Looking to the future.

Hey, it’s wonderful to see British Airways getting a biodiesel fuel policy plan together in such a large and positive way and helping the environment.

I have heard that this fantastic development comes with benefits of renewable energy by building a ‘Jet Fuel Plant’ in East London which will in fact bring new employment to around 1,200 people.
It is reported that there are 4 new development sites for this project, which is hoped will pass through the planning stages and gain consent very quickly, so that construction work can start early in 2011.

Apparently the construction will be in partnership with the US renewable energy company, the ‘Solena Group’, who’s head office is located in Washington, DC.

Making biodiesel fuel will be from the conversion of millions of tons of waste materials, such as forestry, agricultural and food, which would have otherwise gone to landfill sites. Initially half a million tons a year, which they say will produce about 15 to 16 million gallons of environmentally safe biodiesel jet fuel which is fantastic news for helping the environment and especially for those living and working in and around London.
Just think of the knock on effects as others too, will say, “Why not me too?”

With the horrendous price of fuel constantly going up and up for the foreseeable future, and the huge unsustainable costs of imports doing nothing for our balance of payments etc, as a nation producing Billions of tons of waste annually, we are throwing away a vast fortune.
So why not instead, cut our greenhouse gas emissions and our national debt by our turning waste mountains, which when manipulated is turned into a slurry of carbons and technically managed into a usable form which will produce natural gas, biodiesel and fertilizers; and get on with building these sort of systems right around the country?
Naturally once the system starts producing; it will be able to manufacture its own electricity therefore in and of itself being an environmentally friendly full circle.

So come on UK, let’s put the ‘Great’ back into ‘Great Britain’, get stuck in, and get cracking with more of these schemes for homemade biodiesel fuel, natural gas and fertilizers to regenerate industries and our soils, plus making electricity as ways to save electricity , from our own constantly renewable energy source.

Now all this has to be real cool!
Ooop’s nearly a Merv rant !

What has today’s space shuttle launch, got to do with renewable energy, helping the environment or saving electricity? Well let’s think about it.

Today they have taken up what I think is the last piece of the International Space Station construction, i.e. one very large bay window for the astronauts relaxation lounge! I am really looking forward to hopefully seeing their space photographs in the near future.

Here's that window you ordered!

So that probably means new technology, and sooner or later that generally filters down to us mere mortals here on Earth thereby helping the environment.

With the extreme cold temperature of space it just has to be the most efficient piece of glazing in or out of this world, right! So that must save on power probably in the form of electricity, which must come from some whiz of a power source on their celestial home, giving the benefits of renewable energy.

Then there are the interesting experiments with regards, weightlessness and the problems that may be caused by prolonged weightlessness, such as when colonizing  the moon or sending man to Mars where time management demands meaningful care of all activities.

So just like you and me, they need to exercise to keep flesh and bone in tiptop condition, and hence some of the experiments I believe are to find out how they can meaningfully exercise on a treadmill, which incidentally, was also taken up with them today.

Somehow they will have to tie them on to it to stop them floating away, but it still has to be in such away so as for them to be able to give equal and opposite force on the machine which enables them to move freely, and  at the same time hold down firm enough  for them to be able to ‘feel’ weight’ of their bodies as they pound the treadmill to give the necessary internal biological responses that does such things as keeping the bones and muscles strong, and the necessary responses to their internal mechanisms for rejuvenating the blood cells amongst other things.

It was very heartening to see them all launch safely, and I’m sure we all wish all astronauts bon-voyage, a successful mission, and safe return to mother Earth.

Enjoy your day,

Merv.

We seem so engrossed as we run in place, just to make ends meet, that we are not capable of standing back and looking at the bigger picture anymore. Why are we so grossly inefficient at the way that we run our lives? This must be a consequence of many years of relatively good times, when we didn’t need to worry about the sheer amount of petrol that our cars used, or the fact that we have become completely reliant our cars just to exist these days. A recession was something that we could barely remember or if we were young enough, we read about it in economics books. Perhaps it was time for a wake-up call, but time or not we have certainly received one.

We can see that we can no longer rely on mechanical energy to help us to do absolutely everything. Our energy inefficiency has led to gross amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and damage to our environment and we need to change now. We talk a good story about the benefits of renewable energy, but we are not helping the environment by diverting funds away from the research and development needed to actually make these options work for us.

