Green Products, Tips, and Solar Panels
Modern society is at a turning point in the world. One direction is well traveled with worn roads, oil pumps, gas stations, and decaying cars while the other direction is unknown, mysterious, maybe even dangerous. Solving the energy crisis is important to everyone who relies on trucks to deliver their food to the grocery store, traveling far distances to work, or trying to plan a vacation.
For many commuters, gasoline costs take over a quarter of what a person makes and this is often compounded by car payments, utilities, insurance and rent. They aren’t going to wake up one day to energy efficient world without a great deal of effort and thought. Many so called green products are really not so green and may be worse than recycling a harsher substance. This is where the knowledge of nature kicks in, if the ingredient list looks like a chemistry text book beware, or do some research and find out what monosodium glutamate, which is also called autolyzed yeast extract or simply “flavoring”, or any of the other multitude of confusing ingredients really does so the body and environment.
Being good to the environment requires a lot of thought, especially concerning lifestyle and sustainability, the hottest word in the construction, architectural, and agricultural industry today. Green homes are sustainable which means they generate all the power they need, collect all the water they need, and dispose of all the waste that is used. This is a gargantuan task and involves bringing a house to life, basically turning it into an organism. Now if only they could reproduce everyone would have shelter.
These green homes are powered with solar panels, heat collectors, home wind turbines, geothermal, water and often a combination of many of these. A reliable system is a redundant one, if something isn’t working, some of the other options should still be fine. Many of these homes include energy efficient products that lower the overall energy usage which is the easiest way to lower environmental impact.
Don’t be fooled by green labels though, those highly energy efficient fluorescent bulbs that are replacing incandescent ones do lower energy use for the home, (if everyone in America switched to these it would be like taking a million cars off the road) but they contain dangerous amounts of mercury and should not be thrown away. They have to be taken to the place they were purchased or a suitable recycling center otherwise their impact to the environment could be even worse than burning incandescent light bulbs all day long.
Some of the easiest ways to go green are simple yet effective. Take a shorter shower, use as much natural light as possible and only turn on lights when you are in the room for a period of time, or install solar lighitng. Keep the fridge door closed until you know what you are going to grab, and if your fridge or freezer is largely empty fill it with water jugs. These jugs take up space in the fridge which otherwise would be filled with air. Every time the fridge is opened that air is replaced with warm air that has to be cooled. The water stays cold and does not rush out which gives the fridge an easier time at keeping things cool.
These little tips can quickly become habit while you pursue complete energy independence.