292 Search Results for "earth"

• Green gym generates electricit Green gym generates electricity from bikers

  • From: arboinks
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    With their row after row of exercise machines, most gyms burn far more electrical power than calories. But by equipping stationary bikes and elliptical machines with generators, a San Diego gym has become as healthy for the Earth as it is for its patrons.

    The gym, named the Greenasium, uses a special bike called the visCycle. Produced by Resource Fitness, the visCycle generates enough electricity to offset the box fan that the Greenasium uses to cool down the room. That fan constitutes most of the gym's electricity use, as there is no air conditioning. When more than one person uses a visCycle or similarly equipped elliptical, the cardio machines put out enough power to offset the music, computer and lights as well.

    "The inspiration came from just going to the big chain gyms for so long, looking at all the equipment going there, and you just think, 'there has to be a better way,'" said Byron Spratt, the co-owner and business manager of the Greenasium. "You start thinking about all the people coming into the gym, and they’re burning double energy — energy off the grid and their own energy."

    The Greenasium also takes other steps to help offset its carbon footprint. They only turn on the lights at night, the floor is made from recycled tires and the gym sponsors outings to clean up garbage.

    While picking up garbage may seem like the only gym activity less fun than ski jumps, it remains an integral part of the Greenasium experience.

    "We’re in a very health conscious and green oriented community," Spratt said.

    "By living in that community, we have to contribute to it if we want to stay in good standing."

    Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

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• Are solar panels the next e-wa Are solar panels the next e-waste?

  • From: ashleysoon
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    As solar photovoltaic panels go mainstream, Eric Gies looks at the environmental impact of making and disposing of them.

    

    Larry Hagman, who played oil baron JR Ewing in the TV drama Dallas, switches to alternative energy with American solar panel company, SolarWorld. Photograph: Impress PR Photograph: Impress PR

    In recent years the electronics industry has gained notoriety for creating an endless stream of disposable products that make their way at life's end to developing countries, where poor people without safety gear cut and burn out valuable materials, spilling contaminants into their water, air, and lungs.

    Solar modules contain some of the same potentially dangerous materials as electronics, including silicon tetrachloride, cadmium, selenium, and sulfur hexafluoride, a potent greenhouse gas. So as solar moves from the fringe to the mainstream, insiders and watchdog groups are beginning to talk about producer responsibility and recycling in an attempt to sidestep the pitfalls of electronic waste and retain the industry's green credibility.

    Solar modules have an expected lifespan of at least 20 years so most have not yet reached the end of their useful lives. But now, before a significant number of dead panels pile up, is the perfect time to implement a responsible program, according to Sheila Davis, executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.

    The nonprofit environmental group has been a leader in recognizing the problems of e-waste, including hazardous disposal sites in the Bay Area left by the semiconductor industry. Now it is focused on the solar boom in Silicon Valley. Last year the group published a report calling for a "just and sustainable" solar industry, and this year it issued a scorecard of solar companies. The scorecard evaluates recycling and extended producer responsibility for the product's end of life, called takeback; supply chain and green jobs; chemical use and lifecycle analysis; and disclosure.

    Solar energy is the most widely available resource we have. Every hour, enough solar energy strikes Earth to meet human energy needs for more than a year, according to NASA. Now the solar industry is poised for huge growth in the United States, thanks to policy changes, incentives, technological improvements, and economies of scale. Solar photovoltaics have recently become less expensive than nuclear energy on a per-kilowatt-hour basis, according to a new report from Duke University. Also, solar is widely expected to reach cost parity with fossil fuels in most markets by 2013.

    In 2009, Greentech Media estimated that U.S. solar demand will continue to increase about 50 percent annually through 2012. The report said the US capacity installed during 2008 was about 320 megawatts, and it predicted that about 2,000 megawatts would be installed during 2012. Such growth would put US capacity ahead of solar leader Spain and potentially Germany as well.

    While most of the new modules will likely have a long, productive life, factory scrap, transport breakages, and field failures are ready for recycling now. Jennifer Woolwich is collecting these broken solar modules in a warehouse near Phoenix.

    She founded her company PV Recycling in February 2009 after estimating that she could harvest 500 panels a week from these sources. She is not yet collecting at that capacity, nor does she have enough panels to begin recycling them, but she is talking with solar manufacturers in an effort to win their recycling business.

    "Of those we interviewed, 100 percent want recycling," she said. "Eighty percent want an independent third-party doing the recycling."

    Woolwich said she has seen a quick evolution in solar manufacturers' attitudes toward recycling: "Last year, there was kind of a 'wait and see, we're not sure how this is going to work' attitude. Over the past 12 months, I've seen a 180. I've seen companies who are hiring consultants to research their whole value chain to identify waste, including the end of life of modules. We've received calls from consumers asking us which companies have takeback programs in place."

    Solar companies tend to be secretive about their product recipes, making some manufacturers cautious about, yet conceptually open to, third-party recycling.

    "We guarantee that intellectual property will not be put at risk," Woolwich said. "We're not interested in reverse engineering or selling company secrets. We have certificates of destruction that we provide."

    For now, though, some companies are doing their own recycling.

    SolarWorld, which received an 88 out of 100 on the toxics coalition's scorecard, has been recycling its own panels since 2003 at its main factory in Freiberg, Germany. That factory now receives broken panels from its U.S. plants in Cabrillo, Calif., Hillsboro, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash.

    "The fact is, there isn't much to recycle," said Ben Santarris, a spokesman for SolarWorld. "In the future we might expand recycling to our U.S. plants or contract with a third-party recycler."

    First Solar earned a rating of 67 on the scorecard. Headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., it has recycling facilities at its manufacturing sites in Perrysburg, Ohio; Frankfurt (Oder), Germany; and Kulim, Malaysia. Lisa Krueger, vice president of sustainable development, said that so far the company is primarily recycling manufacturing scrap.

    "It's our intention that there would be other recycling facilities worldwide as you get into those volumes," she said.

    Solar modules employ a variety of technologies, and even models within the same technology can have different ingredients. These materials may or may not be classified as toxic depending on who is regulating them.

    Dustin Mulvaney is a scientist who works on solar issues at the University of California, Berkeley, and serves as a consultant to the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. He has analyzed solar modules currently on the market and has outlined for each its key ingredients, including potentially toxic elements and materials that would be valuable to recover in recycling.

    Used in SolarWorld modules, crystalline photovoltaic is the oldest and most widespread solar technology in the United States, holding 57 percent market share in 2009, according to Greentech Media. "As far as hazardous materials go, you're primarily talking about lead," Mulvaney said.

    A thin film technology called cadmium telluride makes up about 21 percent of the U.S. market. First Solar panels use this technology.

    Cadmium may be carcinogenic. Exposure affects the lungs and kidneys and can be fatal. "It's gene toxic and a mutagen, so it has the ability to affect DNA, meaning it could affect reproduction and future generations' DNA," Mulvaney said.

    Cadmium is technically banned by the European Union's Restriction on Hazardous Substances directive, although the policy currently allows an exemption for its use in solar modules.

    Still, there's not a lot of data about whether cadmium is toxic in the alloy form in which it's used in thin film. And cadmium isn't likely to go away anytime soon, as it is uniquely efficient at absorbing light.

    Another thin film material, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), also has a cadmium layer. Indium is a potentially hazardous substance, too, particularly in the form of indium tin oxide, Mulvaney said. Studies have linked it to pulmonary disease in flat-screen TV recycling facilities. And selenium has been documented to be a hazardous material.

    While CIGS currently has a market share of just 6 percent, amorphous silicon, which also has an indium tin oxide layer, holds 16 percent.

    California's Department of Toxic Substances Control has taken note of the European Union's concern about cadmium and is researching the chemical and physical makeup of various types of modules.

    "We think some solar panels, probably the cadmium thin film type, might be hazardous waste when shredded or disposed of in a landfill," said Charles Corcoran, a hazardous substances scientist at the department.

    Only panels classified as hazardous would fall under the jurisdiction of the department. It is considering regulatory options to try to steer end users toward recycling rather than disposal.

    "That gets a little complicated because California and U.S. regulations aren't necessarily in sync," Corcoran said. "An option might be to transport it out of state where disposal is legal."

    Today California has no solar module recycling facilities. But recycling locally is an important tenet of an ethical, sustainable industry, said the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition's Davis. Recycling locally reduces the process' carbon footprint.

    "It would also make people more conscious about what goes into the products," Davis said. "And it would create local jobs."

    Extended producer responsibility, including module recycling, is currently an expense rather than a source of profit for companies, including Solar World and First Solar.

    "As we get to scale, we hope those costs will come down," Krueger said.

    A dedicated recycler like Woolwich is counting on economies of scale. Her business plan also includes various revenue streams, including reclaiming and selling materials and providing a service of managing manufacturers' collection and recycling systems.

    Davis said recycling costs could be reduced if manufacturers would take the notion of extended producer responsibility to the next level: the design phase.

    "If you don't look at the recycling when you're designing the product, then it's really, really difficult to recycle," Davis said. "But if you know you're going to have to pay for the recycling at the end of life, you might make the necessary design changes in your product now to reduce that cost."

    Mulvaney said that if the government were to set a price on carbon emissions, that would also help make solar recycling more affordable. Because turning sand into crystals takes 70 to 80 percent of the energy used to make crystalline photovoltaics, he said recycling silicon would "save so much energy in production, it could become a money saver."

    Still, most companies that are beginning recycling programs today are proceeding under the assumption that recycling will be a cost. They are preparing for that expense by creating a variety of funding mechanisms based on the principle of producer responsibility.

    Via her surveys, Woolwich has found that solar companies are using an annuity program, escrow, maturity bonds, annual fixed contracts, and pay as you go.

    Krueger said First Solar uses a trust: "First Solar doesn't have access to those funds except for collection and recycling," she said. "It's designed that way because of the long product life. If something happens to First Solar, the industry won't have to deal with orphan waste."

    Some materials in solar modules such as silicon and rare metals could be more valuable in the future, providing an additional incentive to recycle. Material price spikes have caused industry turmoil in recent years. For example, polysilicon shot to $400 per kilogram between 2006 and 2008. It is now down around $55.

    Krueger said First Solar currently harvests cadmium and tellurium from its recycling program to use in new modules, even though buying it from a supplier is currently less expensive. She said she expects harvesting costs to come down as recycling scales up.

    Mulvaney said that the industry would do well to plan now for the recovery of rare metals such as indium and tellurium.

    Of course, materials recovery has an environmental benefit as well. "We'll be able to reduce impact from mining and other environmental hazards by collecting a lot of the metals and other valuable minerals that are being used in panels," Davis said.

    Being truly sustainable — and maintaining that green credibility — is a powerful motivator for renewable energy companies.

    Santarris said the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition's scorecard was an "important step" toward figuring out which manufacturers are the most environmentally benign.

    "There's not a lot of sophistication in the marketplace to differentiate among products and manufacturers of varying environmental performance," Santarris said. "Are solar modules all the same? They're not."

    By: Erica Gies for Earth Island Journal, part of the Guardian Environment Network

    Original Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/03/solar-panels-ewaste

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• The climate deniers of the lef The climate deniers of the left

  • From: yiehk21
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    Coca Cola greenwash at the Copenhagen climate summit.

    The scientific community has never been more united in its conviction that climate change is well on the way to rendering planet Earth a vastly less hospitable place for most species, including our own. Yet doubt about the gravity of the problem is, paradoxically, on the rise.

    Recent polls in the US, Britain and Canada reveal that fewer people take the threat of climate change seriously than five years ago.

    One likely reason is the insidious effect of the ongoing campaign — largely orchestrated and funded by the fossil fuel industry, and drawing support from a cast of right-wing pundits and politicians — to sow doubt about the existence of climate change or at least about the contribution of human activity to it.

    The contrarians don’t all line up with the forces of reaction, however.

    Alexander Cockburn, veteran left journalist and co-editor of online journal Counterpunch.com, resigned this year from a more than 40-year stint on the editorial board of the New Left Review.

    His resignation was in response to the publication of Mike Davis’ “Who Will Build The Ark?”, a reflection on the implications of climate change, as the lead article of the illustrious journal’s 50th anniversary issue.

    There are few issues that get Cockburn as hot under the collar as global warming.

    He is by far the most extreme in his wholesale denial of the very problem of climate change, but Cockburn is not the only prominent leftist to dismiss the urgency accorded to global warming by progressives.

    York university’s David F. Noble, historian of science and technology, critic of the corporate usurpation of the university and occasional contributor to Canadian Dimension, is equally irate over the Left’s attention to climate change.

    And Slavoj Zizek, one of the world’s most prominent left-wing intellectuals, dubbed the “Elvis” of cultural theory, has at times articulated an agnostic position on global warming.

    Each of these thinkers, who reflect a real, if marginal, minority opinion on the left, come at their climate change scepticism from different angles.

    Cockburn maintains that global warming is a “non-existent threat” based on flawed science. He approvingly cites naysayers such as Patrick Michaels of the right-wing Cato Institute, fingered as a paid consultant of the fossil fuel industry.