This, “The Great Recession,” as it has become known, has now shown us how vulnerable we are to a downturn and how we all have little to fall back on in hard times. As such, we must be efficient in everything we do and this definitely includes energy use. We need to learn to turn things off, to think of alternatives and not to opt for the path of least resistance. We must review our transportation habits and not clog the roads with single occupant vehicles each and every day as we go back and forth to work.

At home or in the office, think of ways to save electricity and if you are the decision-maker, you must be the one to take action. Insist that your family turns off all the lights, turn up the thermostats by a notch and don’t allow them to be altered, make sure that all family members wash clothes at the same time and not individually and generally be a better keeper of the space that you occupy.

As we know, we cannot rely on our politicians to work quickly enough. Few seem to doubt the validity of those environmental claims, but political agendas are still getting in the way of making any headway. Just look at what failed to come out of that summit of “leaders” in Copenhagen – inaction once again.

We don’t have to wait around for politicians to try and force big business to solve these issues. If we all do our own bit, we can save ourselves money by steadily reducing our energy use and our own carbon footprints every day, and although we can’t get this all done by ourselves, we can achieve real results if we work together. ‘People Power’ really can achieve this quite easily, after all, there are billions of us, so let’s just do it – start right now!

Since 1750, according to the smart historians, we have been relying on fossil fuels like coal and oil for our every need. As the years have gone by and as we have become smarter, we have invented new ways to use energy to make our lives easier. While this has been going on, we have ignored those scientists and environmentalists who tell us that the consequent greenhouse gas emissions are damaging the very world we live in.

Only in relatively recent times have we have finally woken up and understood. We have caused considerable damage so far and are now in danger of not being able to slow our reliance on fossil fuels sufficiently to enable us to reverse and repair this damage. Now we can clearly see the benefits of renewable energy and know that helping the environment through tangible change is a necessity.

Unfortunately, only about 5% of our energy needs are satisfied by renewable energy forms such as solar, wind, water and geothermal. It is certainly possible for us to generate enough electricity from such sources for our own consumption, but again unfortunately, it is prohibitively expensive for us to invest in such systems for our homes alone. Solar energy, as an option, is perhaps most often used by home owners, especially in sunnier climes, where they can put panels on the roof to help heat water and run certain appliances.

Some appliance manufacturers are working on the development of “smart” products that can be run individually from external, renewable energy sources. In certain cases, a solar panel may be able to run a refrigerator, for example.

All governments are waking up and taking notice of the problems and are providing appropriate funds to help pay grants and incentives. Home owners who are more willing to invest in taking steps to retrofit existing systems to replace energy hog appliances will likely get grants from the taxpayer. This is a good investment, as in the long run, a lower reliance on raw energy needs can only be viewed as a security enhancement from a wider point of view.

In its most basic form, we can use a type of renewable energy as one of many ways to save electricity around the home. If the climate that you live in allows this, why not consider using solar energy to dry your clothes? A typical clothes washer and dryer cycle can add to your energy bill considerably. Remember that it is a question of taking baby steps to make a difference and we can all get there if we apply ourselves in this way.

If you cannot directly introduce the concept of renewable energy to your home, the next best thing is to insist that the companies you patronise become more sustainable. Look for information on companies that favour renewable energy sources. As it is such good public relations, companies that do are falling over themselves to let us know that they are good corporate citizens. Hold them all to account!

You do not have to move to a cabin in the mountains and live off the land if you are thinking about helping the environment. Have you noticed how environmental issues have become hot news, quite literally, these days? Quite simply, we can’t continue to be conspicuous with our consumption habits and we have to understand what it means to be sustainable as we move forward. This will require us to think about every single action that we take during our daily lives. Find ways to save electricity at home and really learn about the benefits of renewable energy, to see whether we can apply at least some of these ideas to our lives.

What can you do to help save the environment? Here’s a small list of steps that you can take at home, right now, which would make a difference. If every single one of us did only the things on this list, the resulting changes could be remarkable.

1. Look at all the bulbs you have in your house. Compact fluorescent bulbs are much better than incandescent bulbs which simply burn energy. Swap out all the lights in your house. You’d be surprised just how many bulbs you have. While you might be a little shocked when you buy these bulbs to start off with, government energy statisticians tell us that you could save the difference in cost within your lower electricity bills, during the space of a year.

2. Be a better steward. Send whatever is acceptable to the recycling plant. Bury biodegradable waste and food leftovers in the ground rather than clogging up the local landfills. People who know about these things tell us that up to 20% of the rubbish that we throw away is biodegradable and we could recycle it ourselves without stressing the system. Think of the energy used to collect this excess waste and save them the trouble of doing so.

