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Can algae oil save us?

admin — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:33:17 +0000

Will algae oil save the planet?

In our green real estate section we usually try to focus on environmentally friendly advice for our homes. If you drive around daily in a car that needs more and more gas and you feel guilty, this article will bring you some interesting information about a new research. One of the essential parts of our daily routine is oil. Nowadays, the inevitable part of a life in the developed world is a car, and nearly everybody owns one. So do I, of course, as a realtor who drives around daily. Without our dear cars, the life would be so much harder. Unfortunately, we all know the two main problems related to driving: unsure oil supplies driving prices up and down and the environmental harm caused by fuel burning and the related carbon dioxide emissions.

The Institute for Genomic Research was established by Craig Venter, an American biologist and a prosperous businessman. Genetic engineering is the main focus of his work, that has provoked a great deal of heated debate by his most recent project.

Algae are known for creating natural oil, which is already part of several experiments with biofuels. But Craig Venter wants to explore more than that. He is trying to adjust the genomic structure of algae in order to create oil, which is almost identical to traditional crude oil. That would be a huge step forward, as we would be able to use the current oil industry infrastructure such as refineries, and even plastics production could use the same procedure and production plants as we are using currently, making plastics from crude oil. It doesn’t surprise us that one of the companies producing the most oil on the planet, Exxon Mobile, gave $600 million for Ventor to go on with his research.

And where is the ecological benefit, you may ask? It’s just there. The oil created by algae could well contribute to dealing with one of the most serious problems of our world. Plants use the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, utilize it in a photosynthesis process to create the oil and then the oil is burned and turned into oxalates. Of course, this miracle solution won’t be available this or next year, but apparently it is a good way to go. The team of Craig Venter are trying to win where others have tried and failed, but this time there is a great chance of success. There are many people out there that want to go easy on the environment, but due to their occupation, it is very difficult for them to stop using cars, just like so many of my fellow Toronto real estate agents can’t.

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Earth4energy Review – Reduce Your Power Bills

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:32:33 +0000

If you are looking how to use solar and wind energy to power your home, earth4energy is a guide which shows how to do that. The idea of using renewable energy sources is very environmently-friendly, moreover, your will save so much money. Let’s talk more about it.

While solar panels can cost upto $2000, I have build it for less than $200 using step-by-step instructions from earth4energy guide. Now keep in mind that I had no idea what I was doing when I first decided I wanted to tackle this project. I had seen a couple of guides available on the internet so I just decided to do it. Earth4energy was the only guide at that moment, so I decided to give it a try and ordered it.

Earth4Energy contains many types of renewable energy devices, I used only solar panels, however, there are also wind turbines which are also considered very powerful. You know, the most powerful setup is undoubtedly an off-grid setup, it can generate electricity fo your entire house and sometimes even give electricity to your neighbours. The other question is, hw much will it take to build such panel?

It might sound too good to be true, however the price might be only $0 if you have enough materials in your garage. For exmaple I took wood from my father’s garage and some glass from our old windows.

The guide also contains valuable information which will help you to build a great wind turbine for your house. Believe it or not, but a small turbine could cost less than one hundred dollars, you know, they are ten times as expensive in shops. However, the problem is that it is impossible to generate electricity if you do not have enough wind in your country. A basic rule is that you want the average wind speed in the area to be around 10mph for the unit to be cost effective.

In my opinion, the Earth4Energy manual is a must have for anyone wanting to build there own alternative energy source. How does solar energy work

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Earth4energy Review – Reduce Your Power Bills

admin — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:15:45 +0000

Have you ever wanted to generate electricity for your home using solar and wind power? If so there is a special guide called earth4energy which shows ho to do that. The idea of using renewable energy sources is very environmently-friendly, moreover, your will save so much money. Let me explain.

The first homemade solar panel I built was a portable solar power system for just under $200. Now keep in mind that I had no idea what I was doing when I first decided I wanted to tackle this project. I had heard that many people managed to create energy-generating devices, so I thought I will manage to do them to. Earth4energy was the only guide at that moment, so I decided to give it a try and ordered it.