    Against the prevailing scientific consensus, Cockburn insisted in an April 2007 Counterpunch.org article: “There is still zero empirical evidence that anthropogenic production of CO2 is making any measurable contribution to the world’s present warming trend.”

    In his view, climate change is a fiction fostered by capital as part of a strategy to profit from higher energy costs at the expense of the poor — a notion bearing more than a passing resemblance to the type of conspiracy-thinking he elsewhere denounces.

    He treats the left with contempt for not only being hoodwinked by the global warming “dogma”, but for being naive in seeing it as a tipping point in the direction of radical social change.

    Noble’s emphasis is different, although he pursues the general theme of climate change as a false crisis fabricated by elites for their own purposes.

    Tracing the history of the corporate world’s warming to the issue of climate change, he depicts it as a deliberate and successful effort by a faction of the ruling class to co-opt and derail the anti-globalisation movement of the 1990s.

    He is especially contemptuous of the left for adopting what he sees as an uncritical view of science in relation to climate change, one that disconnects science from politics, and of buying into the dominant either/or logic.

    Noble argues corporate interests have succeeded in creating a false polarisation of positions that leaves no space to reject both sides: he complains that one can either accept climate change as the principal problem of our time, along with the green capitalist solutions, or join the much maligned “deniers”.

    Zizek, too, cautions against a naive view of science. However, he seems lately to be conceding more to the scientific consensus than in previous pronouncements, where he opposed any limits to development on the grounds of uncertainty about the science.

    He argued that nature is inherently unstable and crisis-ridden and that ideas about any natural balance being upset by human activity are misguided.

    He said ecology, insofar as it emphasises our finitude and calls for us to treat the Earth with respect, is inherently conservative and expresses a deep distrust of change, development and progress. He thus characterised it as “a new opium of the masses”.

    In an April 29 New Statesmen article, Zizek seemed to shift gears. On the one hand, he repeated the assertion that nature is chaotic and there is no underlying natural balance to be perturbed by human activity. Science, he reiterated, is unreliable and its conclusions are subject to the pressures of capital.

    But he asserted that our survival as a species depends on “a series of stable natural parameters that we tend to take for granted ... The limits to our freedom become palpable with ecological disturbances, as our ability to transform nature destabilises the basic geological conditions of life on earth.”

    He appeared to jettison his opposition to placing limits on development when he wrote: “What is demanded, first, is strict egalitarian justice: worldwide norms of per capita energy consumption should be imposed, stopping developed nations from poisoning the environment at the present rate while blaming developing countries, from Brazil to China, for ruining our shared environment.”

    Of course, both scepticism and the ability to change one’s mind are signs of intellectual vigour. And dissent, as US socialist Norman Thomas said, is “essential to the search for truth in a world wherein no authority is infallible”.

    But there is a question of what motivates these dissenters.

    Scepticism about climate change on the right is fuelled, particularly in the US, by the belief that global warming is a socialist Trojan horse, designed to destroy the free market by the stealth of environmental regulation.

    What seems to unite the climate change sceptics on the left is the opposite belief — that climate change is distracting and deflecting the left from the project of radical social transformation.

    It is reminiscent of the response of a significant part of the socialist left to the emerging environmental consciousness in the 1970s, which discounted concerns about pollution and the rate of resource consumption as a “petit bourgeois” affair with no bearing on the world’s masses.

    But as countless scientists have stressed, the most devastating effects of climate change will be felt first of all by the poor in the global South, who are more directly and immediately dependent on the natural world for their living.

    The sceptics are legitimately concerned that the ecological crisis will be manipulated by capital as a business opportunity.

    There is no doubt that climate change will be exploited for profit by the corporate elite — just as the oil catastrophe in the Gulf is being turned to economic advantage by some of the companies responsible for the disaster who are now cashing in on the clean-up activities — but this fact should not lead us to discount the reality or gravity of the crisis.

    What is called for is an anti-capitalist response to the ecological threat — not only to the survival of our own species but to the innumerable other species now at risk.

    Left climate change sceptics seem to ignore the emerging ecosocialist current, which has taken up the challenge of wedding the critique of capitalism to an analysis of the ecological crisis.

    As one pamphlet produced the time of the December 2009 Copenhagen climate summit pointed out: “Climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is but one symptom of a system ravaging our planet and destroying our communities.”

    Far from being distracted by climate change, ecosocialists understand it as intimately related to the reigning global system of production that endlessly reproduces the unjust disparities of wealth and power that have always been the object of the left’s opposition.

    How can Cockburn, Noble and Zizek argue with that?

    http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/45269

     

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• B-schools venture into green p B-schools venture into green pasture

  • From: yiehk21
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    New Delhi: Top engineering institutes and business schools across the country are going green with a vengeance. Seeing a growing market for green managers in the country, B-schools and universities are learning fast to offer management lessons in environment-related disciplines. While the Birla Institute of Management Technology (Bimtech) and the Institute of Chemical Technology have just introduced full-fledged MBA programmes in sustainability-related disciplines, IIM-Calcutta along with IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Madras has begun offering courses in green manufacturing this academic year onwards. IIM-Ahmedabad and IIM-Lucknow, too, have been including carbon courses in various programmes over the last years.

    Elaborating that the green manufacturing course offered under the post-graduate programme for executives for visionary leadership in manufacturing—a joint programme of IIM-Calcutta, IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Madras—focus on both technological and management aspects of greening, Shekhar Chaudhuri, director, IIM-Calcutta, adds, “It’s an imperative for managers to be equipped to lead on sustainability issues in today’s world.” An initiative of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, the programme is supported by Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica) under a bilateral agreement between the two governments.

    Going a whole hog, the Birla Institute of Management Technology or Bimtech has introduced a two-year, full-time post-graduate diploma in management (Sustainable Development Practices) this year. According to Bimtech director H Chaturvedi, “The programme aims to impart skills to managers to tap into new opportunities arising out of the interplay between changing international polices and national priorities on development issues and the business responses to them.” The programme is modelled on similar ones offered by some of the leading foreign institutions like the Earth Institute at Columbia University and adapted in the Indian context after taking into consideration views of the industry thought leaders, adds programme coordinator Rahul Singh.

    Mumbai-headquartered Institute of Chemical Technology just started a two-year MTech programme in green technology, which would seek to focus on green chemistry, environmental engineering and pollution prevention among other issues. Industry practitioners would have the option of pursuing it as a three-year part-time programme. Explaining the rationale for introducing the programme, GD Yadav, director, Institute of Chemical Technology, says, “The chemical industry is an important industry to focus on from a sustainability perspective. Though the chemical industry is one of the most polluting industries, it also has a big potential to offer sustainable solutions not only for healing itself, but also treating others.”

    While these institutions are newcomers in...

    http://www.financialexpress.com/news/B-schools-v-Zenture-into-green-pasture/677383/

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• Do Energy Consumers Understand Do Energy Consumers Understand How and Why to Save?

  • From: yiehk21
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    If you looked at your house on a cloudy day and noticed the shingles on the roof were worn, you might make a mental note to replace them at some point. But if you looked up and saw a big gaping hole, you’d move much faster to cover it up before those ominous black clouds flooded your living room. That’s just human nature. The greater the threat, the more quickly we respond.

    A new survey of Americans on the most effective ways to save energy indicates that the climate crisis is not seen as a problem severe enough to warrant aggressive action. The survey also raises the question of how well people who understand the problem are communicating its seriousness.

    The survey of people in 34 states, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that Americans overestimate the amount of energy they can save with small changes that actually do little and underestimate the benefits of switching to efficient, currently available technologies that could have a larger impact. Nearly 20 percent of those queried cited turning off lights as the best approach to save energy. But the report contends that step actually saves very little in energy budgets. Meanwhile less than three percent cited driving more fuel efficient cars, using more energy efficient appliances and weatherizing their homes. According to the report, previous studies have found that household energy consumption could be reduced by 30 percent if people made those choices. In other words, without waiting for breakthrough technologies such as super-efficient cars or making enormous economic sacrifices.

    So why don’t they make those choices?

    Shahzeen Attari, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Earth Instituteand Columbia’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, said that “When people think of themselves, they may tend to think of what they can do that is cheap and easy at the moment.” Additionally, she says that people are typically willing to take one or two actions to address a perceived problem. After that they feel they’ve done all they can.

    All of which suggests a casual attitude towards conservation. But is that because people aren’t aware of the advantages of improved technology or because they aren’t concerned about the issue? For many people, even those  who believe the environment is changing, the problem is still non-threatening and not motivating them to act. If covering the hole in your roof with newspaper doesn’t keep the rain out, you’ll research a more effective solution. Similarly, if energy consumers have a greater appreciation for the magnitude of the climate crisis, they’ll take a greater interest in doing more to conserve energy beyond flipping their lights off.

    That raises the question of communication. Attari keeps her focus on understanding how to save energy rather than why. She suggests that scientists, government, industry and environmental groups may have “failed to communicate” the potential benefits of new technology and instead focused on funding recycling drives and encouraging actions like turning off lights. She further argues that if people are going to take one or two actions, they need to be steps that will have a high impact. “People are still not aware of what the big savers are,” she says.

    http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/08/do-energy-consumers-understand-how-and-why-to-save/

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• Sustainability is Not Black Or Sustainability is Not Black Or White - "More Sustainable" is Possible

  • From: ashleysoon
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    Image credit: D'Arcy Norman & timtak (Creative Commons)

    When I wrote about industrial agriculture exploring sustainability, commenter Ruben suggested that the idea of something being "more sustainable" was illogical. Citing Bill Rees, the inventor of Ecological Footprinting, he claimed that sustainability was like pregnancy—"either you are or you aren't". I'd like to politely disagree.

    Like the soil versus dirt debate, there is a danger of getting too caught up in semantics here. After all, Ruben was not rejecting the idea that incremental progress was important. In fact, he stated explicitly that transition was important, and that "we need to get from here to there". On that, I'm in total agreement.

    Nevertheless, I think it's important to counter the argument that calling something like industrial agriculture "more sustainable" because it has reduced resource use or increased efficiency is inherently greenwash. Before we greens cast the first stone, it's important for us to remember that even some of the leading green projects, schemes and technologies in the world are very far from being "sustainable" in the truest sense of the word. Backyard farmers still rely on petroleum. Solar panels still rely on scarce and energy intensive resources. Yet a civilization that truly embraced renewables, and diverse, small-scale, low impact farming would, I believe, be much more able to sustain itself into the future than the status quo.

    In fact, if we are going to be totally dogmatic about it then true sustainability is, in some ways, a complete impossibility. Unless we follow Stephen Hawking's advice and leave earth to survive (and presumably keep moving), absolutely everything imaginable—from coal-powered giant hummers made of ivory, to solar panels made from dew drops—is on a continuum of being either more, or less, sustainable. Because once our sun gives up the ghost, the most sustainable system on the planet will be less than useless.

    From high-end luxury eco-condos to big organics as the enemy, perfect as the enemy of good is a recurring theme on TreeHugger. So while I applaud efforts to keep our ambitions high (and our BS detector engaged at all times), we should be wary of a black-and-white approach to sustainability. The end prize is too important for that.

    By: Sami Grover | August 31, 2010

    Original Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/sustainability-black-and-white.php?campaign=th_rss

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• Tips on Eco-Friendly Landscapi Tips on Eco-Friendly Landscaping for the Yard

  • From: arboinks
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    Eco-friendly landscape is one of the most in thing in contemporary homes. This may sound a bit costly but if you are creative and resourceful, you can achieve this without going over your budget.

    In every household, your landscape needs a lot of creativity and resourcefulness so it would turn out to be appealing. If you wish to modify or improve your landscape, especially your garden, the first thing you need to work on is finding the right type of plants that will suit the appearance of your house. Apart from that, you also have to take into consideration your neighbors. Having a beautiful landscape is not an added attraction to your house but this is also another way to impress the passers by and other visitors. This can also boost the value of your house, if you decide to resell it in the long run.

    Your surrounding is basically the main element that must be considered when you are engaging into a landscape project. This will help your decide on the every detail that should be used on your lawn. It is best that you talk to an expert about this matter so you can be guided accordingly. Of course, you have your own plans but it is still better if you seek help from the pro to integrate all your plans and come up with excellent results later on. Besides, these people will not only incorporate all your ideas but they can as well suggests and make it look nicer.

    When picking out the type of plants to be put on the lawn, they should match with the kind of soil that you have. Native plants are said to be ideal for making an eco-friendly landscape. These plants have low maintenance. They can live without having too much attention from you. The fertilizers do not have to be those very expensive ones; they can simply go with basic types. Unlike high end plants, wherein they are delicate and very sensitive, you definitely have to devote extra time and money so they can live longer. Otherwise, they can only last for a couple days. So even if you do not have complete knowledge about gardening, native plants can still live and bloom.

