When you decide to install environmentally friendly generators for your home, whether it be solar power systems, home wind turbines, solar hot water heater or any combination of the three, you’re going to increase the value of your home and cut your energy costs by up to 50%, while reducing greenhouse gases and your dependence on fossil fuels. The sun transmits more energy to the earth’s surface in one hour than humans use in an entire year, but currently, we don’t make the most of this free and abundant resource.
If you’re concerned about the potential for high costs when it comes to installing these products, here’s some good news. First of all, if you’re just a little bit handy, you can save literally thousands of dollars by installing the equipment yourself. There are many high quality DIY guides on the market today, and they contain easy to understand step-by-step instructions. In addition, there are numerous state and federal tax incentives available now. In fact, as of January 2009, the cap on federal tax credits was removed and environmentally friendly generators are as affordable as they have ever been.
Granted, not every home in America is going to match up with all of the necessary guidelines to justify a solar and/or wind power system. For example, the average number of sunny days and the average wind speed in any given area will play an important role in your decision. However, if your research proves the move to alternative energy is a wise one in your case, then you may want to build it.
With the advent of new technologies, thousands of environmentally friendly generators are now in use throughout the world, including full off-the-grid homes, weekend cabins and remote settlement communities. The RV and boating industry has taken full advantage of solar energy to bypass the need for utility hook-ups or unreliable generators while traveling. You may not know it, however wireless home solar power systems are utilized to enhance cellular phone signals around the world.
When you take a look at the big picture; great new technology, excellent do-it-yourself installation guides, energy cost savings, personal freedom, outstanding state and federal tax breaks and the fact that your helping to reduce greenhouse gases and the need for fossil fuels, there hasn’t been a better time in our history to take a look at installing an environmentally friendly generator for your home.
Tags: generators, solar, solar power systems, wind turbines
Different home solar power systems are most suitable for specific applications, and one properly chosen, designed, and installed will be more effective than one with less than optimum components.
The end result should dictate the kind of solar power used. If what you prefer a warmer swimming pool, you can place your solar photovoltaic panels on your pool house roof, but it will be more efficient to use heat to heat water rather than electricity. In this case, you will find a solar collector, which transfers heat without making it into electricity first, more direct, efficient, and affordable.
Photovoltaic cells absorb the heat from the sun – the energy – and other parts of the system convert it to electricity and deliver it to the unit which will use the power. The first cells and wiring systems lost as much energy as was delivered, but newer crystalline silicon cells and solar film devices are much more efficient. A home solar power system can pay for itself in less than one quarter of the time if the newer technology is used.
Outer space is the best place to collect sun energy, since the atmosphere of the earth blocks much of it before it reaches the surface of our land or water. Of course, none of us can launch a satellite or have the antennas to capture the energy beamed down. The most efficient way to gather the sun is to have a rotating dish, which follows the sun like a sunflower does. However, a stationary roof installation or free-standing panel set-up does well if sited to capture the most sun on an average basis.
Your daily electricity usage can be read on your power bills. An average daily usage is 1300 Kilowatt hours and such a whole house system can cost about $20,000 when professionally installed. The most affordable and user friendly systems are connected to the grid with ‘net metering’, when the electricity produced is sent to the utility grid for storage; the homeowner is only billed for energy not produced by the solar panels and therefore drawn from the grid.
An off-grid system must generate more energy than the batteries used for storage purposes in order to maintain their charge. Any source of energy over that is available for other uses. In this type of system, solar power is easy to control.
Tags: home solar power systems, solar, solar power, solar power system
Use Garden Solar Lights Around Your Home
Using garden solar lights as a feature is important if you want your home to have some curb appeal. There are lots of ways in which you can make your home stand out above the rest and make a statement. It’s important that you take advantage of the various methods, whether it is to satisfy yourself and your own style, or for purpose of selling the property.
Design is easy and yet complicated because people just don’t understand the basics. Most people will look to tangible pieces like furniture, sculptures and the like. Unfortunately, they tend to neglect the importance of light and how it can bring beauty to any space, both indoors or out. By using lights appropriately, you can achieve interesting results very easily.
