Green Blog

Even with all of the media coverage going on about going green, people are still not taking advantage of the new energy sources and opportunity’s now available to themselves.

It really does make good sense for taking great care of our house, however with such an abundance of information and facts, exactly where does one begin? Well, one particular starting point is using wind power. It happens to be free of charge, plentiful, as well as simple to access.

There are typically two options with wind energy, you either go all the way and create enough energy to run your whole house or business to cut out the electricity bills completely or instead you just start smaller and reduce your energy bills every month which anyone can do. But both of these will save you money and benefit you greatly for years to come.

Using wind power to help you save money on the small scale can be as simple as just opening the windows to keep your house cool instead of air conditioning or using a clothes line to dry your clothes. Although these are simple changes, added up over the year means you will save a great deal of money.

If you are searching for a certain method that has a little bit more ‘impact’ you can take advantage of a wind turbine to convert the wind into electrical power for your personal residence. You can actually construct your very own wind turbine for just a few hundred bucks or you can purchase one for a couple of thousand bucks. The choice is yours.

The smaller wind turbines are much like a satellite dish and can be discretely attached directly to the roof. Or alternatively you can go alot bigger and get a full turbine and pole fitted in your yard. There are many alternatives to fit everyones needs and preferences.

Typically a turbine placed on your home will cut your energy bills by 80%. That could be a substantial amount of money that you save each and every month, especially when a turbine is only a one time investment and will last for a lifetime.

And so if you would like to take advantage of wind power and put it to work for you, right now is really a perfect time. You can expect to save yourself some cash as well as reduce your carbon footprint all at the same time.

The world presently has an even bigger growth rate in its demand for energy. This is due mainly to the rapid increase of population, which has more than two times in the last 50 years. This has caused a injury on our energy supply, which has brought about an increase in energy prices and shortages in a lot of parts of the globe. Conventional energy supplies like petroleum and gas are said to have been declining drastically and has the possibility of running out completely in the future. This has influenced many individuals to look for alternative energy sources one of which is renewable energy. The concept of renewable energy is not new.

individuals have been using every advantage of renewable energy for thousands of years for various uses. Some utilize it for heating and cooking while others use it for lighting their houses. There are those who utilize it transport their vehicles and operate their machines. This renewable energy comes in a lot of types the common ones being solar, water, wind, biomass and geothermal energy. Today, with the present situation regarding conventional energy resources like fossil fuel, people have been searching for means to use this power to give electricity and power to their homes.

The main benefit of renewable energy over fossil fuels is the reality that it is renewable. This means that it may easily be refilled without so much effort for man. This is for the reason that this energy is produced through natural processes so they are normally found in nature. These makes them virtually infinite in amount and so are not in risk of running out. Additionally, this energy can’t be quickly consumed because it just goes back to nature where it was harnessed.

Because of the fact that they are sourced from nature, renewable energy is additionally clean and does not normally give harmful effects when harnessed and used.

This benefit of renewable energy is very vital especially today where a lot of the environmental pollution comes from power plants and factories that are used to provide electricity. By using renewable energy, this pollution can be greatly lessened and even avoided in the future.

Jason Myers is a professional writer and he writes mostly about renewable energy news. He’s also interested in renewable energy informations.

Few people can have escaped noticing that conventional incandescent lighting is rapidly being phased out and that the preferred (over Compact Fluorescent Lamps) alternative is LED, which is widely regarded as the way forward to a environmentally friendly, low cost lighting future. The question though is: where to start?

Well you could simply rush out and buy LED replacements for every light bulb you presently own but I wouldn’t advise it. First of all it would be really quite expensive, but also the odds of getting things badly wrong with this approach are quite considerable.

Getting to grips with LED lighting doesn’t happen overnight - this is a completely different technology to incandescent lighting and requires a bit of getting used to before you can get it just right for your own needs. But stick with it and the end result is superior quality lighting that also happens to save massively on electricity costs.