    Once you have all the plants that are needed and they are arranged properly, make sure that you know how to maintain them. Trim them and get rid of those outgrown weeds. Remove withered leaves so your landscape can look clean and appealing. Plants must be watered everyday. Even if you have native plants and they do not need much of your attention, that does not mean you no longer have to take good care of them. They still need your attention but not really that demanding. Just as long as you water and put fertilizer on them, they can already last for a long time.

    Nowadays, where Planet Earth has already become sensitive due to the negligence of human beings, everyone must know how to protect it from possible destruction. Having a green lifestyle is the best solution to this. It does not have to be a major overhaul of your life but you can start small. Making your lawn into an eco-friendly yard is one good suggestion to begin with. Then you can learn how to maximize the natural resources and make use of them at home. So that, you do not have to depend on devices and other electronic appliances that can somehow harm the Planet Earth with their radiation and other harmful elements that they give off every time you use them. So be a responsible homeowner and neighbor.

    Source: http://www.dr30.com/

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• California’s Governor Schwarze California’s Governor Schwarzenegger Asked US Automakers to Go “green”

  • From: yiehk21
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    The remarkable speech delivered by California’s Honorable Governor Schwarzenegger has turned the afternoon at the Georgetown University into an inspiring event.

    

    Here is the print version of the keynote address of Gov. Schwarzenegger (with the introduction part cut):

    GOVERNOR: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, John, for the wonderful introduction, I appreciate it very much. And it is great to be here today at Georgetown University, also known in my house as the alma mater, because of course my wife went to school here, and she graduated here at Georgetown. (Applause)

    So I want to thank my wife also for coming here today and sitting here in the front row. And she is, of course, the most terrific first lady that the United States has ever seen, so give her a big hand again. (Applause)

    So I have to say that I am somewhat amazed to be here, and the reason is because three and a half years ago when I ran for governor I was followed around by environmental protestors with signs. They didn’t like my Humvees and Hummers, and my SUVs, or anything that I did. As a matter of fact, when I promised that I would improve the environment when I became governor, they didn’t believe that either. So here we are, three and a half years later, and I’m on the cover of Newsweek as one of the big environmentalists. Only in America, that’s all I can say. (Applause)

    But let me tell you something; even though I love being on the cover of Newsweek, but there should have been some other people on that cover as well, and those are people that were my partners in the Legislature. They have worked very hard, they were incredible partners, and I’m talking here about, first of all, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senator Perata. I invited both of them to come here but they couldn’t make it, but I just wanted to thank them publicly for being such great environmentalists and such great leaders in the environment. So let’s give them a big hand, even though they’re not here. (Applause)

    And I want to thank also someone that is here with us today, and this is Assemblywoman Fran Pavley. She has been such a great, great warrior. (Applause)

    Let me tell you something; this is the real deal. This is the real deal. This woman has been fighting for the environment way before I ever became governor, and she has really been the author of these very important legislations, and she has worked with our office, and she is a team player. And this is, you can see here, she’s a Democrat. Also the Speaker is a Democrat. Senator Perata is a Democrat. So this is what I’m talking about, working together in a bipartisan or post-partisan way, and this is how we get things done, because we work what is best for the people of California and for America. So thank you again to Assemblywoman Pavley. (Applause)

    Now, I know this is an environmental conference, but I do want to start talking first about bodybuilding. And the reason is because bodybuilding is another passion of mine, as you probably know, and it has similarities there. Bodybuilding used to have a very sketchy image. As a matter of fact, so much so that some people that worked out seriously and pumped weights didn’t admit they were doing bodybuilding. As a matter of fact, say in the old days, some of the very famous Hollywood actors like Kirk Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, and the list goes on and on, they all worked out with weights, but they never admitted it publicly because they didn’t want to be associated with the gymnasiums that were like dungeons and that had fanatics, and that had weird people training in there. That is the kind of an image that it had.

    But we changed that, we consciously changed that. And what we did was, we came out with a book called Pumping Iron—I know a lot of you are familiar with that, especially the students—then the movie Pumping Iron, and that changed bodybuilding, the image of bodybuilding, dramatically. As a matter of fact, the perception of bodybuilding began to change and it became more and more hip and more and more attractive. And then all of a sudden, everyone wanted to exercise. As a matter of fact, today you can go to any place in the world and you will find a bodybuilding gymnasium or a place where you can do weight resistance training, and you can go into any gymnasium and you will find ordinary people talking about their abs, their lats, their deltoids, body fat, and all those kinds of things. So this is how much it changed. It became mainstream, it became sexy, attractive.

    And this is exactly what has to happen with the environmental movement. Like bodybuilders, environmentalists were thought of as kind of weird and fanatics also. You know, the kind of serious tree huggers. Environmentalists were no fun; they were like prohibitionists at a fraternity party. (Applause)

    So someone the other day just showed me a cartoon that was of a car salesman in a showroom talking to this couple. And the car salesman pointed at the car and said, “This car runs on an ordinary gasoline-powered engine, and then when it feels a little guilt, when it senses guilt, it switches over to battery power.” Now, that’s funny, it’s a cartoon. But let me tell you something; there’s a lot of truth to that. For too long the environmental movement had been powered by guilt.

    But I believe that this is about to switch over from being powered by guilt to being powered by something much more positive, much more dynamic, something much more capable of bringing about major change. You know the kind of guilt I’m talking about; the smokestacks belching pollution that are powering our Jacuzzis and our big-screen TVs, and in my case powering my private airplanes. So it is too bad, of course, that we can’t all live simple lives like the Buddhist monks in Tibet. But you know something? That’s not going to happen.

    So ladies and gentlemen, I don’t think that any movement has ever made it and has ever made much progress based on guilt. Guilt is passive, guilt is inhibiting, and guilt is defensive. You remember the commercials a number of years ago, the commercials specifically of a Native American who sees what we have done to the environment and then a year runs down his cheek. You all remember that? Well, let me tell you something; that approach didn’t work, because successful movements are built on passion, they’re not built on guilt. They’re built on passion, they’re built on confidence, and they’re built on critical mass. And often, they’re built on an element of alarm that galvanizes action.

    The environmental movement is, to use a popular term, about the tipping point. It’s about to get to the tipping point. There’s a tipping point, and I believe the tipping point will be occurring when the environmental movement is no longer seen as a nag or as a scold, but as a positive force in people’s lives. Now, I don’t know when that tipping point occurs, but I know where—in California. In California, we are doing everything that we can to tip the balance on the environment.

    Now, first, let me start with government policy. I don’t want to go into all the initiatives that we have passed and all the laws that we have passed, because that was already eloquently explained by John when he introduced me. But there are two things that stick out that have gotten us the most attention.

    1. We passed a law to cap greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by the year 2020. That basically means we are rolling back the greenhouse gases to the 1990 level by the year 2020, and then we go 80 percent below that by the year 2050.

    2. I ordered a 10 percent cut in the carbon content of transportation fuels.

    Now, do I believe that the standards that California sets will solve global warming? Of course not. But what we are doing is applying leverage so that at some point the whole environmental thing tips. That’s what we are trying to do. It’s like a seesaw. You walk up to it and then slowly it tips the other way. That is what we are trying to do. California, as you know, is big, California is powerful, and what we do in California has unbelievable impact and it has consequences. As a matter of fact, when you look at the globe, California is a little spot, but the kind of power of influence that we have on the rest of the world is an equivalent of whole huge continent.

    We are sending the world a message. What we are saying is that we are going to change the dynamic on greenhouse gas and on carbon emissions. We are taking actions ourselves. We are not waiting for anyone, we are not waiting for the federal government or for Washington. We are creating our own partnerships. We are partnering with Great Britain, we are partnering with provinces in Canada, with states in the United States, with the western states, with the northeastern states. And you know something? Every year we are adding more and more partners to our team. We are increasing the momentum for change.

    Now, there’s a billboard in Michigan that accuses me of costing the car industry 85 billion dollars. They say because of our new carbon fuel standards I cost them 85 billion dollars. The billboard says “Arnold to Michigan—drop dead.” The fact of the matter is, what I’m saying is, Arnold to Michigan—get off your butt. Get off your butt and join us. (Applause)

    In fact, California may be doing more to save US automakers than anyone else, because what we are doing is we are pushing them to make changes, to make the changes so they can sell their cars in California. And we all know—let’s be honest—that if they don’t change, someone will. The Japanese will, the Chinese will, the South Koreans will, the Germans will, they all will. So what I want to do is, I want to prevent that from happening. I want them to sell their cars in California. I believe strongly in American technology, and I think in the end it will be technology that will ultimately save Detroit.

    Now, California, for instance, has already a car company that’s called Tesla Motors. Tesla Motors has just designed and produced a car that’s called the Tesla Roadster. It’s 100 percent electric. Now, why is it that a car company that has never produced a car before is already producing a car with zero emissions—zero emissions—and Detroit is still lagging behind? Now, this car, let me tell you something, is a very sexy looking car. It’s really cool. I mean, I test drove it. It goes from 0 to 60 in 4 seconds. It drives 130 miles an hour, and it has 250 miles on a charge, and then the recharging only takes 3 1/2 hours. Now, that’s what I call cool. And the car cost 100,000 dollars—to be exact, 98,000 dollars—and it is so popular, it sold out immediately. And now the second version is being produced, and that car, the cost will drop down to 50,000 dollars.

    So we can see where that is heading, economics tells us where this is heading. It’s like the cell phones. I remember when I bought a cell phone, the first cell phone, which was kind of a radio phone, 20 years ago. It was 1,600 dollars. The next version I bought a few years later was 1,200, and the next one was 750. I just recently bought a cell phone for my daughter and it was below 90 dollars. Now, because of the costs that have dropped down, almost everyone can afford a cell phone, and the same thing is going to happen to the environmental technologies in cars. Government can give a push by setting standards, so California is giving the nation and the world a push.

    Now, beyond government policy, the second tipping factor is economic. California is the leading edge of what I call ‘the environmental economy’. The aerospace industry built the modern economy of southern California. The computer industry and the internet built the economy of Silicon Valley. And now the green clean technology, along with biotech, will be the next wave of California‘s economy.

    Right now in California‘s university labs, corporate research parks, even in plain looking offices and in strip malls, something very exciting is happening—something very exciting. The nation’s brightest scientists and the smartest venture capitalists are all racing to find alternative or new technologies for alternative energy. It is a race that is fueled by billions and billions of dollars. Capitalism, interestingly enough, which was the alleged enemy of the environment, is today giving new life to the environmental movement.

    Daniel Jurgen, the famous oil analyst, says that if this all-out activity continues, expect dramatic results. And the head of PG&E, California‘s largest utility, says that the energy industry is on the brink of a revolution. And you know something is up when General Electric says that it’s selling its plastic business because it sees more potential in growth and profits in environmental goods and services.

    In an environmental economy the great thing is that we can do both; we can protect the environment and protect the economy, and that’s what I’ve been saying for years. Of course, people didn’t believe in it. People said that you have to choose between one or the other; we have to choose between the environment and the economy. And I said no, we can do both. We can protect the economy and protect the environment, and we have proven that in California.

    Now, the third tipping point that I want to mention is the attitude of the people. I believe the environmental movement is in the midst of redefining itself as something more modern, more confident, and more positive. As governor, I talk to scientists in our universities, I talk to CEOs that run major corporations. And let me tell you, those are not wacky people. Mainstream scientists are convinced, mainstream CEOs are convinced, and if you look at the surveys, mainstream Americans are convinced that global warming and climate change is real and we have to do something about it. So who are the fanatics now? Who are the fanatics? They are the ones who are in denial. They’re in environmental denial, they’re in economic denial, and they are in political denial. Who are the fanatics when DuPont has hired the former head of Greenpeace International? Who are the fanatics when major companies are now demanding that the federal government once and for all passes new laws to set standards for greenhouse gas emissions? Major companies like DuPont, GE, Wal-Mart, BP and PG&E believe that the climate change is real. That is the mainstream speaking, that is the establishment speaking.

    Now, some of you have maybe seen the cable TV show called Pimp My Ride. Have you seen that? Maybe not, maybe not everyone has seen it. But the fact of the matter is, it’s a real cool show. It’s a real cool show, and what they do is, they take old junk cars that we normally should crush, and they make them into lowriders and they make them into muscle cars. Now, my teenage son watches that show all the time, and sometimes I watch it with him.

    As a matter of fact, I recently did a segment of that show that will air on Earth Day, and the reason why it will air on Earth Day is because we take this cool show and they did something, and added something that was environmentally hip. Here’s what we did. We took a 1965 Impala, and we made it into a lowrider, but not an ordinary low-rider. We dropped in an 800 horsepower engine, and that 800 horsepower engine goes from zero to 60 in 3 seconds. Now, you know how fast that is—in 3 seconds. But it is biofueled, and that means that it emits 50 percent less greenhouse gases and it goes twice as far. Now, that’s what I call cool.