For instance, a tree of any size in the garden can be a focal point just by using light that points up into it. This way, it is illuminated, making a statement both in the daytime and nighttime. Quite easily, it will draw the eye of anyone who is passing by.
Should also ensure that there is plenty of light by your front door. This will enable visitors as well as yourself and your family members to approach without any danger. In addition to that, you can also add some real style to your home by adding spotlights or recessed lighting in the soffits. This is the underside of the roof that overhangs.
Finally, using garden solar lights will also be very beneficial. Besides the fact that they are beautiful in the daytime as fixtures, they are also very functional. For starters, they are available in many different styles and materials. Therefore, you won’t run into any problems with regards to your design scheme and the architecture.
And, they are extremely useful in various areas, such as illuminating either side of the driveway, or a walkway, for that matter. This way, visitors can arrive in style and quite safely. From a design aspect, they can look amazing in a rock garden, too.
In addition to all the above, they provide might in a very economical way. That’s because they rely on solar power and not on electricity. All day long they absorb the energy that comes from the sun, and when it turns dark, they go on all by themselves. With regards to budget, they come in every type of price range, making them accessible to everyone, regardless of the budget and the financial situation of the individuals.
Find out more about this topic from the internet’s best site regarding this issue here!: residential solar energy, how to make a solar panel and small cheap solar panels
Tags: solar lighting
Home Solar Power Systems – Are They For You?
As money grows tight for some of us, we may be considering ways to save our money. But exactly how long-term do you plan your savings? A year from now? Ten years? Some decisions have more positive consequences that others over different periods of time. Renewable energy is one such positive decision, though it may not start to pay off immediately. By switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, you’re avoiding the price hike that is going to keep coming occasionally as the oil becomes more and more expensive. Renewable energy is only set to get cheaper as we develop more and more machines capable of creating it. People can also take advantage of making their own home solar power systems, which can generate enough electricity for many practical uses around the home. Here are some details about how they work.
Practical Solar Panels
There are many guides to making your own solar panel strewn across the Internet, but there’s a number of questions that are sometimes left unanswered. Solar panels work by utilizing a semi-conductor material such as silicon. Within a solar panel, these are known as solar cells. As the photons hit the solar cells and are absorbed, they bounce off the negative electrons and create a one-way flow, which in turn generates electricity.
The productivity of a solar panel is very dependent on its size. Having several large panels in series will provide a lot more electricity than a single small panel, obviously, but it’s also the voltage that determines its usefulness. Standard voltage varies around 12+ volts, which is practical for charging up deep cycle batteries up to 120Ah (Amp Hours). For many consumers, buying a single panel, then another at a later date could allow for an easily expandable electricity source.
As for measurements of how useful a solar panel might be to you; a 60w solar panel has the capacity to charge a 50Ah battery in around three and a half days. 60w solar panels are considered small and for personal use rather than for powering large appliances like our widescreen TVs. However, if you had enough patience, even a 60w panel could charge a large capacity battery enough to power such things. Larger panels, such as 120w ones can obviously charge batteries quicker and maybe even directly power appliances with the right equipment installed.
Now, let’s apply the same to a larger 120w solar panel. With the same battery, it would be 120w x 4 hours x 0.85 for natural loss equals 408Wh. That means you can charge that battery in just under three days. The battery when fully charged could power a 5w appliance for 240 hours, a 50w for 24 hours.
While solar panels can be a considerably expensive investment, they are in no way impossible to achieve. Whether you want to make your own or buy a ready-made one, they’re likely to pay themselves back ten times over during the course of their extensive lifetime (20 years plus). On top of this, you’re actively helping to preserve the environment by reducing the need for fossil fuels.
Find out more about this topic from the internet’s best site regarding this issue here!: residential solar energy, how to make a solar panel and small cheap solar panels
Tags: solar power
A Look At Using Hot Water Solar Panels To Make Your Home More Environmentally Friendly
Many people are searching for ways to make their homes more energy efficient. Whether this is due to a wish to make their home more environmentally friendly or simply to reduce the cost of your utility bills is not relevant. The fact is that using items such as hot water solar panels can be a great way to accomplish your goals.
You may have only seen panel systems used to generate power. This is a more traditional form that many people have seen or utilized in the past. You can also use a slightly different panel system to heat water instead of generate electricity. You can then use the heated water for a number of different purposes.
