Simple sources of renewable energy
Ever hear about the world energy crisis and consider what you can do to make things a little better?.
If you’re like me, then you occasionally get a bit overwhelmed with all the information out there. It seems that all we ever hear about are the enormous changes that governments are attempting to correct this problem. I would rather hear about the little things that I can do everyday to help. So I’ve done a little research for everyone’s sake and have come up with a few basic methods of alternative energy that pretty much anyone can follow.
Cut your fuel usage in your vehicle by reducing the amount that you drive. We can’t all stop using our cars every day, but there are practical ways to apply this idea. But maybe, just maybe, we can all look for little and simple ways to share rides to reduce how much we drive our cars. Contribute to alternative energy by finding a coworker to carpool with. Better still, try to walk or ride a bike whenever you can.
Another easy way to save energy is to turn the lights off during the day and use the free natural sunlight to light your home. How often do you walk into an office and they have their lights at full power while free sunlight is streaming right through the window? Take a minute and wander around your house and find little things that you can unplug. The chances are high that everyone out there has a at least few small ways that they could save energy each day. If you want to save on utilities as well as save the planet, then you might want to consider cutting off the power company by learning how to build solar panels The world may not be changed by one more order from the government, but it just might be changed as individuals do their part in helping find and use methods of alternative energy.
Tips to Save Energy to Go Green and Save the Earth
1. Cooking requires heat and energy, so conserve it to save money. Cover the cooking pan with a lid so that the heat doesn’t escape. Water will boil around 5% faster in pans with a lid on, thereby saving time, energy and your money, as well as giving the environment a break.
2. While cooking in a Oven, keep the door closed. Most modern Ovens have a glass door so as to let you see what’s happening
inside. Use it appropriately. Around 15% of all oven heat is lost every time the door is opened. If you’re trying to bake a Pizza, for example, and you keep opening the door to see how it’s cooking, then you are cooking at 85% of the efficiency, at the sametime wasting energy and money!
3. STOP using commercial cleaning products in your kitchen or anywhere in your house. They are expensive to buy and expensive to produce. Their production is also harmful to the environment. The waste you release after cleaning is also harmful to the environment.
You can make your own cleaner from a mixture of vinegar, salt and baking soda. It will clean perfectly the same way as a commercial product, and it contains no toxic chemicals, thereby helping the environment. It will cost a great deal less too.
To put this into perspective. We dump some 35 million pounds of toxins down our drains every year, just from household and kitchen cleaning products alone. What kind of damage do you think that is doing to the environment? Well, you don’t have to do it anymore.
Here’s another simple recipe for an all-purpose cleaner, courtesy of
Greenpeace:
½ cup pure liquid soap
1 gallon hot water
¼ cup lemon juice
It’s safe and effective, and costs very little.
4. You don’t have to pre-heat your oven for every time your cook, unless you are baking bread and cake. Just put the dish into the oven and switch on, setting it to the right temperature. That way you are not wasting energy which is lost between the time it is pre-heated and you put in the preparation.
5. Cook once in a day instead of twice. This is a great way to save all round. If your oven can hold two chicken pieces, then why not cook two instead of one. Two chickens will cook in about the same amount of time that one will. Now, do the math… You will cut your cooking time in half, thereby saving electricity – and guess what happens to all the money saved! Yep, it stays right in your pocket. This way you have more time for other activities. The time saved on cooking the second time can be used better elsewhere. Remember, it doesn’t have to be just chickens. It can turkeys, beef, etc. And I surely don’t have to mention the environmental benefits.
Independent writer and Internet Marketeer. My website : http://www.make-my-home-green.com
How Your Lawn & Garden Reduce Energy Bills Naturally
Did you know? With proper planning and care, your lawn and garden can actually help you reduce household energy bills naturally. And with today’s concerns about economic crisis, rising fuel costs, and potential rises in electricity bills due to taxes proposed in the new U.S. budget proposals, this could be one of the most important home improvement projects you do this year.
Plants are a natural way to protect yourself and your home from the environment. They work wonderfully for both winter and summer purposes too. Plants can insulate your home from winter cold and keep it insulated from summer heat too. Trees placed in strategic positions can provide shade to cool the home in summer, and they help block cold winds in the winter too.
There are actually many ways to use your lawn and garden to reduce your home energy bills naturally, and here we’ll look at some of the easiest to accomplish.
1. Keep your lawn green. Natural grass and vegetation help hold moisture in the soil, and this in turn acts as a heat sink in the summer time around your home. The moist ground helps heat evaporate, and creates a more moderate climate around the immediate exterior areas of your home.
2. Plant deciduous trees. Deciduous trees are particularly useful for reducing home energy costs throughout all seasons of the year. In the summer these trees have plenty of leaves and foilage which helps provide shade to your home. Having your home shaded by trees in the summer time can actually reduce your heating costs as much as 20%.
The same applies in wintertime. In the winter the leaves have fallen off your deciduous trees, leaving plenty of area for the sun to shine through and help warm your home with natural solar heating. And just as you did with summer heating costs, you’ll see a direct benefit with the reduction of your heating bills because of this.
3. Insulate your home naturally. There are simple and easy way to use plants and flora to insulate your home naturally. Some people prefer to simply plant evergreen bushes near the home’s foundation, because these provide insulation from heat and cold as well as natural wind breaks year round.
Another excellent way to insulate naturally though, is to create raised garden beds around the outside of your house. By building raised garden beds right against your home’s exterior, you are placing several inches of natural earth between your home and the outside elements. Earth is an excellent natural insulation material. It slowly absorbs solar heat from the sun throughout the day, and the heat it has stored is released slowly as well. So in the evening when it may be chilly or cold outside, the garden beds have stored plenty of heat to share with your home. And by the time the sun rises in the morning, the soil in those garden beds has cooled and will in turn help your house to stay cooler for the better part of the day.