    You see, now we cut down on the greenhouse gas emissions, so we don’t have to really go and take away the muscle cars, we don’t have to take away the Hummers or the SUVs or anything like this, because that’s a formula for failure. Instead what we have to do is make those cars more environmentally muscular. That is what we have to do. Now, because of that, one of my Hummers now is running on biofuel, and another one of my Hummers is now running on hydrogen. So those are the kinds of changes that we have made instead of getting rid of the Hummers. (Applause)

    So the new environmental movement is not about guilt, it’s not about fringe, and it’s not about being overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem, but it is about mainstream momentum, exactly what I talked about earlier with bodybuilding. We have to make it mainstream. We have to make it sexy. We have to make it attractive so that everyone wants to participate.

    So finally, let me just say something about politics. Politics plays a big part in the tipping point here. If you are against taking action on greenhouse gases and common emissions your political base will melt away as surely as the polar icecaps, I can guarantee you that. You will become a political penguin on a smaller and smaller ice floe that is drifting out to sea. Good-bye, my little friend. That’s what is going to happen. (Applause)

    Because the environment is a public value, and politicians who ignore it are doing so at their own peril. Now, privately I know many politicians have come up to me and said, “How can we do what you are doing in California?” And I tell them there are only two words that I have to mention, and this is mandates and markets, mandates and markets, like we have in California. And then I also added, I said, “And you have to have political courage.” I said, “Just remember that political courage is not political suicide.”

    Now, some of my fellow Republicans, of course, are raising a very valid point. They say, “What good does it do if we do all of those great things for the environment, and in the meantime the developing world, where emissions are growing the fastest, doesn’t do anything?” Now, I believe in free trade, and I believe that it lifts everyone’s standard of living. But eventually, we will look at the countries that produce goods without regard to the environment the same way as we look at countries that produce goods without regard to human rights—and that means that those countries, of course, that I’m talking about are the ones that have sweat shops. My guess is that within the next decade or so if an economy ignores the damage that it’s doing to the environment, the civilized world will impose environmental tariffs, duties, and other trade restrictions to those countries. This is a matter of fair trade. Nations cannot dump products, nations cannot dump anything, and in the future they will not be able to dump carbon or greenhouse gases either, because this is an unfair trade advantage.

    Now, ladies and gentlemen, in closing let me just say that there are still a lot of people that are pessimistic about how we’re going to deal with the environmental problems. I am optimistic—but I’m always optimistic—but in this case I’m very optimistic, and the reason is because I feel things tipping. I feel things tipping, I feel things moving forward. As a matter of fact, I say do not be downhearted about the environment, because things are about to tip our way.

    Look what has happened this last month. A documentary about global warming has won the Oscar. You can today open up any newspaper and they’re talking about global warming and how we all can participate. Any television show, any radio show you can turn on, they’re going to talk about global warming and about the greenhouse gas emissions and green technology and so on.

    Today I went to a magazine store, and in the magazine store I saw eight covers—eight covers. As a matter of fact it was nine, I found another one just an hour ago. Nine covers—nine magazine covers, all talking about green technology, about plug-in cars, and about Mother Earth, and Town and Country has a green issue, and it goes on and on. Including, of course, let’s not forget the best issue of all, Newsweek. You all saw that, right? (Applause)

    So basically what I’m saying is, things are tipping our way. Thank you very much for listening, and I really appreciate you being here. Thank you very much. Thank you.

    Thank you. Thank you very much. And now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to bring over to the podium my friend and a great environmentalist, great leader, great warrior for the environment, Fran Pavley, our Assemblywoman. Please. (Applause)

    It can be noted that the speech of California’s Governor is directed to US automakers asking them to be vigilant in helping to resolve environmental problems by producing environment-friendly vehicles. The most popular “green vehicles” employed in the US today are hybrid cars and most of the brands that we love have joined the bandwagon except for the iconic Jeep brand which has not yet turned “green”. But in fairness to the Chrysler’s iconic brand it has improved its auto components like for instance its Jeep Wrangler parts to reduce harmful emissions.

    Source: http://technology.sustainablelivinginhawaii.com/1313/californias-governor-schwarzenegger-asked-us-automakers-to-go-green/

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• Energy Savings Can Be Created Energy Savings Can Be Created When The Green Technology Is Selected

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

     

    

    Energy Savings may be created when the inexperienced technology is selected.

    1. Home workplace and other home electronics.

    2. Lighting with room occupancy sensors.

    3. LED lighting.

    4. Control programs that permit for automated control, dimming control and scene control.

    5. Solar energy systems.

    Home Office and Home Electronics

    In the U.S., almost 4.2 million folks worked from house in 2000, up from 3.4 million in 1990. Working from home saves energy and time by chopping out the commute, but it may increase your property energy bills a lot unless you utilize energy-saving workplace equipment.

    ENERGY STAR labeled office equipment is extensively available: it provides customers with dramatic savings, as a lot as 90% financial savings for some products. Overall, ENERGY STAR labeled office merchandise use about half the electricity of ordinary equipment. Along with saving vitality directly, this tools can cut back air-conditioning loads, noise from fans and transformers, and electromagnetic subject emissions from monitors.

    Home Office Tips

    Shop for ENERGY STAR Products for Offices

    • Computers

    • Copiers

    • Fax Machines

    • Monitors

    • Multifunction Devices (fax, scanner, copier)

    • Printers

    • Scanners

    Keep Your Home Office Efficient with ENERGY STAR.

    Home offices are more and more popular. Be sure to make use of ENERGY STAR workplace equipment to save electricity.

    • Selecting energy-efficient workplace equipment-personal computer systems (PCs), monitors, copiers, printers, and fax machines-and turning off machines when they don’t seem to be in use may end up in enormous power savings.

    • An ENERGY STAR labeled computer uses 70% less electricity than computers with out this designation. If left inactive, ENERGY STAR labeled desktop computers enter a sleep mode and use four watts or less. Spending a large portion of time in low-power mode not only saves energy, however helps gear run cooler and last longer.

    • To maximize savings with a laptop, put the AC adapter on an influence strip that can be turned off (or will turn off automatically); the transformer in the AC adapter draws power continuously, even when the laptop is just not plugged into the adapter.

    • Common misconceptions generally account for the failure to show off equipment. Many people consider that equipment lasts longer if it is never turned off. This incorrect perception carries over from the times of older mainframe computers.

    • ENERGY STAR labeled computer systems and screens save energy only when the ability management features are activated, so be sure that power administration is activated in your computer.

    • There is a standard misconception that screen savers scale back energy use by monitors; they do not. Automatic switching to sleep mode or manually turning screens off is all the time the higher energy-saving strategy.

    • Long-Term Savings Tip- Consider shopping for a laptop on your next laptop upgrade; they use a lot less power than desktop computers.

    Home Electronics Tips

    Shop for ENERGY STAR Home Electronics

    • Cordless Phones

    • Televisions

    • VCRs and DVD Players

    • Combination Units (TV/VCR; TV/DVD)

    • Home Audio

    • Set-Top Boxes

    • Smart power strips assist save wasted energy.

    • Look for energy-saving ENERGY STAR labeled residence electronics.

    • Many home equipment continue to attract a small quantity of power when they are switched off. These “phantom” loads occur in most appliances that use electricity, comparable to VCRs, televisions, stereos, computers, and kitchen appliances. These phantom loads may be avoided by unplugging the appliance or using a power strip and utilizing the switch on the ability strip to cut all energy to the appliance.

    • Unplug battery chargers when the batteries are fully charged or the chargers are usually not in use.

    • Studies have shown that using rechargeable batteries for products like cordless phones and PDAs is more economical than throwaway batteries. If it’s essential to use throwaways, check together with your trash removal company about protected disposal options.

    Lighting with room occupancy sensors.

    Occupancy sensors and controls are packed with innovative options and options.

    This kind of product line ensures that lights and plug hundreds are turned off when areas are unoccupied. Occupancy sensors use passive infrared ultrasonic, or patented dual technology to sense movement. Wall Switch Sensors

    Wall Switch occupancy sensors can be found in Passive Infrared, Dual and Ultrasonic technologies and feature enhanced reliability and a glossy low profile appearance. Ceiling Sensors

    Ceiling occupancy sensors are packed with options and choices that streamline sensor installation and strengthen efficiency in a low profile package. With a full 360° of coverage, these sensors are capable of control a variety of applications, either individually or for giant areas and in zones that overlap. The lights need not stay on for your entire length of the time delay if someone is just dropping off mail or other items. With our smart Walk Through Mode, lights flip off three minutes after an space is initially occupied if no motion is detected inside 30 seconds.

    LED lighting.

    A Light Emitting Diode (LED) is a semiconductor system which converts electricity into light. LED lighting has been around since the 1960s, however is just now starting to appear within the residential market for space lighting. At first white LEDs have been only doable by “rainbow” groups of three LEDs — red, green, and blue — by controlling the current to each to yield an overall white light. This changed in 1993 when Nichia created a blue indium gallium chip with a phosphor coating that’s used to create the wave shift essential to emit white light from a single diode. This course of is much inexpensive for the amount of mild generated. The efficacy of a typical residential utility LED is approximately 20 lumens per watt (LPW), though efficacies of up to 100 LPW have been created in laboratory settings. Incandescent bulbs have an efficacy of about 15 LPW and ENERGY STAR® qualified compact fluorescents are about 60 LPW, depending on the wattage and lamp type. Some manufacturers claim efficacies much greater than 20 LPW; make certain to examine system efficacy, which accounts for the facility use of all components. In December 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy studied the efficacy of four luminaries. All four fell in need of the manufacturers’ claims; the examine implies that producers are counting on measurements of how much gentle an isolated LED produces, somewhat than how much light an LED luminaire actually delivers. LED lights are more rugged and damage-resistant than compact fluorescents and incandescent bulbs. LED lights don’t flicker. They are very warmth sensitive; excessive heat or inappropriate functions dramatically reduce both mild output and lifetime. In South Florida visit Atlantic Smart Technologies for more information. www.atlanticsmart.com

    Uses include:

    • Task and studying lamps

    • Linear strip lighting (under kitchen cabinets)

    • Recessed lighting/ceiling cans

    • Porch/outdoor/landscaping lighting

    • Art lighting

    • Night lights

    • Stair and walkway lighting

    • Pendants and overhead

    • Retrofit bulbs for lamps

    LED Information offered by Tool Base Services.

    Control methods that allow for automatic control, dimming control and scene control.

    Home management technology can streamline and simplify all of the technology in your house and offer the ultimate lifestyle of consolation and convenience. Total dwelling technology solutions can eliminate the necessity to walk from room to room to adjust drapes, lights, temperature, and audio/video components. Whether from an easy-to-use coloration touch panel, distant or a personalized keypad, total control is all the time at your fingertips.

    Numerous manufactures let you indulge in luxury with a single contact of a button. Imagine with just a single touch the lights dim, the shades close, the plasma TV turns on and your favorite movie begins. All you need is the popcorn and soda. Imagine your window treatments are programmed to regulate at pre-set times to cut back glare and shield delicate materials and fine art from dangerous direct sunlight. Imagine at night the hallway lights mechanically illuminate as you stroll by.

    Crestron Total Home Technology Solutions provide integrated lighting automation and control. Lighting sets the right scene and creates the desired ambience for any occasion. Whether it’s movie night, an intimate dinner for two, a business party or a quiet Sunday brunch reading the newspaper, lighting establishes the correct mood. Traveling out of city or working late? The lights can execute pre-programmed scenes to simulate established way of life patterns. Dimmers can regulate internal lighting in keeping with natural light levels in the home or incrementally over a pre-determined time period.

    Total Home Technology Solutions keeps your property comfortable always monitoring temperature and humidity levels automatically. No want to rise up or even be home to adjust climate controls, with Crestron, you can control multiple zones from one location and simply pre-set temperature set points. Keep your house at a more energy efficient temperature whereas you’re out, and programmed to robotically adjust to more comfortable levels by the time you get home. Getting residence early? Use your PDA or PC to control the HVAC remotely, even monitor the wine cellar or greenhouse atrium temperatures.

    Enjoy music throughout your complete home or in simply the room you select with Total Home Technology distributed audio. Experience a movie with digital surround sound. Listen to your jazz CDs while you read in the den while the youngsters play video games within the media room and your spouse listens to the radio on the terrace. Control the music of your life from any room in the house – no need to walk to the stereo to decide on a component, choose a CD, change tracks or adjust volume. Relax. You deserve it.

    Create the final word Home Theater with Total Home Technology. With a single contact of the controller the lights dim, the shades close, the display opens, the temperature adjusts, the AV components flip on, the inputs are selected, the amount is set and the DVD server begins to play your movie. Total dwelling technology places you in complete control right out of your comfortable seat. For fashionable movie lovers, nothing stirs the soul just like the impact of an earth shaking sound impact or the enveloping heat of a lushly orchestrated soundtrack, Total Home offers unlimited prospects for including an elective dynamic encompass sound experience.

    Monitor the entrance door or gate; watch the kids by the swimming pool; or verify on the infant napping within the nursery. You can control security cameras and watch what’s going on around the home right from your touch panel.

