Posts Tagged ‘Recycle’

A week ago, Darlene, my little sister came to me and showed me that her science teacher showed them that carpet could be recycled.

– No it is not recyclable, was my answer. It might be possible to reuse it, but surely impossible to recycle it.

That didn’t make her stop arguing with me and even said that those carpet recyclers had their own association in the U.S.. I decided to go online and checked it out. Apparently, the little girl was incredibly correct. I found about a carpet recyclers association. Also there was also a construction waste recycler in my area that handle such items. I found out Recymobilier and Recyconstruction in my city : they recycle almost every  appliances and furniture, electronic waste and construction debris. I talked to a recycling specialist, Keith, and he was showing to me all the things that are recyclable as of now.

– Carpet is recycled for its plastic content, it could end up making brand new carpet or something else made of plastic.
– Wood waste are transported to an electrical factory, who use wood to generate power. Their process is a smoke less combustion that do no impact on climate changes.
– Sheetrock are going through machinery and transformed into powder, paper and paint are taken off, and the remaining gypsum can serve in agriculture or serve to make new gypsum walls.

And the same happens to all variety of recyclable material. I found it incredibly amazing to understand that we are standing there. To people expecting to make money selling their old shelves or wood, It is important to add that there are fees to recycle those items.

– We used to work only in the area of e-waste recycling a ago. However, since at one point we were exclusively recycling the items that we were accepting because it was not worth to sell it,  we started to charge a recycling fee to some material that cost more to recycle than to send to landfill. Since we realized that people want to make a difference for the environment and were were OK with paying a small charge to cover the handling of the products, we decided it was time to add other recycling services that couldn’t be sustainable by their content to provide an another option than landfill.

– Fortunately, those services received a tremendous feedback, as it came to the market when people and businesses realized about their impact on the ecosystems, personally or on a business level. Businesses and building managers are getting more aware of the green advantages, reason why a lot of building owners are fighting to be LEED certified.

Report on recycling

We still find electronic waste piling up at the dump even after all the news reporting about the damages made by not properly disposing of old or broken electronic material.

This doesn’t make sense because most of the components: steel, glass, aluminum, copper, plastics and precious metals – can be recovered and be used again to do new products. Computers are being upgraded faster than ever, cell phones frequently break and electronic products are now looked at as a disposable commodity instead of a material possession. The average turn-around for replacing a personal computer is shorter than 2 years in North America.

The gadgets are not always needed; it is not all about necessity but normaly just because we just like having newer stuff, with the latest gadgets and blinks. Electronic has become a fashion item that will not be wanted when something that looks newer will hit the market.

Why are people not recycling their electronic equipment?
A lot of noise has been made by organizations like Greenpeace in regards to the poor ethics of some recycling companies outsourcing their recycling to Asian and African countries or simply sending waste towards these countries. The message from Greenpeace has chocked many individuals and I think the result has not been quite what was to be expected. The organization showed to the world how big quantities of toxic equipment ends being badly recycled in China. So we can deduct that some people and organizations are keeping their e-waste, not sure if it will ends in a correct place.

It is not a good idea to put our head in the sand and not recycling our e-waste at all. A few associations like CARI-ACIR are there to verify that their members are following strict rules like avoiding exports to third world countries and not sending electronic waste to landfills. All members are verified and customers can be insured of a proper recycling of their equipment when they ship to one of their member.

Many people are still thinking that they should get money returned to them for their e-waste. Other people think that a company is able to pay its employees to bring up the e-waste, properly sort and separate it, unscrew the plastic pieces from the metal pieces and pay North American salaries without charging a cent to their customer. You have to understand that recycling obsolete computers only bring back a few cents per kg of material. Recyclers offering free collects and free recycling are clearly doing something unethical  if they are not financed directly by the government to do it. PC Recycle, a company started in 1994 still has to compete against new players in the field with no business location, only managing their business from a cell phone and a small truck. Those “recyclers” are salvaging what they can sell and the balance is most probably sent to landfills although something else is being told to the clients. At least, no one can verify because these amateurs are not accredited by any organization.

So before considering someone to recycle your electronic, check around and find who their competitors are. If they offer you a free recycling, it should raise a red flag. You should always verify that the company taking your recycling is accredited by an association. Make sure also that your recycler is open to show you his recycling center: a clean recycling will be from a company that is transparent in his operations.

