulbs it would prevent greenhouse gas emissions equal to 10 million cars.

Annual CO2 savings for using fluorescent: 100 pounds per bulb.

Water

Set your water heater at 120 degrees, and if it's an older model use an insulating blanket. A water-saving shower head can also save energy. Water heating makes up about 19 percent of energy use in the average home and costs about $300 a year. Think about using cold or at least warm water in the washing machine, taking shorter showers and only using the dishwasher when it's full.

Annual CO2 saving for using an insulating blanket: 500 pounds; for using a water-saving shower head: 400 pounds.

Vampires

TVs, DVD players and computers continue to suck energy even when they're not in use. Unplugging them, or using a power strip and flipping it off when not in use, will keep them from using "vampire" power. In general, keep in mind that home office equipment, stereos, TVs and video equipment and electronics can account for up to 20 percent of all electricity use.

Annual CO2 Savings for unplugging your electronics: 500 pounds.

Hot and cold

It may seem like air conditioning is the electricity hog, but heating a home typically produces far more greenhouse gases, because it requires burning fossil fuels. In the average home, turning down the thermostat in winter and up in summer by two degrees will make a difference.

Annual CO2 savings for lowering thermostat two degrees: 1,000 pounds a year.

Use some of these tips and try to reduce your home or apartment's carbon footprint by 15 percent:

The standard rule is: You produce 1.37 pounds of carbon dioxide with each kilowatt hour of electricity used -- or, you save 1.37 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere with each kilowatt hour you don't use.

TVs, DVD players and computers continue to suck energy even when they're not in use. Unplugging them, or using a power strip and flipping it off when not in use, will keep them from using "vampire" power. In general, keep in mind that home office equipment, stereos, TVs and video equipment and electronics can account for up to 20 percent of all electricity use. Annual CO2 Savings for unplugging your electronics: 500 pounds.

Lighting

How many light bulbs are in your house? Can you replace half a dozen? Replace oft-used incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. If every home in the U.S. replaced five light bulbs it would prevent greenhouse gas emissions equal to 10 million cars. Annual CO2 savings for using fluorescent: 100 pounds per bulb.

Hot and cold

It may seem like air conditioning is the electricity hog, but heating a home typically produces far more greenhouse gases, because it requires burning fossil fuels. In the average home, turning down the thermostat in winter and up in summer by two degrees will make a difference. Annual CO2 savings for lowering thermostat two degrees: 1,000 pounds a year.

Water

Set your water heater at 120 degrees, and if it's an older model use an insulating blanket. A water-saving shower head can also save energy. Water heating makes up about 19 percent of energy use in the average home and costs about $300 a year. Think about using cold or at least warm water in the washing machine, taking shorter showers and only using the dishwasher when it's full. Annual CO2 saving for using an insulating blanket: 500 pounds; for using a water-saving shower head: 400 pounds.

The fridge

Is there a fridge in the garage, just to keep some extra Cokes cold? It's probably an old one, too. Still using an old fridge in the kitchen? Replace it with an Energy Star model and cut electricity use in half. For those who already have a new fridge, wipe down or vacuum dust off the condenser coils once a year, and make sure the seals on the doors stay tight. Annual CO2 savings for unplugging your extra fridge: 1,100 pounds.

Take the Daily Press Green Challenge!

The Daily Press Green Challenge is a series that asks readers to reduce their daily contribution to greenhouse gas by 15 percent. Start by going to daily press.com/gogreen and calculating your "carbon footprint." You can also join a forum and read more tips at the site. Read the Daily Press each Thursday for more green ideas from Chester the Crab.

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Biofuels May Be Harming The Environment More Than Helping

2007-10-04T02:36:00.000-07:00

The energy saving conscious will be well aware of the guilt that comes about the amount of petrol used in a thirst quenching drive from one place to another. Feel guilty no more, as it seems that those using biofuels have done more against the environment to be blamed for.

Biofuels, which are (coincidentally?) great for farm revenues and of course helping save our environment against any drastic climate change, may in fact damage the environment significantly and perhaps even bump up food prices, a study reveals.

In a report on the impact of biofuels, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) said biofuels may “offer a cure that is worse than the disease they seek to heal”.

“The current push to expand the use of biofuels is creating unsustainable tensions that will disrupt markets without generating significant environmental benefits,” the OECD noted.

“When acidification, fertilizer use, biodiversity loss and toxicity of agricultural pesticides are taken into account, the overall environmental impacts of ethanol and biodiesel can very easily exceed those of petrol and mineral diesel,” it added.

“Governments should cease to create new mandates for biofuels and investigate ways to phase them out,” it said.

“Biofuel policies may appear to be an easy way to support domestic agriculture against the backdrop of international negotiations to liberalize agricultural trade,” it said.
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Top 50 things to do to stop Global Warming

2007-09-29T02:21:00.000-07:00

Global warming is a dramatically urgent and serious problem. We don't need to wait for governments to solve this problem: each one of us can bring an important help adopting a more responsible lifestyle: starting from little, everyday things. It's the only reasonable way to save our planet, before it is too late.

Here is a list of 50 simple things that everyone can do in order to fight against and reduce the Global Warming phenomenon: some of them are at no cost, some other require a little investment but can help you save a lot of money, in the middle-long term!

Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl)
CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
Install a programmable thermostat
Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.
Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer
Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has more tips for saving energy on heating and cooling.
Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most efficient models available.
Do not leave appliances on standby
Use the "on/off" function on the machine itself. A TV set that's switched on for 3 hours a day (the average time Europeans spend watching TV) and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode.
Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket
You’ll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple action. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than 50°C.
Move your fridge and freezer
Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they were standing on their own. For example, if you put them in a hot cellar room where the room temperature is 30-35ºC, energy use is almost double and causes an extra 160kg of CO2 emissions for fridges per year and 320kg for freezers.
Defrost old fridges and freezers regularly
Even better is to replace them with newer models, which all have automatic defrost cycles and are generally up to two times more energy-efficient than their predecessors.
Don't let heat escape from your house over a long period
When airing your house, open the windows for only a few minutes. If you leave a small opening all day long, the energy needed to keep it warm inside during six cold months (10ºC or less outside temperature) would result in almost 1 ton of CO2 emissions.
Replace your old single-glazed windows with double-glazing
This requires a bit of upfront investment, but will halve the energy lost through windows and pay off in the long term. If you go for the best the market has to offer (wooden-framed double-glazed units with low-emission glass and filled with argon gas), you can even save more than 70% of the energy lost.
Get a home energy audit
Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. You can save up to 30% off your energy bill and 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Energy Star can help you find an energy specialist.

Cover your pots while cooking
Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%!
Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full
If you need to use it when it is half full, then use the half-load or economy setting. There is also no need to set the temperatures high. Nowadays detergents are so efficient that they get your clothes and dishes clean at low temperatures.
Take a shower instead of a bath
A shower takes up to four times less energy than a bath. To maximise the energy saving, avoid power showers and use low-flow showerheads, which are cheap and provide the same comfort.
Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year) instead of hot.
Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible
You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year.
Insulate and weatherize your home
Properly insulating your walls and ceilings can save 25% of your home heating bill and 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Caulking and weather-stripping can save another 1,700 pounds per year. Energy Efficient has more information on how to better insulate your home.
Be sure you’re recycling at home
You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates. Earth 911 can help you find recycling resources in your area.
Recycle your organic waste
Around 3% of the greenhouse gas emissions through the methane is released by decomposing bio-degradable waste. By recycling organic waste or composting it if you have a garden, you can help eliminate this problem! Just make sure that you compost it properly, so it decomposes with sufficient oxygen, otherwise your compost will cause methane emissions and smell foul.
Buy intelligently
One bottle of 1.5l requires less energy and produces less waste than three bottles of 0.5l. As well, buy recycled paper products: it takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.
Choose products that come with little packaging and buy refills when you can
You will also cut down on waste production and energy use!
Reuse your shopping bag
When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.
Reduce waste
Most products we buy cause greenhouse gas emissions in one or another way, e.g. during production and distribution. By taking your lunch in a reusable lunch box instead of a disposable one, you save the energy needed to produce new lunch boxes.
Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%. The Arbor Day Foundation has information on planting and provides trees you can plant with membership.
Switch to green power
In many areas, you can switch to energy generated by clean, renewable sources such as wind and solar. The Green Power Network is a good place to start to figure out what’s available in your area.
Buy locally grown and produced foods
The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.
Buy fresh foods instead of frozen
Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.
Seek out and support local farmers markets
They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. You can find a farmer’s market in your area at the USDA website.
Buy organic foods as much as possible
Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!
Eat less meat
Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.
Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible
Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Look for transit options in your area.
Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates
Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year. eRideShare.com runs a free national service connecting commuters and travelers.
Don't leave an empty roof rack on your car
This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 10% due to wind resistance and the extra weight - removing it is a better idea.
Keep your car tuned up
Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere.
Drive carefully and do not waste fuel
You can reduce CO2 emissions by readjusting your driving style. Choose proper gears, do not abuse the gas pedal, use the engine brake instead of the pedal brake when possible and turn off your engine when your vehicle is motionless for more than one minute. By readjusting your driving style you can save money on both fuel and car mantainance.
Check your tires weekly to make sure they’re properly inflated
Proper inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference!
When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle
You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car gets only 3 miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon with a hybrid! You can find information on fuel efficiency on FuelEconomy and on GreenCars websites.
Try car sharing
Need a car but don’t want to buy one? Community car sharing organizations provide access to a car and your membership fee covers gas, maintenance and insurance. Many companies – such as Flexcar - offer low emission or hybrid cars too! Also, see ZipCar.
Try telecommuting from home
Telecommuting can help you drastically reduce the number of miles you drive every week. For more information, check out the Telework Coalition.
Fly less
Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly. You can also offset your air travel by investing in renewable energy projects.
Encourage your school or business to reduce emissions
You can extend your positive influence on global warming well beyond your home by actively encouraging other to take action.
Join the virtual march
The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort to bring people concerned about global warming together in one place. Add your voice to the hundreds of thousands of other people urging action on this issue.
Encourage the switch to renewable energy
Successfully combating global warming requires a national transition to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. These technologies are ready to be deployed more widely but there are regulatory barriers impeding them. Take action to break down those barriers with Vote Solar.
Protect and conserve forest worldwide
Forests play a critial role in global warming: they store carbon. When forests are burned or cut down, their stored carbon is release into the atmosphere - deforestation now accounts for about 20% of carbon dioxide emissions each year. Conservation International has more information on forests and global warming.
Consider the impact of your investments
If you invest your money, you should consider the impact that your investments and savings will have on global warming. Check out SocialInvest and Ceres to can learn more about how to ensure your money is being invested in companies, products and projects that address issues related to climate change.
Make your city cool
Cities and states around the country have taken action to stop global warming by passing innovative transportation and energy saving legislation. 194 cities nationwide representing over 40 million people have made this pledge as part of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Find out how to make your city a cool city.
Tell Congress to act
The McCain Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act would set a firm limit on carbon dioxide emissions and then use free market incentives to lower costs, promote efficiency and spur innovation. Tell your representative to support it.
Make sure your voice is heard!
Americans must have a stronger commitment from their government in order to stop global warming and implement solutions and such a commitment won’t come without a dramatic increase in citizen lobbying for new laws with teeth. Get the facts about U.S. politicians and candidates at Project Vote Smart and The League of Conservation Voters. Make sure your voice is heard by voting!
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Green measures can put you in the black

