Archive for September, 2009

Africa's Innovative Solution to Waste Management!

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
There’s little doubt that the earth is slowly warming. The temperatures, as they rise are bound to trigger climatic changes and lead to newer patterns and prevalence of a number of infectious diseases. And as the efforts to curb environmental pollution continue at international and individual levels, countries depending on their access to resources try to find ways to tackle pollution and ultimately global warming. The following exemplar from Africa is a testament to the trend.

Engineers from the African nation Kenya have devised ingenious tractor trailer systems to serve as waste management equipment.

The invention called the “Ndume Little Pick-up” has come about as a consequence of partnership between the UN organization “UN-Habitat,” and two engineering firms from Kenya to execute work on the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Initiative.

The Indigenous Waste Management Process

The Ndume Little Pick-up has a flat deck body and a very low loading height. It facilitates waste management as its flat body can carry eight bins of waste at a time, which is lifted on or off the pick-up manually.

The plan is to let the little pick-ups serve six of the seven towns in the region. To accomplish the task several pick-ups would collect bins of waste from businesses and residential areas and transport them to large containers or other trailers to be eventually carried to the disposal site. From where a waste treatment plant may take over.

This seems to be a noteworthy partnership between the public and the private sector. Further, not only is the program innovative but is also self sustaining, here’s how?

When it’s about government funded services in under developed countries, it’s often the finances which stymie the efforts. However this system would be self-financing, in the sense that the revenue generated from the service provided would be fed back into the system. Thus providing enough funds for the upkeep and manning of the vehicles, which would also lead to regularity of the service.

While the rich nations try to cut back on carbon emissions using sophisticated technology, the not so rich countries invent their own ways to save the environment.A medical industry’s overview reveals that most of it is geared towards developing treatments, but I think they should also pay heed to towards creating conditions that prevent disease.

Live Well – Live Green!

Saturday, September 12th, 2009
There have been so many advances in green energy technology, it is now easier than ever to start changing your home to run on clean, alternative power.

There are many ways to implement your plan to convert your home from being totally fossil fuel dependent to making use of renewable energy sources.

* Solar Energy – You can have installed solar hot water panels to heat your water. And you can install solar panels which use photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity. These systems can be expensive if purchasing them and having them installed professionally, but there are many good resources available so you can make your own solar panels and solar hot water system, which will reduce the expense by many thousands of dollars.

* Passive Solar Design – If you are building a new home, a really good way to make it energy efficient and so cut your power bills, is to implement passive solar design principles during your house’s construction. This means having large areas of windows on the south side (in the northern hemisphere – the north side in the southern hemisphere) of your home. You should also have heat-retaining brick, stone, or concrete in your south-facing rooms to store the heat during the day; as the outside temperature drops at evening, the heat from the thermal mass will warm the air in the room, thereby reducing your heating requirements.

* Windmills – Another way to take advantage of renewable energy sources is by harnessing the wind to produce pollution-free electricity. Windmills can be installed on rooftops or in yards, or if you live out of town, in the fields. Windmills are available commercially but there is also quite a wide variety of reasonably priced kits available for anyone who is keen to do their own and so lower the costs significantly.

* Water Power – If you have a property with a stream on it, you can further add to the efficiency of your alternative energy home with hydro-electric power. This is another great, pollution-free power source which is easy to look after and works as long as there is water available.

The ultimate green energy home would combine all of these resources. You are not only looking at huge savings, and even possible profits, from your electricity usage by utilizing solar, wind, and water to create your home’s power, but you would also be contributing to a cleaner, greener, Earth, as these simple, natural, renewable options don’t produce the greenhouse gas emissions which are causing global warming.

By adding passive solar design and a solar hot water system to the mix, you would further reduce your energy needs, exponentially, and would be truly living well – living green.

A renewable energy home doesn’t require more maintenance than traditional homes. Solar technologies require little to no maintenance, while just a regular oiling will keep wind and water turbines at peak performance. There is no better time to create your green energy home.