    Audio and video intercom solutions provide for the ultimate integration of whole-house AV, video security and voice communications. While listening to your favourite music or watching a DVD within the home theater, you will know the moment someone rings the doorbell or enters the driveway as the audio is gently muted, the camera picture seems on the contact panel or television, and you’re in a position to speak with the customer and grant entry to your home on the simplest press of a button. In South Florida visit Atlantic Smart Technologies for more information. www.atlanticsmart.com

    Imagine what the Total Home Technology experience can carry to your lifestyle!

    *Control Systems data provided by Crestron Home Automation.

    Solar power systems.

    There are several ways to make use of the sun’s energy to generate electricity. One of probably the most promising is photovoltaic panels, displayed on the rooftops of homes and office buildings. The downside to solar energy is that it’s expensive to produce: generating power from photovoltaic panels prices more than four instances as much as coal, and greater than twice what wind energy costs. In the United States, the federal government and states have offered quite a lot of incentives to encourage householders and businesses to put panels on their roofs, and for utilities to purchase power from massive displays. Solar panels produce no energy at night, but that is not a significant problem as a result of the electricity is commonly most needed within the daytime, when consumers activate lights and televisions and air-conditioning. For now, electricity technology from the sun’s rays must be subsidized as a result of it requires the purchase of new equipment and funding in evolving technologies. But costs are quickly dropping. And regulators are still learning methods to structure stimulus payments in order that they yield a secure green industry that helps itself.

    Photovoltaic cells convert daylight directly into electrical energy and are fabricated from semiconductors reminiscent of crystalline silicon or numerous thin-film materials. Photovoltaics can provide tiny amounts of energy for small electronic devices or large amounts for the electric grid, and every part in between. You could also be more aware of PV cells as photo voltaic cells that energy watches and calculators. But PV can do much more. It can present electricity for residential and business buildings, together with power for lights and air conditioning. PV can be a convenient supply of energy for pumping water, electrifying fences, or aerating ponds in distant applications.

    As an energy-conscious consumer, you want to do all you can to make use of energy efficiently and add extra clean, renewable energy to your life. This section accommodates information and analysis tools that can assist you evaluate your options and make an informed decision. If you’ve already decided to install solar electrical panels (also referred to as photovoltaic or PV panels) on your roof, you’ve got given it cautious thought and regarded all the benefits of using a reliable, abundant, and environmentally smart supply of power – the sun. If you have not decided yet, we hope the information in these pages will help making a decision about purchasing PV panels for your home or business.

    Energy is Life. Save energy and save money by using magniwork. For more information aboutmagniwork. Visit our website at http://www.gosavepower.com/magniwork-review for moremagniwork review .

    http://diysolarwaterheater.net/energy-savings-can-be-created-when-the-green-technology-is-selected

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• Times In-Depth: A 'green' scho Times In-Depth: A 'green' school blooms in Millcreek

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

    Taxpayers in the Millcreek Township School District made an investment in the environment four years ago.

    
    

    John Cavanagh, principal at J.S. Wilson Middle School in Millcreek Township, stands on the roof of the school beside a 40-kilowatt photovoltaic cell, right, which can provide electricity for about four classrooms at the school. The 2009 renovations to the Millcreek School District school incorporated many energy-saving features, some of which have interactive elements that can be used to educate students and staff on the energy savings of each feature. CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE/
    ERIE TIMES-NEWS
    The investment is beginning to pay off.
    
    
    Overall energy consumption and energy costs at Millcreek's James S. Wilson Middle School are down significantly since the district invested $2 million in environmentally friendly "green" improvements during a $25.3 million renovation and expansion of the school in 2007.
    
    
    New geothermal heating and cooling, rooftop wells that catch and use rainwater, rooftop and tubular solar panels that help light the school and other environmental improvements: They all saved an estimated $50,000 in total energy costs at J.S. Wilson in 2009, the first full year the renovated school was open, compared with the last full year before renovations in 2006.
    
    
    "The building is actually outperforming what we expected," said Chris Coughlin, lead architect for the J.S. Wilson project. "We were very conservative with the numbers beforehand. It's exceeding those numbers and exceeding our expectations."
    
    
    The school, and others in the Millcreek School District, opened for the 2010-11 academic year Wednesday. The first day of classes at J.S. Wilson included a reminder to the school's 592 students to protect taxpayers' investment in their school.
    
    
    "It took a lot of time and effort to make this building happen. Now we've got to take care of it," Principal John Cavanagh said.
    
    
    
    Gone green
    
    
    J.S. Wilson's greatest savings has been in natural gas.
    
    
    Gas costs for the school at 901 W. 54th St. were down 92 percent in 2009, to $8,445, from $102,145 in 2006.
    
    
    Geothermal heating is responsible for the savings, said Brad Dunn, the school district's maintenance supervisor.
    
    
    In a geothermal system, the earth heats or cools water flowing through underground pipes. A heat exchanger uses heat from the water to warm the building and chilled water to cool it.
    
    
    J.S. Wilson powers up its traditional boiler only on very cold days.
    
    
    The hybrid geothermal and conventional heating system saved the district the cost of drilling another 100-plus geothermal wells, said Coughlin, of Erie-based Hallgren, Restifo, Loop and Coughlin.
    
    
    "We originally designed the system with 214 to 220 wells but rebid it as a hybrid system that uses 107 wells and uses the boiler to pick up the heating on the coldest days," Coughlin said.
    
    
    Water savings, like gas savings, have also been significant, by district estimates.
    
    
    J.S. Wilson has saved about 220,000 gallons of water, and $27,196 on water bills, since the renovated school reopened in March 2008.
    
    
    Rainwater collected in the rooftop wells flushes school toilets and urinals. The school still buys drinking water and water for use in the school cafeteria.
    
    
    Not all of the school's energy costs have come down.
    
    
    Electric costs have nearly doubled, to $106,405 in 2009 from $53,994 in 2006.
    
    
    One reason for the spike is that the school was enlarged from 120,170 square feet to 136,385 square feet and has been air-conditioned since renovations.
    
    
    "That would have been a much more significant cost without geothermal cooling," Dunn said.
    
    
    Additional electricity is also used to power the school's new geothermal pumps. Solar panels and solar tubes have saved some of that expense by producing about $5,310 worth of electricity since the school reopened, Dunn said.
    
    
    Taking all of the energy costs into consideration, including lower gas bills and water bills and higher electric bills, J.S. Wilson is saving the Millcreek School District about $50,000 a year, according to an Erie Times-News analysis of district records.
    
    
    Even with higher electric costs, overall energy and financial savings at the green school are significant, said Guy McUmber, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's sustainability coordinator for the northwest region. McUmber is also past chairman of the Northwest Pennsylvania Branch of the Green Building Alliance, a nonprofit organization that promotes the benefits of green construction.
    
    
    "The building uses less energy overall than it previously used. And the decline in energy usage is significant," McUmber said. "We have so few green buildings in this region. The school is a great model for northwestern and even western Pennsylvania."
    
    
    
    Recouping costs
    
    
    Even with higher-than- anticipated energy savings, the Millcreek School District won't recoup its full $2 million investment in green technology at J.S. Wilson for 30 to 40 years.
    
    
    And electric costs are expected to increase when the cap comes off state rates at the end of December.
    
    
    But geothermal heating and rainwater-collection systems will still be functioning and still saving energy three decades from now and beyond, Coughlin said.
    
    
    "I think we'll really start painting a picture of just how much energy the school is saving when we get 20 years or more down the road," he said.
    
    
    The project has its critics.
    
    
    Former Millcreek School Director Richard Millhouse said he believes that school renovations, including green improvements, could have been done for about $10 million less -- and repaid sooner -- had the district renovated the school's original two-story structure rather than demolishing the second floor and expanding the first floor. J.S. Wilson was built in 1966.
    
    
    Millhouse served on the Millcreek School Board when the district planned the project at J.S. Wilson. He and two other school directors voted against the final plans. The district financed the $25.3 million renovation project with a 20-year bond issue.
    
    
    "If the building is saving energy and saving money, I'm glad it is," Millhouse said. "But the cost should have been $10 million lower and could have been repaid sooner."
    
    
    School Director Terry Scutella said that he is happy with the return on the district's investment so far.
    
    
    Scutella was School Board president through the planning for J.S. Wilson renovations and was an advocate for investing in green technology.
    
    
    "I went way out on a limb, and the limb is holding. My only regret is that we didn't do some of the same things at Chestnut Hill at the same time," Scutella said, referring to neighboring Chestnut Hill Elementary School.
    
    
    
    Educational dividends
    
    
    J.S. Wilson Middle School also has been paying educational dividends since it reopened in 2008, said Cavanagh, the principal. Much of the focus is on green technology and environmental awareness.
    
    
    Students use the school as a kind of science lab and incorporate what they learn in a variety of subjects.
    
    
    Special educational features built into the school, including some clear pipes and exposed duct work, allow students to see how air, water and light move throughout the building.
    
    
    Students can monitor kilowatts supplied by the rooftop solar panels on computer kiosks located near the school's main lobby.
    
    
    Environmental lessons related to the green school are incorporated into the science curriculum at J.S. Wilson, for students in grades six through eight.
    
    
    And each J.S. Wilson student completes a project related to the green school each year. Recent projects have included books of poetry about the environment and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations on the school's green technology shared with students at Chestnut Hill, Cavanagh said.
    
    
    "Projects are displayed during the school play in March so that the public can also learn from them," Cavanagh said.
    
    
    Coughlin, the architect, said the school also has been an educational tool for local architects and contractors.
    
    
    "Northwest Pennsylvania really had no green buildings before this," he said.
    
    
    "We had to investigate all of the different green technologies and determine what would work in our area. Pittsburgh had some green experience, but our climate is a little different on the lake, and what works in Pittsburgh might not work here."
    
    
    Normal planning for a school construction project takes about a year. Because of the green investigations and study, planning for the J.S. Wilson project took three years, Coughlin said.
    
    
    Local builders are more knowledgeable about federal design and energy standards and about green building since the J.S. Wilson project, Coughlin said.
    
    
    "As an offshoot, I guess, I'm seeing debris at construction sites -- glass, paper and plastic -- being separated for recycling, whether the project is green or not," he said.
    
    
    Colleges, businesses and other local school districts are also learning from J.S. Wilson, Cavanagh said.
    
    
    "I get calls all the time from people who want to see the building, especially from those considering their own green projects. I get the OK from the superintendent and take them on tours," he said.
    
    
    
    Lessons go home
    
    
    Families learn about the green school during orientation tours and from their children, who take home what they've learned.
    
    
    "We keep the lights off in rooms that we're not in at home and collect rainwater that we use to water plants or do an extra day watering the grass," said eighth-grader Emily Mogel, 13.
    
    
    J.S. Wilson is also more inviting than most schools, Emily said. Rooftop and tubular skylights provide enough natural light to keep electric lights off in hallways and classrooms on bright days.
    
    
    "It's brighter, even when the lights are off," Emily said. "And it just feels better. You don't feel like you're in school."
    http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100829/NEWS02/308279919/0/news

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• The many uses of soy The many uses of soy

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:

    When I was growing up, soy was something that was pretty much confined to being used in our Chinese take-out or something that hippies and health nuts crowed about... that I knew of.

    The humble soybean now plays a role in so much of our lives and while it is certainly a wonderful plant, our reliance upon it and exploitation of the land suitable for cultivating the crop has also presented some major challenges.

    Here's the good, the bad and the ugly about the soybean in brief.

    Soy - the good.

    Soybeans are an amazingly versatile crop, providing oil, carbohydrates and protein. The protein content is around 40%, oil approximately 20% and 35% of a soybean is carbohydrate.

    Soybeans can grow in a wide range of soil and as they are a legume, can help restore nitrogen levels to nitrogen depleted earth. The many uses of soy include:

    • A food in their own right
    • Meat replacement; as in tofu and the base of many mock meat products.
    • Dairy replacement - soy milk and cheese
    • Biofuel stock for biodiesel
    • Stock feed
    • Candles
    • Soaps
    • Cooking oil
    • Flour
    • Butter (like peanut butter)
    • Ice cream
    • Chips
    • Cosmetics
    • Clothing
    • Resins
    • Plastics
    • Inks
    • Clothing
    • Vodka
    • Insulation

    During my days as a baker, I used soy flour instead of gluten to give the bread more strength as we had many customers with gluten allergies. If you look on the ingredients listing of many processed food products these days, you'll likely see soya flour or oil listed.

    A meal or two of soy-based meat replacements each week can go some way to reducing the impact of meat consumption on the environment. Given that products such as tofu absorb the flavors of what they are cooked with, even a partial substitution is a good way to go if you simply cannot give up meat altogether. The same goes for dairy products.

    Candles are often made from petroleum, crude oil, as are cosmetics, plastics and resins - so soy offers an earth friendly (to a degree) alternative to these too.

