Word Snapper Articles

Solar Energy

By Jimmy Sturo

The world’s efforts to veer away from the high environmental costs of power sources such as fossil fuels has led to aggressive developments in the field of solar energy. Now there are many ways of harnessing energy from the light of the sun, and more and more solar power applications are being implemented.

Solar energy technically refers to energy from the sun. This “energy” is actually electromagnetic radiation, which the sun abundantly sends out to the earth. So bounteous is solar energy that the planet is only able to use a very small fraction of it - about 400 million times less than what the sun gives. Scientists and inventors are now finding new ways to channel all the unused energy for more practical applications.

Solar energy also encompasses “indirect” forms of energy from the sun, like wind, hydropower, and biomass, among others. Solar energy is now being incorporated in industries ranging from architecture to mass energy (power plants).

Many industrial buildings and homes now employ solar designs to substitute for grid electricity and fossil fuels. Architectural features such as insulation and efficient lighting and appliances help reduce the usage of energy in any structure. Even heating and thermal cooling systems are now powered by solar energy, and so are circulation pumps.

A lot of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants are now being built in developed countries and will soon replace existing power sources. Japan, Australia, Germany and the United States are among the countries actively pursuing the shift to solar CSPs.

There’s good news: solar energy is getting cheaper. The average retail cost of a large solar panel is now only $4 per watt (from about $7 just a few years ago). The decline in prices is slow, but is enough to make developers optimistic. Tax and rebate incentives have also been given to the solar energy industry, enabling developers to work more aggressively without worrying about overspending.

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Solar Energy By Choice Corporate Housing

Solar Energy Homes

By Jimmy Sturo

Article selected by Choice Corporate Housing Inc

Only a few years ago, it was very uncommon to find solar energy homes because solar panels were very expensive and had little return on investment. But now that small-scale solar energy applications are available to homeowners, more and more houses are switching to solar energy. Are you interested in doing the same for your home? Read on for some pointers.

Start small. Do not attempt to install major solar panels in your home if you are still unfamiliar with how solar energy works. Practice on smaller things first. Start by buying smaller spotlights for your backyard, for example. For about $60, you can get solar power lights for your yard or other areas around your house.

You can also invest in compact solar panels that can power your home lighting system and provide extended lighting hours. Most starter solar panels have a solar electric module that transforms sunlight to electricity. You can charge them during the daytime so that you can use them for powering your lights at night. Be sure that the panel has the ability to charge even during overcast days, so you can have power at any time of the year. Most solar panels take about five hours to fully charge.

When buying small solar panels for your home, choose ones that are lightweight and durable. Avoid models that contain breakable elements such as crystal or glass. Also, be sure that the panels work by simple “plug-and-play.” It should ideally have a central power controller that is easy to use, and flexible.

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Green Business Versus Green Buildings

By Michael Richmond

No doubt, everyone now knows that we are dealing with issues larger than pollution and conservation. The popularity of the concept of sustainability has become a common phrase in countless articles though there is still some confusion on the subject. There are health issues related to indoor air quality that are not quite sustainable concerns, but fall into the Green for life arena. The issues of pollution are also well-known and almost pushed aside with ancillary concerns for the rainforest, whale population, polar bear habitat, and receding ice cap. Nonetheless, the need for a Green building has emerged as the hot issue of the business community and various government bodies. This, I fear, is a good idea that have been ramped a little too high.

Building construction or renovation is meritorious and certainly a part of the big answer for environmental issues of our day. It seems that our constant quest for better, brighter, and more powerful products has neglected to ask other questions about health and safety to the living beings that inhabit this world, including the oft-decried human species. Though man has been a problem at times, he has also been the cure for problems that require more than nature alone supplies. More to the topic at hand, do Green buildings faithfully address the environmental issues that we face in the most appropriate way? To answer the question, let’s push the illustration into a hyperbole. Could a non-Green, anti-Green, or agnosti-Green business operate in what would be an Green constructed facility? Sure it could though I am sure that the architects of the Green facility would place restrictions on the leaseholders. Therefore, we have the challenge of behavior versus environment. Could a tenant spread pesticides about after carelessly allowing food to be left out? Could the purchase of equipment after leasing a facility disrupt the better practices of the building owner? Could a company be negligent to the extreme about the use of paper and packaging material? Might this offish company fail to recycle, waste resources, and careless buy from non-Green vendors?