The Earth4Energy Manual covers several types of solar panel systems including a portable solar power system, a grid-intertied solar power system, a grid-intertied solar power system with backup battery and an off-grid solar power setup. You know, the most powerful setup is undoubtedly an off-grid setup, it can generate electricity fo your entire house and sometimes even give electricity to your neighbours. Now how’s that for ‘going green’?

Another part that I found very helpful in the Earth4Energy manual was where to get FREE solar panels. For exmaple I took wood from my father’s garage and some glass from our old windows.

Developing homemade wind power is also thoroughly discussed in this manual. Believe it or not, but a small turbine could cost less than one hundred dollars, you know, they are ten times as expensive in shops. But bear in mind, that if your area is not windy enough, you will not be able to generate lecricity. A basic rule is that you want the average wind speed in the area to be around 10mph for the unit to be cost effective.

So, if you really want to build a good renewable energy device such as solar panel or wind turbine, earth4energy is the way to go. How do windmills work

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7 Solutions To Help Save The Planet

admin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:02:11 +0000

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

1. Reducing

In these times of troubling economy and the instability of the environment with the daily release of greenhouse gases that are warming the planet, we need to find to minimize our waste and reuse our everyday items rather then discarding them. Here are a few earth saving solutions:

2. Reuse

Before you throw them away try to find uses for items around your home that may be misplaced. Plastic utensils that you no longer use in the kitchen that are not broken and are safe might be just what your child is looking for to put in their play kitchen or to use with their play-dough set.

3. Recycling

Recycle your oldtennis shoes. Corporation’s like Nike can recycle your old sneakers to use in alternative programs that surfaces new playgrounds for children, making them a safer area for children to play at. A quick search online will point you in the direction of ways to participate.

4. Composting

Composting bins are a great investment – Why throw out your vegetable scraps when you can make your own inexpensive, safe fertilizer? Fertilizer that is homemade will make your gardens grow abundantly, and because you have used a natural fertilized that is free from chemicals, your homegrown fruits and vegetables will be muchhealthier and tastier.

5. Old Clothing

A great thing to do is to join in with your family and friends for a clothing swap meet, or go out for the day to your local thrift store. By shopping at “thrift” stores you will be supporting their organization and you never know what little gems you will find stashed. There are enough clothing items to keep the planet clothed for another lifetime! In addition, you should use old clothes that are unable to be donated as rags around the house for cleaning jobs, or another idea would be to give them to an animal shelter, where the items can be used for .

6. Trading Old Goods

There are a number of programs that are online now for the sole use of trading old and unwanted household items, sometimes these can be a real score if you know where to look. Look for ways to trade unwanted items. One way is to post a classified ad in your local newspaper or even an online publication like Craigslist, and trade items that you do not require anymore with an item that you do require and save money at the same time.

7. Shopping Bags

Think about taking reusable shopping bags with you when you go shopping, or even when you go shopping for clothes or household items. This will be a wonderful and easy way to preserve resources and to save the planet. Plastic and paper bags are very environmentally unfriendly, and they contribute to the unnecessary filling of our shrinking landfills and can take a sometimes hundreds of years to breakdown. Although most content in paper bags are recycled, it would be wiser to not have to use them at all.

If you find yourself still using these types of bags, make sure that you do your part and recycle BOTH you paper and plastic bags, as they are accepted in most recycling programs nowadays.

Save The Earth Today For The Future Tomorrow!

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Technorati Tags: compost, composting, environment, greenhouse gases, recycle, recycling, reduce waste, reuse, safe, save the planet, trash

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Earth4energy – Learn How to Build Solar Panels

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 06:08:09 +0000

If you are looking how to use solar and wind energy to power your home, earth4energy is a guide which shows how to do that. By using solar and wind energy you save tons of your hard-earned money and, what is more important, you do not harm environment. Let me explain.

The guide has helped me to buid a solar panel for just $200 while they cost about $3000 in shops. Believe it or not, I started building solar panels because I was very interested in this theme, I did not even wanted to use them to powe my home. I had seen a couple of guides available on the internet so I just decided to do it. The Earth4Energy Manual was the first guide that I purchased because it comes with video tutorials as well as the written manual.