Jason Mailley
PC Recycle

Investing in Alternative Energy Stocks

Alternative energy stock portfolios are a great part of a modern investor’s financial plan, due to the fac that there is so much upward potential. These make excellent long term growth investment vehicles, and the money put into them by you, the investor, serves to further the cause of implementing the alternative energy power sources that we need as we sail into the 21st century and beyond.

Analysts predict that by 2013, the alternative energy industry will be a $13 billion dollar industry in today’s dollars. This figure bespeaks an enormous return on investment. Indeed, if you were to invest in a start-up alternative energy company, you might find yourself having invested in the next Microsoft in terms of return on investment. People are fed up with the rising costs of gasoline—while this alone is not sufficient understanding of the need for developing alternative energy sources, it is a factor which can act as a market maker—meaning for you that investments in alternative energy companies makes a lot of financial sense.

However, this does not mean that you don’t first want to do some careful research into alternative energy stocks, perhaps with the help of a financial planner. “A few alternative-energy companies are going after the right markets but that doesn’t mean you should go buy every name in the sector. Investors need to be cautious about chasing the stocks,” says Sanjay Shrestha, who is an analyst at First Albany Capital. And if you are an investor, then you know that the problem in this sector is that nearly every single one of the major players in the alternative energy for profit game are start-ups or in the very early stages of growth. This means for you that they have relatively minuscule (even if rapidly growing) sales, and no expected profitability in the near term or history of earnings for you to be able to research. This can lead to some bubbling, as with what happened to the dot-com industry at the turn of the 21st century. Bubbling in the stock market is not a good thing for investors.

Ananlysts and financial planners can play a crucial role in helping you get it right with alternative energy investing. “We don’t play around in the tiny cap stocks that have technology and not much revenue—the ‘hope’ stocks. We invest in companies with clear cash-generation plans in place,” are the words of Ben walker, who is a senior portfolio manager at the Gartmore Global Utilities fund out of London.

Still, the outlook is very positive overall—and healthy. “It is good to see that the number of renewable energy funds and the amount of money flowing into these funds is increasing,” according to chief executive of UK alternative elecricity supplier Good Energy Juliet Davenport. “The renewable generation market is at an important stage in its development; it needs the continued support of the consumer, investor and government to ensure that it reaches its potential and really starts to make a difference to climate change.”

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Eco Tips Recycling Advice

Alternative Energy from the Ocean

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) was conceived of by the French engineer Jacques D’Arsonval in 1881. However, at the time of this writing the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii is home to the only operating experimental OTEC plant on the face of the earth. OTEC is a potential alternative energy source that needs to be funded and explored much more than it presently is. The great hurdle to get over with OTEC implementation on a wide and practically useful level is cost. It is difficult to get the costs down to a reasonable level because of the processes presently utilized to drive OTEC. Ocean thermal energy would be very clean burning and not add pollutants into the air. However, as it presently would need to be set up with our current technologies, OTEC plants would have the capacity for disrupting and perhaps damaging the local environment.

There are three kinds of OTEC.

“Closed Cycle OTEC” uses a low-boiling point liquid such as, for example, propane to act as an intermediate fluid. The OTEC plant pumps the warm sea water into the reaction chamber and boils the intermediate fluid. This results in the intermediate fluid’s vapor pushing the turbine of the engine, which thus generates electricity.  The vapor is then cooled down by putting in cold sea water.

“Open Cycle OTEC” is not that different from closed cycling, except in the Open Cycle there is no intermediate fluid. The sea water itself is the driver of the turbine engine in this OTEC format. Warm sea water found on the surface of the ocean is turned into a low-pressure vapor under the constraint of a vacuum. The low-pressure vapor is released in a focused area and it has the power to drive the turbine. To cool down the vapor and create desalinated water for human consumption, the deeper ocean’s cold waters are added to the vapor after it has generated sufficient electricity.

“Hybrid Cycle OTEC” is really just a theory for the time being. It seeks to describe the way that we could make maximum usage of the thermal energy of the ocean’s waters. There are actually two sub-theories to the theory of Hybrid Cycling. The first involves using a closed cycling to generate electricity. This electricity is in turn used to create the vacuum environment needed for open cycling. The second component is the integration of two open cyclings such that twice the amount of desalinated, potable water is created that with just one open cycle.