2007-09-28T02:20:00.000-07:00

T he Conservatives made a clarion call to purify our environmental standards this week when they unveiled their report on how to turn Britain into a green economy.

Their proposals include a plan to reduce stamp duty for those who have made their homes more energy- efficient and the extension of rebates on council tax and low-cost loans to people taking steps to cap their properties’ carbon ratings.

”This is the most thorough review of environmental policies ever conducted by a political party. It is radical but practical, pioneering but realistic, and shows how the next Conservative government can deliver the change we need,” said Zac Goldsmith, editor of The Ecologist magazine, who played a leading part in writing the report.

However, there is no need to wait for David Cameron to win an election before you put a wind turbine on your roof. There are savings to be made already if you aim to convert your flat or house into a environmentally-friendly zone.

The Energy Savings Trust – the organisation launched by the government to reduce carbon emissions in the UK – estimates that Britons could save hundreds of pounds a year by following a few procedures. The group offers advice and a list of savings and discounts available to those who bolster the standards of their properties on its website (www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/).

A simple tip is to eliminate draughts by putting seals on doors, letterboxes and keyholes; sealing gaps in floorboards prevents heat escaping as does double- glazing windows.

Energy-saving lightbulbs, which last 10 times longer than standard ones, can lead to savings of £60 on electricity each year. And thermostatic valves on radiators – which control the temperature in individual rooms – are also important tools for cutting costs.

Á jacket for your hot water tank costs less than £5 and could save about £20 a year, according to the Trust. Insulating walls as well as your loft could save about £200 a year.

If the boiler in your home is more than 15 years old, you should consider buying a new one. New gas boilers on the market are quite efficient and could save you up to a third of what you pay for heating. If appliances such as dishwashers, fridges, boilers, and washing machines carry an “Energy Savings Recommended” label, they offer more value.

Interested in putting up solar panels or a wind turbine? The government may subsidise your plans. The Low Carbon Buildings programme (www.lowcarbonbuildings.org.uk/home/) offers grants of up to £2,000 to fund solar panels and up to £2,500 for wind turbines. A wind turbine which provides between one and six kilowatts of energy and can be mounted on a roof costs a minimum of £1,500. Solar panels are more expensive and can cost more than £9,000 to install.

“People need to view wind turbines or solar panels as an act of commitment not as an investment with a strong return,” says Dave Timms, economics campaigner at Friends of the Earth.

For those on benefits, the “Snug as a Bug” home insulation scheme is a good deal as it offers grants of up to £1,500 to support insulation.

A number of utility providers such as Powergen and British Gas, also have programmes which might save you money. And local authorities extend one-off rebates of £50 to £100 on council tax for insulating home walls.

Finally, those looking to avoid using standard electricity might want to consider buying solar and wind energy which is available at rates slightly higher to those paid for standard electricity and gas. Ecotricity and nPower Juice are two of the more established green electricity groups.

Energy Performance Certificates, which are part of Home Information Packs, detail how energy-efficient the home you are buying is on a scale of A to G.

“In this country, there is a plethora of different schemes to promote energy efficiency which exist. It’s just that people need to know where to go to get them,” says Dave Timms, economics campaigner at Friends of the Earth, the charity.
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Future Energy Saving Displays

2007-09-25T02:23:00.000-07:00

LCDs are already incredibly energy efficient compared to CRTs. OLEDs hold even more promise, but aside from some small gadgets, the technology is still out of reach.

TreeHugger has an item on yet another technology from Woodlands, TX startup Unipixel that blends the tried-and-true with some clever ways of producing an image.

Unipixel uses a technique known as frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) to bend incoming light toward the viewer, producing an image. While most liquid-crystal display technologies consist of 3 subpixels - red, green and blue - that cooperate to create a range of colors, Unipixel's display instead relies on red, green and blue LEDs placed at the edge of screen. Because they flash at such a rapid clip, the viewer perceives a range of colors as extensive as that found in liquid-crystal displays.

The company claims that panels made in this fashion are 60 percent more efficient. Click the TreeHugger post for more details. Unipixel goes into more technical depth here.
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7 Ways to Get Green and Save Money

2007-09-22T01:25:00.000-07:00

You needn’t run the most energy-efficient, eco-friendly company in the world to make an environmental difference. Here are some areas where companies are saving resources -- and saving money.

1. Sunny-side economics: Affordable Internet Services Online Inc. (AISO) operates a small data center using photovoltaic cells that use renewable solar energy. However, that system wouldn’t be cost-effective today, says co-founder and technology manager Phil Nail, because of changes in state tax incentives.

2. Water saver: Highmark Inc. saves 4.9 million gallons of water per year in its 28,000-square-foot Harrisburg,Pa., data center simply by using a water-softening system to reduce the “bleed rate” in its cooling towers. “We’re using 30% less water than we were before,” says Mark Wood, director of infrastructure management. In addition, some of the water supplied to the cooling towers comes from rain that’s channeled from the building’s roof into a 100,000-gallon storage tank. The system, which captures about 625,000 gallons of water annually, supplies toilets and urinals in the building. The remainder supplements the cooling system. AISO stores water flushed by its air-conditioning system in underground tanks (about 20 gallons every three hours) and reuses it for landscape irrigation.

3. Lights on: AISO uses solar tubes to bring natural lighting into the data center, reducing lighting costs. The tubes, which are lined with a reflective, polished chrome surface, carry light from the roof.

4. Lights off: The Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae, has trained its staff to turn lights off in its data center in Urbana, Md., and uses sensors as a backup. That saves $30,000 per month in lighting costs for the 60,000-square-foot data center.

5. Heat deflector: Wells Fargo & Co. is putting a reflective surface on the roofs of its data centers in an effort to keep heat out -- and cooling costs down. AISO placed a 4- to 6-in. insulating layer of dirt on its roof to keep the hot California temperatures out. Neither company can quantify any savings yet.

6. Renewable bio energy: Hosted services provider Rackspace Ltd.’s new 65,000-square-foot data center in Slough, England, will receive all of its electricity from a power plant that uses renewable energy. The plant, operated by Slough Heat & Power Ltd., burns wood chips and other biomass materials. “It’s a renewable resource that comes from something you grow rather than something you mine,” says John Engates, chief technology officer.