A solar heater is able to heat water due to a series of tubes that carry water through the panel itself. Solar radiation hits the tubing and the water gets warmer. That water circulates back into the building where it will be used. There may be a tank that is used to store the water or it may circulate through a further series of pipes that bring it to where it is needed most.
Heating a home is fairly easy when using water heated with a solar panel system. Radiant heating uses a tube system to carry heated water underneath the floor of a room. The room then becomes warmer as the heat from the water moves out into the room. This heating system has a number of advantages including the fact that there are no central ducts or elements to worry about.
Many people worry that they do not live in a region that has enough sunlight to operate a solar panel system. This is actually not the case. There are times during the winter when a back-up system may be needed but usually this is not the case. Even overcast skies are usually enough to make a solar hot water heater work effectively.
One of the first things you need to consider is where you will put your system. Ensure that it gets as much unobstructed sunlight as possible during the day. This will help to make sure that you have all the hot water you need. Knowing the dimensions of the space that you have to work with or that you will need for the system you want can make this process a lot easier in the long run.
The internet can be a very valuable resource when looking at hot water solar panels. You will be able to look at and price out different models in order to tell which will suit you best. You may also want to make sure that you get experienced help when installing these systems to make sure that they are installed and working properly.
Find out more about this topic from the internet’s best site regarding this issue here!: residential solar energy, how to make a solar panel and small cheap solar panels
Tags: water solar panels
Outdoor Solar Lighting Options To Choose From
People can spend a long time trying to get the outside of their house to look just a certain way. This will require a good bit of work and determination, but it also might require you to make a few purchases. This particular article will discuss some of the outdoor solar lighting options that you might care to consider for the outside of your home.
You will likely be able to determine on your own that there are plenty of different things that you are going to want to consider about lighting options like these. Having said this, you can look to this particular article to give you some of the prevalent information that you will need concerning various makes and models that you have to choose from. You will also learn a little about how these lights work.
That might actually be one of the best places to begin. During the day, the panels on these lights soak up UV rays, and these rays cause the cells located on this panel to react violently with one another. This reaction and activity starts to create energy and it is stored within the light. When the night falls, this stored energy is expelled as light to be seen.
There are all kinds of these lights that you are going to be able to choose from. This will make it rather easy for you to include them into whatever decor options that you might already be working with on the outside of your home. They are often very subtle, so people might see them more as a discreet compliment to what already exists.
There are several different special models that are meant for both decoration as well as the later lighting of your lawn and walkway throughout the night. One of the popular models would be the animal carrying a lantern in its mouth. Another would be the fake rock that blends in throughout the day, but provides a workable light throughout the night.
The most common of these are the small and discreet models that follow the walkway up to a home. Second to these would be the longer posted models that usually sit at either end of the walkway. Often times, the two types are coupled together. These provide a very aesthetically pleasing light, without being overbearing.
There are all kinds of outdoor solar lighting options for you to be able to choose from. Choosing the models that will work the best for your particular set up will require a little bit of consideration and planning, but it will be well worth your time if you put in the effort. Not only this, but you can save a little money on your electric bill while you are at it.
Find out more about this topic from the internet’s best site regarding this issue here!: residential solar energy, how to make a solar panel and small cheap solar panels
Tags: solar lighting
A solar tsunami is what numerous people are calling a solar flare that will hit Earth late Tuesday night. The solar flare was a huge explosion on the surface of the sun that sent a wave of ionized particles directly toward us. Across the surface of the sun, there is a huge solar flare rippling which is what makes a solar tsunami. NASA is preparing for the possibility of solar flare satellite damage. This will create a display of northern lights that is magical. Source of article – Massive solar flare will ignite big northern lights show Aug. 4 by Personal Money Store.
Solar tsunami happens because of solar flare
The solar flare erupted Sunday morning. Earth’s magnetic field caught some of the ionized atoms that were created by the tsunami and headed towards earth. Fox News reports the solar flare should hit the planet tonight, creating a geomagnetic storm and a northern lights display of rare intensity that might be seen as far south as the U.K.. The space weather could cause solar flare satellite damage, though scientists think that possibility is remote.