In addition to being used for producing electricity, a closed cycle OTEC plant can be utilized for treating chemicals. OTEC plants, both open cycling and close cycling kinds, are also able to be utilized for pumping up cold deep sea water which can then be used for refrigeration and air conditioning. Furthermore, during the moderation period when the sea water is surrounding the plant, the enclosed are can be used for mariculture and aquaculture projects such as fish farming. There is clearly quite an array of products and services that we could derive from this alternative energy source.

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Eco Tips Recycling Advice

Saving Energy – Heating Your Home in a Lukewarm Economy

The practical approach and the classic way to do it are to apply the adage, “Use less, save more”. While everyone could agree on that, the devil will always hound the details, so how?

Even before the news of a cooling economy hit the papers, consumers across the globe have been finding ways to save money, trying always to have more with less. This is truer now.

With cooler winters ahead in many parts of the world and rising energy prices, the Alliance to Save Energy predicted that the average American household will have to spend $1,700 more on utility and gas pump this year compared to just two years ago. Using less and saving more is still a good idea, but alone, it may not suffice.

This year, winter heating cost is projected by the Energy Information Administration to increase an average of 15%. This is not only caused by higher energy costs but by the cooler winters that are expected.

The 15% projected higher heating costs will of course vary and is dependent to some variables like the characteristics of the space heated, the kind of fuel used for heating and where the consumer is located. Just the same, homes using natural gas as its fuel for heating, which comprise 50% of American households can expect an increase in heating cost by as much as 18%; households that are using oil could expect an increase in heating costs by as much as 23%; while those using electricity and propane will have to shell out about 10% to 11% more.

The advancement in technology gives rise to energy saving devices. Before, the main contention was that most of these devices cost more; and sometimes, the amount of energy saved did not really justify the price. But in today’s setup, the effort in cutting the energy cost has made some improvements on the efficiency of energy saving devices. With the threat of a cooling economy, energy saving devices are once again in focus. There are various and very practical devices that could be used in saving energy and they come in different brands, labels, methods of operation and products. Some saving energy suggestions are:

The solar heaters – this energy-saving device provides heating for both space and water. Depending on the type of solar heater that is used (be it a part of the structure of the home or one that engage the use of a mechanical device), solar heaters are definite money saver. It is easy on the environment too. Greenpeace should love this one.

Electrical saving devices. These are devices that you plug into your socket that promise to reduce the volume of energy that you consume by stabilizing the flow of your electric current. The only limitation to these devices is that it could only control a specific volume of wattage, say 3000 watts, at any given time. If the household will use more than the wattage capacity that the device could handle, another device should be plugged in.

Finally, there are the energy saving light bulbs, lamps, heaters, appliances and other gizmos and gadgets.

But the fact remains that saving energy is fast becoming the order of the day taking into account the current realities. So if all the energy saving devices out there will still not suffice, the “use less and save more” principle will still add a good deal to your savings.

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Eco Tips Recycling Advice

Solar Energy – New Discoveries

The day may not be far off when the use of solar energy becomes a norm. There is now a deep conviction among experts that given a few years time, solar power will be in high demand that the cost will go down, inexpensive enough to undercut the prices of oil-generated electricity.

Previous predictions that it will still happen in a decade may no longer be true. The anger generated by the recent prices in oil and its vulnerability to market forces and other events may have already been enough to polarized people, governments and scientific communities into seriously considering a reliable alternative energy source.

You can not get a source more reliable than the sun. Even today homes that uses its power does not only benefit from the silent, energy generating, inexhaustible power of the sun, it also spikes up the prices of their homes. Those that have solar powered homes are even reimbursed for the surplus power that they supply to the power grid.

Presently, heliostats, photovoltaic cells and plate collectors are being used to collect the solar energy by focusing these panels towards the sun or constructing and installing the panel’s on spots where the sun shines most. Development in technology as we all know often has a snowball effect. It never stops rediscovering and reinventing that the speed of development could often be surprisingly fast.

Flexible Solar Energy

Today, a polymer foil, thin as a sheet of paper and lighter by 200 times when compared to the regular glass collecting plates, are being developed. Chances are, these new inventions and discoveries could very well have a great potential for mass production. Previously, the glass-based materials used for heat collection need expensive substrates and require additional support for mounting due to its weight. The polymer foil, being very light could now be attached even to the walls of a structure.

So confident are scientists in the development of this technology that while the polymer foil is being developed, a plastic solar cell, based on nano technology is gaining breakthroughs. This plastic material can collect the power of the sun even on a cloudy day through harnessing the infrared rays is believed to be five times more efficient than the current technology.

