your questions about sustainable energy without the hot air
Your Questions About Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air
Ken asks…
Where is harder to survive..?
Northern Canada/Russia (with lots of cold and snow) or a desert in Nevada?
Assume that there is no countries or cities around, you are the only human in the world and you have to survive by yourself. I am talking about lifetime sustained survival. Not just survive until you get out kind of thing.
PS: I didn’t use a desert in Africa like sahara because obviously there is absolutely 0 chance of sustainable human life.
admin answers:
The Sahara desert has been home to thousands of people for thousands of years. So has the Namib desert and the Kalahari desert where the bushmen have hunted very skillfully for many generations and they eat well.
The Nevada desert can feed you too if you find the skills to get the food it harbours.
Learn some biology. Then you can eat. Learn geology and you can find water. And oil.
The driest desert in the world is the Atacama. It’s beautiful. I’ve been twice. It’s got places where no rain has fallen for more than four hundred years.
But it hasn’t got the driest air in the world.
That’s in Antarctica where water is frozen out of the air and where scientific instruments, especially for infra red measurements which get ruined by water vapour in the air absorbing infra red, are stationed in the scientific research stations at Ross Island and around the South Pole.
It’s easy to look it up. ..Antarctic Research Stations.
The driest air in the world lays over a huge sheet of ice and snow…frozen water.
Cold places give you water but more importantly they demand more in supplies than hot places. It takes more energy and more materials to heat things than to cool them.
Without enough heat you’re soon dead. Providing it and keeping it is costly in materials and clothing..
Deserts get cold at night, even the Sahara. You get a break from the heat and bright Sun.
You can burn camel dung or other dung and dried grasses to get enough heat for cooking. That’s all the heat you need.
Move when it’s cooler in the morning and evening and get shade under a high tent or in the shadow of rocks during the hottest part of the day.
You can cross the Sahara with a lighter load than for crossing Siberia.
Both places you need wildlife to live on or take your own animals. Move to where they can eat so you can keep them alive.
The reindeer herders in the far north of Finland do that, where a warm night in winter is -20C.
Reindeer provide milk and meat, furs for clothing and shoes, tents and sleeping mats, and bone for knives and ornaments.
Sami people have been living in the far north for more than two thousand years
http://norskfolke.museum.no/en/Stories/Set-1/Sami-baptismal-boots/ .. .
Http://www.suite101.com/content/the-sami-of-the-north-a222034 . . . .
In the Sahara camels and goats and sometimes sheep provide the milk and meat, and give wool for cloth to make clothing and tents and bedding rolls, and leather for shoes.
Nomads move to where the grazing is best, in the Gobi desert, and in the Sahara and Namib deserts.
In both cold and hot places you can trap birds and small animals.
Hares and arctic foxes in the far north…or lizards and snakes and the few small mammals that live in the desert..
Many cold places have rivers with fish, and by the coast the sea provides food as well….seaweeds, molluscs, fish and seals.
Desert or frozen tundra…you can live in both and thousands do.
In desert you can still get water.
Hang a fine net to collect the dew. Some plants do that.
Dew collects on the hairy leaves and stems overnight in desert air and provides water for birds and small animals. Be up early enough or it’s gone down animals throats or into the plant or back up into the sky.
That’s where the net idea came from….hairy plants that collect water from dew.
Nets are also used to collect water from fog in remote mountains,and in deserts eg in Chile.
Http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/11/1101_TVdesertbeetle.html . . . . . .
You can dig condensation pits or condense water from plants.
Http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Water-in-the-Desert . . .. ..
You can dig into the desert where the signs tell you water lays underneath. When it’s close enough to the surface wind-blown seeds take root and you get an oasis.
Thousands of people have lived in deserts and frozen tundra for thousands of years, long before modern equipment existed like expensive water reservoirs for backpacks instead of far more useful and versatile water bottles which keep Arabian nomads alive in the fierce desert heat but are too simple for ‘must have the latest’ techy walkers.
Learn to live where you are and then you can live. Generations long past past did that quite well enough for the current populations to be there……
Have fun
Desert walks….
Http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100704125838AAOUFkW . . . . . . .
Mandy asks…
So why isn’t nuclear power being developed if global warming is such a threat?
