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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Renewable Energy is energy created from resources that are regenerative – or renewable – meaning they cannot be depleted. Producing energy with resources like these without harmful pollutants associated with fossil fuels are safe for our environment.

Wind farms often receive a bad press, especially when they’re situated near homes or in popular hiking areas. They can make a lot of noise and because they have to be placed on skylines for maximum efficiency they often spoil views. Offshore wind farms are less problematic in this way and can take advantage of fierce sea winds, increasing their output, but they rely on a nation having a lot of suitable coastline.

While the Netherlands does very well with its wind farms, the US is, considering the comparative size of its population, at a distinct disadvantage. For the home-owner, small wind-powered generators are available, but they’re not very efficient and often result in complaints from neighbors.

Hydroelectricity is a much more effective way of generating power, using the natural energy of rivers or tidal forces. However, there are a limited number of suitable locations for hydroelectric generators, and often these are in areas which already provide fertile farmland, so a lot of people have to be displaced and lose their land in order for them to be built. Local wildlife can also be damaged.

Solar power alone passes the test of truly being practical, easy to access and non-polluting at the same time. Even when it is frequently cloudy, modern solar panels can still work effectively. They require very little maintenance and once installed do not get in any ones way. For these reasons, the greenest way to generate the power we need is by harnessing the power of the sun.

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But the issue is, Is everything about solar energy good? having a look at the present cost of fossil fuel-based electricity, it is sort of unreal to convert into solar energy system. However, with the heightening concern on the state of the earth, there’s actually a requirement to find other ways of energy except for what power plants are using at the moment. Where do you place yourself? Whether you are a supporter of clean energy or just care about where your financials go, taking a look at the pros and cons of home solar energy system will help you decide as to whether to convert or not. Pros Solar energy is free. Do you know the earth soaks up 174 pettawatts of solar radiation? This implies that we’ve got more than enough source of free energy to power each house on the planet. Unfortunately, almost all of our energy is still drawn from oil, gas and coal. But in latest years, there’s a smooth increase of requirement for alternative and renewable energy like solar power. It is predicted that the requirement for alternative sources of energy will rise by 53% between 1999 and 2020.

Solar energy is clean, renewable and sustainable. As the energy made from the sun’s rays does not produce byproducts like those from fossil fuel power plants ( sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury or CO2 ), it doesn’t make a contribution to pollution. Accordingly, the rise in the employment of solar energy and other alternative forms of energy will decrease the clamor for greenhouse gases-producing power plants. The cost of photovoltaic cells is continuously decreasing. The clamor for solar panels has risen by 57% in the U. S. In 2007 and is continuously accelerating on an once a month basis. The demand increase results to the improvement of solar technology in total. The costs of photovoltaic cells have decreased on average of 4% each year during the last 15 years. Solar panels can be installed on most rooftops, dumping the problem of finding an appropriate place for installation. Solar panels need almost no upkeep.

The first photovoltaic cells technology is employed for most satellites orbiting our earth today which are not maintained at all. Many solar panel makers give twenty-five to forty years guaranty on their products. Because most areas of the country receive an important quantity of daylight across the year, solar panels can be installed anywhere. Many states in the country give tax breaks and deductions to homes who desire to install solar energy system.

Check with your state legislature the price of these motivations.

Cons

Whilst the costs of PV cells are in constant decline, the price of installation is significantly high compared to the present electrical cost.

But the good thing is, after your 1st money out, you do not have to pay each month on electrical bills for the remainder of your life. On areas towns and areas with heavy pollution problem, solar energy may not work as fine. Weather can also have an effect on the potency of solar energy. If it is raining, overcast weather or if there’s a hurricane, the solar panels’ potency is reduced. You are only manufacturing energy during day time. These are general pros and cons you may encounter when considering the conversion to solar energy system. It might be best if your call relies on location, cost, budget, discounts, tax allowances and practicality.

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Look for leaks first. Leaking taps, even just the occasional drip, accounts for lots of money wasted over time.

You might waste as much as 140 gallons in a week! Are your hot water pipes insulated? They’ll be if you try to go green and save money.

Insulated pipes let the hot water reach the taps quicker, so saving water, whilst you go green and save money too. Low flow toilets are an alternate way to save water. You do not want to flush gallons of water away each time, just what you want. Edison was a genius, but his light bulb invention has been superceded by the new compact fluorescent light bulbs. These are bulbs that employ a mere 25% of the energy a normal light bulb uses. They also last ten times longer. Replace all your standard bulbs for compact fluorescent light bulbs and immediately go green and save money!

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Go green in the home by cutting back as much as you can. We could all, collectively, save one bln gallons of water a year by changing our old flush toilet cisterns.

The old ones use 3 and a half gallons per flush and the new high-efficiency ones use just over one and a quarter gallon. It creates a gigantic difference! If you probably did only this to go green in the home you would save twenty thousand gallons of water each year, and pay a ton less in water bills. The standard light bulbs that most houses have are extraordinarily incompetent. Compact fluorescent light bulbs burn around five pc of the old bulbs and they last ten times longer. They may cost a little more to buy at first, but this is a clear way to go green in the home and save a bundle in the long game. But you can do even better, The new LED lights are virtually twice as efficient as even the compact fluorescent light bulbs, and they are going to last even longer too. Heat leaks out of a home in winter and into the house in summer. Better insulation all round is a way to go green in the home. Look at your flat, your wall cavities, your windows and your doors. Sort out all these and you can go green in the home and actually save too.

Home uses are a drain on energy. Are you aware that modern washing powders are so good that they do not truly need hot water? Your washing machine uses the majority of its energy heating the water, so wash your garments cold.