STEREO solar tsunami
Solar tsunamis emanating from the site of solar flares were confirmed to exist by NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). The sun is observed by the STEREO spacecrafts, reports Wired. They both center on Earth’s orbit. They’re placed in a manner that makes the sun look three dimensional at all times. The video below shows how STEREO found a solar tsunami happened in February 2009 where a 60,000 mile high way of plasma and magnetism went across the sun at 560,000 mph.
Sunday showed a rare solar flare
The second video below shows an very rare solar flare from the sun. Solar flares on the sun launched to Earth at about the very same time according to Telegraph. Telegraph interviewed Dr. Lucie Green from England who said the second eruption only happened because the first eruption was very large and messed up the Sun’s magnetic field. The result might be a major, prolonged geomagnetic storm that triggers solar flare satellite damage and northern lights at low latitudes.
Show of the northern lights
Northern lights could be seen when solar flares hit Earth because oxygen and nitrogen could be colliding with charged particles. GMTV reports that the charged particles excite the gas atoms into emitting small bursts of energy within the form of light. The color depends on what kind of gas is exploding. There can be colors like greenish-yellow, red, or blue depending on whether Oxygen or nitrogen is getting excited. The blending of these colors can also produce purples, pinks and white.
Further reading
Fox News
foxnews.com/scitech/2010/08/03/spectacular-northern-lights-signals-sun-waking/
Wired
wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/solar-tsunami/
The Telegraph
telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7923069/Nasa-scientists-braced-for-solar-tsunami-to-hit-earth.html
YouTube
youtube.com/watch?v=bMgBt-UuUak and amp;feature=related
YouTube
youtube.com/watch?v=rnqubAGgx2k and amp;feature=related
Tags: northern lights, solar flare, solar flare satellite damage, solar tsunami
over 1 million United States veterans were hurt by the herbicide/chemical weapon Agent Orange that has also caused a ton of birth flaws in Vietnamese kids. Diseases were brought home by the United States troops which were there either as a result of enlistment or due to the draft. Just a couple of these consist of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma and even acute peripheral neuropathy. In two months, approximately 270,000 Vietnam War veterans – more than a quarter of the 1 million-plus receiving disability checks, reports the Washington Post – are to be compensated for diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s and certain types of leukemia under a new rule. Within the next ten years, the United States taxpayers will have to pay a lot to support this. Around forty two billion dollars will be spent on it. Article resource – Agent Orange will cost America $42 billion over 10 years by Personal Money Store
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Loads of diseases from diabetes to erectile dysfunction come with Agent Orange
Diabetes is probably the most common medical problem Agent Orange caused for the Vietnam veterans, says the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Erectile dysfunction is a disease that normally age would cause but now is being tied Agent Orange, which means veterans get extra compensation. Alan Simpson, chairman of President Obama’s deficit commission, explained that federal spending gets a smack in the face with all of the extra cash being spent on veterans.
“The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess,” he said.
Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is also critical of what he calls “presumptive conditions” that are being addressed with taxpayer funds. On Sept. 23 or soon thereafter, Akaka will participate in a listening to that will address “what changes Congress and also the VA may need for making to existing law and policy,” he said via an e-mail obtained by the Post.
VA spending is not right
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs might end up paying too much for Vietnam veterans with diabetes, says the Associated Press. Independent calculations based upon upon VA records suggest that $850 million per year would sufficiently address those in need, but the VA’s numbers – which they do not track by specific illness – are estimated to be considerably higher. United States veterans are already getting $32 billion a year given to them by the VA. That is why an additional $42 billion in just the next a decade is such a surprising leap for many.
‘Credible evidence for association’ is available
Victoria Anne Cassano is the Veterans’ Health Administration Director of Radiation and Physical Exposures. She explains that there was a federal law created on Agent Orange in 1991 saying that chemical agents and afflictions do have a correlation with Agent Orange “if the credible evidence for the association is equal to or outweighs the credible evidence against the association.” It is not hard to prove that. The Post reports this. As Cassano puts it, “Does it make you take a deep breath? Does it give you pause? Yes. But you still do what you think is the right thing to do.”