Sustainable Development Commission statement on nuclear power: http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/presslist.php/51/nuclear-power-wont-fix-it
Further to my question on Nuclear Power (yes or no) many AGW proponents pointed out that they were in favour of it, or at least had no serious objections.
But if that’s at all representative, and if AGW is such a threat, why isn’t nuclear power being actively pursued? Take the UK, pretty much all ‘Green’ groups vehemently oppose it. The government is being advised on it’s energy policy by a commission which it set up and appointed Jonathan Porritt to head (ex-Greenpeace anti-nuclear campaigner).
It’s obvious that – for the short and even medium term – renewables and energy saving won’t cut it. See the calculations at www.withouthotair.com
I ask because it seems that both warmists and sceptics seem to agree on nuclear. If that’s at all representative of the views of most people then why aren’t we actually doing something rather than planning another massive conference in some far-flung location?
admin answers:
Because a lot of the people who are in charge of solving global warming are either:
a. Completely ignorant of the fact that wind and solar can’t solve global warming.
B. Heavily influenced by fossil fuel interests that would be hurt if nuclear power took away their market in the process of solving global warming.
B(2). Influenced by the fossil fuel unions who don’t want to lose their power (the workers don’t have much to worry about though, the time it’ll take to switch to nuclear will be more than enough for retraining and a lot of them would probably end up working at a vastly safer nuclear plant anyway).
C. See global warming as a means to force people to use less energy and return to ‘simpler’ times whether the population wants it or not (never mind that most people would choose global warming over what the greens want).
D. Are afraid of losing the votes of the anti-nuclear kooks.
The green groups should not be thought of as environmentalists, for the most part they are urban trendoids who don’t really have a clue about the environment but want to feel good about doing something. There’s also a big focus on appearance for the greens and probably a bit of residual Christian morality making a virtue of sacrifice.
The views you get here probably aren’t representative of the majority of the population although the anti-nuclear movement is in decline, they should be almost gone within the decade.
The scientific community probably hasn’t done enough to tell the public and politicians what the scientific consensus on nuclear power is and why renewable energy isn’t going to be able to do what we need it to.
As for _Sustainable energy without the hot air_, that is probably a bit (or maybe a lot) optimistic for renewables although it covers the UK which has a relatively high population density, other countries might be able to get all their energy from renewables assuming that enough decent energy storage systems could be built (we don’t really have that though, pumped hydro is the best we’ve got but we don’t have enough suitable sites for it).
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
Your Questions About Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air
Daniel asks…
how are the rising number of aircrafts contributing to the global warming?
admin answers:
There are three gases emitted by aircraft which contribute to global warming: H2O, CO2 and NOx The most obvious is the water vapour (created by burning jet fuels -see below) which forms condensation trails -clouds of frozen ice crystals. Since the air in the upper troposphere (the level at which most commerical planes fly) is naturally very dry, water vapour emitted by aircraft can make a big difference. Sometimes the contrails cover the whole sky as shown by this satellite photo taken over Germany, and the average coverage in this region is about 6%. Have you ever wondered, why the sky is so much clearer in remoter locations?
Although these contrails reflect a little sunlight away from earth, they reflect back to earth much more invisible infra-red (heat) radiation which would otherwise escape to space -and therefore they have an overall warming effect. This is hard to measure accurately, because the contrails eventually spread out and become indistinguishable from natural cirrus clouds.
Not all of the water vapour forms contrails, but water is itself a “greenhouse gas” which also traps this outgoing infra-red radiation. Each water molecule traps much more heat and also survives much longer at this height than it would do at sea-level.
Jet-fuel – kerosene – is a mixture of substances produced by distilling crude oil, which can be represented by C13H28 (this is assumed in the “how much” calculations”). The chemical equation for burning it is as follows:
2C13H28 + 40O2 =>26CO2 + 28H2O
So you can see, that for every 14 water molecules produced, the aircraft must also emit 13 of CO2. This is also a greenhouse gas and will stay in the atmosphere warming the earth for an average of 100 years, some of it for 1000s of years. There’s no way that you can get the energy from such fossil fuel without producing that much CO2. It’s not a by-product that can be “scrubbed” from the exhaust.