7. Cogeneration: Terremark Worldwide Inc. is exploring using combined heat and power in a new data center that it’s building in Culpepper, Va. The system uses natural gas-powered turbines from United Technologies Corp. to generate power, and exhausted heat is used by absorption chillers to create a cold water supply for the data center air conditioners. Each unit produces 5,000 tons of cooling. Ben Stewart, vice president of facilities engineering, says that the units cost more than diesel generators, but adds that he can eliminate chillers, which cost $1 million for 300 tons of cooling. However, the prospect of rolling out a technology across the entire data center gives him cold feet. “It’s kind of cutting-edge technology. If we do it, we’ll try it on a smaller site [first],” Stewart says.
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Smart Mom Tips for Saving Energy

2007-09-21T01:24:00.000-07:00

One of the largest expenses in a household is the power bill. It does not matter where you live, whether you have a mild winter or a mild summer- most places have one extreme or the other- a hot summer or a cold winter, each being able to strain a families household budget. Without being an electrician, there are some ways to lowering you electricity bill. These are simple steps you family can take to lower your bill each month and throughout the year.1. Turn off the lights.It seems simple, but it is a hard habit to make. How many times do you walk out of a room without flipping the switch? Many times you do not even notice until the next time you come into the room, which could be hours later. Turning off the lights is the easiest no-cost way to reducing your energy bill. Also, replace your five most used light bulbs with ENERGY STAR compact fluorescent bulbs to save $60 each year in energy costs. These light bulbs use two-thirds less energy and last up to 10 times longer.

2. Unplug appliances your are not using. Not only are you lowering the possibility of starting a fire, but by unplugging the appliances that are not is use, you will lower your bill. If it is plugged in, it is using electricity. Unplug the coffee pot, toaster, and the blender. If you keep these appliances on your counter, they do not have to be plugged in if you are not using them.3. Unplug cell phone chargers and turn off power strips. Again, if is plugged in, it uses electricity. If you plug your computer, cell phone, printer, and fax all into one power strip, you can turn the power strip off when it is not in use with one click. 4. Turn the computer off: do not let it hibernate. Hibernating computers or computers on stand by are still using electricity. Again, turn them off or turn off the power strip when not in use. However, hibernation is better than being on. Set your computer to turn off if not in use, but make sure to turn it off if you will not be using it for a long period.5. Use the microwave, crock pot, or counter top oven in the summer. Unless you want your house to heat up, do not use your oven in the summer time. By cooking meals in smaller appliances, you will decrease the amount of work your air conditioner has to do to cool the house back down. A small counter top oven (similar to a toaster oven, but better) can cook almost everything a large oven can, but it takes less time to preheat and does not heat up the entire kitchen. In the winter, you may want your house to heat up, so use the oven! Also, do not self-clean the oven in the summer time. The 500 degree temperatures really heat up the house.6. Turn off ceiling fans if no one is in the room. Ceiling fans are great to cool a room while increasing the thermostat temperature. But if no one is in the room, it is not helping anyone. Ceiling fans are “instant gratification” appliances. They cool immediately and do not provide for a build up of cool air. Also, reverse the fan in the winter to help move the warm air around. All fans have a small switch to reverse the blade direction. That will help to move the warm air that has risen to warm the house.7. Get window treatments. Blinds and curtains are more than a designer statement. They help keep the sun out in the summer and keep the cool air out in the winter. Even insulated windows can use the extra boost. Close the curtains and blinds at night to regulate the temperature, especially in the winter. Close the curtains during the day in the summer to keep the cool air in. Open the curtains in the winter to let the sunlight in.8. Wash clothes in cold water. With the new cold water detergents, almost all clothes can be washed in cold water. That can lower an electricity bill by $63 in a year. Do full loads instead of partial loads. Do not do laundry during peak energy use times- when people are getting ready to go to work and when people are making dinner.9. Do a few loads of laundry in a row. The dryer will remain warm and will not need to reheat from being cold. Do not overload your dryer since it will take more time to dry. Also be sure your the warm air is venting out of your house. If you have a utility room, close the door to keep the house from heating. Unless it is winter and then use the heat to your advantage!10. Get a water heater blanket. This is an easy way to decrease your bill by keeping the water heater insulated. During the winter, the water heater is trying to keep up with the cool air. A blanket will keep the temperature regulated. It is so easy to install, you can do it yourself.As a smart mom, you want to teach your children to make good choices and form good habits that will last forever. And of course, the benefit to the environment is another great reward. If needed, provide an incentive to your children for following the energy rules. The money you will save in the long room will be worth the time and effort to get your family into good habits. A little consistency and work up front will help your household over the long term.Rebekah Kogelschatz is a stay at home mom and a work at home mom. She is a partner in Smart Moms -Smart Business, LLC and of the site Smart Moms - Smart Business. She is the founder of a parenting resource site Heartland-Moms You can read her blog at The Day of A Mom.
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Energy-Saving Technology Shuts Off All Standby Power In A Home With One Switch

2007-09-19T02:29:00.000-07:00

A new energy saving product hit the U.S. residential home market this month, providing homeowners the ability to effortlessly and expediently turn off all electronics not being used throughout a home with just one master switch. The new energy management system, GreenSwitch™, is completely wireless and can be retrofitted in an existing home or added during new construction.

The GreenSwitch™ system was originally developed to control energy consumption in the hotel industry. Properties using the GreenSwitch™ system such as Kalahari Resorts, Orchard Garden, Embassy Suites, Westin, Holiday Inn and others, have saved 25 to 45% in energy costs, according to Gregory Hood, chief executive officer of GreenSwitch™. With those kinds of savings, many of the hotels were recovering their investment in just 10 months to two years, according to Hood.

“It is such an easy and convenient system to use, we knew that the next logical step was to introduce it to homeowners who would appreciate the convenience of having just one switch to flip off instead of running around the house to turn off everything,” said Hood.

Once the switch is turned off, a wireless signal is sent to all the GreenSwitch™ slave components including the wall plugs, light switches and thermostat. All the designated light switches and wall plugs will turn off, while the home’s air conditioning/heating system will automatically set to the unoccupied mode. The unoccupied mode is predetermined by the homeowner during the installation of GreenSwitch™.

Placed by the front door, the last one to leave the house simply switches the GreenSwitch™ to the off position. Upon returning home, wall plugs and air conditioning/heating systems will return to normal mode just by flipping the GreenSwitch™ to the on position.

GreenSwitch™ can be overridden, so even when it is on, all the light switches act independently and can be operated normally. The consumer chooses which switches and wall receptacles will be part of the system, so fax machines and other electronics that need constant power would not be added.

“We also provide split receptacles, so if you have an alarm clock and a light switch in the same outlet, your alarm clock can stay on while the light goes off,” said Hood. “We tried to think of everything to make this system as easy and convenient as possible.”

GreenSwitch™ has signed an exclusive, long-term license with the producers of HGTV’s LIVING WITH ED and actor and environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr. to endorse the product nationwide. Begley and his wife Rachelle Carson recently installed a GreenSwitch™ in their home. “It allows us to have a master shut off to all of the programmed outlets, so we can shut down TVs and other things that draw power even when they’re not in use,” said Begley.

Carson is relieved that it will cut down on her husband’s nagging to turn off the lights before she dashes out of the house. “It’s real easy to use, like it’s very idiot-proof,” she said.

“One of our main priorities in developing GreenSwitch™ is its convenience, because bottom line, we are hoping that as a result of its simplicity, people will use it to save energy and save money,” said Hood. “You don’t realize how much standby power you are using in your house. Just look around your home and see how many red and green lights are on.” According to the United States Department of Energy, 10 to 15 percent of a home’s electricity use is just from electronics on standby mode alone.

“I want to be a part of any product that helps me become a proactive partner in reducing energy consumption and creating a healthier environment. GreenSwitch™ is going to be an important tool in helping me achieve that illusive goal of getting off-the-grid, or this close to it,” Begley says, indicating a small space between his thumb and finger.

GreenSwitch™ can be purchased online at www.GreenSwitch.tv. The cost can vary depending on the homeowner’s needs and size of home. By building their own system, the homeowner is given the ability to control their cost.

Installation can also be completed by the homeowner, or by the GreenSwitch™ dedicated team available with ongoing support and service.
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Super Computer Powered by Bicycle

2007-09-18T02:35:00.000-07:00

SiCortex, the first company to engineer a Linux cluster from the silicon up, demonstrated the opportunity for power savings in high-performance computing. The SC648 computer conducted complex genomics analysis at billions of calculations per second while being powered by a team of 8-10 bicyclists.

The demonstration was shown at Wired NextFest. SiCiortex says that power consumption has become one of the most important issues in supercomputing in the form of not only power required to operate the computers, but also power required to cool the computers due to heat generated.

"Ten years ago, this analysis was impossible on even the biggest computers, and now it's being done on a bicycle powered machine," said Mucci "Ten years from now, we'll probably be doing it right down at the docks as they unload the ships. But these tools will only proliferate if we learn to design them to be sustainable." The computer used in the demo was powered by cyclists from the Jax Racing team using eight special Trek bicycles putting out 260W each.

As noted in Chewontech also.

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U.S. and China Sign Agreement to Increase Industrial Energy Efficiency

2007-09-16T01:27:00.000-07:00

DOE to Conduct Energy Efficiency Audits on up to 12 Facilities

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs Karen Harbert and Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC) Chen Deming, this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase cooperation and energy efficiency in China's industrial sector, which accounts for 70 percent of the country's total energy demand. This MOU, titled Industrial Energy Efficiency Cooperation, follows discussions this week at the third U.S.-China Energy Policy Dialogue where the U.S. and China agreed to conduct audits to increase China's national, regional, and local energy efficiency.

