Mindzle

Archive for March, 2009

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You and everyone you know, uses some sort of portable energy draining device.  From time to time that device will need power.  Sure we plug them in at  night and charge.  Have you ever thought about free, renewable green power?  That is what the solar powered battery charger, gives you.  This compact portable device, will power most cellular, smart, pda and mp3 devices on the fly .  Some types will even store power for use at night.  For instance Solio portable solar battery charger is available for around $100 to $175 and is a great gift for that individual who is regularly on the go.

Renewable, Green, Free!

Solar power battery charger is great at what it does, with an assortment of attachments for different popular brands of devices, including the ever popular Apple iphone. The Solio solar powered battery charger provides  about   20 minutes of talk time for 1 hour of solar charging or 50 minutes of mp3 music, according to the manufacturer’s information.  In the forefront of being green and decreasing your carbon footprint on one of our most heavily used devices we should all think about using solar powered battery charger for charging and maintaining our portable entertainment and communication devices. 

Because solar power is always readily available, you shall never have to worry that it is going to run out. Then of course there is also the fact that you are being environmentally friendly. When you understand just how much solar energy has to offer you, you begin to see why it is so important to make the switch. The only reason that so many people have not done it already is because they believe that it is going to be too inconvenient or cost them too much when in reality, the exact opposite is true. Just think of how much electricity we could save if every one of us mad this simple switch.  How much we could save per year on one simple change. 

If you want to read actual consumer feedback and detailed review visit portable solar battery charger review page.

Have you ever been labeled as an environmentalist or you just love to live green? Our natural resources are getting more and more scarce as the years progress. It’s very important that each and every one of us pulls our share. Recent generations have been pulling more of their weight when it comes to doing something to help preserve the environment. It’s still not enough though when you can do so much more. The world still produces more pollution than anything that could help the Earth’s life.

Even though most people relate recycling as the main thing we can do to help them environment, it’s not the only thing you can do. If you really want to help in the saving of the Earth and its resources you can get a Compost Tumbler.

You can think of a compost tumbler as an alternative to a compost bin. It will take all the waste that you put in there and turn it into rich nutrients. The compost tumbler is extremely nice for composting waste. It’s another way to decompose organic materials into the soil. The tumbler is made in a way that anyone can use it easily.

Does it matter if you use a compost bin versus a compost tumbler? There are some distinction between the two products. Even though each of these items give the same great results, the compost tumbler can be a little bit more convenient for people with less time on their hands. Depending on where you live, you may or may not be able to use a particular one.

There are some areas where using a compost bin are restricted. As a neighbor, you can understand how some people would feel to live next to someone who has a pile of compost in their yard…… Also you would have to turn the compost bin repeatedly throughout the day. You don’t have to turn the tumbler as much as you would with the bin.

Composting is important to use to reserve our resources for our future generations. Composter reviews can show you all the different compost tumblers that could work for you. Compost Tumbler are described in detail so you can figure out which one works best for you.

If you’re ready to start living green then check out all the reviews that this site makes available to you. Contribute to the preservation of our resources. Start now.

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The world has officially gone mad. As we are grinding into the worst economic slump for a century, simple things like heating bills are going up and up.There are also significant health risks for pensioners and low income families. During the big temperature freezes of the past winter, it was they who needed to keep warm the most. Yet they are increasingly unable to pay their rising gas bills to stay warm.

“Green Energy” is something repeated daily by the government and huge energy companies alike. It is hyped up as the answer to all our troubles. And who would argue with the idea of saving some money and saving the planet. With this mantra on their lips, they win votes and build wind farms, supposedly for our benefit.

However the latest initiative by the UK government reveals the truth behind this egalitarian rhetoric. The plan is called the “Renewable Heating Incentive”, and aims to construct a large number of wind farms and solar energy facilities to reduce reliance on fast depleting and environmentally unfriendly fossil fuel sources. Now you’d think that the responsibility for paying for these developments would land at the feet of global energy giants – but you’d be wrong. It is going to be the bill payer who has to pay for this! The plan aims to charge a levy to energy providers using fossil fuels. The big friendly energy company, however, is planning on paying for this cost by increasing home gas and electric costs.

