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Archive for the ‘Recycle’ Category

Why go ‘Green’ with your choice of van

Nowadays it is de rigueur to discuss ‘going green’ with almost any topic imaginable. Here in the UK we have our first ‘Green’ party MP – the first of many I am sure. But in the emotive area of vehicle development, what is the availability of environmentally efficient cars, trucks and vans? With the price of petrol (gasoline) rising all the time, it becomes more and more important to conserve fuel consumption, because ultimately this means more money in our pockets. So how do you define a ‘green van? According to petrol prices.com: “a green van is a vehicle that is considered to be environmentally-friendly and to be less damaging to the environment compared with conventional vans”. So who cares, and why should anyone be bothered to ‘go green’ the next time they buy or lease a van?

The UK government (Department for Transport) is actively involved in encouraging the development of zero carbon and low carbon emission vans. Following competitive procurement, a process of selecting potential supplier, 4 companies were invited to submit proposals that showed new levels of performance, technical innovation and the potential for mass market commercialization.

Adrian Vinsome, Head of Programmes for Cenex (Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technologies): “Van use in the UK is rising more rapidly than for any other vehicle category, and van journeys are getting longer. As a result, CO2 emissions from vans are projected to rise rapidly over the next 10 to 15 years. A number of manufacturers have developed lower carbon and all-electric technologies, but these tend to be expensive in low production volumes and it is difficult for fleet operators to justify the additional cost. The LCVPP is helping overcome these initial cost barriers, paving the way for market development.”

‘Green’ vehicle technologies

Hybrid Vehicles: The current craze is for hybrid vehicles which were first released in the US markets by Honda with its ‘Insight’ model. The insight was able to boast 61 mpg in urban areas and up to 70mpg on the open roads. This vehicle was soon followed by Toyota’s version, the Prius. The hybrid technology uses a combination of a petrol motor and an electric motor that are connected via battery pack, featuring state-of-the-art energy saving measures such as regenerative braking.

Regenerative braking takes over some of the stopping duties from the friction brakes and instead uses the electric motor to help stop the car. To do this, the electric motor operates as a generator, recovering some of the kinetic energy and converting it into electricity that is stored in the battery so it can be used later to help drive the vehicle down the road. In order for the system to actually improve fuel economy, however, the vehicle must have a large enough electric motor operating at a high enough voltage to efficiently capture the braking energy.

Regenerative braking system

Hybrid vehicle and SUV’s are now offered by virtually every major automaker. Unfortunately, all the extra equipment involved in building a hybrid engine means that they are often more costly to buy than conventional vans and cars. That means that you may be driving for a few years before the money you realize the potential savings from the traditional method of transport.

High Efficiency fuel: In comparison to conventional combustion engines, high efficiency engines use much less fuel and therefore release less harmful emissions into the atmosphere. It is predicted that major advances in the technology of these engines will occur during the next few years, with potential increases of up to 30% in fuel economy. There is a cross over here with hybrid vehicles, as many are already using the highly efficient engines.

Going green is getting more important to a lot of people every year. As vans get better and better at conserving fuel, we all see the benefits: both to our environment ultimately in our pockets.

Clean Diesel: The ‘Greenest’ technology on the road at the moment is a variation of the diesel power plant that has been in production for a number of years. Known as ‘clean diesels’, these engines can average 50mpg under normal driving conditions. One of the advantages of this improved technology is that you do not have to sacrifice performance for efficiency. Clean diesel cars and trucks are now offered by Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Cadillac, Saturn, Honda and Ford.

Bio
Peter is an internet marketer and enjoys writing about SEO and automotive topics, specializing in van leasing.

This post isn’t as boring as it sounds, trust me I will do my best to keep it interesting!  Your car tyres are made out of rubber (Der!) and they most certainly don’t last forever, in fact on average we have to replace out tyres once every 10,000 miles.  So for some this could be between 6 months and 2 years.  The main problem is, what do we do with them when we are finished with them?

Each year we take about 40 million tyres off of our cars because they have become to worn, or are damaged because of other reasons.  That’s around 350,000 tonnes of Tyre rubber being taken off all the cars in the UK.  However only about 75% of this is recycled, the rest of it is sent to land fill around 85,000 tonnes of waste!