U.S. and China Sign Agreement to Increase Industrial Energy Efficiency
DOE to Conduct Energy Efficiency Audits on up to 12 Facilities

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs Karen Harbert and Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Committee (NDRC) Chen Deming, this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase cooperation and energy efficiency in China's industrial sector, which accounts for 70 percent of the country's total energy demand. This MOU, titled Industrial Energy Efficiency Cooperation, follows discussions this week at the third U.S.-China Energy Policy Dialogue where the U.S. and China agreed to conduct audits to increase China's national, regional, and local energy efficiency.

"This agreement signifies the importance of our strategic energy and economic cooperation with China," Assistant Secretary Harbert said. "As global energy use continues to rapidly increase, the U.S. is working to identify ways to increase industrial energy efficiency both domestically and across the globe. Our U.S. industry has significant expertise and products that can improve energy efficiency in China."

The Industrial Energy Efficiency Cooperation MOU signifies the U.S. and China's intention to promote energy efficiency at energy-intensive factories that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A DOE team of industrial energy efficiency experts, which includes a NDRC counterpart team, will conduct on-site plant audits of the production process and plant energy systems at up to twelve facilities from "The Top 1000" energy enterprises in China. DOE will provide tools to conduct the plant audits and train factory personnel on plant audit techniques. These facilities must have the resources and feasibility to implement energy efficient improvements identified by the DOE and NDRC teams. DOE will subsequently conduct a comparison study of these Chinese enterprises and U.S. manufacturing plants to identify differences in best practices. The MOU could also serve as a conduit for American companies to export environmentally superior U.S.-made equipment and services to China.

DOE intends to host training sessions in the United States for Chinese officials to familiarize energy-saving management personnel, including government personnel, energy-saving supervisory and monitoring personnel, energy policy research personnel and the management of big energy consumption enterprises, with U.S. energy saving laws, policies, advanced energy saving procedures and technologies and best practices. DOE will also provide demonstrations for highly-efficient boilers, fired heaters and combined heat and power units.

Through Save Energy Now Assessments, DOE works proactively with the U.S. industrial sector to assess energy use and devise strategies for savings. Since 2006, DOE has conducted 344 industrial energy assessments, identifying potential energy cost savings of more than $585 million and 60 trillion btu per year. When fully implemented, the greenhouse gas emissions savings would be equivalent to removing nearly 850,000 vehicles from the road each year.

The signing of this MOU follows cooperation through a number of bilateral and multilateral partnerships aimed at increasing energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing barriers to private investment in clean energy technologies including the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, the U.S.-China Oil and Gas Industry Forum, Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.

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Beijing launches mass energy-saving campaign

2007-09-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

China has launched a new campaign to mobilize citizens to reduce energy use and pollution, the Financial Times reported. It includes a TV program that showcases "energy saving champions" and calls on people to wash their clothes by hand once a month and cut down on alcohol consumption. Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan, who launched the campaign, said that the sustainability of China's economic and social development were at stake and demanded that people "take spontaneous action to address the issue." The country's economy grew 11.9% in the second quarter of the year, but power production rose by about 16% during the same period. Rising power demand - which is met through an increasing reliance on coal-fired power stations - is driven by the expansion of energy intensive industries such as steel and construction rather than individual consumption.

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Powering the future and saving the planet

2007-09-13T01:19:00.000-07:00

Skimming through the Washington Post today, I came upon two very different articles that say something very important about two very different ways to approach the coming crises — the crisis of global climate change and the fossil fuel energy crunch.

Fossil fuels are the major sources of greenhouse gases that are cooking the atmosphere. And fossil fuels, especially oil and natural gas, will be reaching peak in the course of this generation.

So we have to find other ways to power our needs (not our excess - no technology will be able to do that — but our needs).

So here’s one approach, Beyond Wind and Solar, a New Generation of Clean Energy. This article is about some of the exciting, innovative technologies that are being researched and developed, some of them very experimental and pretty exotic, like harnessing the energy of ocean tides.

This is that ‘all hands on deck’ approach to the problem. We have to move away from fossil fuels, and we have to do this before we cook the planet to the point where it cannot support life as we know it, including us. Rather than sit in despair, engineers and scientists get busy.

This is important because there is no one technology that will save us, including solar and wind. What it will take is multiple approaches, lots of appropriate technology, little and big, locally sourced and produced as much as possible. There is a great deal of effort and ingenuity going into all this, and much of it without significant public funds.

Here’s the other approach, U.N. Climate Talks End in Cloud of Discord:
Industrialized, Developing Nations Still at Odds Over How and When to Cut Emissions.

Aren’t we tired of this? Aren’t we tired of being represented in international talks on climate change by a White House playing an obstructionist role over and over again? Aren’t we tired of the western industrialized countries who have created this global warming crisis refusing to take their full responsibility for dealing with it?

Two things are required: 1) that the US and other developed countries cut their emissions drastically and soon (80% by 2050 is in the range of what is necessary); 2) that rich countries provide financial assistance and innovative technologies to poor countries so that they can develop in a way that does not lock in more greenhouse gas emissions for the foreseeable future.

It is very clear that our lameduck President Bush will stall action for the remainder of his term. The talks he has proposed for 15 nations to discuss and set ‘aspirational goals’ to cut carbon emissions is a joke, given the urgency.

And that makes Congress and the next elections extremely important. Advocates who care about these things should look long and hard at candidates’ records on climate change and energy, and who in the energy sector provides funds for their campaigns. This administration was at the service of the oil and gas companies and their record shows it. So, too, the coal industry, and we know, for example, that Obama has received contributions from the coal industry and supports further development of liquified coal — which comes to us mostly from strip-mining and mountaintopping. He also gets money from the nuclear energy industry.

This, along with the Iraq war, is the most important issue of our times — this little business of saving the planet. It is long past time when this government needs to get its priorities straight.
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Saving Live Earth can start at home today

2007-09-11T01:14:00.000-07:00

Rolf Disch has harnessed the sun in his city of Freiburg, starting with his own house.

It looks like an upside-down Apollo spacecraft and serves as a testing ground for ideas dreamed up by the 63-year-old solar architect.

The home slowly turns with the sun to charge a billboard-sized solar panel on the roof, and the waterless toilet emits an occasional malodorous whiff. Hanna Lehmann, Disch’s wife, says she doesn’t mind these features but admits she’d like to have a freezer, except that it would eat up too much electricity for her husband’s liking.

Disch and his city are pioneers in energy-saving, and a growing number of eco-tourists flock here to admire his house, known as the Heliotrope, from the Greek words for “sun” and “turn.” Across the city, solar panels are on everything from the soccer stadium to entire neighborhoods with homes that produce more energy than they use.

“ Energy was too cheap for people to take it seriously, but with the rise in energy costs and the IPCC report people see that they have to look for other solutions now,” Disch said, referring to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which documented scientific evidence for global warming.

With its focus on solar energy, Freiburg demonstrates the progress that can be made by promoting, developing and using renewable energy. But the city of more than 200,000 in the sunny southwestern corner of the country also is an example of how far technology in the solar sector has to go - it produces less than 1 percent of its electricity from the sun.

Residents boast that Freiburg’s solar power roots go back to a protest in 1975 against plans for a nuclear plant.

“ They didn’t want nuclear power in their backyards and fields,” said Thomas Dresel of the city’s Environmental Protection Agency.

The protest also drew experts who helped develop alternative energy solutions, Dresel said. The region now has more than 900 solar installations and is home to leading research institutions and companies working to make renewable energy more practical.

In 1981, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems was founded in Freiburg, and a number of similar facilities followed. Fraunhofer now employs some 500 people and is Europe’s largest solar energy research institute.

Germany as a whole has followed Freiburg’s lead in trying to save energy, encouraged by the environmentally friendly Green Party that was in former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s governing coalition. In 2000, Germany decided to phase out nuclear plants by 2020, and it has adopted legislation promoting the development and use of renewable energy sources.

Renewables made up more than 5 percent of Germany’s total primary energy supply in 2006, according to the Environment Ministry. The government’s goal is to increase the share of electric power from renewables to 12.5 percent by 2010 and 20 percent by 2020.

Wind energy remains the country’s leading renewable source of electricity, but solar power use has increased to about 750 megawatts installed in 2006, up from 83 megawatts in 2002, according to the German Solar Industry Association.

The solar industry is now becoming a $6 billion a year business that builds more than 50 percent of the world’s installed solar panels. About 43,000 people work in the industry, according to the association.

“ Germany is technologically leading in solar technology, most solar plants are installed here and, what is even more important, are produced here,” said Carsten Koernig, head of the German Solar Industry Association. “And this is the decisive factor, because other countries will follow and then we want to supply these huge growth markets with solar technology ‘made in Germany.’”

In Freiburg, the city government started encouraging saving power in 1986 in “direct reaction” to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of that year, and city and scientists have worked well together, said Karin Schneider, the Fraunhofer Institute’s spokeswoman.

More than half the year is sunny here, “but it doesn’t really matter if we’re here or in the rest of Europe,” said the environmental agency’s Dresel.