While plastic materials for harnessing the power of the sun are not new, it is only recently that this plastic composite could harvest the infrared portion. Previously, only the visible rays are generated, the infrared part, which is half of the power of the sun, is invisible.

Currently, the best plastic solar cells could only harness 6% of the suns energy, with further study and development, this new plastic solar cells are expected to harness 30% of the suns solar power.

Scientists and researchers alike agree that ultimately, solar farms will be harnessing all our energy requirements and costs of power will drop. Today the price of solar powered energy is about 3 to 4 times per kilowatt hour compared with conventional electricity. That could change dramatically through the development of the existing technology and recent discoveries.

The roller pressed flexible plastic materials and the polymer foil are only two of the best hopes in arriving at a cleaner, greener and safer environment that could ultimately free the planet from its dependency on the depleting supply of oil.

More Solar Energy Resources

http://greener-living-online.com
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Affordable Solar Power
Solar Energy for Homes
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Solar Energy Articles

Hydrogen Fuel

In 2003, President George Bush announced a $1.2 billion hydrogen fuel initiative in his State of the Union address that was intended to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil to provide the petroleum we need to produce gasoline that would power our vehicles.  That commitment allowed scientists to develop the technology for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses with no pollution or greenhouse gases.

Since then, there has been so much new funding in developing hydrogen fuel as an alternative to gasoline that we are now seeing many vehicles being powered by hydrogen fuel than ever before.  Hydrogen fuel depends on fuel cells to store and process the gas that will power a vehicle.  As a result of the initiative promised by President Bush, fuel cell technology has developed so much over the years that General Motors now boosts a one hundred percent hydrogen fuel powered vehicle.

Hydrogen Fuel Reality

Hydrogen fuel doesn’t come without its downfalls.  Hydrogen is four times as expensive to produce as gasoline (when produced from its most affordable source, natural gas). The hydrogen fuel initiative seeks to lower that cost enough to make fuel cell cars cost-competitive with conventional gasoline-powered vehicles by 2010; and to advance the methods of producing hydrogen from renewable resources, nuclear energy, and even coal.

Hydrogen Fuel = Energy Independence

By using hydrogen fuel instead of gasoline, we can actually become energy independent.  We won’t have to depend on other countries for our energy resources.  Hydrogen is domestically available in abundant quantities as a component of natural gas, coal, biomass, and even water.  The Department of Energy estimates that the hydrogen fuel initiative may reduce our demand for petroleum by over 11 million barrels per day by 2040 – approximately the amount of oil America imports today.

Hydrogen Fuel = Less Pollution

Vehicles are a significant source of air pollution in America’s cities and urban areas. Hydrogen fuel cells create electricity to power cars without any pollution. The hydrogen fuel initiative may reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions from transportation alone by more than 500 million metric tons of carbon equivalent each year by 2040. Additional emissions reductions could be achieved by using fuel cells in applications such as generating electricity for residential or commercial uses.
Hydrogen fuel is the key to a clean energy future.  It has the highest energy content per unit weight of any known fuel.  When it is burned in an engine, it produces no emissions.  In fact, the only emission given off by hydrogen fuel when powering an engine is water vapor.

The newest, biggest thing in the alternative fuel industry is hydrogen fuel.  President Bush knew that and now the American people know that as well.  With new fuel cell technologies, owning a vehicle that is powered by hydrogen fuel alone is now a reality.  And it’s just the beginning!  How exciting!

More Hydrogen Fuel Resources

http://greener-living-online.com
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Hydrogen Power
Renewable Energy Articles

Overview of Geothermal Energy

As we look to alternative energy sources for our power hungry world, geothermal energy is getting attention. Here is a brief overview of geothermal energy.

Overview of Geothermal Energy

There are many different types of energy available to power our world. For years, people have used the power of burning fossil fuels, such as coal (also used to produce steam power) to create energy. In recent times, there has been a shift to using renewable resources to create the energy we need. These resources include hydroelectric power, solar power, wind power, biomass energy and geothermal energy. While many people know about the first four of these resources, geothermal energy is less well-known.

The word geothermal comes from two Greek words, “geo” and “therme”. These words mean “earth” and “heat”, which pretty much describes what geothermal energy is. Geothermal energy is energy that comes from the heat of the Earth, deep underground. The Earth’s core, where chemical reactions create massive amounts of heat, is 4,000 miles below the Earth’s surface. In this core, temperatures can reach up to 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and this extreme heat can be used to produce energy.