Do yourself and the world a favour – it will be something you can be proud of.

Home Solar Power Systems Benefits

Monday, September 7th, 2009
If you are looking for benefits from your home solar energy system, you do not need to worry, you will get many tangible and non-tangible benefits once you start to get electricity from using your residential solar systems. Despite the fact that two main types of systems and a stand-alone system and also other grid-tie system. Both systems can be chosen, and the installation of solar panels, but grid-tie system is a bit costlier than the stand-alone system.

The main benefits of residential solar energy systems is that you can reduce your monthly electricity bills by 80%. You can thus save the monthly bills, Even on a sunny day so you can save the monthly bills and, you may lead to excessive electricity and, if your residential solar power system is grid bolt, you can even sell surplus electricity leads to power marketing company.

In addition to the above residential solar systems beyond the practical benefits, other non-tangible benefits include those to help us in controlling pollution and protecting our Earth from global warming. Solar electricity is generated by a renewable source of lead, and it does not produce any sulfur or nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and other particulate matter, and residential solar energy systems to help us balance the atmosphere and life on Earth.

You can also have the benefit of residential solar energy systems for yourself and your family the cost reduction of the normal electricity bills and at the same time help to all human life on earth to protect the environment and the planet earth. Therefore, the contribution to doing our planet a safe place to live by installing your own residential solar systems.

You take the help of the instructions can be used to guide the form, and can only install your initial investment with a home of their own solar system, $ 200.  There are a number of guides available, and you can take help is cheaper and can be made online and in simple language that contains all the instructions of an appropriate guide to even uneducated people can do and installation of residential solar energy systems, without further assistance.

Green Home Plans – What They Need To Include

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
Nurturing our environment, achieving a sustainable future and reducing global warming have been growing topics of concern for all of us. The need to protect the environment is in all of our hands and this responsibility needs to be exercised in almost everything we do and in the choices we make every hour of our lives. Actions we take now can lead to benefits later. When we all choose well and change our behavior to nurture, conserve and sustain, the effect can be enormous. The home in which we live is one such area where we have the ability to make a range of nurturing choices. In this article we will look at some of the more desirable elements that need to be included in green home plans.

Durability is a key tenet of a good green home plan. A green home plan will strive to use eco-friendly building materials and furnishings and will incorporate leftovers wherever possible. A green home design will make use of materials that are renewable and long lasting. The less often you have to replace materials, then the less material and effort that needs to go into maintaining them, resulting in a diminished cost of upkeep and less frequent replacement. Cork, bamboo and eucalyptus are examples of earth friendly and renewable materials that feature prominently in environmental building designs. Recycled materials should also be used wherever possible. This is relatively easily achieved when it comes to flooring as you can sand and refinish or even paint and stencil what is already there. Recycled glass (vertrazzo) looks attractive and comes in a range of colors. It can be used for both kitchen countertops and as a backsplash.

Efficient energy use is another key component of a green home plan. Using energy efficient appliances is a must and most manufactures these days will label their products with an energy star rating. But the biggest difference we can make is by leveraging that great bundle of natural energy called the sun. A solar power system can deliver most of an average household’s daytime energy needs and any excess energy that is created can be fed back into the electricity grid. Rebates for the installation of solar panels and also their improved efficiency are seeing the cost of installing residential solar power systems come rapidly down. The energy savings we can achieve by installing a solar panel array will be complemented by installing energy saving windows and ensuring that our homes are properly insulated. Both measures are designed to trap heat inside the house during cold weather and reflect heat when it is hot, leading to a reduction in heating and cooling costs respectively.

The third pillar of a good greenhouse plan should be the efficient use of water: something that is particularly pertinent for those living in drier climates. An enormous amount of perfectly good drinking water is wasted each day on activities like clothes washing and flushing toilets. These activities could just as soon be done using grey water (recycled water). Home water treatment systems such as a wet compost system or a sand filtration system will achieve the aim of using water efficiently.