Accordingly, you ought to pick a location that you planned on refurbishing anyway or that otherwise uses a great deal of lighting (either lots of lights, or lights left on a lot). The likelihood that you will quickly notice a difference in operating costs (and also light quality of course) will be thus enhanced.

Getting off to a successful start this way is important since it provides the encouragement to proceed with further steps towards finally replacing all your incandescent lighting with LED. The room that most people nominate to start with is, unsurprisingly, the kitchen. This usually has many lights that also get used a lot and a kitchen lighting makeover invariably seems to appeal.

The average modern kitchen tends to feature a sizeable collection of halogen spot lights (typically either recessed or set on tracks). The amount of electricity that these literally burn is quite extraordinary, yet replacing them with LED lamps that consume a fraction of the energy is no more complicated than pulling out the old halogen and pushing an LED back in its place. At least for GU10 LED lamps it is - for the low-voltage MR16 format you should also replace the existing 12v transformers with one or more LED drivers.

The same holds true for concealed lighting tucked under, above or inside cabinets as these too can be replaced with LED strips or mini spots. This is also a great opportunity to add lighting whilst you’re at it since LED strip lighting is easy to install, lightweight, and is packaged in a variety of forms that can be trimmed or joined as required. LED lighting to accent covings, plinths and set into kickboards to illuminate the floor are all popular techniques.

Three key considerations should be borne in mind with regard to LED lighting.

1. Quality. It’s true that in general quality costs more but with LED quality counts for everything; so be prepared to pay a premium and avoid the path that leads to false economies and disappointment with cheap products. Look for recognised brand names such as Sharp Zenigata or anything using Cree LED technology. Remember, incandescent light bulbs are also cheap and yet they cost vastly more in running costs over time.

2. True cost. Or what is known as TCO (total cost of ownership). Over a period of 50,000 hours a single LED will incur zero replacement costs and cost as much to run as it costs to buy. Over the same span a halogen lamp will need to be replaced at least 25 times and is likely to incur 1,000 times its purchase price in electricity costs. Even if an LED costs 20 times more (and many do) it’s cheaper just on replacement costs alone and orders of magnitude cheaper on electricity costs.

3. Usage. An issue many people have with LED light is that it can be both blindingly bright yet unable to project luminosity over distance. An easy way around this is to direct the lighting away from direct line of sight and reflect it off walls, floors, ceilings and features in the room. The obviously accents interesting aspects in the space with the added benefit that it also produces a softer light that does then spread out well. It does however require more individual light units to create this effect than if using conventional incandescent general lighting.

For further information check out these articles that examine the subjects of Cree LED and 12v LED lights in more detail.

A recent report by energy saving experts has suggested that businesses could make massive cost savings by implementing changes to their energy usage. The joint report by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and the Environment Agency found that up to 3.5 billion pounds could potentially be saved through green energy measures.

Ruth Spellman, Chief Executive of the Chartered Management Institute, echoed this sentiment. Speaking on This Is Money she said ‘climate change cynics need to recognise the business case for going green.

‘A typical employer is likely to use excessive amounts of paper, ink and electricity. If so, a few simple changes, such as printing double-sided or turning off computers at the end of each day could save money.’

A business’s green credentials could be boosted through innovative uses of new technologies, which can also help to cut expenditure. Trying video, web or teleconferencing instead of travelling long distances to meetings would save money, time and CO2 emissions.

Companies should monitor improvements on a month by month basis and give themselves targets to ensure progress. This should also help to identify problem areas or further energy saving measures.

DEFRA released figures which outlined that business is the biggest contributor to CO2 waste in the UK. Their emissions added up to 191 million tons or 35% of UK carbon emissions in 2007.

Going green with energy usage could benefit business in more ways than simply cost and emission reduction. Research by recruitment experts has found that there is a link between corporate sustainability and employee engagement, as green energy issues are of increasing importance to employees

Monster has been one of several firms to dedicate a section of is careers site to job listings with environmentally friendly companies, highlighting the importance of CSR in the recruitment process.

Philip Youngwood is a freelance writer who has a partiulcar in helping businesses and homeowners get the best energy deals.