A Boeing-747 can burn over 200 tons of fuel in one flight. If you have already clicked your travel route on the world map, the “how much is this” section will calculate the volume of CO2 that will be emitted per passenger. The “global context” section compares this amount to the sustainable average level of emissions per person per year.
A simple “rule of thumb” to remember, is that a plane uses about as much fuel, and therefore produces about as much CO2, as would every passenger driving one car the same distance. So next time you’re thinking of flying thousands of miles, think how much petrol you would need to put in a car to go so far. Since take-off uses a disproportionate amount of fuel, short-haul flights emit a bit more per passenger-kilometer, and long-haul flights a bit less.
Note: the car comparison is for typical european cars, not for the less efficient american gas-guzzlers. Trains produce, on the other hand, about 1/3rd as much CO2 per passenger-kilometer (for more details on this see the “ecobalance of the Climate Train” and the bar-chart below), and could potentially be run from renewable sources of electricity.
So if they use so much fuel, why are flights so cheap now? One reason is that not a penny of tax is paid on aircraft fuel.
But fuel use is not the end of the story. Aircraft also emit NOx gases, a product of combustion of atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen in the very hot jet engines. NOx is not in itself a greenhouse gas but it catalyses the production of ozone (O3), which is a powerful greenhouse gas. Nearer the ground, ozone also leads to the formation of photochemical smog which is harmful to human health.
In the stratosphere, on the other hand, ozone is valuable as it blocks harmful ultra-violet radiation. Unfortunately NOx emissions from aircraft which venture into the stratosphere (such as concorde) catalyse the destruction of ozone there. Confused? -Yes, ozone chemistry is complicated, but in a nutshell, NOx emissions are bad news -producing ozone where we don’t want it, and destroying it where we do..
To make matters even more complicated, NOx emissions also catalyse the destruction of methane (CH4), another greenhouse gas, although this cooling effect is much smaller than the ozone warming effect (see IPCC graphic below). Aircraft emissions of sulphate aerosols also have a slight cooling effect, but also contribute to acid rain.
It’s not easy to quantify the exact greenhouse warming due to water vapour and NOx emissions from aircraft, but a scientific consensus is now emerging, that the total warming effect of all emissions (CO2, H2O and NOx) put together, is in the range 2-5 times greater than that of CO2 alone. This range was confirmed by analysis in the “Special Report on Aviation” published by the “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” (IPCC) in April 1999.
George asks…
what are eco-friendly buildings?is there any impact odo earthequake on such buildings?
admin answers:
ECO -FRIENDLY BUILDINGS ARE LIKE GREEN HOUSES,WHICH ARE HUMAN SAVY.
As the summer heat begins to rise, going eco-friendly at the workplace could mean huge savings, better health and performance, besides cutting down on greenhouse gas emissionsSo is anyone asking for a return to the dark ages? Not at all! Much can be done without sacrificing personal comfort. In fact, the gains are not only in terms of energy savings but also in terms of overall health and employee performance. According to The Energy and Research Institute (Teri), which has been working for 30 odd years in the field of energy sustainable building technologies, using energy efficient measures, emissions can be reduced by 40 percent. In their experiment with CII-Godrej Green Business Council, Ahmedabad, they were able to effect 35 percent savings in energy. Buildings use over 30 per cent of global energy today. By 2050 they are projected to go beyond 38 per cent, emitting 3,800 mega tonnes of carbon, according to an Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change study.
The break-up in electricity consumption: 40-50 per cent comes from HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioners) 20 per cent comes from lighting and the rest is accounted for by pumps, etc.
The AC works on a mechanism using chemicals that can change from gas to liquid and back easily, and absorbs and gives away heat in the process. The heat is absorbed from the hot air inside and released to the outside.
The impact of earthquakes is much less on eco-friendly buildings.