The Earth4Energy Manual covers several types of solar panel systems including a portable solar power system, a grid-intertied solar power system, a grid-intertied solar power system with backup battery and an off-grid solar power setup. One of my friends has built an off-grid solar panel, it was enough to generate electricity for his big house, he was really satisfied with the result. Now how’s that for ‘going green’?

The guide also contains valuable information which will help you to build a great wind turbine for your house. Believe it or not, but a small turbine could cost less than one hundred dollars, you know, they are ten times as expensive in shops. But bear in mind, that if your area is not windy enough, you will not be able to generate lecricity. A basic rule is that you want the average wind speed in the area to be around 10mph for the unit to be cost effective.

In my opinion, the Earth4Energy manual is a must have for anyone wanting to build there own alternative energy source. How does solar energy work

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What You Eat Affects the Planet

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 06:07:55 +0000

Go Green with Wai Lana Yoga

Facts about diet and environment
Oftentimes, it is wise to consult some hard numbers when considering whether or not you should take a certain course of action.

In this article we will relay these statistics regarding how a vegetarian dietaffects the environment. We hope it will help you lead a long, healthy life, in a happy, green planet.

How going vegetarian will help you and the world

- Raising animals as livestock is a very resource-intensive process.

-Studies have shown that only 20% of the corn that is made in the United States is eaten by humans, with the other eighty percent given to animals. Furthermore, a full 50% of the water in the United States is used to raise livestock.

-Twenty thousand pounds of potatoes can be harvested from a single acre of land. Raising cattle on one acre of land, by comparison, would result in only one hundred and sixty five pounds of meat. Consequently the amount of land that it would take to feed one person exclusively meat would be equivalent to the amount of land it would take to feed twenty vegetarians.

It is surprising to know how raising livestock is a great way to ruin our limited natural resources. If wewere to adopt a more plant-based diet, many problems with world hunger would be solved. Research have shown that if Americans were to decrease their meat consumption by merely 10%, sixty million people could be fed by the resulting grain. With a child in the world dying of starvation every two seconds, it would be a sacrifice of love for even just for some people to switch to a more vegetable based diet.

Save your topsoil

- Another thing to consider when considering the implications of raising livestock for their meat is the soil depletion that it can cause. Historically, many nations have fallen due to a depletion of their topsoil, and studies have shown that the United States has already lost approximately seventy five percent of its original topsoil. Every year, four million acres of crop land in the United States is lost due to soil erosion. As a result, many forests are cleared in order to make room for more crop land, resulting in an acre of trees disappearing in the United States every eight seconds. Each vegetarian can save one acre of forest per year. For more information, go to Wai Lana Yoga.

Global warming and livestock
- Global warming is becoming more and more of a concern in our world today. Raising livestock is a major cause for global warming. The carbon dioxide produced by livestock raised for meat contributes to approximately 18% of the global warming effect. Automobiles, by contrast, only account for fifteen percent of humanity’s carbon dioxide output. We should support the going-green movement, which in turn, also helps reduce the effects of pollution and global warming, Wai Lana is one of the supporters of this cause.

Choose wisely
Clearly, the implications that your diet on the world are far-reaching. If you don’t know where to start, you can look for vegetarian recipes and articles on Wai Lana. Not only is being a vegetarian a great move to make for your own health the health of others, and the environment. These are facts that each one of us should definitely consider.

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Technorati Tags: environment, global warming, Going healthy, keeping the environment well, staying healthy, the environment and vegetarianism, vegetarian, vegetarianism, Wai lana, wai lana yoga

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Canada, Churchill the place of some of the most fantastical animals in the world!

admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 10:37:17 +0000

Churchill is located on the far west coast of Canada. Over the past few years this has become one of the most sought over environmental holidays. This could mean that it is in danger from excessive pollution?

Churchill has become extremely popular and famous around the world, mainly because of the polar bears that travel inland during autumn. The polars take over Churchill and wander round taking over local villages and towns as well. The nickname, Polar Bear capital of the world, came from the fact there are so many of these cuddly creatures. This has helped boost the tourist industry around the area, and now tour operators offer Canada tours dedicated to this area, to show people the stunning environment.