The tyres that are recycled can be used on Aircraft or Trucks and buses, where they are remoulded to be the right size and shape (and have the correct amount of tread).  On average each tyre has a diameter of 2 feet (cars and trucks) obviously not included busses and HGVs.  If you were to lay all 40 million of these tyres together side by side they would be about 15,000 miles long, which is just over half the circumference of the planet (at the equator).

The main problem that we face in the future is that if all these unused tyres keep on mounting up, landfills will become filled in no time at all, so we need a better solution for recycling.   When you think about the Car Tyre generally you don’t really consider what damage it does when it comes off your car.

Burning rubber is not an option either, so creating a perfect recycling program is the best thing for us to do!

Bio:

Marcus travels all over the world in search for any information, he is a contributor at Top Travel Blogs, and enjoys Thailand holidays.

While most of the coverage of ‘green’ issues in the media and in environmental campaigns tends to focus on how an individual can promote a more eco-friendly lifestyle, arguably the biggest impact on the environment can be achieved by businesses and corporations addressing these issues. In this post I explore how a business can actually achieve environmental targets by keeping accurate records of their fixed assets – ie equipment, machinery, vehicles etc – and their carbon footprints.

Fixed asset management has many advantages. It allows your organisation to manage internal and external service providers to reduce administrative costs associated with asset maintenance and repairs. Software-based systems can capture data adrift in paper-based processes and provide asset-specific total cost of ownership information that can be analysed at a corporate level. However another dimension has been added that makes reliable asset management programmes even more essential. Whether you agree with the theory of man-made global warming or not, the UK government has decided to adopt a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% over 1990 levels by the year 2050.

Image credit: johnb/uk

The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) requires that companies must achieve energy efficiencies (or purchase allowances from the government) based on the amount of CO2 emitted. Companies that achieve significant reductions will be rewarded financially. Those that do not will suffer the consequences. Carbon taxes will inevitably become more significant mechanisms for the Exchequer and there’s likely to be an increasing emphasis on enforcing regulations governing the collection, treatment and recycling of all sorts of waste, especially electrical and electronic equipment as specified by the WEEE directive. The Carbon Reduction Commitment will affect approximately 20,000 organisations in the public and private sectors and the Environment Agency requires disclosures to be submitted by those companies by the summer of 2010.

Sustainable environmental management is not only concerned with supply chain resource or carbon emissions management. It also addresses the wider issues of sustainable planning and design, waste reduction, water management, the efficiency of electronic and electrical equipment etc. All these facets of business operations are inputs into an organisation’s environmental impact and ultimately its bottom line. From a sales and marketing point of view, companies are also going to have to prove their “green credentials” to consumers and who are increasingly demanding that green tinge of virtually every product or service. Doing all this will create a significant cost for business, unless they get their fixed asset register in order. Organisations now have to prove their commitment to green issues through information transparency and fully auditable policies.

At the core of this approach has to be consistent and detailed information about the life cycle of all fixed assets, from country of origin, maintenance schedules and carbon efficiency to final disposal details. A good, up to date central asset register therefore will not only streamline year end audits but will also provide highly detailed insight into corporate assets that will enable management to make more informed decisions. Until you truly know what assets you’ve got, which you own and the real operational/ownership cost of those assets, managers cannot make informed decisions about capital expenditure, carbon footprint reduction and how to “green” the business in the most cost effective and beneficial way possible.

About the author:
Tom is a blogger currently working for a company specialising in software for asset tracking and fixed asset accounting. He passionately believes that businesses can go greener at the same time as cutting costs.

Hello,

This is a small bit of information about myself that I am sharing with those readers out there who are like-minded individuals or even people that are curious about how to have a more sustainable life. It is possible to save more than just money.

I have been recycling for most of my life. I am nearing forty, and recently had a son. I am a stay at home dad, who wishes to teach (at the very least) my son about how to have a diminished impact on this planet, our only home in the universe.

Let’s not sugar coat it. We the human race have a definite effect on this planet. We, however, have it backwards. We shouldn’t be worried about saving the planet. I know some of you are thinking that is a crazy statement. But the planet will be just fine without us around to “care” for it, and it WILL be here long after the human race is gone if such a fate were to occur. I submit to you that the thing that we as a species should be more concerned about, is saving ourselves from…ourselves. That meaning that we should be taking better care of our home – the Earth – so that we will not poison ourselves out of a home that has sustained us for thousands of years.