Although most Freiburgers still live under traditional tile roof homes, homes built in the city’s renovated Vauban district must follow low-energy standards. These include triple-thick glass windows and walls of compressed natural materials - that help create all the energy they will need. These cost around 15 percent more than a conventional house, according to Disch.

These “passive” houses lie in a zone with strict limits on car traffic. Some cynics poke fun at the spectacle of solar panels mounted on a parking garage, but Freiburgers generally have embraced the culture of renewable energy sources.

Disch’s architectural firm is in the Solar Ship, a mixed residential and commercial building with “Plus energy” apartments he designed. The apartments, atop the ship, have solar panels that generate four times the energy they consume.

The headquarters building of solar panel maker Solar-Fabrik features a photovoltaic facade and a generator run on vegetable oil that meets all the building’s energy needs.

The power company Badenova says about 10 percent of its customers now opt for paying more to have renewable energy.

Another initiative combines solar technology and sport. The city’s soccer team showers after games with water heated by solar panels on the stadium roof. The team gave season tickets to investors in the project.

Other panels on the stadium earn money by feeding electricity into the power grid and were financed by a partnership of local teams SC Freiburg and Baenova, which offered public shares in the project.

For all Freiburgs efforts to use renewable energy, Dresel acknowledges that the sun generates just 0.74 percent of his city’s electricity supply.

“ For the time being it’s still very small, but the qualitative aspect is very strong,” Dresel said. “This creates momentum for the future.”

Renewable energy in the Freiburg region makes up almost 4 percent of energy production. The city has set a target of 10 percent of renewable usage by 2010. Freiburg already has set some low energy requirements for home buyers.

It helped that Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act, passed in 2000, set a healthy price to be paid for renewable energy fed into the electricity grid, and that figure was revised upward in 2004.

But even in a city pioneering renewable energy, Disch complains that he has to be as creative in getting money for his projects as he is in designing them.

“ It’s getting less difficult,” he said, “but it’s still hard.”
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Australian advocating a national 20% renewable energy target for 2020

2007-09-10T01:11:00.000-07:00

WIND, solar and other renewable energy should make up 20 per cent of power needs within 12 years if Australia wants to seriously cut the carbon emissions causing climate change, the head of the energy giant AGL said.

AGL's chief executive, Paul Anthony, is calling on the Prime Minister, John Howard, and the Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, to set a renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2020, a far more ambitious goal than either side has agreed to so far. "Look at the rest of the world," Mr Anthony told the Herald. "You can't effectively have a carbon abatement scheme without a very, very strong national obligation for renewable energy."

Mr Anthony's comments come as the major parties are examining targets for renewable energy in the lead-up to the federal election. For a decade, the Howard Government has resisted raising the mandatory national target for renewable energy above 2 per cent. Labor is expected to release its target soon.

Mr Anthony has been appointed chairman of the sustainable energy pressure group which is about to become the Clean Energy Council. His company has one of the largest retail energy businesses in Australia, with 3.6 million customers. He also criticised the Howard Government approach to a carbon emissions trading scheme, which is supposed to set a price on carbon from fossil fuels that are causing pollution.

While committed to a trading scheme by 2012, neither Mr Howard nor Mr Rudd will set national targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions until after the election. Without targets, the emissions trading scheme cannot operate. Mr Anthony said business was concerned that there was still so much confusion over how the scheme would work. "The piecemeal disclosure of the Government's thinking worries us," he said. "We are finding it difficult to understand the logic." Most concerning, he said, was the plan by the Government to auction some permits to emit greenhouse gases but give permits or exemptions to particular industries.

Questions were raised about AGL's commitment to renewable energy recently when it dropped its plans to build the Dollar Wind Farm in Victoria. Mr Anthony insisted this was simply because there were better sites elsewhere. "We've got a strong appetite for wind," he said, pointing to plans to build a $600 million wind farm at Macarthur in Victoria.

Mr Anthony said he believed Australia could economically make deep cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
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Teaching small business to save energy, money

2007-09-07T05:34:00.000-07:00

According to local MP Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain), small businesses can help fight climate change and save money at the same time. Charlton delivered that message at a well attended forum for local businesses she hosted last night with the help of Green Venture, a group dedicated to economic development through renewable energy and energy efficiency.

"All too often, politicians pay lip service to the fact that small businesses are the engine of our economy without recognizing that many are barely able to keep their financial heads above water," said Charlton.

"One of the highest cost factors for many of these businesses are those related to energy consumption."

Charlton also noted that little had been done to share energy saving incentives and program information with the very business owners that would stand to benefit the most from such targeted resources.

Last night's forum was facilitated by an expert panel of representatives from local energy conservation groups and the renewable energy sector. The panel provided helpful information on innovative technologies, products, processes and services designed to save money and reduce energy consumption in commercial applications.

"I was very pleased to learn that there is a government program that will help me conduct an energy audit of my business operation," said Angela Fisher, owner of M & M Meat Shops on Upper Wentworth in Hamilton. "I look forward to taking advantage of this service."

"Last night's presentation truly engaged local businesses in meaningful and practical discussions about everything from LED Christmas lighting and solar technology," said Sapphire Singh of Green Venture, who helped facilitate the discussion. "It was a great opportunity to find out what people are already doing and how they would like to expand on those efforts."

"Clearly, hard-working people in our community are demanding action on the climate crisis and small businesses are eager to cut costs," said Charlton. "I am just pleased to have been able to provide a forum where solutions to both problems can be discussed."

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How to save live earth and at the same time keep cool

2007-09-06T03:43:00.000-07:00

With triple digit temperatures expected throughout the week, it's important to stay cool, but also save energy while doing it.

PG&E is helping Valley residents accomplish both with their 'Flex Your Power Now' program. The program offers helpful tips to residents trying to beat the heat without having to pinch their pocketbook.

Here's a look at PG&E's 'Flex Your Power Now!' plan:

Flex Your Power Now! is an electricity conservation alert system designed to prevent stage one electrical emergencies, as declared by the California Independent System Operator.

Quick Powering-Down Tips:

* Turn off unneeded lights, computers and appliances
* Set thermostat to 78°F or higher when you're home
* Set thermostat to 85°F or off when you're away
* Use major appliances and equipment after 7 P.M.

In the event that power supply or delivery emergencies occur this summer, the public will receive important early-warning information from Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the states other utilities, government, businesses and the mass media.
You can do your part to help the state by practicing conservation and installing energy-efficient appliances which will in turn help save energy and money this summer and throughout the year.

Easy Ways to Save Energy and Money:

* $35 could be yours just for inviting PG&E to pick up your old home refrigerator for recycling
* Small and medium-sized business customers can still take advantage of several PG&E rebates and incentives
* Business customers can reduce energy use when supplies are low and get financial incentives by participating in PG&Es demand response programs.
* Discounts on lighting products are available at hundreds of retailers

Stay with KMPH and KMPH.com as we continue to follow the Valley's heatwave.
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Heat recovery ventilators clean air, save energy

2007-09-05T01:49:00.000-07:00

New on the "green" horizon is an exotic machine that freshens your air and makes your home a nicer place to live, while saving you energy.

It's called a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) and it efficiently gets rid of fumes from cooking, bathrooms, cosmetics and carpets while helping heat or cool a home.

As a result, you save enough energy to certify your home as green and qualify you for Energy Star and Earth Advantage programs, so you get rebates from the Oregon Energy Trust, as well as tax credits through the Oregon Department of Energy, says Bernie Gordon, who sells the devices with Spring Air of Jacksonville — and does the paperwork for the credits.

"It's green because it reduces your carbon footprint in two big ways — saving energy and lowering your impact on the energy infrastructure of the U.S.," he says. "It's a sustainable product that makes your home last longer."

In regular homes, people count on kitchen or bathroom fans to bring in fresh air and the effect, Gordon says, is that they rely on leaks, pulling outside air in through cracks around doors, windows and in walls, stressing those gaps and even leading to moisture that can create mold inside walls.

What the heat recovery ventilator does is exhaust the stale indoor air, but before it does, it sends that air through a box where (for heating) it robs the old air of most of its heat, transferring it to incoming fresh air, he says.

Even so, few homeowners or builders know about HRVs — and think they get plenty of fresh air from people walking in and out the front door.

"Generally, the HRV is an air quality issue for high-end homes and people feel they get enough new air through kitchen and bathroom fans," says Rick Milne of S&S Heating and Air Conditioning in White City.

"It's ideal for newer homes, which are real tight. You can use them to get rid of air full of cooking smells, perfumes and odors from carpeting." HRVs are not cheap, they cost about $2,500 installed, including the ducting — but they do add to the resale value of homes, allowing you to market it as a "green" building.

When cooling, the HRV does the same thing in reverse, transferring coldness from outgoing air molecules onto the incoming air. You can also buy devices that transfer desired humidity. These are called ERVs — energy recovery ventilators.

The air of a house should be exchanged at the rate of .35 exchanges an hour and not less than 15 cubic feet per minute per person — and an older home will, because of leaks, exceed that, says the August 2000 issue of Popular Mechanics . It adds that an electrostatic filter working with forced air heating will help exchange air but won't remove excess moisture, stale air or pollutants in the air.