Indian capabilities in construction are well known from ancient times. The Taj Mahal, Meenakshi Amman temple at Madurai, Moti Masjid in Delhi, Churches in Goa, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Jaipur Palace, the Victoria Memorial Building in Kolkata, the Central Station in Chennai, the Vidhan Saudha in Bangalore are some of the typical standing monuments of architectural beauty and construction. Indian construction expertise is multifaceted today in residential buildings, modern offices, cultural havens, high speed motorways, railways, shipyards and hill construction. Expertise has also been developed in the country in special constructions like space launch complexes, nuclear installations, missile range complexes and ultra-clean rooms. While, engineering developments have taken place in disciplines like civil, electrical, mechanical and allied areas over the years, the construction industry can benefit substantially through the application of Information Technology (IT). The application of IT in construction can pervade the entire life cycle and could percolate in diverse fields such as town planning, architecture, design, project management, costing and marketing. The building and infrastructural constructions have to take into account the natural factors(WHICH ARE MEANT FOR ECO -FRIENDLY BUILDINGS) such as EARTHQUAKES, cyclones, heavy downpours, floods and tsunamis with due analysis, research and experimental verification.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
Your Questions About Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air
Ruth asks…
How to protect the environment?
what are some examples of sustainable practices and stewardship that can protect the environment?
admin answers:
In Your Home – Conserve Energy
Clean or replace air filters on your air conditioning unit at least once a month.
If you have central air conditioning, do not close vents in unused rooms.
Lower the thermostat on your water heater to 120.
Wrap your water heater in an insulated blanket.
Turn down or shut off your water heater when you will be away for extended periods.
Turn off unneeded lights even when leaving a room for a short time.
Set your refrigerator temperature at 36 to 38 and your freezer at 0 to 5 .
When using an oven, minimize door opening while it is in use; it reduces oven temperature by 25 to 30 every time you open the door.
Clean the lint filter in your dryer after every load so that it uses less energy.
Unplug seldom used appliances.
Use a microwave when- ever you can instead of a conventional oven or stove.
Wash clothes with warm or cold water instead of hot.
Reverse your indoor ceiling fans for summer and winter operations as recommended.
Turn off lights, computers and other appliances when not in use.
Purchase appliances and office equipment with the Energy Star Label; old refrigerators, for example, use up to 50 more electricity than newer models.
Only use electric appliances when you need them.
Use compact fluorescent light bulbs to save money and energy.
Keep your thermostat at 68 in winter and 78 in summer.
Keep your thermostat higher in summer and lower in winter when you are away
Insulate your home as best as you can.
Install weather stripping around all doors and windows.
Shut off electrical equipment in the evening when you leave work.
Plant trees to shade your home.
Shade outside air conditioning units by trees or other means.
Replace old windows with energy efficient ones.
Use cold water instead of warm or hot water when possible.
Connect your outdoor lights to a timer.
Buy green electricity – electricity produced by low – or even zero-pollution facilities (NC Green power for North Carolina – www.ncgreenpower.org). In your home-reduce toxicity.
In Your Home – Reduce Toxicity
Eliminate mercury from your home by purchasing items without mercury, and dispose of items containing mercury at an appropriate drop-off facility when necessary (e.g. Old thermometers).
Learn about alternatives to household cleaning items that do not use hazardous chemicals.
Buy the right amount of paint for the job.
Review labels of household cleaners you use. Consider alternatives like baking soda, scouring pads, water or a little more elbow grease.
When no good alternatives exist to a toxic item, find the least amount required for an effective, sanitary result.
If you have an older home, have paint in your home tested for lead. If you have lead-based paint, cover it with wall paper or other material instead of sanding it or burning it off.
Use traps instead of rat and mouse poisons and insect killers.
Have your home tested for radon.
Use cedar chips or aromatic herbs instead of mothballs.
Ways To Protect Our Air
Ask your employer to consider flexible work schedules or telecommuting.
Recycle printer cartridges.
Shut off electrical equipment in the evening when you leave work.
Report smoking vehicles to your local air agency.
Don’t use your wood stove or fireplace when air quality is poor.
Avoid slow-burning, smoldering fires. They produce the largest amount of pollution.
Burn seasoned wood – it burns cleaner than green wood.
Use solar power for home and water heating.
Use loco or water-based paints, stains, finishes and paint strippers.
Purchase radial tires and keep them properly inflated for your vehicle.
Paint with brushes or rollers instead of using spray paints to minimize harmful emissions.
Ignite charcoal barbecues with an electric probe or other alternative to lighter fluid.
If you use a wood stove, use one sold after 1990. They are required to meet federal emissions standards and are more efficient and cleaner burning.
Walk or ride your bike instead of driving, whenever possible.
Join a carpool or van pool to get to work.