3. Rethink your transportation. Are you able to share transportation with somebody else on your way to work? Why not pool resources and cut down your bill, and the bill of a co-worker at the same time. It seems nonsensical when you look at all those cars jammed on the motorway in the morning, the vast majority of them with just a single occupant. This is craziness and while we wait for our politicians to come up with public transportation systems that really do work, we can all use our common sense.

4. Plant trees in your back garden. Trees are great for our environmental problems and the thorny subject of climate change. They attract carbon dioxide emissions that are otherwise spewed into the air by power consumption. Plant them to protect your home from the direct sunlight and even cut down on your cooling bills in the summer. If you have a noisy highway nearby, a couple of well positioned trees will help to cut down on your noise pollution, as well.

With a little bit of creativity, we can make a difference in virtually everything that we do!

There’s no point in trying to brush the problem of excess energy use under the carpet any longer. Change begins at home and it begins with every one of us. If we own or rent a home and use all the creature comforts that we are used to, then we are responsible for using a certain amount of energy and have, consequently, a carbon footprint to worry about. No longer can we expect big business to shoulder the blame and it’s no longer good enough to say that we take the bus to work and don’t drive. We all need to make big changes and look for ways to save electricity wherever we can find them. A journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step.

Before you do anything else, go around all your doors and windows and look to see that they’re fitting properly. You might not be able to see any issues and should check by running your hand along the edges or by using an open flame of some kind to see whether you have any drafts. There is no sense whatsoever in heating the inside of your house or using air conditioning to try and cool it down during the brief hot spells that we get, if your hard earned money is flying out the window. Take steps to secure your home in this respect and then start to worry about your air heating and cooling costs.

If you have rooms that are not in constant use, consider putting any lighting appliances within on a timer. You could also put them on a motion detector, so that they will go on and off if someone leaves the room. Unplug all electrical items when they’re not actually in use, as they can still drain electricity when connected to a wall socket. Turn off computers at night. There’s no need for you to maintain them and they tend to build up heat within the casing anyway. Every little bit helps and will account for a good savings at the end of the year.

We all know of the benefits of renewable energy, but once again, we tend to think that it’s a project for somebody else. Why not consider some solar panels? Some homeowners run their entire property on solar power, use either roof mounted panels or additional panels in their garden. One of the ways to save electricity is to cut down on its extraction from the grid and to reduce the size of your footprint. We all need to buy energy-efficient shoes that fit us, rather than continuing with this extravagant way of life. Turn your water heater thermostat down a notch and try to avoid using electricity to heat your water, as it is very inefficient. They say that roughly 2/3 of the energy actually produced to get the electricity to you, to heat your water in the first place, is lost in the distribution system. Direct oil or gas fired water heaters are far better at helping the environment and are much more efficient in the long run.

It’s not as if saving money has ever been “out” of fashion, as such, but it is certainly en vogue these days. We used to be concerned about receiving those energy bills and would mutter under our breath as we tore open the envelope. Often we would make a mental note that we were going to turn off those lights when we went out of the room. Back then, though, it did not seem to be so urgent and we were somewhat poor at following through. If we fast forward to today, we seem to be living in a different world. Now we are looking for a whole array of different ways to save electricity, as we realise just how pressing this need is.

Once the domain only of environmentalists and tree huggers, we now all know how important it is to cut back on our energy use, so that we do not emit carbon dioxide to damage the planet. We hear all kinds of reports on the news about how global warming is changing polar ice packs and that people in far-off countries are in danger of losing their ability to feed themselves, due to climate changes and weather pattern alterations. Closer to home, we hear that companies are going to be penalised for using too much energy and emitting carbon and imagine that these costs will be passed along to us as well.

Quite apart from the holistic considerations and our concern for Mother Nature, energy costs themselves have been going through the roof. Government attempts to regulate the industry have not been very successful and the whole infrastructure seems to be creaking and groaning under the strain. How much longer will the system be able to put up with spikes in energy use, as we rely on those old fossil fuels to provide the raw material? We all know the benefits of renewable energy, but we collectively have not moved forward fast enough to try and embrace them. We would be helping the environment in no small way if we were able to receive the majority of our energy from renewable sources, wind, solar, etc.