An HRV handles all these problems and saves about 80 percent or more of the heat in outgoing air, says Gordon.

The HRV can easily be added during construction or remodeling, but might be hard to fit in older homes, especially if the heater is in a closet or other small space, Gordon says. The devices are about 2 feet by 2 feet wide by 1 foot high and require, with ducts, a space of 4 by 4 wide by 8 feet high. Do you part for love earth today.

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100 ways to reduce waste

2007-09-04T03:39:00.000-07:00

Jim Wagner's 100 ways Frederick County residents can conserve

BEHAVIORAL

1. Take a thermos of something to drink with you to work or school instead of buying cans, bottles and cups of things to drink.

2. Try putting cold tap water in your thermos, or iced tea made at home, or some other drink prepared at home. If you want soda, or other store-bought beverages, buy a big bottle and use that to fill your thermos.

3. If you forget your thermos, or need something else to drink, use your own cup and fill it from a fountain dispenser or ask a clerk to fill it from behind the counter (if this is required).

4. Think about all of the wrappers, containers and other packaging you are using and try to reduce them. Buy products that support this concept.

5. Send letters to manufacturers suggesting these things.

6. Paper, cardboard, glass and metal packaging (in that order) seems better than plastic.

7. Be critical of yourself as you waste and pollute. Constantly think of ways you could be doing things better.

8. Avoid driving. RIDE A BIKE OR WALK.

9. If you need transportation, use mass transit.

10. If you must drive, car pool.

11. Buy a hybrid vehicle if you can afford it.

12. Don't be lured into the notion that if you are conserving in one area, you can waste in another. (Many people with hybrid cars, for example, end up driving more than they have to, thus negating their fuel savings.)

13. If the price of gas goes down, do not be tempted to drive more. Constantly try to find ways to drive less.

14. If you can't afford a hybrid vehicle, get the most fuel-efficient vehicle you can find that suits your minimum needs.

15. Live near your place of employment (or work near your home) to avoid long commutes. Work at home whenever you can.

16. If you must commute, ask your place of employment about a compressed work week (working 4,10 hour days instead of 5, 8 hour days.)

If you must drive, carefully plan your driving route, minimizing miles traveled.

17. When driving on the highway, keep your speed below 55 mph.

18. Do not be shy about being an example to others in doing the things herein.

19. Avoid vacations which require long-distance driving. Consider taking a train or bus for long-distance travel.

20. Do not go through the "drive thru". Park and walk in.

21. Keep your vehicle tuned up to maximize fuel economy. Keep your tires properly inflated.

22. I've heard it recommended that tires be rotated to increase their useful life.

23. Live in the city.

24. Buying locally grown/produced products is part of this. Less transportation, less energy needed.

25. We ought to be thinking and planning now for the consequences of some of these changes. What will happen nationally and internationally with less commerce, and how do we help to insure healthy regional economies if erstwhile trading partners stop becoming trading partners?

26. Support laws, movements, businesses, candidates, artists and others who understand the issues and solutions mentioned herein, and are willing to do something about them. We need changes in policy immediately.

27. Consider a career in an area that helps in some way.

28. Use your own (reusable) bags when you go shopping.

29. Take your own reusable containers and use them to buy bulk produce.

30. When outdoors, do everything possible to prevent fires.

31. Do not smoke cigarettes or anything else.

32. Support your local fire company, even other fire companies.

33. Take care of things, in general, to make them last. Get away from the throw-away American mentality. Producing less will save energy.

34. In line with the principle of "re-use" is the buying and selling of good quality used items.

35. Stop spending money on unneeded things so that you can donate to worthy charities trying to promote a better world.

36. Do not support the pet explosion.

37. Do not over-eat.

38. Take care of your health.

39. Eat lower on the food chain. A one pound tomato costs less energy to make than one pound of beef.

40. Reduce family size. Many people have said we need zero population growth. Consider adopting, as many have, if you want children.

41. Never use one of those electric hot air hand dryers in the bathrooms of some restaurants. I do not use paper towels either. I dry my hands on my shirt on the sides.

42. Eating in fast food restaurants seems wasteful to me, with all of the paper waste and throw-away items. Avoid snacks out of vending machines.

43. Take the stairs, not the elevator.

44. Make two-sided copies whenever you can, and print from a computer on two sides.

45. Buy organically-grown food which does not use petroleum based fertilizers, and is grown without the use of oil-derived pesticides and herbicides.

HOME

46. Use biodegradable/compostable bags rather than plastic bags. Use wax paper in preference to plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

47. Use other non-petroleum based products, such as "Seventh Generation" dish soap.

48. Use recycled paper products, such as "Earth First" bathroom tissue.

49. Use a cloth handkerchief instead of Kleenex or other paper tissues. Wash the handkerchief with your weekly load of laundry.

50. Avoid using paper towels. Use cloth towels when possible.

51. If you've used a re-sealable plastic bag or baggie, wash it out, dry it and reuse it.

52. When you wash clothes, use the shortest cycle possible based on the size of the load.

53. Do not use a clothes dryer. Use a clothesline.

54. Do not use an iron. Put clothes on hangers promptly after taking them down from the line to help remove wrinkles.

55. Do not use a hair dryer. Use a towel and let it air dry.

56. Do not use a dish washer.

57. Turn your heat way down in the winter.

58. Do not use air conditioning.

59. Turn down your hot water heater to the lowest possible temperature.

60. If you have the money, increase the insulation in your house.

61. Consider adopting some of the "green building codes" for your house.

62. Replace your old appliances with energy efficient "Energy Star" appliances.

63. Avoid using your computer. I do not use the Internet from my house. I access it from the Frederick Library where the computers are always on anyway.

64. If you use your computer, avoid turning it on and letting it sit. If you are writing something on the computer, hand-draft your document first. If you have something simple to type in one copy, do it on a mechanical typewriter the way we used to.

65. Turn lights off when leaving a room!

66. Motion detector light switches may be useful for certain areas, like a shop/garage.

67. Avoid using lights at all during daylight hours.

68. Avoid turning lights on at night.

69. Plant a tree in your yard.

70. Grow your own food in a garden.

71. Do not cut trees down around your house. Deciduous trees are beautiful insulation!

72. Live in the smallest house and lot possible that meet your needs. Literally, minimize your footprint on the planet. If you're living in a big house, do not heat and cool the portions of it that are infrequently occupied.

73. Do not use a gasoline or electric powered lawn mower to cut your grass. Use a human-powered reel mower.

74. Use non-electric and non-gas powered garden tools.

75. Avoid using power tools of any kind.

76. Avoid unchecked fires in your home by making sure your smoke detectors work. Replace old wiring in your house and practice other fire prevention measures.

77. Try a wind-up alarm clock, instead of an electric or battery operated one.

78. I've read that microwave ovens actually save energy. Look into this.

79. Always cover a pot on the stove.

80. If you slice things like a potato, into small pieces, they boil very fast.

81. You can turn a burner off, and things will continue to cook in the hot water.

82. After you boil something on the stove, save the hot broth to use as soup or to make tea, or to use for some other purpose. Do not waste it if you can avoid it.

83. Try cooking less. Eat bulk vegetables like green beans, and peas uncooked.

84. The ideal foods and products are those which are made locally, do not require much packaging for storage and transport, and do not require refrigeration for storage and transport.

85. If you can afford it, have solar panels installed on your roof.

86. And there are wind turbines for the home.

87. Consider switching your appliances to DC if you have solar panels. I've read that an AC converter results in losses.

88. Suggest the Green Building Codes for your workplace or place of worship.

89. Do not support the use of cut-down Christmas Trees.

90. Use a carpet sweeper rather than a vacuum cleaner.

91. Compact fluorescent bulbs are several times more energy efficient than standard incandescent bulbs and they last much longer.

92. For infrequently used appliances, especially, unplug them when they are not in use.

POLITICAL/ECONOMICAL

93. I don't know how we can be supporting the sport of automobile racing.

94. I don't know how we can be supporting land "development" either.

95. The biggest business we're planning on not supporting is the oil industry

96. It seems prudent to me that we stop running deficits, get to a balanced budget, and start paying down the debt.

97. We should also think about what will happen to the economies of oil-producing countries if oil is no longer demanded. We should help them plan for this.

98. We should also make it known to everyone in this country (including our leaders) that we are using two times as much energy per capita as any other country in the world.

99. Work for peace. The only stable solutions to energy and environmental problems are going to be those which are built on principles of stable peace.

SPIRITUAL

100. Pray and seek the Guidance of the Spirit as we move forward. As Jesus, the embodiment of the Spirit says, all things are possible with God. I know God wants us to make it through these problems.
Do you part for love earth today.

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Drive smartly

2007-09-03T23:35:00.000-07:00

Changing your car to a new environmentally friendly model may not be easy for us all. But there are some ways you can reduce your fuel consumption, save money and help the environment too. The following simple tips could save the average driver £120 a year and reduce your CO2 emissions by 200kg per year.