They will clean great whilst you go green in the home. You might imagine your dishwasher is also an energy drain, Unusually , it’s not. If it’s used by you completely filled it uses less resources than if you wash by hand. When you know these tiny tips, it’s simple to go green in the home!

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1. Turn your heater thermostats down 1 or 2 degrees in winter, and turn your air-con thermostats up 1 or 2 degrees in summer. If we all did this, the mixed difference would be unusual. We’d still feel warm in winter and cool in summer, so find out how to live green and save money with your heating and cooling appliances.

2. The other appliance that desires your attention is your washing machine. Start washing your garments in cold water. Modern powders work just as efficiently in cold water as hot. The majority of the energy that goes into a garments wash is in warming the water, so you will save on electricity, live green and save money too.

3. When your garments are nice and clean, don’t throw them into the dryer. Unless it’s pouring rain, hang them out to air dry. It’s what your grandmama did, and she managed just fine. She might have liked having a dryer, but they were never around back then, so she just had to live green and save money. You can too!

4. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are a dream occur for anyone that wants to live green and save money. They burn only twenty five percent of the electricity a standard light bulb burns, and they can last as long as ten times longer. Change your old bulbs today!

5. Attempt to consume less of everything, from electricity, to gas in the auto, to the food you eat. Take some time to write out a shopping list, and stick to it. If you are feeling the impulse to get something you do not really need, get into the practice of waiting twenty-four hours, then review it. The likelihood is that you either will not need it any more, or you’ll have forgotten about it.

It’s simple to live green and save money. You just have to give it some thought. Get into a routine that works and before you know it, you may end up in the situation where you live green and save money each day.

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Even today houses that uses its power does not only benefit from the silent, energy generating, inexhaustible power of the sun, it also spikes up the costs of their houses. Those that have solar powered houses are even reimbursed for the surplus power that they supply to the power grid. Presently, heliostats, photovoltaic cells and plate collectors are being employed to collect the solar energy by targeting these panels towards the sun or building and installing the panel’s on spots where the sun shines most. Development in technology as everyone knows frequently has a snowball effect. It never stops rediscovering and reinventing the speed of development could frequently be incredibly fast. Today, a polymer foil, thin as a sheet of paper and lighter by 2 hundred times compared to the regular glass picking up plates, are being developed.

Probabilities are, these new inventions and new discoveries could well have a great potential for mass production. Formerly , the glass-based materials used for heat collection need pricey substrates and need further support for mounting due to its weight.

The polymer foil, being awfully light could now be attached even to the walls of a structure. So assured are scientists in the development of this technology that whilst the polymer foil is being developed, a plastic solar cell, based mostly on nano technology is gaining advances. This plastic material can collect the power of the sun even on a cloudy day thru harnessing the infrared rays is said to be 5 times better than this technology. Whilst plastic materials for harnessing the power of the sun are not new, it is just recently this plastic composite could crop the infrared portion. Formerly , only the obvious rays are generated, the infrared part, which is twelve the power of the sun, is invisible. Now , 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 percent of the suns solar energy. Scientists and analysts alike agree that at last, solar farms will be harnessing all our energy wants and costs of power will drop. Today the cost of solar powered energy is about three to four times per kilo watt hour compared to typical electricity. That might change dramatically though the development of the current technology and new discoveries. The roller pressed flexible plastic materials and the polymer foil are only a couple of the best hopes coming at a cleaner, greener and safer environment that might eventually free the planet from its dependency on the exhausting supply of oil.

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Since man started building homes, sunlight played a major influence in the design. In fact, even in the more advanced urban planning method of the Ancient Chinese and Greeks, the orientation of the buildings is as much as possible directed towards where it could capture the most sunlight.

The ancients might not be as intellectually sophisticated then to use catch phrases as passive solar and thermal mass but when they build, they were building in compact proportion, employing overhangs, producing insulations and building in manners that direct the airflow within the structure and producing well lit, well ventilated spaces using the relative position of the sun to the orientation of their structures.

Lately, as the conventional sources of energy became more expensive, homeowners were once again turning to the sun for energy requirements.

Since the 1950’s, harnessing the sun’s rays has been developing and today the solar cell technology has achieved very efficient levels that modern (so-called green house) designs apply the sun’s power to provide energy for the home.

While solar energy is free, the device that will convert it to run our appliances is not. To provide solar energy for the home, solar cells called photovoltaic made from semi-conducting materials, are grouped into modules. These solar panels are mounted on rooftops, yards or open spaces where it can capture the maximum amount of sunlight.

Whenever possible, the panels will be installed facing south to get the most out of the sunlight but tracking systems are also used to follow the direction of the sun. The solar panels collect the energy from the sunlight. The process basically is that when the panels are exposed to sunlight, the electrons are separated form the atoms. This movement of the electrons creates electricity.

To store power, pumps are often used – circulating water in the cells. The water goes into a storage tank where the power is stored, ready for use. Sometimes, the use of gravity is employed if it will just the same store the heated water in to the tank.

In spite of all the development in solar energy though, the use of this technology is not enough to provide power to the whole house. The best method so far can only fulfill about 80% of a households power needs. The employment of solar energy for the home will still require the use of the conventional power distribution method.

Powering the homes by solar means will still, for a while be augmented by a local power distribution agency. To many, this is already a good starting point. Homeowners that feel that the high cost of powering their houses through solar power, is justified when compared to the price that is now being paid for conventional electrification method where horrendous amounts of CO2 are being dumped into the atmosphere just to generate a pitiful amount of electricity.

However, due in part to the rising costs of energy, the technology for solar energy has been undergoing rapid phases of development. Experts are confident that within five years, powering the home through the solar method will be made widely available for those who prefer it as its sole energy source.

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