Churchill is also a very rare area; this is because it is an Ecotone. When you have several environments or climates close together, this is called an Ecotone. Basically it stands on a border between three very different environments. They are the Boreal forest to the south, the Tundra climate to the north east and the Hudson Bay to the north. It is also a perfect location to see the Aurora Borealis. Not only does this area have all these attributes, it is also home to the Beluga whales in summer, over 57,000 of them, and has a very extensive amunt of bird fauna that cover the whole area.

Churchill has become extremely reliant on the tourism industry, but how long will it be able to support tourists. If the environment experiences a harsh change then this area will become desolate, the animals will have to migrate somewhere else. The tourism industry will fail. Canada holidays benefit greatly from this environmental phenomenon, but how much longer will it last. Alaska Cruises also circle round to this area, so maybe that holiday is better sooner rather than later.

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Technorati Tags: Alaska Cruises, Animals, Canada holidays, Canada tours, environment, news

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Thoughts on eco living

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:06:37 +0000

A lot of books, articles and web pages have already been published to provide information on environmentally responsible lifestyle. Though being a local real estate expert gives me plenty of changes to talk about the many ways of green living with my clients, my topic today will be a bit more specific. In this text, I will try not to repeat all the tips on eco-life, you have probably heard them many times before anyway. Today I would like to contemplate on the three very common resources which people from the modern countries usually take for granted: food, water and electricity.

Food

As I hope that most people don’t just throw away paper, glass and metal waste but recycle it, the rest of your household rubbish will be mainly groceries. The bulk of the food that we throw away is in most cases in perfect condition and in some cases even in the original wrapper or box. The shocking reality is that between 20 and 30% of all food purchased by Canadian families is wasted later. Together with the food thrown out in shops and restaurants, it makes between 7 and 14 billion tonnes of food wasted annually. In Canadian dollars, that’s $3 to 5 billion per year.

Now you are probably shocked by these figures, aren’t you? With so many organizations trying to help people affected by lack of food, while at the same time so much of it is being wasted right under our noses. But wait before you start packing the groceries you are not going to consume and sending it to places full of hungry people. There are some other tips you might want to consider instead of throwing the food away. 1. Try using leftovers. For example if you had some rice remaining from yesterday’s supper, you could have prepared stuffed peppers today. 2. A good way of preventing groceries going past the expiry date is sorting your food cabinet by this criteria: older food, that is going to expire soon, is stored in the front, while the longer lasting products can stay in the back of the shelves. 3. It may happen that you know beforehand that there is some food you are not going to be able to use before its expiration date. Instead of throwing it out, try to find a local charity or soup kitchen and bring your food there when it’s still serviceable. Let some people eat it – famine isn’t only to Africa. 4. If you have some leftovers anyway, try mulching it instead of just throwing it away. Always try to think in the way that groceries just shouldn’t be dumped. If you don’t have a garden yourself, try to find someone who does and can do the mulching.

Water

There are plenty of ways to prevent wasting water and you can probably name many of them yourself. One problem that comes to me when thinking about sensible water usage is the way we manage human waste: toilets. We got used to using toilets so much that we no longer think of them – as long as they function the way the are supposed to. However, have you tried to estimate how much water your household needs every month for flushing the lavatory? Wow, that’s a lot of water, isn’t it? But it doesn’t need to be that much, there are some methods of decreasing the amount of water needed for every flushing. There are two different ways to achieve that. 1. There are new kinds of toilets available, that need just the minimum amount of water necessary. You might think that there is not much to choose from when buying a new toilet, but just stop by at your nearest shop and see for yourself, you might be surprised! 2. Another way of decreasing the amount of water for flushing is to put several plastic bottles filled with water into the tank of your toilet. You might have to experiment a bit before you find out the right amount of water needed for the toilet to keep functioning fine.