    With so many uses, you'd think that we could just about live on soy alone; but there are some issues you need to know about before you start making radical changes in your diet and general consumption habits by replacing traditional products with soy.
    
    Soy - the bad

    While any well educated vegetarian or vegan will tell you soy contains many health benefits, they will also warn you it is not the be all and end all replacement for meat and dairy. For example, it's not high in calcium or iron, two critical elements of good health; so these nutrients need to be sourced from other products. Many manufacturers of soy dairy replacements fortify their products with calcium to address this.

    Soy also contains appreciable levels of phytoestrogens - plant hormones. There's a great deal of controversy as to whether a diet high in soy contributes to issues in men such as lowered libido, increased breast tumor growth rates in women with a high risk of breast cancer and soy formula for infants is thought by some to increase the risk of autoimmune disorders of the thyroid gland.

    Soya flour has also been shown to cause cancer in rats, but no equivalent human studies have been done.

    According to Wikipedia, approximately 8% of children in the USA are allergic to proteins in soybeans. The allergies can cause skin irritation.

    Back in 2000, a study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition stated brains of elderly people who ate tofu at least twice a week for several decades were aging faster than normal.

    I'm not any sort of expert on diet, but it seems to me that just about everything is linked to cancer or some sort of malady these days and it's really more of a matter of "all things in moderation" - and some of the above could be due to a lack of something else that was replaced by soy or perhaps how the crop was grown - pesticides for example.
    
    If you are considering switching to a soy-rich diet, exercise due diligence and research thoroughly.
    
    Soy - the ugly

    Probably one of the most disturbing issues related to the burgeoning soy industry is the destruction of the Amazon forest and deforestation in other countries to make way for the crop. However, this is where meat again has a direct link as so much soy is fed to beef cattle. Soy also has a more complex link in Amazon deforestation.

    In the Amazon, rainforests are often cleared to graze cattle in such a way that the land degrades quickly. The cattle farms are being replaced by soy farmers who buy or rent land from cattle farmers. The cattle farmers then push on deeper into the Amazon forest.

    For those of us who eat meat and even soy, this is a double whammy of the environmental impact of our diets.

    Biodiesel made from soy is also a concern. Around 500 million gallons of biodiesel will be produced from soybeans in the US this year, representing approximately 12.5 million acres of soy production - that's a lot of land being used to produce what is really a drop in the bucket of US liquid fuel consumption - not even a day's worth.

    It's my opinion that food as fuel on an industrial scale is just wrong on so many levels - environmental and humanitarian. It takes an incredible amount of land and feedstock just to make enough fuel to fill up a car. Additionally, food prices are rising around the world due in part to the demand of biofuels. There are better alternatives and I really hope that governments wake up to the fact that food as fuel is going to cause as many problems as crude oil has.

    The lucrative soy market has also seen agribusiness sinking their claws in for control over the crop. Soybeans are a popular biotech food crop, meaning that it's increasingly being genetically modified.
    
    The biotech companies actually own these variants and no-one can use them without their approval. The danger in this, aside from the unknown long term health and environmental effects of GM crops, and in addition to the legal ramifications of GM crops infecting non-GM crops, is that big business is increasingly controlling our food, and the future of our food. For example, in the case of soybeans, Monsanto has 25% global market share.

    Like anything else we buy these days, just because something is made from soy, it doesn't mean that soy has been grown in a sustainable way. Exercise caution when buying soy products - after all, if you're choosing soy for environmental reasons, it would be terrible for you to discover rainforest was recently destroyed in order to make your "earth-friendly" alternative.

    Source: http://www.greenlivingtips.com/

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• Forensic Loan Audits Save Home Forensic Loan Audits Save Homes

  • From: Anthony_Hayes
  • Description:

    Are you still wondering if you should trust the bank’s promise to give you that loan mod?  Are you still trying to decide if it is time you got a forensic loan audit?  No matter what, the facts speak for themselves.  What are the facts of your loan?  How can those facts help save your home? 

     

    Despite government intervention, people continue to churn and burn while desperately hoping for a Loan Mod, while thousands report abusive, deceiving, unfair and inept practices in the Loan Mod Departments.  Foreclosure statistics are still on the rise -- they are moving along seamlessly, however, those departments are adequately staffed.
    
    Lenders, bankers, news media – and even government officials warn you away from seeking professional services to help you save your financial life and your home. . .   Why?

     

    The clue lies here in a video recently released on the web – you probably saw it.  In summary, it states that IndyMac makes more money foreclosing, short selling, and collecting from the FDIC than they do modifying loans.

     

    Some allege that the deal has been made with other banks who bought out failing loans, such as Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo too.  As news of the Goldman Sachs Investigation hits the papers (banks put people into failing loans purposely so they could clean up on the stock market when they failed).  Bankers scammed homeowners.

    
    Tila Solutions personnel hear from homeowners daily how they are being forced into foreclosure or short sale by their banks.  This strongly suggests that the findings in this video may have merit.
     
    The money is in foreclosure and short sales. Loan Mods are not profitable and the professionals that could and do help are often maligned. (Companies like Tila Solutions are cutting into the bank profits when they save homes).  It makes sense really because bankers are not in the business of helping people, they in the business of money-making.

     

    Tila Solutions is in the business of providing forensic loan audits, and helping homeowners save their homes. That’s got to wreck those bank profits in the foreclosure and short sale departments!
     
    But, how did we end up as a nation in foreclosure?  Who did it?  More importantly, who scammed you originally, and who is still scamming you now?  Read on.
     

    It started in the late 90’s:  a 1999 Orlando Sentinel article states, - In a move that could provide stronger consumer protections for more than 1 million new home buyers a year, the federal government plans to take a novel, get-tough approach with lenders: It's going to hold thousands of banks and mortgage companies directly responsible for the number of home buyers they finance who fall into default or foreclosure within the first 24 months after loan closing. (gotta wonder what the heck happened, don’t you?)
    
    Over the past decade estimates are as high as 80% of the loans issued by banks contain federal violations and are predatory loans.  Now there’s a huge contributing factor to escalating foreclosures and bankruptcies over the past five years!  (Tila Solutions has still not investigated a loan that did not contain numerous violations!)

     

    And how many banks issued predatory loans that they then collected that federal mortgage insurance on after they foreclosed on the homeowner (and so often the homeowner didn’t know he had been foreclosed upon – he thought he was getting a loan mod). Tila hears from and helps these homeowners every day.
     

    How about WaMu – once touted as the nation’s largest bank (they’re out of business now)

    Seattle Times reported in October of 2009, that the fallout from the 'biggest banking collapse in U.S. history shows no sign of ending soon.”  What fallout?  It’s all those lawsuits and federal investigations alleging securities fraud “whether fraud played a role in WaMu’s collapse,” and bankruptcy. 

     

    Of course, WaMu was shut down by the FDIC, and Chase was forced to buy their failing loans. Of course, Tila Solutions gets hundreds of calls from homeowners, desperate to stop Chase from foreclosing on their WaMu loans – you know those loans they produced that now has them being investigated for fraud and securities violations (back to issuing loans designed to fail for the benefit of the stock market, are we?)
    
    Today, Chase is servicing all those loans.  Still burning and churning in Chase’s Loan Mod Department – listening to their recording which says, “we will modify your loan for free” while hoping to hear from a customer service rep that you don’t have to fax your tax return for the 20^th time, or fearing that you will hear that since you didn’t, you will now be foreclosed upon.

     

    Or are you one of the more recent statistics – a person who thought they were getting a loan mod (for free) even made all your trial mod payments, and then received your auction date in the mail? They may claim to modify your loan for free – but rest assured they charged YOU several thousand dollars to foreclose on you. 

     

    Why on earth wouldn’t you get Tila Solutions to investigate and negotiate for you? The bank hired a professional to foreclose on you.  

     

     Many homeowners still, to this day, appear to put their faith in the banks – but would they have if our government’s efforts to stop the bank scams had made a much bigger media splash?

    Summing things up then: 

    Can we be so bold as to assume that under the pretense of “working” to modify loans, they are taking homes in record numbers?  Tila sees the rising foreclosure statistics as a strong indication that this is the case.

    Why is there no steady onslaught of media reports on this? How is bilking homeowners out of thousands of dollars in trial mod payments before their homes are foreclosed upon not a scam?  Tila Solutions helps homeowners stop these actions daily.
     
    In an article in the March 4th 2010, Orlando Sentinel, we see that Bank of America carries the lowest scores for loan mods:  “The lender, one of the nation's biggest banks, holds more than a million mortgages that are months behind on their payments — twice as many defaulting home loans as any other lender in the country. But it has given permanent mortgage modifications to only about 1 percent of those borrowers — one of the lowest rates among lenders nationally.”
    
    Unless the home owner stops “listening to what the banks say” and starts reading the lawsuits the banks are passing out like lollipops when you make a deposit, the foreclosures are going to just keep on multiplying.  It is time to stop thinking the bank is going to help you.  It is time to start helping yourself.

    Investigations have resulted in fraud and federal violations being found and addressed – albeit not adequately by our government, but even they cannot ignore them. Thus, one can surmise that when federal violations and fraud are found doors have opened – at any level. 

    Tila Solutions finds these violations, and doors open – no matter how the lenders may wish to deny it.  TILA, RESPA, HOEPA, ECOA and Fraud violations when found in a loan open doors and save homes.
     
    Do yourself a favor and contact Tila Solutions. Take matters into your own hands.  Just remember this:  The bank wants your money and your home.  Get a Forensic Loan Audit and let the people at Tila negotiate new terms for you with the bank.   

    Tila Solutions can be contacted at 1 307 459--0232.  You can find out more about Tila and Forensic Loan Reviews at http://www.tilasolutions.com

     

     

     

    Tags: Tila Solutions, Tila, Tila-now, Loan Mod, Loan Modification, Forensic Loan Audit, Loan forensics, Foreclosure, stop foreclosure, scam, predatory loans

     

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• bioserie Introduces the World' bioserie Introduces the World's First 'Made of Plants' iPhone 4 Cover

  • From: ashleysoon
  • Description:

    

    All-Plant Case Offers Protection for the iPhone 4 and the Environment

    HONG KONG, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- bioserie is first to market with a line of iPhone 4 covers that will give earth-conscious Apple device owners the protection they demand while using only plant based renewable resources in its production. bioserie's unique use of the latest in bioplastics technology offers considerably less greenhouse gas emissions in manufacturing and the prevention of environmental toxic pollution once the cover is discarded. The iPhone 4 cover is the newest addition to bioserie's existing line of "made of plants" covers for the iPhone 3G/3GS, iPod touch and iPod nano.

    The expansion of bioserie's line marks a significant step in the availability of cutting-edge biobased Apple accessories – a market dominated by plastic products that use petrochemicals derived from oil. Using Ingeo™ by NatureWorks, LLC and a new proprietary blend of biobased components, bioserie is transforming annually renewable plant material into an iPhone 4 cover that is slim, light and has significantly improved strength and durability.

    "We believe it is possible to enjoy technology without harming the fragile ecosystems of our Earth," says Kaya Kaplancali, bioserie CEO. "We're exploring the cutting-edge of green science to develop products that allow consumers to enjoy their iPhone 4 and other Apple devices in an environmentally-responsible way."

    bioserie iPhone 4 cover features:

    • Fully biobased bioplastic body with no toxic ingredients
    • Lightweight protection - only 12 grams (0.4 ounces)
    • Patent-pending screen protection feet allowing safe facedown placement
    • Easily accessible iPhone 4 controls when cover is on
    • Finely textured surface providing comfort and better ergonomics
    • Colors: black, white, orange, lush green, forest green and red

    With a price of $34.95, bioserie iPhone 4 covers are available now on the bioserie website www.bioserie.com or convenient pre-orders on Amazon's website www.amazon.com with shipment in early September.

    Looking ahead, bioserie plans to expand its eco-friendly line of Apple device covers. The iPad will sport its own plant protection with the release of a "made of plants" iPad cover in September 2010 made using a unique Ingeo™ based bioplastics formulation.

    "bioserie approached us with the idea for its Apple device covers and we knew immediately that a partnership between their brand vision and our Ingeo™ biopolymers could bring something entirely new to the marketplace," said Steve Davies, Marketing Director for  NatureWorks, LLC. "Consumers continue to look for beautiful products that perform well, while now demanding better eco-credentials.  Together bioserie and NatureWorks are creating a much-needed alternative to traditional plastic covers for earth-conscious Apple users."

    About bioserie

    bioserie is a cutting-edge company engineering revolutionary ways in which bioplastics are used. Based in Hong Kong, bioserie launched its first line of bioplastic iPhone covers in February 2010. The original line features covers for the iPhone 3G/3GS and expanded the line in June 2010 to include bioplastic covers for the iPod touch and iPod nano.

    Original Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bioserie-introduces-the-worlds-first-made-of-plants-iphone-4-cover-101471934.html

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• Rare resources key in power ba Rare resources key in power battle

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:
    

    Bolivian President Evo Morales, left, and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak. Picture: AP Source: AP

    THE world will belong to the countries who control the resources, such as rare earth metals, which power the 21st century.

