Harnessing Solar Energy

Harnessing solar energy is one of the best ways to save electricity, since the energy coming from the sun is free and abundant. However, in order to get the energy from the sun, one must use solar panels, which at the present time are unfortunately expensive and not readily available to most people who lack the money to install such things.

Although this is the case, anyone can still use the sun’s energy to power their homes by means of passive solar heating or daylighting. Passive solar heating and daylighting are one of the crudest ways to utilize the energy of the sun without the use of elaborate tools.

Basically, passive solar heating and daylighting requires that you use the energy of the sun by optimizing the home or building in order to receive as much of the sun’s heat as possible. This means that buildings and homes designed for passive solar heating have large windows on the south side of the buildings.

On the other hand, the materials used to construct the houses are also carefully planned and should be able to absorb and store the sun’s heat. For instance, the floors are designed to absorb heat during the day and slowly release the heat by night. This concept is called direct gain. This can be achieved by using materials that are both conductors and insulators of heat like clay and mud. This concept in architecture is no longer new. In fact, Anasazi Indians from Colorado used this method to heat their homes.

Daylighting, on the other hand, uses natural lighting to brighten or illuminate the building. This prevents people from turning the lights on unnecessarily during daytime. This method also uses large windows in buildings to let in as much light as possible.

These two modes are age-old methods which have been used and will be able to help a lot of people lower their electric bills and allow them to be a part of a more sustainable way of life.

Back To Basics: Wind Power For Electricity

Pre-dating the creation of wind turbines, the first wind machines were to appear around 400BC in the structure of windmills. Europe had seen its first windmills during 1390 when the Dutch first built them to pump excess water off lands that were flooded.

In fact, most people relied on wind energy to power micro-industries like millings, processing of spices, paints and others. The fact that most micro-industries had relied on wind power then to power their operations, meant that it is one of the cheapest energy sources that anyone could harness. Moreover, most farms and ranches in the United States have also been using wind mills to pump water or even grind grains and thus by doing so they have created a sustainable source of energy as well as reducing their energy costs and electricity bills.

Recently, windmills have been replaced by wind turbines that are created for the sole purpose of capturing the energy of winds. Wind turbines are towering structures that have a height of 30 meters to allow them to take advantage of the less turbulent and faster wind.

The design of a wind turbines is very aerodynamic, that allows it to more effectively harness the energy of the wind and with less friction. Thus if you compare windmills  with wind turbines, the wind turbine is faster since it does not slow in air pockets helping it rotate very quickly.

A single wind turbine can be used as a stand-alone device which means that it can be connected to the house to provide power or it can be connected to a power grid so that the energy converted to electricity can travel to different places. Although wind turbines can provide good alternatives, they are only effective in places that are windy.

Using Passive Solar Heating To Lower Your Energy Costs

Harnessing solar energy is one of the best ways to save electricity since the energy coming from the sun is free. However, in order to get the energy from the sun, you need to use solar panels that are, unfortunately, expensive and are not readily available to most people who lack the money to install one.

Although this is the case, anyone can still use the sun’s energy to power their homes by means of passive solar heating and daylighting. Passive solar heating and daylighting are one of the crudest ways to utilize the energy of the sun without the use of elaborate tools.

Basically, passive solar heating and daylighting requires you to use the energy of the sun by optimizing your homes or buildings to get as much of the sun’s heat as possible. This means that buildings and homes designed for passive solar heating have large windows on the south of the buildings.

On the other hand, the materials used to construct the houses are also carefully planned and should be able to absorb and store the sun’s heat. For instance, the floors are designed to absorb heat during the day and slowly release them by night. This concept is called direct gain. This can be achieved by using materials that are both conductors and insulators of heat like clay and mud. This concept in architecture is no longer new. In fact, Anasazi Indians from Colorado used this method to heat their homes.

Daylighting, on the other hand, uses natural lighting to brighten or illuminate the building. This prevents people from turning the lights on unnecessarily during daytime. This method also uses large windows in buildings to let as much light in as possible.

These two methods are age-old methods that have been used that will be able to help a lot of people lower down their electricity bills.

Energy from your garden

Everyday, we are bombarded with the idea that the Earth is no longer able to support our needs. In fact, this is true especially when we are already feeling the symptoms of an ill planet. We experience increasing floods, Hurricanes, famine and other natural calamities that can decimate  large populations in a split second.

Although thinking about might scare multitude of people, there is still a way for us to increase the carrying capacity of the Earth. A carrying capacity is a measure of population that allows the Earth to sustainably support us with food, water and other necessities. It is analogous to an aquarium tank. A good carrying capacity is that the number of fishes in the aquarium should not exceed beyond its normal population otherwise it will result to overcrowding and aggressive competition for food and oxygen. Eventually, if the aquarium tank has given up its last source of food and oxygen, everything else will die.

Even though there is no way to control the booming population due to cultural differences and political policies, there is a way to help Mother Earth from going down the drain by means of living sustainably in your own little way.

Sustainable living is a simple lifestyle attempt to lessen your impact to the environment especially your carbon emission. This can be achieved by using energy-saving devices, going for greener fuels and also changing your outlook towards life and making it more attuned towards nature.