Ways to Protect Our Water
Re vegetate or mulch disturbed soil as soon as possible.
Never dump anything down a storm drain.
Have your septic tank pumped and system inspected regularly.
Check your car for oil or other leaks, and recycle motor oil.
Take your car to a car wash instead of washing it in the driveway.
Learn about your watershed.
Maria asks…
what can i do for the environment?
I want to be greener,i need to know more things i can do. here is what i already do:
I do not leave the tap running when using my toothebrush
I use a toilet that has a smaller flush and a larger flush
I do not shower as often as my other family members
I dont know what else to do, i am only 15 so i cannot reduce a vehicles co2 or anything like that. Please suggest some things for me to try.
Thanks for your help.
admin answers:
Whatever you do but people will pollute it, so try to stop it.
Try these
1. Replace standard incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs
2. Choose energy efficient appliances – I’m documenting the power consumption of my computers
3. Wash clothes in cold(er) water – Colder than what? I suspect this is based on American machines that are controlled by mixer valves rather than using a thermostat.
4. Turn the thermostat of your hot water tank down to 50°C (125°F) – this is a good safety measure anyway
5. Install a programmable thermostat (or turn the heat down over night and when you’re out of the house)
6. Register with the [Canadian Marketing Association’s] Do Not Contact Service to reduce the amount of junk mail delivered to your house. – Substitute MPS.
7. Eat less meat (particularly feedlot beef) – For practical purposes I’m vegetarian, with occasional exceptions.
8. Walk, bike, carpool or take public transit as often as possible – I’m writing this on the tram
9. Make sure you know what can be recycled in your area, and try to recycle as much household waste as possible
10. Compost using an outdoor compost bin or an indoor vermicomposter
11. Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
12. Buy local, organic or fair trade food where possible
13. Reduce air travel – pity that long-distance trains suck in Australia
14. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket
15. Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible – don’t own a clothes dryer, hanging up clothes inside near a heater works on cold days
16. Plant a tree – pity my trees are dying because of the drought / climate change
17. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen
18. Keep your car tuned up and your tires inflated to their optimal pressure – also minimise driving. I drive about 5000Km per year.
19. Use biodegradable dishwashing liquid, laundry soap powder, etc.
20. Drink tap water (filtered if necessary) rather than buying bottled water – remember the Benzene incident…
21. Turn the tap off while brushing your teeth
22. Unplug seldom-used appliances and chargers for phones, cameras, etc., when you’re not using them – the power use is small so I only do this for rarely used chargers.
23. Plug air leeks and drafts around doors and windows with weatherstripping
24. Switch from disposable to reusable products: food and beverage containers, cups, plates, writing pens, razors, diapers, towels, shopping bags, etc – I’ve done this for most things, could improve though.
25. Consider garage sales, Freecycle, eBay, or borrowing from friends/family before buying a new tool or appliance – second-hand and refurbished computers are so powerful and so cheap that you don’t need to care about the environment to do this.
26. Reuse bathwater, maybe to flush the loo, water the garden, etc.
27. Make sure your roof is well-insulated. – I think it is, but as tenants it’s not really our choice.
28. Always wear a jumper/sweater and socks indoors unless it’s warm enough outdoors to go without both.
29. Run your vehicle on biofuel/sustainable fuels
Set up a grey water barrel to use when clean water isn’t necessary – grey water should never be stored. It contains chemicals that are used as food for bacteria.
30. Put grey water on your garden immediately without storing it.
31. Install tanks to collect rain-water from your roof for watering the garden, washing your car, etc.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
Your Questions About Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air
Chris asks…
Are there ways to save energy without unplugging appliances?
admin answers:
I have a HUUUUGE list available at www agua-luna com it’s like 33 pages long and would just spam this whole answer. But here’s a few cut from the list below. If you’d like the entire list feel free to visit www agua-luna com or email me through the site directly and I’ll send you a copy.
Also Agua-Luna com now offers Carbon Offsetting Credits, since our Team of Volunteers is already accomplishing several carbon eliminating projects, we’re now converting the carbon offsets to you. Visit www agua-luna com for a FREE carbon calculator to calculate your carbon footprint for free and more info on carbon credits.
You could also Volunteer with us, planting a tree or working on a Sustainable Renewable Energy Building Project in Mexico with us. Again see www agua-luna com for more info.