Electricty prices increased by 26% over the last year, and gas prices by 59%. This meant that millions had to think twice about switching on their portable heaters. In the midst of increasing poverty, the “go green” banner has been used as a solution for families to ease hardship by paying less for energy bills. However if this idea is brought in it will harm precisely those who are struggling. Essentially what this will mean is that those with more secure and higher incomes will be the ones who can afford to switch to green energy sources for their homes. But if you can’t, and resort to using fan heaters or oil filled radiators to warm your house when the temperatures drop, you’ll be hit with higher energy bills. This will be the case even with the proposed low interest loans being offered to carry out the work. It’s unlikely that a family that is already struggling to pay their gas and electic, not to mention interest on existing debts, will be willing to take on more debt, whetever the interest rate may be. One thing we learned from the introduction of student loans, at the time touted as a measure to make university more accessible to lower income families, is that only the middle classes are prepared to put themselves in such debt on top of everything else.

I ask you, is that right? Far better would be taxing the energy companies directly and getting hold of a tiny fraction of their trillions of dollars of profit.They could then use this significant sum to subsidise green refubishment on lower income houses, so that they can benefit from reduced heating bills. It would be great to hear what people think about this issue.

Wind power is another alternative source of energy besides solar power. The attraction of wind power is because of the unlimited supply and cost free energy. You can get any amounts of energy you want at literally zero price, furthermore energy generated from wind will not pollute the earth atmosphere or pollute the ozone layer.

Do you know you can make your own wind generator at home to take advantage of wind power. The best part is it doesn´t cost much money either.

The Tricky Part

To tell the truth, the tricky part in making wind generator is to find a guide that can explain a simple step by step process that you can follow. All academic and other textbook are full of theories and hard to read, you don´t need to know about electron reaction during inverting process when all you want to know is how to make a simple wind generator that good enough to supply electric energy you need.

Thankfully, there are several such guides online such as Michael Harvey Earth4energy.

Components For Wind Generator

If you buy ready made wind generator, it will cost you thousands of dollars, not to mention the installation fees. The hassle part of building a wind generator yourself is to find the best cheap supplier to buy different components of your wind generator with high quality.

You can find some at Ebay, or your local electronic stores such as Radioshack. If you are good enough hunting for bargain, you can get all the necessary components for less than $100.

A few additional things you should be aware if you want to use wind power is the wind supply at your area. If the area where you live has little to no wind, then building a wind generator is virtually useless.

This kind of device is best if you near in the countryside with large open spaces or live near the coast where there is constant coastal wind.

Also be aware with various wind patterns as this will determine the decision for blade size and shape you will use later on.

If you want to learn how to build your own wind generator, check out Michael Harvey Earth4Energy guide. Check out my Earth4Energy review here.

While it is good to discover a product in the first place, it is always wonderful to discover a product with many uses like activated carbon fiber which is used as a filter to isolate much undesirable content. Go ahead and prevent entry to air pollutants and also minimize their harmful effects in your homes with an air purifier like activated carbon. Home air purifiers contain activated charcoal which filters filth and grime to enable much pure air to circulate in homes thereby providing clean air to breathe. You need to however pick the right air purifier from amongst the many types that are doing the rounds in the market today.   

Activated carbon Filtration

Water filtration takes place in two stages, where in the first stage the sediments are removed through a sediment cartridge. Having got rid of the sediments in the first phase, it is time to take the purification to the next level through the deployment of activated carbon which will cleanse the water of its gases, fine chemicals and other unwanted stuff and maintain the right stuff to render it pure for drinking. Only a combination of sedimentation removal and activated carbon treatment processes will ensure pure drinking water. You have to select the most ideal water filtration system from the many that exist in the market today.

