Green Energy Ideas for Your Home

by on March 18, 2010

Solar energy which we refer to as renewable energy comes from the sun. A biology class will tell you that in addition to affecting climate and weather, sunlight provides the energy that sustains most life on earth. It also can be harnessed to provide heating, lighting and electricity. Sustainable energy has become a hot topic lately, but this technology is nothing new – Native Americans, people in China and even the early Greeks have historically turned their buildings to the sun for heat.
Companies are now able to produce thin-film solar cells which convert sunlight into electricity at almost 20% efficency. This can be applied to a building surface or stretched out in rows to catch sunlight. It takes 100 times less thin-film material to absorb the same amount of sunlight as traditional silicon photovoltaic cells.
These early architects were using what is known as passive solar energy. This technique makes the best use of regular building materials to trap heat with no additional mechanical equipment used. Floors, windows and roofs play a role in attracting (or deflecting) the sun’s rays.
There are a number of ways to take advantage of solar radiation, starting with the house’s placement. Having the house face the equator (we’ll assume we’re in the Northern Hemisphere, thus the house should face south) means that it gets the day’s sunlight. Window orientation is also important – for optimal efficiency, most windows should point within 30 degrees of due south. Maintaining a small percentage of north facing windows will ensure that your home is comfortable year round (and not cooking in the summer).
Rock or stone tile floors and brick walls will absorb the solar radiation and continue to give off heat after the sun is gone.
Many homes are now heated with tubing that circulates hot water under their tile floors. This greatly reduces the dust that a conventional furnace stirs up during it’s operation. While common windows allow heat to escape, special windows with low-e coating, multiple panes, inert gas fill, and/or insulated frames can reduce heat loss 50 to 75 per cent. By sealing your building envelope and insulating well, you will ensure that the heat stays in the house. It can then be distributed through the house using a regular ceiling fan.
Direct sunlight is not the only important light to think of when considering energy use. By using overall daylight to light a space you can cut down the need for electrical lighting and the heat that’s created by it. Artificial lighting has only been the main source of illumination since the 20th century. And using natural light may have added benefits for your physical and mental health. In addition to windows, daylighting makes use of skylights, light pipes (also known as light tubes), atriums, and light shelves to illuminate the interior. This is best considered when building, but with a few small renos your house can be much brighter, naturally!
Passive cooling is another way to cut your bills and become more energy efficient. This is especially useful in warmer climates, where air conditioning can be a major power consumer. Passive cooling refers to using things for shading, to absorb the heat, and goes hand in hand with passive solar energy. It can be accomplished using exterior landscaping choices – trees and other vegetation – or interior/exterior building options, such as shades, blinds or special glazing on windows.
Whether you are building a new home, looking at doing some renovations or just want to cut your energy bill and reduce greenhouse gas, passive solar energy and cooling techniques are an easy way to incorporated green ideas into your home. With the rising interest in environmental issues, they make an excellent selling feature and they’ll save you money.

Solar energy which we refer to as renewable energy comes from the sun. A biology class will tell you that in addition to affecting climate and weather, sunlight provides the energy that sustains most life on earth. It also can be harnessed to provide heating, lighting and electricity. Sustainable energy has become a hot topic lately, but this technology is nothing new – Native Americans, people in China and even the early Greeks have historically turned their buildings to the sun for heat.Companies are now able to produce thin-film solar cells which convert sunlight into electricity at almost 20% efficency. This can be applied to a building surface or stretched out in rows to catch sunlight. It takes 100 times less thin-film material to absorb the same amount of sunlight as traditional silicon photovoltaic cells.
These early architects were using what is known as passive solar energy. This technique makes the best use of regular building materials to trap heat with no additional mechanical equipment used. Floors, windows and roofs play a role in attracting (or deflecting) the sun’s rays.
There are a number of ways to take advantage of solar radiation, starting with the house’s placement. Having the house face the equator (we’ll assume we’re in the Northern Hemisphere, thus the house should face south) means that it gets the day’s sunlight. Window orientation is also important – for optimal efficiency, most windows should point within 30 degrees of due south. Maintaining a small percentage of north facing windows will ensure that your home is comfortable year round (and not cooking in the summer).
Rock or stone tile floors and brick walls will absorb the solar radiation and continue to give off heat after the sun is gone.Many homes are now heated with tubing that circulates hot water under their tile floors. This greatly reduces the dust that a conventional furnace stirs up during it’s operation. While common windows allow heat to escape, special windows with low-e coating, multiple panes, inert gas fill, and/or insulated frames can reduce heat loss 50 to 75 per cent. By sealing your building envelope and insulating well, you will ensure that the heat stays in the house. It can then be distributed through the house using a regular ceiling fan.
Direct sunlight is not the only important light to think of when considering energy use. By using overall daylight to light a space you can cut down the need for electrical lighting and the heat that’s created by it. Artificial lighting has only been the main source of illumination since the 20th century. And using natural light may have added benefits for your physical and mental health. In addition to windows, daylighting makes use of skylights, light pipes (also known as light tubes), atriums, and light shelves to illuminate the interior. This is best considered when building, but with a few small renos your house can be much brighter, naturally!
Passive cooling is another way to cut your bills and become more energy efficient. This is especially useful in warmer climates, where air conditioning can be a major power consumer. Passive cooling refers to using things for shading, to absorb the heat, and goes hand in hand with passive solar energy. It can be accomplished using exterior landscaping choices – trees and other vegetation – or interior/exterior building options, such as shades, blinds or special glazing on windows.
Whether you are building a new home, looking at doing some renovations or just want to cut your energy bill and reduce greenhouse gas, passive solar energy and cooling techniques are an easy way to incorporated green ideas into your home. With the rising interest in environmental issues, they make an excellent selling feature and they’ll save you money.