I also do some free consulting, there’s more info on the site about that too. Here’s some more ways to help the environment…
Recycle paper, cardboard, newsprint and magazines.
Recycle aluminum cans.
Recycle all batteries.
Recycle and reuse. Roughly 50% of the average person’s trash can be recycled. Don’t forget that hazardous waste like batteries, your printer’s ink cartridges, and cell phones can be recycled too! Find out how and where to recycle in your area. Always buy recycled paper. Just 1 ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees.
Just because your community doesn’t pick up all recyclables on the curb, it doesn’t mean there are not viable alternatives nearby. Check with dry cleaners, supermarkets, manufacturers, your local public works department and civic organizations to find out where recycled goods can be dropped off, at a location near you.
Did you know that just in 1995 alone, recycled toner cartridges kept over 21,000 tons of trash out of landfills? Believe it or not, now you can recycle your printer’s toner cartridges! Every year, Americans throw out enough printer cartridges to stretch from Los Angeles to New York City and back again. Toner cartridges can be recycled, having just as good a performance as an unrecycled cartridge. To recycle your toner cartridges, find a local business that does printer cartridge recycling, or contact the manufacturer of your current toner cartridge and ask about a cartridge recycling program.
Not only should you recycle, but buy products that are recycled. By purchasing these products, you are helping to conserve natural resources, and to protect the environment.
Wash clothes in cold water.
Hot water is unnecessary for most clothes. When needed, use warm water.
Fill your toilet tank.
Put a plastic bottle or two, filled with water and rocks, in your tank to reduce the amount of water used in each flush.
Clean your filters.
Clean the filters of your air-conditioners once a month to improve energy efficiency. While you’re at it, change your car’s filters as recommended in your manual.
Get a low-flow shower head.
Stop at the hardware store on your way home, and get a low-flow shower head. Takes a few minutes to install, and it’ll save gallons of water a day.
Lower your thermostats.
If you use heating, get by with less heat and wear warmer clothes. If you use air-conditioning, get by with less cooling and wear cooler clothes.
If it’s a nice sunny day, hanging clothes only takes a few minutes, and you’re using solar power instead of electricity to do the job. It also makes your clothes last longer.
Turn down your water heater.
Most people have their water heater’s thermostat turned up too high, wasting energy. Turn it down to 130 degrees, saving energy but still hot enough to kill bacteria.
Use CFC light bulbs.
If your light bulb burns out, replace it with a Compact Flourescent bulb (those spiral-looking ones). They’re more expensive, but if you just replace them one at a time, it doesn’t cost much, and the energy savings is great. And as they last longer, over the long run, you’ll save money.
Wash and dry only full loads of laundry and dishes.
Follow your community’s water use restrictions or guidelines.
Install a low-flow shower head.
If you are not looking to change your car just yet there are a number of ways you can be more environmentally friendly and help you save money by conserving fuel.
Lighten your car to reduce weight by not carrying unnecessary items.
Cut your speed and stick to the speed limits
Drive smoothly avoiding heavy accelerating and braking.
When stationary for a long time, switch off the engine.
Closing windows will make the car more efficient by being more aerodynamic. Remove roof bars when not is use also helps.
Make sure your tyres are properly inflated as under inflated tyres cause more resistance.
Where possible, walk, cycle or even use public transport.
If possible lift share to reduce the number of cars on the road.
Try mass transit.
Millions of people use it, and it saves tons of fuel. If you don’t already, give it a try.
Unload your car.
Remove excess weight from your car (such as stuff that might be in the trunk) to reduce the amount of fuel you use.
Walk instead of drive.
You don’t have to do this all the time, but walking the short trip to a store, or to lunch from work, or some other short trip like that, can reduce the amount of fuel you use over the long term, and you shed some fat at the same time. Or at least burn off that morning donut.
Buy a smaller car.
You won’t be able to do this today, probably, but the next time you’re in the market for an automobile, get a smaller and energy-efficient car rather than a big, lumbering one. It’s one of the best things you can do to reduce your fuel consumption.
Inflate your tires.
Many people don’t realize that their tires are under-inflated. Check the recommended pressure for your tires, and fill them up to that pressure. It only takes a few minutes, but it will save you on fuel consumption (a little) and more importantly, make your tires last longer and reduce the rubber that’s worn off your tires.