Getting down to business, what can we do at home to help both ourselves and the environment? There are many things. For a start, we should always purchase highly efficient equipment for our kitchens and for our heating and air-conditioning needs. Look for a refrigerator, for example, that consumes around 100 KwH per year and you will be in possession of an appliance that is four times more efficient than the European Union average. You may have to spend about five or maybe 10% more to actually buy the machine, but just think about how much energy you could save and how it would help to reduce your electricity bill. These appliances may last for 4 to 5 years and the additional amount you pay to buy them up front will definitely be saved in the long run. Remember that they will need less repairing as well and you won’t be as annoyed by that fan circling on whenever you are trying to sit down and watch the television!

Our Trash

What should we do with our trash? Should we burn it or should we store it in a landfill? Two reasons why storing our trash in a landfill is a better solution, but the third solution is best:

1. Landfill waste creates methane, which could (eventually) be harnessed as an energy source.

2. Burning waste releases it into the atmosphere, while keeping waste in a landfill site keeps it relatively contained. Neither one is ideal, but scientists are more likely to find a way to help reduce the toxic effects of waste that is relatively contained in a landfill site than waste that is dispersed thickly into the atmosphere through burning.

3. Recycle like crazy, it cleans, heals, and saves on resources while even creating jobs at home.

Plastic Carrier Bags

Did you know that around 500 billion plastic bags are used every year? That’s 500,000,000,000! To say that’s ‘a lot of bags’ is an understatement; in fact, it’s so many bags that over 1 million bags are being used every single minute of the day! Incredible, isn’t it?

What happens to all those bags?

The truth is, most of them end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to break down. Yes, that’s right – 300 years! This means that when you’re great-great-great-great-grandchildren are old, the bags you use today will still exist, along with the millions and millions of others used this year and every other year.

Plastic bags aren’t only clogging up landfill sites though. They’re also polluting our countryside, rivers and seas. Animals often mistake plastic bags for food, and once their intestines are clogged by a bag that won’t break down, they have to endure slow starvation until death finally claims them. Sea creatures often become entangled in plastic bags and drown. These aren’t nice things to think about, but sometimes we have to face the truth whether we like it or not.

By cutting down on plastic bag usage, we can create a better environment for ourselves and every other creature we share our planet with.

If you’d like to help improve the situation, you could try any of the following:

* Re-use bags when you go shopping. The “free” bags that supermarkets offer at the check-out aren’t really free – the cost is baked into the overall pricing structure. If you want to be really cheeky, you could always ask for a few pence or cents off your bill being as you aren’t taking a bag.

* Choose biodegradable bags to use for litter (photo degradable bags—those that aren’t designed to break down quickly and are used for litter collection are guaranteed to end up on landfill sites taking hundreds of years to break down).

* Re-use large plastic sacks whenever possible.

* Refrigerate food in containers rather than plastic bags. Not only is this better for the environment, it’ll save you quite a bit over the course of a year because plastic food bags aren’t cheap.

Wherever we go we’re made to feel guilty for using our cars, and some of us have started using alternative forms of transport in order to help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that’s being pumped into our air. But did you know that more carbon dioxide, also known as a greenhouse gas, comes straight from our homes than from our cars?

It just doesn’t make sense that we’re told we should leave our cars at home, even though many of us are dependent on them to get from A to B, and yet we rarely hear about the amount of damage we’re doing by choosing the wrong kind of appliances. Strange, considering that every home has the potential to save around 2 tons of carbon dioxide every year – and that’s before we start considering how much we can save in terms of a healthier bank balance.

“Energy Star” Appliances

By purchasing energy-efficient “Energy Star” electrical appliances, not only will there be fewer emissions from the power plants that create the energy needed to drive the appliances, but you’ll be saving money on your utility bills as well. In fact, if you’re in the United States, by switching to an “Energy Star” fridge you can save up to $70 a year, and in the UK even more as the cost of fuel escalates, and that’s just one appliance! Add your air-conditioning, your clothes washer, your dryer, your dishwasher and other major appliances to the equation and you’ll probably save enough to take a well-earned holiday

If you want to save even more both in your pocket and in terms of a healthier planet, you could try following these fridge/freezer tips:

* Avoid leaving the door open longer than absolutely necessary, as any cool air that escapes will be replaced by warm air leading to more energy being used in order to cool it down.

* Avoid putting hot foods into the fridge as this will warm up the air, leading to greater energy use in order to cool the air down again.

* Defrost the freezer regularly as a certain amount of air circulation is needed in order for it to run efficiently.