If this is a difficult task for you, then you can start first by planting your own organic garden in your backyard. Not only are you boosting your food supply, you also increase the carbon sinks since plants can store carbon and use it as their food. You can also do recycling and observe proper waste segregation. You can help the environment a lot on your own and if you advocate sustainable living to your friends, imagine what it can do further to the environment?

Reuters: Magnetic hybrid motorbike unveiled in Japan

A Japanese vehicle manufacturer unveiled the prototype of a new electric motorbike carrying a hybrid magnetic motor, which can run almost noiselessly up to 180 kilometres (112 miles) on one charge. Tokyo-based Axle Corporation says that the battery of the next-generation electric vehicle motorbike can be charged at home, in the same way as a cellular phone. It takes a little over 6 hours to fully charge the battery, and the vehicle’s maximum speed is capable of reaching 150 kilometres per hour (93 miles per hour).

The company says the futuristic motorbike enjoys high energy efficiency thanks to a state-of-the-art magnetic motor which is a hybrid between a electromagnet and a permanent magnet. The new motor, called SUMO, short for “super motor,” is housed inside the bike’s rear wheel. The manufacture says the new motor is seven-times more cost efficient than gas-powered scooters.

Daisuke Ito, a professional racer who test rode the EV-X7 prototype, said it could potentially replace machines we now see in motor races. “I just feel that in the near future, we’ll be seeing these kinds of electric motorbikes running all around town. And when that happens, conventional vehicles could disappear from motor racing, too, and well be competing only in electric vehicles.”

www.itnsource.com
Reuters RTV521706

Biomass Energy

The Things That You Need To Know About Biomass Energy

The Earth is a planet that has a lot of sustainable sources of energy. The only problem is that people do not know where to look for these sources of energy. One of the age-old sources of energy that people have used is the biomass energy. It has existed centuries ago but this time, people have devised ways on how to extract raw energy from these biomass sources which resulted to the construction of big facilities for biomass production all over America and Europe.

Biomass is simply the energy that you derive from organic matter which includes plants, agricultural and industrial wastes and other rotten items. Moreover, even the fumes from landfills which contain mostly of methane can be used as another form of energy source.

The uses of biomass not only allow you to save on your energy costs, it also has the potential to reduce the greenhouse gases emission unlike if you use conventional sources of energy like fossil fuels. Moreover, you also make use of the refuse materials and turn them into something that has value which is fuel.

On the other hand, most biomass fuels come from wood products, crop residues and algae. It has ranks as the second most popular renewable and sustainable source of energy in the world next to hydropower energy. Moreover, since the materials used are readily available in nature, it shares 15% of the world’s total energy source and is mostly used for cooking and heating.

Burning biomass produces the same amount as that of fossil fuels. However, this becomes negligible as long as the plants that utilize Carbon dioxide is continued to be replenished. Otherwise, it will contribute to global warming. This fact calls for a lot of people to become good steward to the environment. Thus if you use one tree as your fuel, you need to plant another to replenish what was lost.

Bloom Box - an Energy miracle device?

Little is known about the Bloom Box aside from the 60 minutes broadcast.  Apparently it is a fuel cell design, taking advantage of space age alloys and very importantly, otherwise one might be forgiven the charge of skepticism, Google and Ebay have already been running some of their servers with these devices and in the case of Ebay, claiming to save over $100,000 in electricity bills.  Ensurenergy will certainly be watching this one closely and will keep the readership informed.  If you know anything new and reliably sourced about this invention - please do submit it to the site.

All About Buying Green Cars

In this day and age, a lot of people have considered buying green cars in order to contribute something good to the ailing health of the environment. However, investing in a green car is no rocket science but it does not mean that you don’t need to do your homework first. In fact, there are different types of green cars available in the market based on the type of fuel that they run on. Here are some of the buying guides if you are planning to buy green cars.

The first thing to consider when buying one is to decide which fuel is more accessible to you. Although renewable and alternative sources of energy are very popular these days, not all countries have access to all of them. Thus, you need to buy cars that run on alternative fuels that you can easily get in your area.

Having said this, it is also important that you learn something about the different types of cars that run on different fuels. These cars include the Hybrid Cars, PSEVS and SULEVS, Natural Gas Vehicles, Electric Cars and Biodiesel Cars. They get their name from the different fuels that they use. Moreover, different models also have different performance.

The next thing that you need consider is the overall impact of these cars. Although these cars have extremely low emission levels of carbon, it is still important to compare which car can emit lesser carbon among the others if you really want to make a difference. However, it is also important to take note that the lesser the carbon emission and the more fuel-burning capacity of your cars, the more expensive they become.

The price is the last thing that we need to consider when it comes to buying green cars. However, the good thing about them is that they are available in different price ranges thus you can easily buy them according to how much you are willing to spend.

Taking Action

Looking for quick Renewable Energy Projects? Yes - Click on your right! No - see below!

The Explosive expose video below is over 2 hours in length.

For too long people were duped by the big Corporate interests, the Oil magnates and the Big Bankers ……….NO CONSPIRACY THEORY MONGERING - JUST SOLID CHECKABLE FACTS! (comments appreciated)