I have to admit that my resolve at wanting to care for the Earth has attained new heights. That was due to the fact that my son was born. I wanted, no felt compelled, to try harder at making less of an impact on the environment, and also to help lead others by example (sometimes a bit aggressively). This met with some, but limited success. I found that I was haranguing the wrong people (my friends – who were more or less on the same side), and only some of the time I met an individual outside of my group of friends whom was a new person with which to share ideas. This is my attempt to reach a wider audience.

Some of the concerns that I intend to address in my, hopefully, regular posts to this and other websites are listed below and they are offered as information that anyone is free to take, use, verify, debate, or simply read and file it away for later. I have to say that some of what I say is pure conjecture. In those times that I am stating my own opinion, I will try to label it as such. Anything that I am quoting from a source or interview subject, I will do my best to make sure that the proper credit is given to the correct person or source. My main goals are to inform and not to brow beat. I can only hope that readers will see value in what I write, and be able to improve something about their own affect on the planet if that is indeed what they seek.

Some topics that I am most concerned with are: Recycling; Cumulative effects (positive and negative); Energy Conservation; Energy Efficiency; Renewable Energy (specifically Passive and Active Solar, and Wind Power); Sustainability; Eco-Friendly Living; New Techniques of Living in Harmony with the Environment; New Technology that is more Sustainable; and Businesses/Organizations that are Eco-Friendly. This is by no means a complete list of things that are important to me, but it is some of the things that I would consider essential to improving our situation with regard to global climate change, lessening the impact that we have on this planet, and moving our society towards a more sustainable life.

So in conclusion, thank you for your time and reading what I hope was informative. I shall endeavor to post as frequently as I can, but I am afraid that it will be as often as a parent raising a two year old is able to manage. Hope you are having a pleasant day.

Dean

I happen to love forests, so much so, that I live in the woods on 5 acres, and own another five in Portland. In the last month a herd of about 40 elk took up temporary residence here, we have had a black beer, deer, and just about every bird, mammal and amphibian that calls this part of the world home, in our little woods.

Some people see loving the forest and having a hobby of woodcraft as some sort of irony or hypocrisy . For me it just makes it more imperative that we use the resource wisely. Protect areas that need it, harvest wisely, and use every last bit for the highest use. Waste nothing. And when the product  is no longer of use, recycle it to the next highest use.

There are thousands of species and infinite varieties of wood. All of it beautiful finished or raw, live as a tree or dead as lumber. It gives us warmth and shelter. We create art and furniture as well as document thoughts and history with it.

The trees, living and dead offer so much to our society and our future that to me, it is imperative that we use our resources wisely. Use sustainable forestry practices so that tomorrows generations will have the jobs, and products that we have today, as well as the forests and woodlands to enjoy.

One of the amazing things about wood, is the many ways it can be re-used, and recycled. A friend of mine started a company, Greenstar International that specializes in helping ports manage their waste-stream. One of the particular “products” of waste, that ports produce in fairly large volumes, is wood. Here on the west coast, most of the wood is in the form of 4″x4″x8′ spacers placed between sheets of steel and other break-bulk items. And most of that wood is exotic. We have found Ebony, Canary wood, and many other rare and interesting types. For decades, the ports simply threw away the wood, as it cost too much and took too long to sort.

Along came Greenstar. Now most of that wood is sent off to be made into flooring, siding, decking, and other finished goods. Any wood that cannot be used for these High uses, is used to make palettes. And if it is so badly damaged as to be unusable for anything else, it is sold as firewood or ground up to use as hog fuel. Great idea right? Taking waste, and turning it into a valuable resource. Starting with the highest value, highest use, and working the way down so that in the end no waste remains.

For me it has been a cheap resource for finding rare, exotic woods to use in my own projects. Maybe just turning a piece of wood for the sake of it, making sculpture, or to make our new front door. Sometimes we make furniture. And soon a project we will begin is the construction of my authentic all wood tea-house/studio. To say that they have been a great resource is an understatement.

Another fantastic resource, I have come to rely on is
Rockler Woodworking and Hardware. Whenever I need a tool, they have it, in stock. They also have wood kits, project designs and I have found they are a great resource to send new woodworkers to. They are one of the oldest, and most trusted resellers of woodworking, hardware and tools online.

Learn to Sew: Benefits from Sewing by Kristi Borchardt

As I continue to sew with my girls I am made aware of the benefits that can only come from working with your hands; from learning to take flat pieces of material and work with them until they come together to make a 3-dimensional object that not only has purpose but is full of love and care.

