1. Look at heating and electricity.  By simply turning off lights and electronic devices that you aren’t using, you could knock off at least 25% of your next energy bill.  When it comes to heat, turn your heat either down or off while nobody is at home.
2. Buy bulk brands.  Because of their size, less packaging is used for the amount of food you are actually purchasing.
3. Check into your local stores and see if they do free refills. Some stores will actually refill bottles of soap, shampoo or any product that is bottled if you bring in your empty bottles.

These are simple, easy ways to save some money during these tough economic times, but also becoming a little more environmentally-conscious. Give it a try!

Green Living

• Smaller Businesses Going Green
• Easy Tips to Save Some Green While Going Green
• What exactly does it mean to be a “Green Company”? And should I care?
• Green Gift Giving – The new way to shop!
• The 5 Biggest Disadvantages of wind power vs solar power

1. Check appliances.  If you don’t have satisfactory appliances, you may want to consider replacing older appliances such as computers for more energy-efficient ones.
2. Weatherize doors and windows.  This effort will help prevent air from either seeping in or escaping a room, lowering your energy costs.  Your next energy bill will be greatly reduced simply by sealing off doors and windows as well as replacing old windows for double-paned windows.
3. Energy audits.  Some utility companies actually offer free energy audits.  By having an energy audit, you will be able to find out where exactly your energy is being used and/or wasted.  These audits will help you reduce the cost of energy in your building as well as give you alternative options on how to revert to low-energy usage.
4. Landscaping.  By planting trees and other plants, CO2 emissions are absorbed while oxygen is re-introduced into the environment.  Shrubs and other plants also act as natural shades and sound barriers.
5. Recycle.  Incorporate recycling into classes and teach children how to become more environmentally aware.
6. Green School Initiative.   By getting kids and adults involved together in setting goals to help the school go green will have a huge impact. Students will become empowered to help implement a plan on any environmental issue you choose to focus on.
7. Reach out.  Going green can give you the opportunity to work together with other schools and institutions.  Set an example in your community. Your school could be a focal point for recycling, composting, gardening or even donating clothes, toys, electronic devices etc. instead of throwing them all in landfills.

These are just a few ideas that will greatly impact the children of today to be leaders of tomorrow.

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• DIY Solar Panels – The inexpensive way to using solar power

Let’s take a look.

Solar power actually started out from NASA in the 1950s.  Scientists were looking for a way to gather energy from the sun to power space crafts.  Low and behold, solar panels have been brought from rocket ships to our rooftops here on planet earth.

Solar energy is not expensive.  There are advantages that come along with these panels.  For instance, if you harness more energy than you need, you can sell that energy back to the energy company or qualify for tax credits!

Some systems that are also available consist of heating water to generate energy. This is also associated with solar energy as you can install solar panels to help heat the water.  These panels are installed on the rooftop and can be installed no matter what kind of neighborhood you live in.

These solar panels obviously work in sunnier climates.  If you don’t live in a sunny area but instead live in a cloudy, windy area, you may want to look at wind generators. You need a sufficient amount of wind to create energy, so make sure you aren’t just getting the occasional gust of wind. If you are considering wind generators, make sure you have enough space!

Regardless of what option you go with, solar power energy and wind generators will help you save a little extra cash and will pay themselves off rather quickly.  It’s a win-win situation for not only you and your family, but for the environment as well.

Other green posts you might be interested in:

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Going green isn’t a huge sacrifice.  People have their qualms about it, but in all honesty, it’s not as bad as you may think.  Going green will actually be one of the smartest things you could do for your company and you will be saving costs throughout the business.  Your business will be cutting edge.

Think of going green as an investment.  Your business will continuously reap the benefits of going green as well as reducing the negative impact on the environment.

Here are 5 easy tricks to help cut costs while reducing your company’s carbon footprint:

1. Encourage using less paper.  Try keeping in touch with your staff and customers via email.  It will dramatically cut down the amount of waste paper and energy that is associated with paper mail.
2. Traveling.  Consider allowing your employees to work from home once in a while.  Encourage carpooling.  These ideas will cut the amount of emissions from traveling every day.
3. Device management.  Put computers on reduced energy settings.  Energy Star devices are ideal in businesses as their products are more energy efficient than others. Look for the Energy Star logo. Laptops are more idea than desktops.  Laptops can run on their own batter power as desktops cannot.  Also, turn off any devices that are not being used.  No reason to keep them running if nobody is using them.
4. Use Internet fax services.  Documents sent electronically can not only be easily forwarded to other parties, but will reduce the amount of paper wasted.  Experts say that 73.5 million trees could be preserved every year if 1% of paper faxes were delivered electronically.   Imagine how many trees could be saved if this number increased!
5. Recycle.  Computers, paper, electronic devices can all be recycled.  Landfills will not be overloaded with these products and harmful toxins in electronics will not seep into our water.  Also, try buying biodegradable office supplies.