Get creative with gift-giving. The gift of time, services, or environmentally positive gifts may be more appreciated than disposable goods that are not to the taste or needs of the recipient.
Look into those lifestyle changes you’ve been putting off
Work from home more. Many organisations, when prodded a little, will accept flexible work arrangements where there is no impact to the work that needs to get done.
Use your oven less.
The oven not only uses a lot of energy, it heats up your kitchen, requiring more cooling. Instead, use toaster ovens, crockpots, microwaves, and electric grills when you can. And when you do use your oven, open it less – you lose 25% of the heat every time you open the oven door.
Mend your stuff.
Try not to throw stuff away and buy new stuff if the old stuff can be fixed. Torn clothing? Takes a few minutes to sew up.
Install a water filter.
If you buy a lot of bottled water, use your tap instead. Some places need a filter to make tap water taste drinkable, but they don’t cost much and they can save money, water, and plastic bottles over time.
Unplug appliances.
If you don’t use an appliance several times a day, it’s better to unplug it, as they often use energy even when turned off
Use rechargeable batteries.
Instead of throwing your batteries away all the time, reuse rechargeable batteries. Costs a little more, but cheaper in the long run.
When you’re looking to buy appliances, be sure to research the most energy-efficient ones. They may cost a little more, but they’ll more than make up for that in the long run with lower energy bills.
Buy a smaller home.
The next time you’re home-shopping, instead of buying the McMansion, look for a smaller home that’s big enough to meet your needs comfortably. Reducing the amount of stuff you own is a good way to need less house. It’s cheaper, and requires less energy to heat and cool. And easier to clean at the same time.
Look for energy efficiency.
Use acryllic paint.
Compost.
It’s not hard to set one up (look it up online), and you can save a lot of waste from the landfill and help your garden at the same time
Water grass early in the morning.
Reduces the amount of water you need to keep your grass looking fabulous.
Plant shade trees near your house.
It’ll take awhile before they can make a difference, but shade trees greatly reduce the need to cool a home.
Coat your roof.
This’ll take up an afternoon, but you only have to do it once every few years. And it’ll save you a lot of money and energy in heating and cooling over the long-term, more than making up for the cost of paint.
Avoid fast food.
Instead, eat at home or at a sit-down restaurant. Fast food restaurants are one of the worst polluters of the environment, both in the massive amounts of beef they must raise, in the wasted packaging, and in the energy they use in so many ways. And they’re tremendously unhealthy.
Buy a manual reel mower or electric mower.
If you’re looking for a new lawn mower, and you have a small yard, consider getting a manual one. They’re much advanced from the reel mowers of our grandparents’ generation, much quieter, cheaper, and they save on fuel and pollution. Electric mowers are also quieter and use much less energy.
Clean up.
Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.
Dan Martin
Alterative Energy / Sustainable Consultant, Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World… In
Lisa asks…
What can we do to avoid further negative impact of global warming?
admin answers:
One important thing we can do is get more people to realize that global warming and climate change is real. It is hard to believe that there are some that can’t see what global warming is doing to the planet and that we can just go on without doing anything to reduce and eliminate it, but there are: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjtSjGqmYUtFD73QACdiNsXsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20100522093338AAjOu9z&show=7#profile-info-WcvGeYaoaa
Part of my answer to the problem can be found in my answers to other questions:
Yes, it is real…
I honestly believe “global warming”, now referred to as climate change, is real. From where you and I live, we can see it in longer growing seasons, snow that melts a lot faster, more rain and ice than snow, etc… We can also see local warming trends, called urban “heat islands”. The next time you go shopping, realize that the parking lot that you stand on, on a hot summer day, is a lot hotter than the forest that used to be there before the land was developed by the stores you shop at… Your car is only one of millions and millions of vehicles, cars, planes, etc… That send emissions into the atmosphere that cause more and more heat to be trapped near the earth’s surface – enough for most people to realize that global warming and climate change are indeed real.
With all this said, scientists and many others know that the earth has been on a warming trend naturally for thousands of years, since the last ice age, and scientists also know that the billions of people on earth and our industrial and commercial activities are adding to and perhaps even accelerating this warming.
