We hear so much about energy efficiency nowadays. Energy efficiency is about saving our environment and saving our money. How we got about practicing energy efficiency isnt always as clear, though. Here, there, are the most frequently asked questions about energy efficiency, and their answers.
The question most often asked is if buying products such as [...]
Agriculture can be spoiled by global warming. Crops die during droughts brought on by global warming. Storms intensified by global warming can damage agricultural buildings and injure animals. Floods resulting from these storms can drown out crops before they can be harvested.
Gasoline prices have an effect on the economics of communities. When gas prices are [...]
WASHINGTON: With arid zones expanding worldwide, scientists have created transgenic plants able to survive extreme drought and thrive on far less water in an encouraging potential boon to food production, new research showed on Monday.
The discovery could have important implications for food production and maintaining yields amid adverse conditions. “We hypothesized that it is [...]
Dennis and I began building energy efficient homes in the 1980’s. We understand construction math and profitability. It costs 5-10% more to build an energy efficient home than “standard†homes.
Many people pay deluxe home prices for fancy looking features but they get only paltry energy saving benefits.
When we first started building energy efficient homes [...]
For some people, a fireplace might as well be a video of flaming logs. Their primary interest is the welcoming ambiance a fireplace’s blaze presents. If, however, you expect your fireplace to provide heat in exchange for your log-carrying, fire-building efforts, (or in the case of gas logs, in exchange for your gas bill), it’s [...]
It’s the tale of good intentions paving the way to hell, of the protector turning killer. Emory University in an effort to “go green” decided on an environmentally friendly design, which included the structure being largely glass. But there was an unintended consequence: It kills birds.
The soaring glass windows in Emory’s Mathematics and Science [...]
There’s a lot of energy that we can harness if we only seek to research and develop the technologies needed to do so. We can get away from the fossil fuels and the old electrical grids by turning to alternatives to these highly polluting energy sources.
One of these alternative energy sources is wind power. Wind [...]
For many people, the cold winters can be almost unbearable. If you home isn’t staying warm during cold weather periods it can be awful and uncomfortable. Increased energy costs make it prohibitive for people to merely turn up the heat, but the other alternative, to suffer through isn’t a better solution. There actually are other [...]
NEW DELHI: A group of European scientists are launching an Arctic probe to study the ice-cap melt and predict the date for a complete meltdown at the North Pole.
The survey comes in the backdrop of the melting of snow in the polar region that led to an ice-free north-west passage for the first time [...]
LONDON: It may be a threat to humans’ long-term future on the planet, but climate change has helped bring us into being in the first place.
International scientists have carried out a study and found that millions of years ago, the evolution of the earliest human ancestors was driven by wild swings in eastern Africa’s [...]
Many greenhouse gases occur naturally, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Others such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) result exclusively from human industrial processes.
Human Activities and Greenhouse Gases
Human activities also add significantly to the level of naturally occurring greenhouse gases:
Carbon dioxide is released into the [...]
Scientists have determined that a number of human activities are contributing to global warming by adding excessive amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide accummulate in the atmosphere and trap heat that normally would exit into outer space.
Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming
While many greenhouse gases occur naturally and are [...]
Conventional Water Heaters Use Energy:
According to mechanical engineers at the University of Wisconsin’s Solar Energy Laboratory, an average four-person household with an electric water heater needs about 6,400 kilowatt hours of electricity per year to heat their water. Assuming the electricity is generated by a typical power plant with an efficiency of around 30 percent, [...]
Looks like it’s about time to break out my slippers and sweaters again. Many people believe that life in my neck of the woods–Southern California–is warm and sunny year-round. But even here, fall brings crisp days and chilly nights. Of course, conditions in colder climates are far worse, but we’re not quite as well prepared [...]
If you’re looking for ways to trim the fat from your electrical bills, consider some of these techniques, drawn from the experience of commercial daylighting experts: Turning off lights that aren’t being used is a big one. Another is converting standard incandescent light bulbs to highly efficient compact fluorescents.
Compact fluorescents use from about one [...]