Green Living

• Fight The Recession By Going Green
• Easy Tips to Save Some Green While Going Green
• What exactly does it mean to be a “Green Company”? And should I care?
• Green Gift Giving – The new way to shop!
• The 5 Biggest Disadvantages of wind power vs solar power

Solar panels for a small business could run anywhere between $20,000 to $35,000.  That’s enough to steer any small business owner into another direction.  Yes, these panels do eventually pay themselves off, but not quick enough for a small business.

How can small businesses and homeowners benefit from solar energy without breaking their bank accounts?

A solar leasing system works on a finance strategy called Power Purchasing Agreement (PPA).  A solar company will buy the panels and install them for the business or homeowner.  This leaves the solar panel recipient responsible for a fraction of the actual cost.  This cost is about 10% of the cost of solar installation.  Another added benefit of having a third party in your solar energy efforts is that any upkeep is their responsibility, not yours!

After you have your solar panels installed and ready to go, the installer will sell the electricity to you at a fixed cost that will stay constant over a certain number of years.  So if energy prices start to rise over time, you won’t have to worry about your bill rising as well.  Your bill will stay fixed, allowing you to save more money in the long run.

Solar City, a company that participates in the solar panel leasing option claims that over a 30 year period, you could expect to save around $124, 000 on energy costs. You will also be doing one great deal of preservation when it comes to the earth.

When you think about it, it’s a win-win situation.  You will be saving more money while also reducing your carbon footprint.

Other green posts you might be interested in:

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Most people aren’t exactly sure what this means.  What do SRI’s entail?  What are SRI’s? Basically, an SRI opportunity is an investment strategy that means to make a better world while giving you a good return.

Here’s how this works.

SRI analysts search for businesses and companies that you can talk to who actively practice responsible corporate behaviors.  The analysts base their decisions on areas focusing on environmental issues, community relations, human rights and the rights of indigenous people.  They also focus on product safety.

You, as the investor, hold stocks in high-standing companies.  This means that the company scores high in social, ethical as well as environment friendly standards.

SRI mutual funds perform just as well as regular mutual funds.  SRI mutual funds will gain returns.  The fees may be a little bit higher than you’re used to, but in the long run, it’s a small price to pay. The future of your world has extreme value by itself as well as your own personal financial future.

By beginning your research in SRI mutual funds, you can find investment opportunities that correlate to your own personal beliefs.  You simply rank the causes you would support and continue your research along with SRI management analysts to find the right investment fund for you.

You can also follow diverse SRI funds.  Diversify your related areas, just don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  If one area of interest suffers, you will always have another back up with another interest.  Do your research and look at each fund that you are interested in without having to sacrifice your own beliefs. Try to diversify rather than finding all mutual funds for the same principle.

Always consider SRI funds for investment potential and your own beliefs.  The environment has so many opportunities for growth and development.  You can absolutely support several causes or just focus on one.  It’s possible to preserve our earth while making a little bit of profit simultaneously.

Other green posts you might be interested in:

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Today, more and more people can be seen carrying a water bottle.  Water bottles have gone far beyond the generic store-bought water.  Fashionable bottles have been made, perhaps to help the health-conscious society become more prone to drink water. Admit it, you feel sort of guilty when you see other people grabbing a water bottle and taking a huge gulp.  You think to yourself that you should be drinking more water, right?

Studies show that during a blind test, subjects were given a sample of tap water as well as a sample of bottled water.  During the study, the subjects were asked to point out which one was tap and which one was bottled. 50% of the time, the subjects could not tell the difference.

The issue is not that we need to drink more water, it’s the kind of water we use that is the main concern here.  More people are drinking bottled water, rather than tap water.  Ultimately, this is creating a problem with the amount of plastic we are consuming.

Plastic bottles are consuming more fossil fuel resources that we have been trying to preserve.  Petroleum, which is a product of crude oil, is one of the major components in water bottles. The components of plastic bottles create a very durable plastic that does not break down easily.  It takes longer for a plastic bottle to break down, causing byproducts to build up in the environment.