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Do you Know about Green Energy

by on March 17, 2010

Green energy refers to the use of power that is not only more efficient than fossil fuel but that is friendly to the environment as well.  This generally defined as renewable energy sources that doesn’t pollute.
There are several categories of green energy. They are anaerobic digestion, wind power, geothermal power, hydropower on a small scale, biomass power, solar power and wave power. Waste incineration can even be a source of green energy.
Nuclear power plants claim that they produce green energy as well, though this source is fraught with controversy, as we all know. While nuclear energy may be sustainable, may be considered renewable and does not pollute the atmosphere while it is producing energy, its waste does pollute the biosphere as it is released.
The transport, mining and phases before and after production of nuclear energy does produce and release carbon dioxide and similar destructive greenhouse gases. When we read of green energy, therefore, we rarely see nuclear power included.
Those who support nuclear energy say that nuclear waste is not, in fact, released into our earths biosphere during its normal production cycle. They stress as well that the carbon dioxide that nuclear energy production releases is comparable, in terms of each kilowatt hour of electricity, to such sources of green energy as wind power.
As an example of the green energy production the average wind turbine, such as the one in Reading England, can produce enough energy daily to be the only energy source for 1000 households.
Wind farms as they are known have spread all over the world and for many a farmer or land owner have become quite a cash cow as their land is leased for to the energy companies for the wind turbines. Contraversies have risen because many naturalist claim that the turbines negatively affect the wild/birds in the area. One can assume this could be true however with the growing demand for electrcity we tend to overlook these concerns.
Many countries now offer household and commercial consumers to opt for total use of green energy. They do this one of two ways. Consumers can buy their electricity from a company that only uses renewable green energy technology, or they can buy from their general supplies such as the local utility company who then buys from green energy resources only as much of a supply as consumers pay for.
The latter is generally a more cost – efficient way of supplying a home or office with green energy, as the supplier can reap the economic benefits of a mass purchase. Green energy generally costs more per kilowatt hour than standard fossil fuel energy.
Consumers can also purchase green energy certificates, which are alternately referred to as green tags or green certificates. These are available in both Europe and the United States, and are the most convenient method for the average consumer to support green energy. More than 35 million European households and one million American households now buy these green energy certificates.
While green energy is a great step in the direction of keeping our environment healthy and our air as pollutant free as possible, it must be noted that no matter what the energy, it will negatively impact the environment to some extent.
Every energy source, green or otherwise, requires energy. The production of this energy will create pollution during its manufacture. Green energys impact is minimal, however. As our demand for energy increase around the world and growing economies like China which have opted for the heavily polluting coal fired generators can use these new technologies to lesson the impact on their enviroment. Advances in Solar energy have created rolls of film like material that can be wrapped around building to become a giant solar panel can only benefit growing economies. It remains to be seen how countries like India & China utilize the photovoltaic power to reduce greenhouse gas.

Green energy refers to the use of power that is not only more efficient than fossil fuel but that is friendly to the environment as well.  This generally defined as renewable energy sources that doesn’t pollute.
There are several categories of green energy. They are anaerobic digestion, wind power, geothermal power, hydropower on a small scale, biomass power, solar power and wave power. Waste incineration can even be a source of green energy.
Nuclear power plants claim that they produce green energy as well, though this source is fraught with controversy, as we all know. While nuclear energy may be sustainable, may be considered renewable and does not pollute the atmosphere while it is producing energy, its waste does pollute the biosphere as it is released.
The transport, mining and phases before and after production of nuclear energy does produce and release carbon dioxide and similar destructive greenhouse gases. When we read of green energy, therefore, we rarely see nuclear power included.
Those who support nuclear energy say that nuclear waste is not, in fact, released into our earths biosphere during its normal production cycle. They stress as well that the carbon dioxide that nuclear energy production releases is comparable, in terms of each kilowatt hour of electricity, to such sources of green energy as wind power.
As an example of the green energy production the average wind turbine, such as the one in Reading England, can produce enough energy daily to be the only energy source for 1000 households. Wind farms as they are known have spread all over the world and for many a farmer or land owner have become quite a cash cow as their land is leased for to the energy companies for the wind turbines. Contraversies have risen because many naturalist claim that the turbines negatively affect the wild/birds in the area. One can assume this could be true however with the growing demand for electrcity we tend to overlook these concerns.
Many countries now offer household and commercial consumers to opt for total use of green energy. They do this one of two ways. Consumers can buy their electricity from a company that only uses renewable green energy technology, or they can buy from their general supplies such as the local utility company who then buys from green energy resources only as much of a supply as consumers pay for.
The latter is generally a more cost – efficient way of supplying a home or office with green energy, as the supplier can reap the economic benefits of a mass purchase. Green energy generally costs more per kilowatt hour than standard fossil fuel energy.
Consumers can also purchase green energy certificates, which are alternately referred to as green tags or green certificates. These are available in both Europe and the United States, and are the most convenient method for the average consumer to support green energy. More than 35 million European households and one million American households now buy these green energy certificates.
While green energy is a great step in the direction of keeping our environment healthy and our air as pollutant free as possible, it must be noted that no matter what the energy, it will negatively impact the environment to some extent.
Every energy source, green or otherwise, requires energy. The production of this energy will create pollution during its manufacture. Green energys impact is minimal, however. As our demand for energy increase around the world and growing economies like China which have opted for the heavily polluting coal fired generators can use these new technologies to lesson the impact on their enviroment. Advances in Solar energy have created rolls of film like material that can be wrapped around building to become a giant solar panel can only benefit growing economies. It remains to be seen how countries like India & China utilize the photovoltaic power to reduce greenhouse gas.

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