The idea of letting hot summer air into your home to help keep it cool sounds paradoxical. But some parts of your house need to be well ventilated both summer and winter, regardless of the temperature outdoors. In temperate weather, a whole-house fan that pulls cool, outside air through the entire house can substantially reduce [...]
CHICAGO: US researchers have developed a method of producing hydrogen gas from biodegradable organic material, potentially providing an abundant source of this clean-burning fuel, according to a study released Monday.
The technology offers a way to cheaply and efficiently generate hydrogen gas from readily available and renewable biomass such as cellulose or glucose, and could [...]
To understand how a high-efficiency furnace works, consider these basics. In principle, a forced-air furnace is a relatively simple device, somewhat like a gas oven that’s hooked up to a fan. Natural gas is piped to a burner inside a combustion chamber where the gas is mixed with air and ignited by a pilot light, [...]
The size of a furnace is critical to efficiency. A system that’s too large wastes energy warming up and cooling down as it continuously cycles off and on a furnace that is too small will fail to warm the house on really cold days. A properly-sized system is designed as closely as possible to the [...]
DUBENDORF (SWITZERLAND): A prototype of the “Solar Impulse†round-the-world solar plane should make its first piloted flight in autumn 2008, the Swiss project leaders said on Monday.
The reduced-size model of the aircraft — which will have a wingspan of 61 metres, the equivalent of an Airbus
A340 airliner — is currently being built in northern [...]
Because heat plus moisture equals mold and mildew, every bathroom needs a way to combat this combination. The most efficient way is to exhaust bathroom air outside.
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Most new homes come with a fan already installed; older homes–if they have a fan at all–usually have one that is underpowered.
Whether your home is new or old, [...]
A little humidity is important to comfort in a home, particularly in the winter.
But too much vapor, combined with fumes from synthetic materials, pesticides, cleansers and household chemicals can make a house’s air not only uncomfortable but downright toxic. The answer? Ventilation.
Houses should breathe. They should draw in fresh air and exhaust stale air. [...]
Thanks to technology, houses have evolved light years beyond their earliest task of providing simple shelter. They have become total environments that sustain, refresh and provide us with a high level of healthful comfort. From air conditioners to zone heating systems, a wide variety of machines and systems equip today’s homes for these responsibilities.
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There are [...]
In-the-floor hydronic heating circulates heated water through coils of tubing that warm the floor to about 85 degrees F.
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Manifold zone control, installed in the wall, regulates the temperatures of floors of various rooms.
Tubing is embedded in the flooring. A boiler may be heated by any number of different fuel sources. A pump circulates [...]
An upflow furnace draws cold air in through the bottom and sends heated air out the top. Upflow furnaces are often used in houses that have basements or that deliver heat through overhead ductwork.
Downflow or counterflow furnace draws cool, return air through the top and delivers heated air out the bottom. This type is [...]
Q.Why is the Earth spherical and not any other shape?
A.The answer lies in the gravitational force,which pulls every object towards each other. The Earth is thought to have formed from a huge, rotating cloud of gas. In the newly born Earth, gravity pulled parts at the same distance from the centre with the same [...]
This is going to be a hard winter for homeowners whether they use oil, natural gas or propane to heat their homes.
Pellet stoves have a lot of advantages over conventional wood stoves – once-a-day fuel loading, some operate with thermostats, many don’t require a chimney for installation and pellet fuel stores more conveniently than cord [...]
In a path-breaking development, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and others, are soon going to be in a position where they play God with the weather.
So-called hurricane modifiers aim to steer dangerous weather patterns off course and to weaken hurricanes in the hope of preventing disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Scientists have [...]
WYOMING: Scientists say a new bacteria species, discovered in Yellowstones thermal pools, could improve the use of bacteria to produce ethanol.
Researchers found the bacteria in Octopus and Mushroom springs as well as in Green Finger Pool. The bacteria thrive in hot water, growing best between 120 and 150 degrees.
The discovery is rare because [...]
Tankless Water Heaters by Stiebel Eltron, established in Germany in 1924, and Takagi, established in Japan in 1946, are the most reliable and well engineered electric and gas tankless water heaters made anywhere at any price. Remember that Germany and Japan make the finest automobiles and electronic products in the world and it’s no surprise [...]