* Gear Changes
Change up before 2,500rpm (petrol) and 2,000rpm (diesel).Do you part for love earth today.

# Plan Ahead
Anticipate road conditions and drive smoothly, avoiding sharp acceleration and heavy braking. This saves fuel and reduces accident rates.

# Air Con
Use air conditioning sparingly as it significantly increases fuel consumption.

# Kill Your Speed
The most efficient speed depends upon the car in question but is typically around 55 - 65mph. Faster speed will greatly increase your fuel consumption.

# Don't Wait Around
Drive away immediately when starting from cold - idling to heat the engine wastes fuel and causes rapid engine wear.

# Aerodynamics
Roof racks, bike carriers, and roof boxes significantly affect your car's aerodynamics and reduce fuel efficiency, so remember to remove them when not in use.

# Avoid Short Distances
A cold engine uses almost twice as much fuel and catalytic converters can take five miles to become effective. Walking or bikes can be a great alternative to short journeys.

# Plan Your Route
Plan your journeys to avoid congestion, road works and getting lost. Sat Nav and online map services such as Google Maps can help you find the way.

# Tyre Pressure
Under-inflated tyres are dangerous and can increase fuel consumption by up to 3%.

# Switch Off
Stuck in a jam, switch the engine off if you expect to be there for more than a minute or two. Cutting the engine will save fuel and reduce emissions.

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Companies taking up the green idea

2007-09-02T23:23:00.000-07:00

For U.S. companies, going green has never looked so good.

In one of the most dramatic turnabouts in corporate America, previously environmentally apathetic businesses of all sizes and in all industries are rushing to portray themselves as Earth-friendly or touting the eco-friendly aspects of their newest products.

Hardly a day goes by without announcements hawking the latest green initiative, new store or design. Corporate executives are flocking to green-marketing seminars. Even the Business Roundtable, a group of 160 chief executives of major U.S. companies, recently sounded the alarm about the need to reduce greenhouse gases.

In Michigan, it's playing out in everything from landscape services selling special lawn-care programs to protect the watershed to energy-saving skylights and refrigerated cases at a new Wal-Mart set to open Wednesday in Livonia. A Grand Rapids firm has rolled out the first trade-show exhibit system made of recyclable and renewable materials.

With rising numbers of consumers awakened to the threat of global warming, being seen as green has become a competitive advantage, some marketing experts say.

"It's sort of sexy to be green," said Bonnie Carlson, president of the Promotion Marketing Association. "Corporations are jumping on the bandwagon because there's a real positive halo attached to that position."

At the same time, businesses' environmental records face more scrutiny. Climate Counts, a new nonprofit, has evaluated and ranked the climate-change efforts of 56 large companies. Consumers can download free pocket guides with the rankings.

The growth of green marketing

But image isn't the only motivation. Green products often command premium prices. And reducing energy usage helps companies save money.

In addition, companies in certain industries such as oil and gas hope to stave off tough climate-change regulations by selling themselves as environmentally conscious, said Thomas Lyon, a professor of sustainable science, technology and commerce at the University of Michigan's business school.

Various industries are "now positioning themselves for a carbon-constrained world," he said.

U-M also has tapped into this market. Lyon heads the school's Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, which offers a 3-year program that allows students to earn a master of science degree from the School of Natural Resources and Environment and an MBA.

"The challenge is to take something that is not naturally green and make it into a green product," said Sun Yu, president of Berkley-based Zen Design Group, which created a line of electronic toys that doesn't use disposable batteries.

Green marketing takes many forms, from traditional advertising to sponsorships of environmental groups or events such as the recent Live Earth concerts.

As it has spread, it also has become increasingly sophisticated. Gone are the days when companies simply labeled themselves or their products as green. Now, businesses must explain how they're green and advertise in multiple venues, not just television, said David Lockwood, research director at Mintel, a Chicago market research firm.

"Green awareness has progressed to the point where there is skepticism," he said.

Lockwood and other marketing experts also warn that selling a product based on its green attributes alone often doesn't work. Ironically, to be successful, companies also must offer some non-green value, such as greater convenience or savings.

"The trick is to have products that are needed and to make them better," he said.

Companies' claims checked

The rise of green marketing has raised concerns about greenwashing -- companies exaggerating their products' eco-friendly attributes or making misleading claims about their environmental efforts.

"There are more and more pressures for companies to start appearing green," said Michelle Chan, Friends of the Earth's program manager for green investments. "Therefore, there are more and more promises."

But with technology, businesses could find it harder to get away with greenwashing than in the past.

The Internet makes it easy for dishonest ad campaigns to quickly gain notoriety. And dozens of watchdog groups have sprung up to help consumers discern who's telling the truth.

These efforts could ensure that green marketing doesn't lose its effectiveness and become a fad.

"If anything, it's overwhelming, this wave of awareness," said Kert Davies, research director for Greenpeace. "Hopefully, this sticks around and is not just a phase." Do you part for love earth today.

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The dark side of CFLs

2007-09-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

If you're like me, you've been gradually replacing the incandescent light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent bulbs.

The CFLs, as they're called, use far less energy than a traditional light bulb, give off only a fraction of the heat, and generally last 10 times longer.

I can vouch for the latter. I had a CFL in a lamp in my house that burned 24/7 for at least 2½ years before it bit the dust, and I have a suspicion that it's because it was grazed by an errant Frisbee.

CFLs have come a long way since they first debuted. The early ones cast that eerily cold bluish light like their larger cousins, the fluorescent tube. And they were much more expensive.

But through science, they've evolved. They now have softer, warmer, more incandescent-like color and the costs have been coming down. Wal-Mart hopes to sell 100 million CFLs between now and next year. The EPA has been encouraging Americans to use CDLs and has a "Change a Light, Change the World" Web site where you can pledge to replace a specific number in your home in the coming year (www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=cal.pledgeForm).

Nearly 8,000 people in Michigan already have pledged to install 20,550 bulbs, which will save about $579,736 in energy costs and keep 9.1 million pounds of polluting greenhouse gases out of the air.

I've been blissfully replacing my incandescents as they burn out with the just-as-bright but much-more-miserly CFLs. I figure I'm cutting my electric bill while doing my part to cut down on pollution from power plants - carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and others.

CFLs all contain small amounts of mercury, essentially making them little repositories of household hazardous waste. Mercury, of course, is pretty nasty stuff. It's a powerful neurotoxin that can affect both brain and body function.

After the Maniac alerted me to the CFL issue, I did some research and found out he wasn't crazy after all. A typical CFL holds about 4 milligrams of mercury, enough to cover the tip of a ballpoint pen. comparison, an old-fashioned mercury thermometer has about 500 milligrams.

Nowadays if you break an old thermometer, an EPA SWAT team might descend on your home.

Break a CFL and you have a slightly smaller problem.

The EPA has been encouraging people to use CFLs, but here's the advice they have if you break a CFL:

1. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.

2. Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a sealed plastic bag.

3. Use disposable rubber gloves, if available. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the plastic bag. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

4. Place all cleanup materials in a second sealed plastic bag. Place the first bag in a second sealed plastic bag and put it in the outdoor trash container or in another outdoor protected area for the next normal trash disposal.

5. Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.

If you break it on a carpet, the clean-up is more complex.

To dispose of a burned-out CFL, you're supposed to find a recycler who will take it (good luck with that). If you don't, you're supposed to seal it in two plastic bags and throw it out with the trash (so a future generation will have to deal with it).
Do you part for love earth today.

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Cuba: new refrigerators save energy in Sancti Spiritus

2007-08-30T23:55:00.000-07:00

Over 70 000 units already replaced have allowed the saving of 6 megawatts. This is a significative figure for this territory where it has been reported 104 megawatts during the peak hours. It is estimated that the present program will save 1 000 million dollars per year in the country.

The replacement of high electricity consumption appliances -specially refrigerators- is one of the Energy Revolution’s measures that has yield best results in the Cuban central province of Sancti Spiritus, where the over 70 000 units already replaced have allowed the saving of 6 megawatts.

This is a significative figure for this territory where it has been reported 104 megawatts during the peak hours. It is estimated that the present program will save 1 000 million dollars per year in the country.

In a speech delivered in Pinar del Rio in January 2006, Cuban President Fidel Castro gave a large explanation about the many advantages of the Energy Revolution project launched in the island and referred to the new concepts for the renovation and modernization of the national generation and distribution network.

Fidel also stressed other essential goals like the reduction in the use of hydrocarbons, the adequate use of fuel and the introduction of technological methods that permit saving great quantities of dollars every year. Do you part for love earth today.

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Charge car owners for their usage of the car

2007-08-29T03:06:00.000-07:00

Charge people who owns big car and driving them. Charge them even more if it is not fuel efficient or environment friendly. Do you part for love earth today.

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Palmerton Area agrees to pay for energy-saving program

2007-08-26T02:27:00.000-07:00

The Palmerton Area School Board voted Tuesday to spend $2.84 million over 15 years for an energy conservation project that promises to pay for itself by reducing the district's use of electricity, water and other utilities.

Johnson Controls of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County will replace a boiler in the high school in Lower Towamensing, as well as perform asbestos abatement and roof work there. The company also will place energy-saving gadgets in vending machines and install equipment designed to conserve water at the high school.