    In the magnificent banqueting room of Seoul's presidential Blue House, Evo Morales suspended his rabid socialism last night to enjoy South Korean capitalist hospitality at its most bountiful.

    In the Bolivian President's briefcase were two documents: a wildly generous memorandum of understanding from one of Asia's foremost powers and an honorary doctorate from one of its best universities. Not a bad day's work for a former llama shepherd who never finished school.

    For 45 years, South Korea has ignored dirt-poor Bolivia, and certainly not entertained its leader at lavish expense. Mr Morales's nation, however, has lots of lithium - and Seoul wants Samsung, Hyundai, LG and its other industrial giants to remain in business.

    Not an ounce of the stuff has yet left Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni, but the great salt lake holds enough lithium, according to some projections, to give whoever gains access to it future dominion over batteries for electric cars, laptops and mobile phones.

    Mr Morales has also spotted sooner than most that the world has fundamentally changed: resource geopolitics has lurched far beyond oil. The impending clashes will concern almost-unknown minerals and the world's consumer nations are realising this with some alarm. A series of recent reports warn that industries may no longer be viable even at the national level, forcing abrupt re-evaluations.

    Countries like Japan, South Korea, Germany and other technology powerhouses may struggle to retain their positions. "We are at economic war," Jack Lifton, an authority on rare minerals, told The Times.

    "The world where you could get everything for a price is history. And the West has been sound asleep on this. The level of ignorance about the upstream of mineral supply ... is just out of this world."

    Even in Asia, where growth is more visibly dependent on the minerals, the sense of dismay is recent. The South Korean government declared last week that it would draw cash from the national pension and sovereign funds to secure rare metals. It was coupled with a proposal that future aid should be focused on countries with rare metals.

    The courting of Mr Morales is not an isolated incident: China, Japan, Russia and France have all tried similar ruses to win his heart. This is, however, just the start. Other land grabs in the "New Great Game", warned a recent EU report, could erupt over the molybdenum used for cardiograms, cobalt for mobile phones, palladium for desalination plants, fluorspar, which is essential to chemical production, or the magnesium oxide vital to every oil refinery, cement factory and steel mill on Earth.

    The EU lists 14 raw materials as "critical".

    The US Department of Defence will next month publish a report on how much its military relies on materials that, currently, can only be obtained from China.

    In May, Britain's Department for Transport and Department for Business received a report on rare earth resources which said it was likely that China would, by 2015, ban all exports of the metals - substances that underpin the digital revolution and without which most "green" technology cannot function.

    Gal Luft, a director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, pointed to China's 95 per cent control of global production of rare earth metals, predicting that foreign policies around the world would be shaped by the need for dysprosium, cobalt and platinum in the same way that oil defined geopolitics in the 20th century.

    China's ever-tightening restrictions on rare earth exports quotas will be slashed by 72 per cent by the end of this year - reflect a pattern that may soon be seen in other commodities. "When it comes to resources, there is no free market," Mr Luft said. "The lesson for governments that want to stay in business is that you can't source things you want from one place."

    Jaakko Kooroshy, a policy analyst at The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, told The Times that the situation had exposed spectacular complacency among Western governments. "The West has woken up late to the idea that these metals have a strategic importance. In the supposed boom of the 1990s ... mining was a non-issue and everyone wanted to diversify away from something seen as dirty and old. Suddenly it matters again."

    The mineral issues do not end with technology, with attention focused also on fundamental minerals. Control of world potash supply for crop fertiliser may become increasingly tormented by trade restrictions and politicised resource control.

    Academics in the US and Australia have warned that phosphorus, the other mineral behind the 1960s "green revolution" in food, may be approaching physical limits, ushering in "the gravest natural resource shortage you've never heard of".

    Just as this resource vulnerability has not been lost on President Lee of South Korea, Japan's leadership is at least unified on the need for panic. Supplies of lithium, tantalum, germanium, indium and the 17 rare earth metals are fundamental to things that Japan does best - consumer electronics, hybrid vehicles and precision technology.

    The dominance of China in the supply of many of these has become a source of concern. Katsuya Okada, the Japanese Foreign Minister, has spent this year in a typhoon of trips. London, Paris, Berlin and even Beijing have not featured - instead it is South Africa, Vietnam, Tanzania, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Australia that have featured.

    The country is urgently talking to mineral-producing heads of state - before China and South Korea get their feet in the door.

    "Until recently, the government took the attitude that this was something best left to market forces ... but the world has changed dramatically and the Government cannot just sit back any more," Mr Okada said.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/news/rare-resources-key-in-power-battle/story-e6frg90o-1225910731635

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• Effects Of Pollution: 5 Tips T Effects Of Pollution: 5 Tips To Improve Green Living

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:

    It’s time to start thinking more about preserving our planet’s health.

    We all know how global warming effects our environment, our life and our health. Every year, global temperatures rises, caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide and the emission of other pollutants that trap the sun’s heat. These chemicals are responsible for rising sea levels (from melting glaciers), catastrophic storms and hurricanes, changes in the distribution of plants and animals, and the lengthening of seasons. They can also increase the risk of certain infectious diseases. Poor air quality can worsen existing respiratory conditions like asthma and other chronic lung diseases.
    The future rate of increase of these factors will depend on economic, sociological, technological, and natural developments, and it will depend on us. We can help our planet stay clean and healthy by following simple steps in our daily activities.
    You personal impact is extremely important. Recycle old items into new ones and reduce pollution and energy consumption that results from making goods from scratch.

    We can make a difference, by following these five simple steps:

    1. Eliminate junk mail. Visit 41pounds.org to learn how this site can help you to stop receiving junk mail for up to five years.
    2. Recycle your household waste: paper, plastic, and glass, as well as hazardous waste such as paint, cleaners, household batteries, and light bulbs. These types of waste pile up in the landfill and do not compost. Visit Earth911.com for the nearest hazardous waste recycling facilities. Check with your local recycling program to find out how you can recycle. 
    3. Go paperless. Sign up for online bills and try to use as less paper as possible. Recycle used paper, old magazines and newspapers. Saving trees is extremely important. Tree foliage works as a natural air filter of particulate matter such as dust, micro-sized metals and pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen oxides, ammonia, and sulfur dioxides. Trees take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Combined with their natural cooling effect, these processes can have a significant impact on reducing smog and overall air pollution. 
    4. Avoid clothing that requires dry cleaning. Choose cotton and wool. Natural fibers are easier to care for at home. They can often be washed in cool water and hung to dry, reducing chemical use as well as energy. Recycle your old clothes, shoes and leather accessories, by donating them to local charity organizations (like the Salvation Army and Goodwill), or take them to a consignment store. Some stores like Plato’s Closet (platoscloset.com) accept gently used clothing for cash. 
    5. Recycle your electronics. Look for state-approved, reliable collectors and recyclers in your area. These companies can take care of all necessary services, such as secure hard drive data erasing, and safe electronic waste dismantling. Moreover, they do not charge anything for their services and make ewaste recycling easy and convenient for you. Dumping unwanted electronics into the regular trash is illegal and environmentally irresponsible. Electronic waste is highly toxic when dumped into landfill. It contains lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, and polyvinyl chlorides. All of these substances have known toxicological effects that range from brain damage to kidney disease, to mutations and cancers. It’s wise to reuse and recycle old electronics instead of manufacturing new items. A desktop computer and monitor weigh an average of 53 pounds and require 530 pounds of fossil fuels, 50 pounds of chemicals and 3,330 pounds of water to make. Electronics often contain useful materials such as precious metals, glass, and plastics that should be recovered rather than buried in a landfill. For example, precious metals are used in computer circuit boards and other electronic components and, of course, glass and plastics are used to manufacture TV and computer monitors. Recycling these products reduces the need to mine the earth for raw materials. Let’s think about it and start recycling! Go to zerowaste.ca.gov to locate licensed electronic waste recyclers. Visit e-waste4u.com for useful e-waste recycling tips and facts.

    Environmental change is in our hands. Everyone can make a difference by thinking green and being environmentally responsible!

    Source: http://www.go4moresecret.info/

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• This Bug Plug Doesn’t Bite but This Bug Plug Doesn’t Bite but Instead Help You Save Energy

  • From: arboinks
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    Bugplug- the name might provoke many of us to think that this is some kind of new mosquito repellent or something related to bugs.  However, that is not what it is and once you look at the design, which consists of cute smiling lips, you’ll be sure of the same.  Contrary to the name, Bugplug is a type of a new eco-friendly gadget conceptual design which is going to help us conserve electricity. Extremely creative and innovative, the gadget is designed by Ah & Oh Studio, who has tagged bugplug as ‘the household friend’.

    

    Now, many of you must be wondering how on earth one can possibly save electricity using a cute yet weird looking device like this.  Surprisingly it’s easier than it seems.  All that is needed to be done is selecting the devices that you feel consume more energy and plugging them in different slots of the bugplug. Once done set individual timers for each device by just pressing the belly button of the bugplug. That’s it.

    

    The device will work something like this using its sensors. When you enter the room, with its smart and efficient motion sensors placed on top of the two antennas, the bugplug will detect your presence and send signals to all the attached devices and switch them on. The motion sensors do the wonder and even shut off sending signals as soon as they  detects your leaving the room.  Bugplug switches off all the devices according to their respective timers and patiently wait for you to come back to the room, thus preventing a lot of energy from getting wasted.

    More than being a brilliant eco-friendly gadget, it is the creative and friendly looks of the device that catches the eye. Bugplug is cute and looks as if it is saying ‘hello’ using its smiling broad lips and waving towards you with its two long twigs.

    

    Thus, the bugplug is not only interesting but intelligent as well. If Bugplug senses no motion in the room, in spite of the set timer, will cut-off the power to the devices in utmost 30 minutes. Moreover, it also has a detachable power cord, enabling its connectivity with all different kinds of slots.

    

    Bugplug is a great device which helps the most when you are rushing for an important meeting or a date, and have forgotten to switch off some electrical device you were using prior to leaving the house. Bugplug provides you the much needed peace of mind and prevents you from thinking if you have switched off the lights and fans or forgot to turn off the iron.

    

    ‘Bugplug’ was given the best ecogadget award in the greener gadget competition 2009. Moreover, now when the green revolution is on the peak, every designer wants to go the ecofriendly way and bugplug serves as an inevitable example of what product designers can do using their creativity.

    These eco-friendly devices are sure to stay. You can definitely learn about other such products such as Bedol Eco-friendly Clock and Eco-friendly Spray.

    Source: http://www.aggregotutto.com/

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• The Green Revolution in China The Green Revolution in China

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

     

    

    The television commentator and former Jesuit, John McLaughlin, used to make me laugh when he would tell a panelist of an opposing political view: "Once again you've stumbled upon the truth, even though you don't know how you got there."

    Yesterday, August 19, 2010, the New York Times reported the facts of a story entitled, "China to Invest Billions in Electric and Hybrid Cars," but failed to stumble upon the truth. So let me do that for the Times and for your benefit, dear readers:

    China, as part of its NATIONAL plan, a goal centrally set by those in overall charge of its economy, announced yesterday that its motor vehicle industry will be required to build one million electric and hybrid motor vehicles in the next few years. I believe that this means that the industry will be required to reach a production rate of one million electrifed motor vehicles, the size of passenger cars, per year.

    This is part of an overall plan to marshal and deploy China's natural resources and its resources of intellectual property for the benefit of its own people, first. How much more logical can it get than that as a reason to conserve precious natural resources such as the rare earths?

    The New York Times points out in the above story:

    "The announcement, analysts say, is another example of how China seeks to marshal resources and tackle industries and new markets. The plan also underlines what China describes as its growing commitment to combating pollution and reducing carbon emissions."

    When I was in Beijing in the first week of August, three weeks ago, one of the other (I was a speaker at the plenary session) speakers at the Chinese Society for Rare Earths 6th Annual Rare Earths' Summit, stated that a goal of the next two five-year plans, to be completed in 2020, was to have 330 gigawatts of wind turbine generated electricity installed by that time. The speaker pointed out that this would take 59,000 metric tons of neodymium, calculated as 28% of the rare earth permanent magnet alloy, neodymium-iron-boron, since each 1.5 megawatt wind turbine generator will require one ton of rare earth permanent magnet alloy.

    The same speaker who was from the Chinese rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing industry didn't mention how much of the heavy rare earths would be required for the project. I will estimate that at most it would be one thousand tons of terbium and three thousand tons of dysprosium.

    In any case the total requirements for these new, not replacement, uses for neodymium would be the total production, for three years, at the most recently achieved high production rate,of neodymium and as much as five years of terbium and two to three years of dysprosium.

    If the neodymium demand is to be met, and this means that China, AS THE SPEAKER SAID, decides to use only rare earth permanent magnets for its wind turbine electric generator program, then it would require that three years production of the contained neodymium, at the rate it was mined in China in 2008, among all the rare earths mines there, be reserved for Chinese domestic magnet and wind equipment manufacturers and be targeted for the Chinese domestic market!