These benefits come from all crafts, not just sewing: woodwork, crocheting, knitting, candle making, painting, cooking…
What has surprised me the most are the changes in their character that have been specifically enhanced by their early sewing experience.

As you teach your child to sew, or learn yourself you will begin to see these same benefits.
1. Try New Things/ Use Imagination
With the way that we approached sewing it naturally encouraged the girls to try new things, to think beyond what had already been done, and to use their imagination. They started looking at things differently. They would see something and would automatically try to make their own, or they would talk about all the ways they could change it or add something to it.

2. Mistakes Are Okay
They have carried the attitude outside of sewing that, as long as you have learned from your mistakes, and try again, mistakes are okay. They love the story of Thomas Edison. When asked by a reporter “how long did it take for you to invent the light bulb?”, he stated “I did 1000 experiments before I invented it”. The reporter responded, “it is amazing you continued on, wasn’t that discouraging? Thomas Edison answered, “of course not – I learned 999 times how not to make it”!
This mentality has made them try things that they wouldn’t have otherwise tried because of fear of failure. Instead of having an attitude of “I can’t” when things go wrong, they say “let’s keep trying”!

3. Perseverance
With each completed project, their perseverance and determination grew. They have been able to see the benefits of following through to the end.
This has carried on into other areas of their lives. As they have worked on difficult projects or ones that take a lot of time, they have been able to understand more readily that it’s worth the work.

4. Confidence
Confidence in their ability to do things that most kids their age weren’t/aren’t doing grew. Prior to sewing my oldest daughter (always by the book) would check the ages on games, and if her age wasn’t included she wouldn’t attempt learning, thinking it was too difficult for her. As people started commenting on their amazement with her degree of sewing at such a young age, that changed drastically! She no longer places limits on herself.

5. Help And Encourage Others
A desire to help and encourage other kids to learn the same skills they have acquired surfaced. Because our girls were enjoying making things on their own, they wanted to pass it on. They would take every opportunity to teach their friends. Through this, they have experienced the joys of celebrating other people’s accomplishments, and have matured in their ability to transfer their knowledge into words.

We are now six years down the road. My oldest has found a passion in sewing, while my youngest enjoys having the ability to sew. More importantly, is what they have gained from this experience. The benefits and blessings of our sewing journey have carried on into all the areas of their lives.

Remember, many of these benefits are directly related to you, as your child’s teacher (or as in my case partner) in this sewing journey. So just relax, enjoy, and have fun! Your character will change and grow as well, just as mine has!

Kristi learned to sew right along with her daughters. The girls were age 3 and 6, at the time! Because it was such an enjoyable experience she wants to encourage others to pursue this endeavor. Sewing With Kids

Article Source: Sustainable Living Articles

Suggestions for a Cheaper, Greener, more Eco Friendly Christmas and New Year by Davinos Greeno

Christmas tree

• Rather than buying a real tree thats been cut down, transported and then thrown away, purchase a large potted plant or small tree that can be used each year as your evergreen Christmas tree.

• You could always purchase an artificial tree that can be reused for many years, these range from 10 pounds to over 100 pounds. Ours actually looks real!

• If you buy a real tree, pay the Woodland Trust or a different organization to plant one in its place!

Christmas Decorations

• If you have evergreen shrubs and trees – to make sure you have an annual supply of eco-friendly Christmas decorations why not do some of your pruning just before Christmas and use the choice bits for inside? If you have not got any evergreens but have a garden ask for some of these plants as Christmas presents. They may take a few years to grow but then all you will need to do is harvest in December and be as creative as you like.

• Make a homemade wreath using branches trimmed from your garden or somebody elses.

• Purchase handmade decor made from recycled or eco-friendly materials. If possible by Fair trade as well, as they are a great way to support the disadvantaged. While some of these crafts may not be from recycled materials they provide much needed income to needy individuals.

• Ivy is good to drape around pictures, windows and the base of Christmas trees, it will hide the wires of the tree lights. There is as far as I know no substitute for electric fairy lights but as they last for years and use very little power, their impact is relatively low and they do look great.

• One of the advantages of using natural decorations is that after Christmas they do not need to go in the bin they can enter your normal garden waste on the compost heap.

Christmas tree ornaments

• Make homemade ornaments from (painted) pinecones, painted eggshells, crushed (colored) aluminum foil, paper chains, paper snowflakes, old CDs and more!