U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs
publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/31/AR2010083106819.html
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange
The children of Agent Orange, 2008 (WARNING: Disturbing content)
youtube.com/watch?v=9zay0zcC0K4
Tags: agent orange, department of veterans affairs, vietnam, vietnam war
Oil spills in bodies of water mean big trouble. Fortunately, there are tools that will help contain the spill and make clean-up possible.
One of the key tools for containing oil spills in water is the floating boom. As its name indicates, it floats on water, which is, of course, what oil does as well. So the floating boom is perfect for keeping the oil where it is and preventing it from spreading. This is crucial for containing any contamination and damage.
Reports of oil yield per acre per year for green crude vary wildly from 5,000 to 150,000 gallons. One company, Valcent Products, claims that 150,000 gallons of green crude per acre is possible using a carefully controlled, closed loop system. Actual yields, though, currently top out at about 33,000 gallons per acre per year. Even by conservative estimates, it would take about 40,000 square miles of land to produce enough green crude oil to completely replace the United States’ consumption of conventional oil. That’s an area about the size of the state of Tennessee.
Before stocking up on floating booms, you need to determine exactly which type you might need.
There are booms for calm and protected waters. Then there are ones that will still work effectively in much rougher water, such as along the shoreline or even further off the shore.
Moreover, it is important to know whether there will be boat traffic, and if therefore the boom might have to be moved to let ships and boats through. This could be the case in a harbor area.
One example for a floating boom suitable for calm waters is the EconoMax oil spill containment boom. It is lightweight and compact, and has flat panels, so it can even be folded into sections. It is perfect for storing in boats, vehicles or trucks so you can quickly deploy it by hand if necessary.
If there is any lesson that needs to be learned from the coming of Typhoon Ondoy, it is definitely this: It is high time that we learned to respect our waterways. If we cannot help to clean and rehabilitate our waterways, then we should at least stop treating them as if they are our personal garbage bins. If Typhoon Ondoy, which was merely a Category 2 storm, could flood Metro Manila the way it did, what more would a stronger typhoon?
Instead of blaming other people for the disaster that happened, we should all becoming proactive and prevent another similar disaster from happening again. We need to start cleaning our waterways now!
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I remember when Wal-Mart became the largest company in the world. No one could have predicted that some country boy from a smudge on the map would have started a juggernaut whose scheme soaked into the fabric of all global markets. The early sales genius of Sam Walton in the 1940 ’s revolved around a very simple concept: buy low and sell everything for less than your competitors.
The company operates on that same concept today, but on a global scale that no other company can compete with. While their profit margin per product is low, it is the volume of the products sold that puts Wal-Mart ahead in the retail game.
But, what led to the GM bankruptcy?
The concept of planned obsolescence was a major factor in GM losing a great deal of money in the past decade. Planned obsolescence was a design concept that ensured a car would not last many years/miles in order to stimulate new sales of newer vehicles. In short, cars were purposely built not to last. This was a foolish notion because foreign import cars were known for their ability to last upwards of 200,000 miles. GM Bankruptcy shows planned obsolescence was a poor managerial concept.
Why did Sam Walton’s company go from a single local store to an international franchise? Is there a real secret to success, or were the stars just lined up correctly for such an occurrence?
Sam Walton expounded the buy low, sell low philosophy while others were just giving it lip service. Wal-Mart still pounds and oppresses their vendors to sell products at just above cost so they can, in turn, put those products on the market for less than everyone else. Making a little on a lot of volume makes for big revenues. It’s simple, if it’s done right.
Sarah and her husband Elvin were in the hay business in Alabama. They hauled hay from the fields to the stores or farms in the central part of the state. One year the rains failed, and the hay fields were depleted early in the growing season. Elvin heard that Tennessee had plenty of hay for sale. So, they proceeded to drive up Interstate 65, make their purchase, and deliver hay to their usual clientele, for the same price they were getting before.
What have we learned in 2009?
As we experienced the unprecedented, have we learned anything? I hope we did. Someone once said that if a person does the same things over and over again and expects different results, they are crazy. So, what are you going to do differently? How are you going to change how you manage your business, your finances, or your lifestyle, now that you have experienced the unprecedented?
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