    I think that it is crystal clear that China is not reducing the production of rare earths on a long term basis and is not reducing their export on a short term basis it is in fact pausing to clean up the rare earth mining sector, physically, eliminate illegal mining and smuggling of this precious green resource, and consolidate the rare earth mining industry under the largest state-owned base metal producers of iron, copper, and aluminum to prepare to ramp up the Chinese domestic production of rare earths both to meet and to guarantee the success of its long-term green strategy. THIS IS CALLED LONG TERM STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR THOSE IN WASHINGTON AND ON WALL STREET WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THE CHINESE ARE "DEPRIVING US" OF THIS VITAL RESOURCE. THIS PROCESS IS ALSO CALLED CONSERVATION OF DOMESTIC RESOURCES, BY THE WAY.

    As to electric and hybrid cars they require neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium for the magnets in the rare earth permanent magnet electric motors both that drive them and that power their accessories. Some or all may also use lanthanum in nickel metal hydride batteries AS ALL HYBRIDS MADE TODAY DO. In any case whether or not the Chinese electrified cars use NiMH batteries they are being designed to use rare rare permanent magnet electric motors. A million such vehicles will probably require just one million kg, one thousand metric tonnes, a year. Oh, did I mention that they will need also 10-20 tons of terbium and up to 50 tons of dysprosium. All of this new demand will be added demand not replacement demand, by the way.

    I have no doubt that China will remain the world's largest producer of the rare earths indefinitely. In the near term, perhaps over the next 5-10 years China will need to import the "light" rare earths, lanthanum and neodymium to make up any shortfalls created by its proposed quantum leap in demand in the face of the temporary reduction of production for environmental and reorganization reasons. If the non Chinese light rare earth miners get their acts together in time so that they can produce light rare earths at a lower cost than their Chinese competitors are able to do then both Molycorp (MCP) and Lynas have a good chance of success even in the long term.

    The real issue for the future of rare earth utilization and therefore of mining is the continued growth of the use and need for the heavy rare earths, terbium and dysprosium.

    These "heavy rare earths" are believed by the Chinese to be in short supply domestically. China today is the world's only producer of heavy rare earths mostly from southern Chinese deposits known as "ionic clays" although significant quantities are also produced from the Bayanobo region, even though they report in Bayanobo only in small quantities, due to the overall massive amounts of rare earths mined there. Nonetheless China believes that tis own domestic supply of the heavy arre earths has only between 5 and 30 years remaining at present levels of use.

    This means that the real supply opportunity in the non-Chinese rare earth mining sector is for those deposits that have above average proportions of heavy rare earths to be brought into production as quickly as possible.

    It is a horse race among those non Chinese juniors with commercially recoverable (i.e.., economically recoverable) heavy rare earths.

    They are:

    Canada
    1. Great Western Minerals Group 
    2. Avalon Rare Metals, (AVARF.PK)
    3. Quest Rare Metals

    Note; Some of my colleagues have urged me to add other Canadian juniors to this list, such as Matamec Exploration, but I do not know anything about that company and will reserve my judgement on them for a future time when i have had time to study Matamec Exploration and visit its site.

    USA,
    1. Ucore Rare Metals 
    2. Rare Element Resources, (RRLMF.PK) (a light rare earth deposit but with significant Europium only)

    Republic of South Africa
    1. Rareco (Great Western is developing a mine along with Rareco)
    2. Frontier Rare Earths (private at this time)

    The success or failure of any of the above will depend on the quality of their deposits, the effciency of their extractive metallurgy, the ability of the global rare earth refining industry to service them, and the growth of the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indian domestic markets.

    Disclosure: I won shares of Great Western Minerals Group, and I am a paid consultant in business development to Ucore and to Frontier Rare Earths.

    Source : http://seekingalpha.com/article/221577-the-green-revolution-in-china?source=feed

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• Josie Maran Is the Face of Nat Josie Maran Is the Face of Natural Beauty

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

     

    

    Photo: Charley Gallay / Getty Images

    Josie Maran lives a model green life. In 2006, the former model and actress put her environmental prowess to the test by launching her own line of eco-friendly natural cosmetics and this year she was honored by The Daily Green as a green role model.

    We spoke to Josie about her line, her lifestyle, and how she responds to the critics.
    
    

    Why did you decide to start Josie Maran Cosmetics? As a model I wore a lot of makeup. I was the face of Maybelline for 10 years and around the industry a lot. I paid attention to the business -- the style, the trends. I’m an entrepreneur at heart. I always wanted to own my own business.

    I also grew up in a socially conscious family in the Bay Area. My dad’s a green builder. My mom comes from a big family so she grew up very resourceful. And we grew up reusing things and repurposing things.

    When I was in the makeup chair I would always ask the makeup artist if they had anything that was healthy and natural. And they’d always say that [natural makeup] wasn’t good and we would never be able to use it in a shoot.

    I worked on it for three years and I think I proved that you can have healthy and really high-performing makeup.
    
    

    //

    What makes Josie Maran Cosmetics different from other companies?
    I have a no-no list and I aim to make my products as natural and organic as possible. Everything has to be nontoxic. We have no parabens, no petrochemicals. We’re always reformulating. My goal is to make products nontoxic and healthy. You have to be realistic about getting high performing makeup. There are chemicals that aren’t toxic. We’ve put them together in a new way that’s not toxic. You have to ask a a lot of questions of the lab. And we’re doing as much research into the ingredients as possible and reformulating when things aren’t as good as they could be.

    I wanted a makeup makeup artists could use. And they do! I have a lot of friends from my modeling days who are not using it. Just today I just got a call from Megan Fox’s makeup artist who said she didn’t want any petroleum-based cosmetics. A lot of celebrities are catching on.
    
    

    What do you say to critics who argue that your products aren’t natural enough?
    I’m learning every day.

    You can always be better. I want people trust my products so it’s hard to hear that. I’ll always be honest, and people should make their choices based on the information they have.

    If products don’t perform people aren’t going to come back for them.

     

    What tips do you have for women when it comes to wearing makeup?
    Too much makeup is never pretty. But you also shouldn’t be scared of makeup. Be playful. I used to be scared to do a smoky eye or something more out of the box. It’s all about putting it on lightly and layering it slowly.

    Ingredient wise, less is more. A lot of products have a lot of ingredients in them. You’ve got to take care of your skin. Have days off. Don’t wear makeup every day. A little tinted moisturizer is always helpful.

    I can’t live without the Argan oil. I really wouldn’t know what to do without it. It balances and moisturizes my skin.

    Read the labels. If there’s something you can’t understand or pronounce, look it up. You’ll find information on it. It’s really important to not just think of today but what these ingredients might do to you a few years down the road.
    
    

    What are the barriers for green makeup and skin care lines gaining wider acceptance?
    I think getting over the stigma that they don’t work. That they’re not cool or glamorous. Once people see that there a lot of brands making natural products, they’ll start believing in it. It’ll take time but when enough information gets out there everybody will just get it.
    
    

    So, is it true? Do you live in a solar-powered house?
    No! But I do have a very green house. A lot of wood in our house is repurposed wood from an old barn. We use organic and non toxic cleaning supplies. I have a Prius and I try to ride my bike as much as possible.

    Another thing is educating our kids and giving them nontoxic food and instead of throwing so much away, composting. We’re going to get people to go natural via the next generation. My daughter is almost four and she doesn’t know anything else. She knows how to recycle.
    
    

    What one message would you like to send out to people on Earth Day?
    Understand that we’re all connected. If we do one thing every day, it can really help, and we’ll all live a better life because of it. Look out for your family.

    
    Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/josie-maran-interview-0420#ixzz0x7gtyp17

     

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• Florescent Bulb Recycling Tips Florescent Bulb Recycling Tips

  • From: arboinks
  • Description:
    

    Florescent Bulb Recycling Tips

     

    Fluorescent bulbs reduce energy consumption and lower operating expenses for homes and businesses. Unfortunately, these bulbs also contain between 3.5 and 15 grams of mercury each, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA says if you throw a fluorescent bulb in the trash, this mercury eventually ends up in groundwater supplies and even in the air you breathe, where it can harm health and the environment. Recycling captures this mercury for reuse and helps to protect the Earth and your family.

    Local Resources

    According to the EPA, federal laws require all industrial and commercial facilities to recycle fluorescent bulbs instead of throwing them in the trash. Some states also have laws in place that require household consumers to recycle these bulbs. Even states that don't require fluorescent bulb recycling often provide resources for consumers who wish to keep these bulbs out of landfills.
    
    
    
    Visit the EPA website to learn about recycling facilities in your state. Some states provide hazardous waste collection facilities, which will accept these bulbs at no charge to residents. Others offer curbside pickup service for fluorescent bulbs, or host regular collection events for this type of household hazardous waste. If no municipal recycling services exist in your state, call local recycling centers and ask about bulb collection policies and fees.
    
    
    
    No matter where you recycle your bulbs, it's critical to protect them from breakage or damage. A broken bulb allows mercury to escape rapidly, which may pose a serious health risk for handlers. The EPA recommends storing the bulb in the original packaging whenever possible. Don't tape bulbs or pieces of bulbs together, as they may break when the tape is removed for recycling. If you no longer have the original packaging, use boxes, newspaper or other cushioning to reduce breakage.

    Last-Resort Options

    The EPA recommends that U.S. consumers recycle all fluorescent tubes or compact fluorescent bulbs, even if state laws don't require recycling. If you can't find recycling centers in your area, place your bulbs in a plastic bag, then place the bag in a second bag. Seal the bag and tape it shut to prevent mercury from leaking out when the bulb reaches the landfill. The EPA considers this method of disposal a "last-resort" option, but warns consumers to investigate how garbage disposal works in their area before attempting this method. If your local waste collection organization incinerates garbage, do not use this method. Incinerated bulbs release mercury into the air. Rather than allow your bulbs to be incinerated, store them in a protected area until you can find a safer option for recycling or disposal.

    Commercial Recycling Resources

    Many retailers and lamp manufacturers sponsor fluorescent bulb recycling programs to protect the environment and support company-wide environmental goals. According to Consumer Reports, big-box stores such as Home Depot and Ikea accept bulbs for free recycling. Some Ace Hardware stores also accept them. Most only accept unbroken bulbs, and consumers should contact the local store directly to ask about the best way to remit these bulbs. 
    
    
    
    Sylvania, a major bulb producer, accepts fluorescent lamps by mail for recycling. The company charges a fee for this service; contact the company directly for more information.

    
    Source: http://www.livestrong.com/

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• IPAD solar charger for Apple's IPAD solar charger for Apple's lawyers shake Green

  • From: yiehk21
  • Description:

     

    

    Is Apple products, driven by energy from solar power? You bet I am. IPAD Apple recently launched the first of a resounding success with the product name. It is the new future for Tablet PCs. Apple recently took the first environment friendly products, reducing harmful chemicals in them, the risk. "So the question is exactly how Apple is always greener, what want to be protectedEnvironment and Green because lawyers to be more satisfied with their products?

    Apple is green, friendly manner have been criticized in recycling is not enough products contain many hazardous chemicals in them and the environment. What many do not know is that the environment is that Apple above all our concerns, which had planned to green toxic and found to protect our earth from harmful chemicalsin many products that are outside of S. Apple 'in 2002, Apple said that the advantages of being cleaner and more environmentally friendly disposal of toxic chemicals and the increasing use of recycling old products . Using materials like aluminum and plastic, which are in high demand from recyclers. Increased recycling by 10% since 2002, were screened in the past from Dell and JP recycling of products sold to overcome. So why am I discussingApple has taken the initiative always greener and environmentally friendly? Well, Apple's new products have IPAD, the technology will be powered by solar energy.

    Solar Charger for IPAD start a new trend has become. Many supporters of Apple fanatics have a green and enjoy the fact that Apple itself has a mentality that companies like to create a green. The IPAD Apple solar charger, you can lastmore than 10 hours between charges. When you travel, go to the field to assign, or enjoy the Apple IPAD outside of your house as a solar charger would be ideal for you. No noise going to bring a charger everywhere, let alone most of the work by a small solar charger on the IPAD. The only disadvantage of the solar charger is the charging current is not as fast as a real outbreak, but this should be a problem. If a solar chargerFind the cost of implementing a loader, a forgotten plug plug-ins, and / or let you go with the charger at home or take cover.

    The solar systems will be to start a new trend, many products available and the power of green technology application. With more than solar, we have a more efficient system based on technology, recalls the promise of the future of our environment and health. Remember that a community creates a greenerhealthier body. uses less air pollution, toxic chemicals, create less opportunity for our body to get sick.

    visit for more information about solar products and technologies, how to make your own solar panels for your home, creating a SolarPanelsForHomes.us.

    Source : http://www.notebookreviewmag.com/ipad-solar-charger-for-apples-lawyers-shake-green/

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