While these are the basics of geothermal energy, there are many other parts in the process to make this sort of energy usable. We can’t tap directly into the Earth’s core to receive this heat, for many reasons. So instead, people must create systems that harness the residual heat that is in the magma (molten rock) under the Earth’s crust. This heat is able to be used by tapping into the water reservoirs that are within the magma – these water stores can reach up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit. Think of Old Faithful in Yellowstone.

A well can be drilled down into the superheated water contained within the Earth’s magma -  the geothermal reservoir. Once these geothermal reservoirs are tapped into, the heated water and steam can rise to the surface, and be used to power geothermal power plants as well as in smaller scale projects for personal household use. When used in geothermal power plants, the steam from the heated underground water is often used to power turbines, which then generate energy which can be harnessed as electricity.

By using the Earth’s own heat and water, energy can be created that can be used on a small or large scale. This renewable resource (you can’t deplete the Earth’s heat!) is also cleaner and safer than many other types of energy, making it a great type of ecologically sound energy source.

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please visit us at  http://greener-living-online.com
Eco Tips Recycling Advice

During the Second World War, resources were hard to come by and Governments ran big recycling campaigns to ensure nothing was wasted. Waste was segregated for the following uses:

- Tins and metal were recycled for use weapons, tanks and aircraft.

- Left over food provided feed for chickens, pigs and goats.

- Rubber was collected to make tires.

- Boiled bones were used to make glue for aircraft, ground up to make fertilizer or made into glycerin for explosives.

People were also encouraged to mend belongings, such as clothes, rather than buy new. Campaigns such as ‘Make Do And Mend’ and ‘Sew And Save’ gave advice on how to recycle textiles and make clothes last longer. Knitting also soared in popularity during the Second World War.

Families had to plan meals carefully so as to minimize wastage. With no fridges or freezers, perishable food had to be purchased in small quantities and meals were made with some interesting substitutes. Meat fat was commonly saved to make pastry, and the cream from milk was collected in a jar and shaken to make butter and buttermilk.

It is sad that it took people so long to recognize the importance of recycling, and also that it took such unfortunate circumstances to draw it to our attention. These days, we realize the importance of recycling to preserve the Earth’s resources, save money, reduce pollution and help combat climate change.

However, we are still falling well below targets for diverting waste from landfill sites. The reasons for recycling may be different now from what they were during the War, but we can still look to our grandparents and the older generations for tips and inspiration.

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Ware 4 Recycling Bins Ltd have been promoting cost effective recycling bins, trolleys and waste containers for over 5 years.

Below are some of the environmental and money saving benefits of recycling paper…

Saves Trees – The most obvious reason to recycle paper is for saving trees which provide vital oxygen for the planet. Just 1 ton of recycled paper saves at least 16 of them.

Wildlife Preservation – More often than not, the wildlife that lives in the trees that are cut down to make ‘new’ paper, die quickly because they cannot adapt to living anywhere else. Recycling paper means that they can die natural deaths instead of forced ones.

Cheaper Paper – Recycled paper is often cheap to purchase. Buying cheaper, recycled goods encourages more recycled goods to be manufactured, sustaining the recycling industry.

Less Water Consumption – 1 ton of recycled paper can save over 6500 gallons of water.

Saves Electricity – Producing electricity seriously damages the environment, but more than 400 kilowatt hours are saved by recycling 1 ton of paper.

Reduces Oil Dependence – Oil production has some horrific effects on the environment and any chance to reduce oil consumption should be taken. Saving 2 barrels per ton of recycled paper really makes a difference in the long term.

Less Pollution – Burning paper in waste incinerators pumps masses of pollution into the air. That means that we are unnecessarily causing the air that we all breathe to be of a lower quality.

Creates Jobs – Think about all the people who work within the paper recycling industry. Collectors, sorters and machine operators being just a few of them. The more that we recycle, the more of these jobs there will be created.

Paper Logs – Many people are now turning to paper logs as a supplementary fuel source. Consisting of tightly compressed briquettes of paper, these logs can be thrown on a fire or used in a wood burner to provide heat for free.

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This article is provided by http://www.paperlogmaker.org.uk/, a website dedicated to paper log makers and paper recycling.