Some other applications of activated charcoal

Activated charcoal in combination with some flax seeds make for a medicinal paste, which when applied on the part impacted by gout helps to throw out wastes from the body. Human beings can be shielded from contracting nervous system complaints due to high levels of mercury thrown out by boilers that use coal as their fuel through the injection of activated carbon which adsorbs such mercury. You can avoid flatulence by the intake of activated carbon tablets before your meals and prevent the embarrassment of passing wind at odd times. Consuming activated carbon flushes out the toxins from the body and through this saves lives of people who have accidentally ingested any poison.

The current recession does not seem to have created an impact on the sales of activated carbon items due to their multiple uses.

We are definitely blessed to have found an item such as activated carbon.

We understand carbon offsetting as the procedure of curbing GHG emissions via specific projects to offset the effect of harmful gases emitted earlier. The underlying principle behind buying offsets is to balance those emissions that we are unable to prevent while doing our routine activities. If one generates emissions without any true need, it is usually disapproved of by environmentalists. Though offsets can be originated by reducing any of the six main GHG emissions, one carbon offset is generally measured as the cutback in harmful gases corresponding to one metric ton of carbon dioxide.

In several western countries, organizations are assigned caps as to how much emissions they can generate. Businesses that fail to keep their emission level within that predetermined limit have to buy carbon offsets to conform to the laws. While this mandatory necessity to preserve a low carbon footprint is the main driver of offset trading, there is also a smaller voluntary market. In this case, people voluntarily purchase carbon offsets to reduce the negative impact of their routine activities.

To sum up, the demand for carbon offsets is largely driven by ecological laws on official state level and then by eco-friendly folks feeling guilt when they emit greenhouse gases. Now we’ll briefly look at how project developers satisfy this demand. Suppliers that offer you offsets generally purchase them from large projects launched to reduce greenhouse gas emissions anywhere on the planet. These projects ensure that the overall emissions emitted on earth get reduced so the exact site of these projects is a non-issue.

That’s understandable because harmful gases generated in one nation affect the entire planet when they mix into thin air. By the same token, many carbon offset projects are set up in China even though a large proportion of offset purchasers reside in North America and Europe. This approach benefits businesses as reducing emissions in third world countries is usually inexpensive than cutting the same volume of emissions in western countries.

There are various viewpoints in favor of and against the rationale behind carbon offsetting but that’s another issue beyond the scope of this small article. It’s enough to say here that carbon offsetting does help the environment if executed according to well-known standards.

I live in the desert Southwestern areas of the United States, and solar power is something I’ve been heavily interested in for years. Since this area of the country tends to have 300+ days of sunshine each and every year, it makes sense for me to take advantage of that in my home.

Putting in a full solar powered home energy system can be expensive though, particularly if you have a large family. I don’t know why I thought I had to do it all at once though. It’s pretty simple to take smaller steps forward, and you can really see the difference in bills from the start.

I can’t stomach the thought of spending two to three hundred dollars or more each and every month for the entire rest of my life. So the first step I decided to take was reducing consumption.

– I replaced every lightbulb I could with the energy efficient “pigtail” bulbs. I was honestly amazed that doing this knocked the overall electric bill down quite a bit.

– I sealed up various cracks and drafy spots around the house. We live in an old rental house that hasn’t been cared for over the years, so drafts in the summer and winter are horrible. Blocking the drafts made a huge difference in keeping the house at more comfortable temperatures throughout the year.

– I started using more of the sun’s natural solar energy. I open my curtains in the winter so the sun can help heat my home. I also place water jugs in the sun so they can store heat during the day. At night, these are excellent heat source supplements to our small space heater.

I’ve also been trying out various forms of natural convection heating, solar power heating, and I’ve been learning how to create my own solar panels too.

Solar panel prices can vary quite a bit, but they’re cheaper if you’re willing to install them yourself. I’ve found ready made residential solar panels for as low as $700. I was surprised to learn you can make your own solar panels pretty easily, usually for less than $200, but I’m not sure if I’ll try that yet myself or not. And since you can install the solar system a little at a time, those low costs make it so much easier to get started.

We can depend on the sun to always be here, not always out but it will always be around. Using solar power to create extra fuel will help bring down the price of fuel and save our pocket books. We have clocks in every room that use electricity all day and night, our hot water heaters are set to 120 degrees, and we keep our computers on sucking up energy day and night.   As a people, we, humans, are so used to having energy at our beck and call we no longer think about it.