Methods to make boilers more efficient will be completed in the junior high, also in Lower Towamensing, and at Palmerton Elementary and Towamensing Elementary.

The board voted 7-2 to hire Johnson Controls to make the improvements, with Carl Bieling Jr. and John Neff dissenting.

The company projects that at the end of 15 years, the school district will be ahead by $3,590, a nominal amount. But the company says the district will have gained new equipment at essentially no cost. The project cost is $1.9 million, but there are annual service fees totaling $118,553 over 15 years and finance charges with an interest rate of 4.512 percent. The school district will make annual payments between $134,000 and $239,000 per year.

The performance contract is designed to guarantee that the amount the district spends on new equipment and tactics to cut energy costs will not exceed what it will save. Phillip Solomon, a Johnson Controls account executive, said the company will refund the school district if costs surpass savings. Do you part for love earth today.

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Obama does not save the earth

2007-08-24T02:25:00.000-07:00

Any person with even a rudimentary amount of business sense knows that you should meet with experts when seeking consultation for just about anything you need help on. That’s why you don’t hire a lawyer to fix your car, don’t hire a seamstress to build a house and certainly don’t hire PETA to go hunting. Yet Barack Obama is once again showing his ignorance when he criticized the Bush administration for consulting with oil industry experts when coming up with an energy policy.

Democrats continue to talk out of both sides of their mouth when it comes to just about anything imaginable. For instance, check out the following nugget that dropped out of Obama’s mouth this afternoon.

WAVERLY, Iowa (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama said the country faces an “an urgent moral challenge” to reduce reliance on oil and needs a president willing to defy special interests in Washington that dictate energy policy.Do you part for love earth today.

Obama, casting himself an agent of change in a crowded field of White House hopefuls, suggested that he is voters’ best bet to shake up the status quo.

“We’ve got to have a president in the White House who sets bold targets and sets broad goals and isn’t intimidated by the barriers and the roadblocks and isn’t driven by those who already have an investment in the status quo - somebody who can overcome the lobby-driven, divisive politics that characterizes this issue,” Obama told about 300 people at Waverly Light and Power, the city utility.

Words like “divisive” and “lobby-driven” are used by Obama supporters to describe Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, a former first lady who is billing herself on the 2008 campaign trail as the only candidate experienced enough to make a change in Washington.

Obama did not mention Clinton or other rivals by name. But he did accuse the Bush administration of putting oil industry interests ahead of the public’s.

“We’ve got an energy policy that doesn’t just seem like it’s written by industry lobbyists,” he said. “It was written by energy lobbyists.”

Vice President Dick Cheney led the administration’s energy task force, which Obama said met once with environmentalists, once with renewable energy experts and 40 times with oil industry leaders.

Everybody knows that the Bush administration met with industry experts, just like every administration before him. This is no revelation. Yet Obama will say anything to get attention. Even the AP notes that environmentalists have their own lobbying groups that Democrats certainly met with on a regular basis.

The hypocrisy meter got stuck in the red when Obama talked about changing the status quo. Last I checked Obama was no different than any other politician that gains financially from shady land deals and quid pro quo favoritism. Too bad that most of us don’t get the same financial and political favors that Obama did from indicted businessmen like Tony Rezko who cornered the market on special interest perks. In Obama’s case it saved him a a couple hundred thousand dollars on his Hyde Park property that most of us aren’t status quo enough to own. Nor are we considered status quo enough to get a special internship from Obama, another perk of being tied to an unindicted co-conspirator and business associate of Tony Rezko.

In Waverly, Obama outlined his plans to require the use of more renewable energy, lower carbon in fuels and increase fuel efficiency of cars. Obama noted that his call to increase the number of miles an automobile can go on a gallon of gas upset politically important special interests in Detroit.

But he said smart energy policies are needed to reduce global warming, lower gas prices and make the country less reliant on foreign oil.

“It’s an urgent moral challenge that demands attention now,” he said. “We can free ourselves from the tyranny of oil.”

Obama was worried so much about those emissions that he used to drive a Chysler 300C SUV, a car that got 20mpg on a good day. Not to fear though, Obama’s campaign uses a flex-fuel GMC Yukon (pictured above). The only problem is that the Yukon is even less fuel efficient than the Chrysler. So when Obama talks about saving energy or changing the status quo you know he is talking with a mouth full of dung. In fact he is talking so much crap that Al Gore should be looking to charge him for expelling for excessive carbon emissions.

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Take public transport

2007-08-23T02:34:00.000-07:00

If possible, take public transport instead of driving your car to office. Do you part for love earth today.

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Turn off appliances when they are not in use

2007-08-22T02:29:00.000-07:00

Turn off lights when you're not in the room and unplug appliances when you're not using them. It only takes a second to be environmentally conscious. Do you part for love earth today.

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Maintain your car tyres

2007-08-21T02:22:00.000-07:00

Under inflated tires decrease fuel economy by up to three percent and lead to increased pollution and higher greenhouse gas emissions. Underinflation also increases tire wear, so it will save you money in the long run if you're good about checking your tire pressure. Do you part for love earth today.

Underinflated tires decrease your fuel economy and lead to increased pollution.

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Change your light bulbs

2007-08-17T02:20:00.000-07:00

Change your light bulbs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) last 10 times longer than a standard bulb and use at least two-thirds less energy. If you're shopping for new appliances or even home electronics, look for ENERGY STAR products, which have met EPA and U.S. Department of Energy guidelines for energy efficiency. In 2006, the ENERGY STAR program saved energy equivalent to taking 25 million cars off the road and saved Americans $14 billion in utility costs. Do you part for love earth today.

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Recycle plastic bags

2007-08-14T02:17:00.000-07:00

Plastic bags are not bio-decomposable. It harms the environment to get rid of it. Recycle the plastic bag by using it as a garbage bag or bring your own plastic bag the next time you go for shopping. Do you part for love earth today.

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Dump your car at home

2007-08-13T02:16:00.000-07:00

Turn your engine off and keep your car at home if you going to the shopping center that is just a stone throw away. Cycle or walk there instead. If you can stay off the road just two days a week, you'll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds per year. Do you part for love earth today.

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Save water

2007-08-12T01:44:00.000-07:00

Save every bit of your water. Turn off your taps when it is not in use. Got a leaky toilet? You might be wasting 200 gallons of water a day. Do you part for love earth today.

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Stop all the rock and music concerts

2007-08-11T01:39:00.000-07:00

Stop all the rock concerts now. They create a lot of waste that are often not recycled. The singer or star have to fly Do you part for love earth today.

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Stop buying CDs

2007-08-10T01:37:00.000-07:00

Love audio tracks? Do not buy the audio track in the form of CDs. CDs does a lot of harm to the environment. Buy the track from iTunes. It is only US$0.99 per track. Quite cheap. Do you part for love earth today.

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Run Linux

2007-08-09T01:35:00.000-07:00

Is your computer running slow? Don't want to throw it away? Why not switch to Linux as your primary OS (Operating System) Linux do not require so much RAM as Windows need. Thus there is no reason why you have to upgrade your RAM now. Do you part for love earth today.

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Donate your old computer to the third country people

2007-08-08T01:33:00.000-07:00

Have a computer that runs very slowly? Intend to throw it away? HALT!! Donate the computer to third world countries. People there would be more then happy to have one. Do you part for love earth today.

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Upgrade to a duo core

2007-08-07T01:30:00.000-07:00

Intel had made chips more power efficient. Today's chips are less hot and consume less electricity then yesterday's chips. If your computer is running slow, see if it is worth it to upgrade to a duo core. If you had the budget, upgrade to a quad core. Do you part for love earth today.

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Install a solar panel

2007-08-06T01:26:00.000-07:00

If you have enough cash to spare and if you live in a private house, install a solar panel and use the electricity for your water heater. Do you part for love earth today.

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Use 80% efficiently power supply

2007-08-05T01:21:00.000-07:00

Do you use computers close to everyday, use a power supply that has 80% efficiently. New computer should have this by now. But if you do not have one, do upgrade to one. I love this one. The Nexus NX-80-50 500 watts power supply. This is enough for a normal computer but may not be enough for a hardcore gamer.

Read the review at Chewontech.com

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Do not print documents

2007-08-04T05:25:00.000-07:00

Do not print documents. Do them online and it is better as you do not have to print the document on the paper and cause the trees to be cut down. Do your part and save live earth by not using so much paper.

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Save Live Earth Tip: Change your blog's background

2007-08-01T02:05:00.000-07:00

According to Chewontech.com, changing your blog's background saves more energy. Do you part and save live earth by changing your blog's background

Quote"
Apparently, an all white computer screen, such as an empty Word page, or the Google page, uses 74 watts to display, whereas a black screen consumes only 59 watts. So claimed Mark Ontkush in a post on the ecoIron blog in January. Doing a few back of the envelope calculations based on numbers of users per day and wattage for different coloured screen from EnergyStar, Ontkush figured that the energy saving would be 750 Megawatt hours per year if Google had a black screen."

Read more at Chewontech

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