Landfills are becoming clouted with garbage.  Because this plastic takes time to break down, the amount of garbage is forcing landfills to reach maximum capacity very quickly.

It is estimated that 22 billion plastic bottles are consumed annually.  Only about 10% of this estimate actually is recycled.  The rest ends up in our landfills. Scary to think about, right?

Each plastic bottle has a carbon footprint. Each bottle uses materials that are processed, transported and ultimately disposed of and is equal to a 25% bottle of oil.

What can we do to fix this problem?

1. Make a conscious effort to recycle more often.  It takes less energy to use recycled materials than it does to make more product.
2. Reduce the amount of water you buy.  Instead, try using a water filter at home. Filters do an excellent job of extracting dirt and other germs out of your tap water.

Green Living

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Energy auditors can measure how much energy your home emits and where exactly the leaks are.  To make your home more energy efficient and ultimately save you some money, the weak spots in your house need to be pointed out and evaluated.

Auditors, in essence, are there to help you realize where you are spending the majority of your money, energy wise.  They can give you helpful insight on how to reduce your energy usage and how to reduce your energy bills.  They will look at your bills from the past year as well as looking at where your home is losing energy because of leaks.

With their high-tech equipment, they can pinpoint exactly where the leak is and evaluate how bad it actually is. They can identify not only where energy is seeping out, but where air is coming in the house through cracks and crevices that you might not be able to see.  They will even go check your appliances to see overall how energy effective they are.

After they are completed with their assessment, your energy auditor will give you options on how to improve your energy usage and give you alternatives that could drastically reduce the usage. They will give you options on insulation and any other home improvements that could be made to also aid in this project.

You can find an auditor by you by calling your energy company.  They will send an auditor to your home and you are well on your way to reducing that bill and conserving more energy in your home.

Green Living

• Protect Your Future – 5 Ways to Reduce Energy Usage

Not many people have.  In fact, around 30% of a home’s total energy is lost because of windows.  Also, windows are about 25% responsible for your heating and air conditioning bill.  If there is a leak, your bill will definitely reflect it.

Fortunately, designers have taken a greener, more sustainable route in newer windows, making them twice as energy efficient as before.

When replacing windows, budget is a big factor.  By exchanging old windows for newer, energy efficient windows, you could be looking at a price around $15,000.  Consider a home energy audit before you make the decision to replace all your windows.  You may be able to get away with replacement inserts rather than replacing the whole window.

By energy proofing your windows, here are some benefits that you will notice:

1. Smaller heating and cooling bills
2. Improved health and reduced illness
3. Less carbon emissions
4. Better use of natural light
5. Reduced noise pollution
6. You may be eligible for a 30% tax credit through energy efficient windows.  Double check to make sure that your windows have an Energy Star logo to qualify for this credit.

Other green posts you might be interested in:

• Have you heard of Carbon Trading to help the environment?
• The 5 Biggest Disadvantages of wind power vs solar power
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Electrolux Design Lab Competition

Electrolux held a competition with the brief being to come up with a prediction on how home owners would store their food in the year 2050.  One entry came from a young Russian industrial engineer called Yuriy Dmitriev who came up with a Bio-Polymer Gel fridge.  It sounds wacky, and in truth it probably is, but there is some method to the madness.

Essentially it works by the concept of a future gel fridge that lets home owners store food stuffs inside it – and that’s because there is gel inside the door with small individual pods inside it. This means that you no longer need to use shelves – you just push your food into the gel.

The biopolymer gel will suspend and keep food cool and will save energy because there will be no need for a cooling motor which uses a lot of electricity making it very economical and ec0-friendly.  Standard fridge freezers tend to use around eight per cent of household energy bills so this could let to a reduction of energy use over time.

EcoFridge Competition by Mabe

The second initiative was a competition by the South American company Mabe who asked students to design a fridge that would use less energy than average models.  Design students at Berkeley came up with an idea that centered around a thermal battery being used.  This would mean that it would only charge during night-time hours when typically energy charges are far less.

Want More Information on Eco-Fridges?

The excellent Refrigerator Reviews 4 U website has more news on eco-fridges and new developments coming onto the refrigeration market.  Keep an eye on their articles section which is constantly updated with news on the future of fridges and how manufacturers are looking for ways in which to save energy and reduce the average household carbon foot print.

Green Living

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