When thinking about fuel consumption we normally think automobiles since they consume the bulk of the nonrenewable fuel we use. We have been steadily growing for the last 200 years.  For a variety of reasons, we have enhanced our quality of life, increased population, and increased transportation of people and goods throughout the world. We depend on energy, nonrenewable energy, to get us where we want to go not only as transportation but for running our businesses, homes, cities and states and countries. The supply and demand principle is no doubt in full force and working overtime.

We use fuel (energy) for every day “things” we do such as charging our phones, watching TV, watching the clock, listening for our children, running a computer, lighting our gardens, cooking our food, and making our coffee and a host of other “things” we don’t even think about but just take for granted. We’re so used to having electricity, gas, natural gas, and water we don’t think about what it cost to generate.

Creating energy has three cycles: generation, distribution and consumption. We know we consume it so what about generation and distribution? To generate energy all three cycle need to be in sync. If there is a decrease in production such as crude oil, the distribution and consumption would also decrease. With the decrease production of crude oil the price of fuel increases, as in today’s fuel prices. Normally this would only last for the duration of the supply and demand. But our supply and demand is working overtime. We, humans, are so used to having energy for everything we do we don’t think about it anymore. We just assume it’s going to be there and pay the price hike but will the fuel used for the creation of our energy be around for the long term? Well, that’s another story…

We’re so used to energy we don’t think about the CD player, clocks, cell phone charger, computers and printers and coffee machines that use energy all day and all night. Office buildings keep their lights on day and night using energy, street lights stay on all night, manufacturing plants leave their lights on, even our country’s capital keeps their lights on using energy taxpayer pay for and not just the United States. 

In the mean time, what can we do to help bring down the price of energy? Using solar power for our every day needs will help. There are solar powered chargers for our cell phones, solar powered lights for our gardens, solar panels for our homes, solar powered hot water heaters, solar cookers and solar cars. I personally have turned down my water heater, put in solar lights for my garden and driveway, put up solar panels and unplugged all clocks, radios, and VCR and CD players I don’t use everyday.  My electric bill dropped $80 per month since I did this.

Every little solar powered item you use will help not only bring down the cost of fuel but help save our natural resources and help with our environment. (i.e., greenhouse effect, pollution, gas emission, etc.) I’m doing my part, are you going to do yours?

To learn more about solar power visit Home Solar Power .

The Green Expo taught me a very important lesson. Green Entrepreneurs need a place to pitch the world on their unique vision. So in the hopes of furthering their cause I humbly offer Mindzle as a place to make the pitch.

It has been a long held passion of mine to help other people reach their goals and dreams. In 2000 I started a technology incubator with a business partner. Soon after we started a networking event, that allowed idea people to mingle, and collaborate. At this event we created the “Pitch Box”, which was a streaming video feed that also displayed on big screens at the event. Any attendees could get up on the “Pitch Box” and deliver a 3 minute presentation. This opportunity was very popular, and helped many entrepreneurs find partners, and investors.

Given this passion, and past experience I want to help spread the word of any business or person doing good for the larger world. So do you have a great green story? Do you know of a business or product who’d like to tell the world? If so I’d love to help get the word out.

What I am looking for:

1) Tell us about your green, organic, or sustainable product, idea or business. I don’t want to know about market caps, and the fuzzy number projections. I do want to know why I as a potential customer would feel good about it. What is special about the service or product?

2) Photos of the product, people involved, services in jpeg format. Again this is an opportunity to tell people about your business, so make the images tasteful and relevant.

3) Include a “head-shot” of the author and a brief (20-50 word) bio.

4) Send this as an email with 200-800 words to hammer@mindzle.com Make sure to include relavent email and web addresses, and contact information.

If you have a home or personal project, I’d also love to hear from you. If it is green, organic, sustainable and helps me decrease my reliance on foriegn oil, and imported food or just something you are truly passionate about, send me an email at hammer@mindzle.com.