• Decorate a doll as an angel.

• Do an online search for recycled or homemade tree ornaments for numerous ideas or purchase these recycled or eco-friendly tree ornaments if you cant be bothered to make them.

Gifts
• Buy a subscription to an organisation working to make the world a better place such as the RSPB, RSPCA or Oxfam.

• If you are buying a present that uses batteries make sure the person you are buying it for has a battery charger and buy rechargeable batteries.

• Buy a homemade present, bird table, compost bin. Chocolate cakes often go down very well!
Gift wrap

• Collect extra photocopies or no longer needed papers from work for your children to draw on the back.

• Use colored pictures from your childrens colouring books.

• Use leftover pieces of fabric or wallpaper.

• Use recycled paper.

• Put the gift inside another gift such as a decorative tin, nice wooden box etc.

• Use gift wrap, gift bags and gift boxes, ribbon and bows from last Christmas or previous celebrations. Leave the tags blank on the gifts you are giving so that they can be reused.

Greeting cards & gift tags

• Send an e-card.

• Make a greeting card or tag from scrap paper, fabric or wallpaper.

• Make cards or tags from pieces of food box.

Packing material

• Use saved packing material such as foam or bubble wrap.

• Crush up newspaper into loose balls. This is cheap, quick and lightweight! This is our preferred method for box filler.

After the New Year

• Find out where you can recycle your real Christmas tree or Christmas cards, local councils and supermarkets are a good place to start. They will turn your trees into mulch for use in parks and public gardens.

• Use any wrapping paper that is no longer reusable for shelf liners or craft projects.

• Save boxes, gift bags, wrapping, filler, ribbons and bows for future gift wrapping or craft projects. Give them away to friends, neighbours etc if you have too many to keep.

Davinos Greeno works for the organic directory This green directory lists 100s of Organic Food and Drink Companies and Eco Jobs and Campaigning Videos

Article Source: Sustainable Living Articles

Compost Worms – Your Garden’s Best Friend
By David Karlson

The major benefit of having compost worms is that one can do it both indoors as well as outdoors. This facilitates composting all year round. They provide an opportunity to people living in the apartments composting. Worm compost is very convenient as it can be easily prepared in any container via filling it with bedding worms and red worms. Make sure that these worms are moistened. Once you fill the container food waste for a stipulated period. There will be a time when the microorganisms and worms will get convert the container content into beneficial compost.

Compost worms are a method that utilizes worms in order to recycle food scraps as well as various other organic materials is to vermicompost. This is a kind of soil amendment.

The worms usually eat food wastes and turn them in to compost once these are passed via the body. Compost tends to leave the body of worms though their tail. The compost is extremely beneficial in growing plants.

Composting with worms is not a difficult task. Most gardeners tend to compost kitchen waste as well as waste from the yond with huge compost piles, sheet composting or other available methods during the season when compost grows. The good thing about this is that only a little amount of yond waste is produced during the months of winter. During this season, composting becomes difficult.

However, waste in the kitchen is consistently produced and it is very important to as get rid of it. This waste needs to be utilized in a good and useful way.

Vermicomposting is a process that can utilize the kitchen waste in to something beneficial. This process uses microorganisms and worms to turn kitchen waste into humus that’s’ rich in nutrient and smalls just like earth. If you have decided to go for Vermicompostin, you must get started as mentioned below:

Here are the five basic ingredients you require to start with your vermicomposting process.

• A container
• Bedding
• Fat-free kitchen scraps
• Water
• Worms.

The depth of the container you use need to be between 8-12 inches. The bins should be shallow to let the worms feed in the bidding’s top layer.

You can easily purchase worm boxes from the market or create it yourself. Plastic storage contains are known to be very convenient as these are available in a wide variety of sizes. The best part is that these containers can be transported easily from one place to the other.

Some important points to consider:

• The lid of a plastic storage container should never be shut tight.
• Using an old dresser drawer will help you keep the environment friendly.
• You can also purchase compost worms online.
• Never put plastic bags, bottle caps, robber bags, sponges, glass and aluminum foil in to the bin.

Composting has been gaining in popularity for many years now. How to effectively use compost worms is a question we are asked quite often. We are advocates for protecting the environment and giving back to the earth. Visit our site today for more information on composting.

http://www.compostingforfun.com/
By D. Karlson

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Karlson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Compost-Worms—Your-Gardens-Best-Friend&id=1756988