So, with all this knowledge, we can at least try and reverse this trend before things go out of control on the only planet we have to live on. One thing that has been done already is the phasing out of CFCs in air conditioners and other gadgets so that we do not destroy the ozone layer, the thin layer of gas in the atmosphere that prevents ultraviolet rays from reaching the planet’s surface. Now, we are in the process of finding ways to run our economies without the use of fossil fuels and using alternative energy, so that we do not destroy this world that we have taken so long to build…
No, “global warming” isn’t a government trick. Governments have a vested interest in continuing on as they have by growing their economies and if they can, finding a way to reduce global warming without reducing economic growth…
And
Read about:
1) Going off the “grid”. There is a movement called sustainable living, where you can make an attempt to live on power that you create (hydro-electric – dam generated power, geothermal, solar, wind, etc…) so that you are not dependent on fossil fuels.
2) Driving a Hybrid vehicle. Although it isn’t the final solution, it is a step in the right direction. People I know that drive Priuses and other hybrids just love the fact the their car is helping to reduce pollution, and, they can’t remember that last time they had to fill up their gas tank !
3) Building an Eco friendly “greenhouse” to live in… There are new ways of building houses that make clever use of recycled materials and allow for much larger energy savings…
4) Read up on the subject at the following websites to find out about more or about anything that you can do :
Stop global warming: http://www.care2.com/causes/global-warmi…
Yahoo!’s green page: http://green.yahoo.com/
Yahoo’s green directories: http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture…
http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture…
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/green-1…
http://www.care2.com/channels/ecoinfo/gl…
http://www.treehugger.com/
http://www.futurefriendly.com/Home.aspx
http://everygreenthing.net/
and,
those are just a few of my thoughts on the subject, you’re more than welcome to read my other answers that I’ve posted to this topic…
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
Your Questions About Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air
Mary asks…
What are some of the things you do to lead a more sustainable lifestyle?
Many years ago, Kate and I developed a Stewardship Model for Tom’s of Maine in order to codify all of the natural, sustainable practices we were already following—such as only using natural ingredients and never testing on animals. The Stewardship Model sets out very specific standards for natural, sustainable, and responsible practices, and guides all of us every day in our decision making.
Kate and I also feel that a commitment to sustainability should be incorporated into all areas of the company—not just the product formulations. Let me share just two examples: our packaging designer, Jack, purchases only post-consumer-waste recycled and recyclable materials and soy-based inks; and my Director of Product Supply, Mark, had some great ideas about using renewable energy sources, so in 2006, we began purchasing wind energy credits to offset 100% of our factory’s electricity needs.
admin answers:
I recycle, grow many of my own vegetables (without pesticides and herbicides), maintain my home so that it is as energy efficient as possible, purchased a new high efficiency washer and dryer pair (uses less gas to dry because washer spins clothes better), keep my tires on my car properly inflated (increases gas mileage), flush my hot water heater regularly (improves efficiency and increases lifespan of heater), use a thermos instead of bottled water (wastes the plastic), buy recycled materials when possible, reuse bags from grocery store, buy soy ink printed materials whenever possible, buy soy ink checks, buy recycled checks, cook from scratch often (less packaging), get regular oil changes/air filter changes (improves mileage), pickup after my dog, don’t smoke tobacco, installed new energy saving windows in our home, and last, but not least…
I write my State Legislators, Member of Congress, Senators, Mayor, Governor, and even the President to ask that they support legislation that will encourage the expansion of alternative energy sources like solar, wind, and geothermal. I also advocate for the use of gray-water systems and other “green” alternatives. Check out these websites:http://www.1000fom.org/
http://www.mngreenremodeling.com/
Donald asks…
What kind of fuel alternative do you think would be best? Electric, hydrogen, ethanol, other?
There a few different options yet it seems that the switch is very slow. What do you think would be the best alternative and do you think it would be a possibility to offer them all to the public at once.
Thank you for the great answers so far everyone. Breath of Wind I agree with most of what you said. We might need to look into different energies for different situations.
admin answers:
Hydrogen takes too much energy to create, there isn’t enough spare land for biomass – electricity is probably the solution since it can be generated from many different sources which can become greener as technology advances. ‘Sustainable Energy without the hot air’ is a good read if UK centered
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