Electricity

Just like with water, many advices on electricity waste prevention are accessible only and elsewhere. But now let’s focus on tumble dryers, as I identify these myself as one of the biggest energy-eaters in our households. The popularity of tumble dryers comes from the fact that modern people want everything to be done in the shortest time possible, regardless of the volume of resources that are wasted in the process of speeding things up. It is quite obvious that in our current lifestyle, there is not enough time for washing our clothes manually, and that dishwashers do really save some water. Though the pluses of a tumble dryer might be less obvious. Would it be such a great problem if we just waited 1 – 2 days for our clothes to get dry? For people who are trying hard to make their lives less of an ecological liability, using a tumble dryer is acceptable only in emergency cases. Even a better decision is to get rid of the dryer at all, or sell it. Except for the environment, you will save some money on your electricity bills as well.

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Technorati Tags: ecology, energy, environment, green, living, saving

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Global Warming Trivia for The Classroom

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:06:24 +0000

Global warming is taking its toll on the world. How much do you know about global warming? Taking a global warming quiz can let you see just how much you know about global warming while allowing you to find ways to help prevent global warming. There are several facts that may surprise you about global warming.

For instance did you know that while natural forces are partly to blame for global warming that people are responsible as well? This piece of global warming trivia is something that is often overlooked. Our own creation of greenhouse gases is contributing to the continued warming of the planet.

When it comes to global warming the fact that China is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases is something else that isn’t very well known. What planets conditions are thought to be the result of too many greenhouse gases? This is another of the global warming trivia questions that are difficult to answer off hand.

Global warming trivia even extends to the appliances and fixtures in the home. Individual energy consumption can be reduced from sixty to eighty percent by changing a light bulb. Why is knowing this important? There are over a hundred thousand deaths around the world every year due to changes in the atmosphere from global warming.

A global warming quiz can test your knowledge about carbon dioxide and other deadly effects of global warming. Even if all greenhouse emissions were stopped immediately it would still be at least one hundred years before the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was completely gone. There would be decades after the last emission that the effects where felt.

Animals are facing extinction due to global warming and the effects are beginning to be felt in everyday life. Droughts, heat exhaustion, and pollutants are all effects of global warming. The melting ice is contributing to the warming effects by taking away natural cooling methods. Even malaria is believed to increase as the effects of global warming increase.

An interesting fact about global warming is that planes give off fewer pollutants at night than during the day. So by flying at night you can actually reduce your impact on the atmosphere. Another interesting fact is that hybrid cars don’t always get better gas mileage than traditional cars. Global warming costs everyone money since insurance companies pay more out in claims due to disasters, food becomes scarce and crops are not sustainable in some regions.

Brushing up on global warming trivia and taking a global warming quiz can assist you in finding ways to help save the environment.

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Technorati Tags: carbon dioxide, energy consumption, environment, global warming, global warming quiz, global warming trivia, greenhouse gases, pollution, prevent global warming, save the environment

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Go on safari to help the environment!

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:06:18 +0000

All of the animals that are endangered are going these ways for different reasons. Is there however a prevailing force that is causing these creatures to become endangered. If you really think about it, you will understand that we are the main cause!

An endangered species is a term used to describe a species whose numbers have become so low it is at risk of becoming extinct. We cannot stop evolutionary change, so of course some animals will change and become extinct. However we are to blame for a lot of things. The Safari was just used as a hunting expedition, it was designed for those that had a lot of money and high stature. All the animals that have been hunted an killed and now at the brink of extinction.

We do not hunt all that many animals now as we did say a hundred years ago (mainly because they are all gone). But you cant hunt any of these animals any more, because they are protected by law. We instead are now trying to save as many creatures on the planet without directly injuring or killing them. Safari is the best way to get people on side, or to teach them about some of the problems in the world. Diving holidays have become very popular in the eyes of many governments to try and the marine life before it gets to even worse stages.

Pollution is proving to be another major problem; we may not be shooting these animals anymore. However our actions in the rest of the world are causing damage to the entire environnement. Some people don’t even know that a safari is more than just a holiday, its a massive experience. Kenya safari holidays are a great way to have fun and see the world.

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Technorati Tags: Africa, Diving, environment, holidays, Kenya safari, news, Safari, Safaris, Travel

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