Green practices are the proverbial “other side of the coin” that I am sure are expected to live up to a higher standard. But, therein lies the problem. After all have been done to create a Green building, how much do the tenants really know about the Green practices that should be associated with Green operation? We have seen low-income housing go into areas that was intended to give the people of that community a better life, but without stereotyping anyone, were there families who did not take care of those homes? If the facilities were not cleaned, maintained, and protected from abuse; they would eventually fall into disrepair despite the better intentions of the people who constructed those homes.

I wish to press the point that we are not educating the tenants and associates who will move into the newly-constructed Green buildings. Though well-intended and positively oriented toward environmental issues, the depth of environmental understanding of the average worker in the resident business will negate a sizable portion of the good that should be done. I advocate a Green Management training program for every business, large or small, offered by a certified Green Consultant able to address the myriad of issues contained within the larger scope of environmental concerns. Do workers even know what VOCs are, where they come from, and what they should know about the dozens upon dozens of sources for VOCs? Is HEPA a semi-understood word that is often heard in proximity to vacuum cleaners? What are the numerous ways to reduce water use other than refusing to wash their hands after going to the bathroom? Has the sales force of the company been brought into the “Big Picture” of tools that improve performance and reduce travel? There are so many of these important gem ideas that could and should be shared, but they must come from a far better source than an brochure picked up at the latest seminar.

Green businesses may rent, lease , or own their facilities. The operation or practices of the business can literally work within some otherwise non-Green buildings. If pressed into action with routine improvement, nearly any business can cut energy and water use without noticeable interference with normal operation. Why not require the janitorial service to be Green certified and use only Green cleaning products? Should decisions like buying of furntiure, painting of walls, and replacement of carpet allow for input from a certified Green Consultant even though your building is not LEED certified? Again, the answer is an unqualified, “Yes.”

Building a new or renovating an existing building to a Green certification standard can cost hundreds of thousands of dollar above the costs of a typical building program. There is no effort to criticize that level of commitment to the cause. What I routinely see, however, belies the obvious good intentions of Green buildings, and draws my attention to the day-to-day operation and working practices of businesses who do not think or realize the impact of countless actions taken each day by millions of businesses. There is a desperate and universal need for Green educators, trained as professional and certified Green Consultants, to go to work in every city and burg. Businesses, who previously required sensitivity training among their workers now need to educate their workers on something that hurts us all.

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Capital Remodeling Inc Green Business

Help Save the Environment By Cycling

By ay Brandley

Article posted by Lord Thompson Manor Connecticut

Riding a bicycle is a great way to contribute to the preservation of our eco system and environment here on our great planet earth. Many people are concerned with pollution and many other things that damage and dissolve the ozone and cause the atmosphere to be dirty. If we all contributed with one small thing that we can change in our daily living routines to help with the protection of the earth, perhaps we could, as a collective, make a substantial impact for the better.

One way to go green and contribute to the preservation of our environment is sometimes riding a bicycle instead of starting up the car or motorcycle. Driving and operating vehicles is one thing that many countless people do on a daily basis that harms the environment.

Exhaust from cars damages the ozone in a irreparable manner. What we do to the ozone negatively can not be repaired, which is why it is very important to do all that we can within our means to protect it. In addition to damaging the ozone, pollutants released by vehicles that run on combustion engines affects the health of human beings rather adversely.

Air pollutants damage not just the ozone layer, but also the lungs and respiratory systems of people. It can contribute to causing, or worsen, certain respiratory illnesses and diseases such as asthma, emphysema, COPD, and even pneumonia.

Do not get me wrong because I do believe that driving, in most cases, is a necessity of life in this modern age. However, if we just dedicated one day or one short route to the use of bicycles and cycling as a method of transportation, it can, in a small way, make a big difference to the health of humans and other living beings, and also the health of the our home, the earth.

Not only do we contribute to the well-being of the environment and the respiratory health of people, but also we can greatly increase our overall physical health.

Cycling takes a measure, big or small depending on the length that we travel while cycling, of physical strength and endurance. It also takes a measure of determination and discipline. By trading a vehicle for a bicycle, even if it is just once or twice every so often, we are able to get some exercise. This gives us the opportunity to build stamina, strengthen our muscular structure, get an aerobic workout, and experience the mental clarity you are able to get while enjoying the great bicycle ride.

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