Lagging the Tank

Insulating jackets for hot water tanks are cheap. So cheap, in fact, that they pay for themselves within a couple of months, so from thereon in all savings made on your energy bill are yours for doing absolutely nothing at all. Talk about money for nothing!

In fact, if every household in the UK alone fitted an insulating jacket on their tank, £150 million of energy would be saved every year! That?s a lot of fossil fuel that wouldn’t have to be burned and a huge amount of money! If it’s free for the taking, why not take it?

Curtains

What’s the point in heating up the air outside your house during winter? That isn’t where you sit and enjoy your home life, is it?

Even if the privacy afforded by closed curtains isn’t important to you, by keeping curtains drawn during cold nights you’ll be stopping energy escaping through the glass and saving even more money on your heating bills.

Lighting

By switching off lights in rooms that aren’t being used, the average energy bill can be reduced by around 15%. Think about it. That’s a lot of cash jangling in your pocket.

But why stop there? It’s also worth taking a look around the house and thinking about each light bulb. Do you really need 100 watts in the hall or bathroom, and what about special energy efficient bulbs? Would they work just as well? They last up to twelve times longer and use only a fraction of the energy used by normal bulbs; even something as seemingly unimportant as keeping windows and skylights clean can make a difference in how much artificial light you’ll need. The same goes for keeping lampshades and other light fittings clean.

1. 2 degrees warmer on the A/C and 2 degrees cooler on the heater will not only reduce your consumption, it will markedly decrease your bill.

2. Switch out your incandescent light bulbs for mini-florescent ones.

3. Change the A/C filters every month.

4. Leave all the interior doors open to promote circulation of air.

5. Re-caulk around the windows and doors at least once a year, please be sure and remove the old caulking first.

6. Make sure your exterior doors are properly aligned in order to minimize gaps and air leaks.

7. Try microwave cooking instead of the oven, you won’t be heating up the house at all.

8. Turn off the lights when you leave a room.

9. Buy energy efficient rated appliances when replacement time comes.

Water Conservation Tips:

1. Never walk away from a running tap/faucet, always turn it off first.

2. Don’t dawdle in the Shower and don’t make the water extremely hot causing the water heater to be used excessively.

3. Only flush the toilet once.

4. Hand watering the garden/yard uses less than sprinklers.

5. Use 2″ less water when taking a bath.

6. Use a lower water level setting in the washing machine for small loads.

7. When hand washing dishes, do not just let the faucet run for rinsing. If you have a double sink, then fill one with clean water to rinse with. If you don?t have a double sink, place the clean but unrinsed dishes in a pile and rinse them all at once very quickly.

In the laundry room

Use energy efficient washers and dryers, and unless you have children who like to play in the mud you really don’t need to use anything more than the “economy” cycle on your washing machine, along with cold water, to still get nice clean clothes. And instead of drying your clothes in a dryer, take an idea from your grandmother’s bag of tricks and hang your clothes out to dry. No fabric softener can compare to the smell of air-dried clothes!

In the car

With fuel prices on the rise, you need to count the cost before you go out. Got an overdue movie you need to bring back to the rental store? With fuel prices what they are today, it might be cheaper to keep it for an extra day and pay the fine rather than to get in your car and drive there. You will also want to group projects together before you go, as this will help you from making several trips in a day.

If your home runs a septic system, you can keep that system working smoothly by pouring a quarter cup of baking soda down the toilet or drain once a week. Baking soda creates a favourable pH environment for optimal bacterial action, which will help break down the waste, cut down on smell, and reduces the amount that you?ll be calling the septic cleaning company.

And, instead of using chemicals to clean around your house, consider using natural ingredients, like vinegar and water to wash down your kitchen, bathroom, and windows. And, if you find the smell to be over-powering, add some lemons to it.

And when you’re cleaning your home, avoid using wasteful paper towels and other products that need to be thrown out after use. Instead, use rags, which can be washed and reused. Just be careful to let them dry thoroughly before putting them away since wet cloth with chemical traces can combust in some circumstances!

Then, afterwards, don’t use an aerosol can to make your house smell nice. Instead, use pot-pourri because it creates less waste since there?s no empty aerosol can!

No one likes to dust, but you might be more inclined to do so if there was a savings involved! When you’re cleaning around your home, don’t forget to clean your light bulbs. Dust build up can reduce the light intensity by 25%. A moment cleaning your light bulbs will mean brighter, more inviting rooms, a reduced chance of fire, and less need for so many lights!