Don’t Wait for the “Right Time” to Start Your Home Business
As the end of another year approaches, countless individuals are considering a future online business.
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10 Ways To Save Money On Your Electricity Bill
Saving your hard earned cash on your next electricity bill just got easier than you ever imagined. In this article, I have compiled the a list of the top 10 tips to help navigate you on your campaign to save money and knock your electricity bill down. Along with each tip you will see the possible energy savings you can potentially expect to receive.
In addition to conserving your money, you will be making your house more enjoyable, and you will be helping to preserve the enviroment and your surroundings.
1. Adjust your water heater’s temperature to 120 degrees (save up to 10 percent on water heating costs; verify this by placing a thermometer below some of your taps). Most people in general don’t comprehend that their electric water heater is essentially constantly on heating the water.
If you will set the water temperature around 120 degrees your water heater will not have to re-heat the water as much as it does at hotter temperatures therefore saving you electricity and money.
2. Wash and dry only full loads of garments. Use cold water as much as possible (save 2 to 4 percent on your energy costs). This additionally saves time when you plan ahead and wash a full load of your items. Who wants to fold thir stuff more than necessary?
3. As a general rule, typically once a month, change your air conditioner’s air filter (save up to 5 percent on your yearly electricity bill). Moreover, this helps with dust and dirt in the air making your house cleaner and more enjoyable place to live.
4. Put compact fluorescent lights in high-use fixtures (save close to 66 percent on lighting cost per light). Furthermore, these type of lights manage to last much longer than the conventional light bulbs that many of us use today.
5. On hot, sunny days, keep your drapes shut on windows facing to the south and west (save 2 to 4 percent on your energy bill). The drapes will help keep the suns heat from heating up your house which means you use less energy to stay comfortable.
6. Keep your doors and vents shut in rooms that are not being used (save up to 3 percent on cooling costs). There is no need to spend money cooling off rooms that are not being used – this can be a huge savings depending on how many square feet you have in your house.
7. Caulk and weather-strip around windows and doors (save 1 to 4 percent on your energy bill). Many folks skip over this step, but heat seeping around cracks means you have to use more air condition and essentially more power which means you’re wasting money.
8. During hot weather place your thermostat at 78 degrees or above when you’re at your house, and at 85 degrees when no one is there (you save 1 to 2 percent per degree increased on your electricity bill). Additionally, use a ceiling fan or a fan that rotates back and forth. This can make a room appear nearly 4 degrees cooler!
9. Use your microwave oven instead of your conventional cooking range (save up to 50 percent on cooking costs). Microwaves are much more electricity efficient than ordinary traditional ovens. A traditional oven uses a lot of energy to heat up and to stay hot.
10. Take advantage of super low electricity rates from Ambit Energy and save up to 16% on your next electricity bill – for the average user this is over $250 per year!
This is one of best ways to save money right off the top of your electricity bill with doing almost nothing. All you have to do is switch your electricity provider and you can do it online in just a couple of minutes.
Ward Miller
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/10-ways-to-save-money-on-your-electricity-bill-72726.html
Is It Time For Solar Energy to Get Hot?
Is It Time For Solar Energy To Get Hot? By Tim Phelan
Solar energy has been around for quite a while and most people
don’t think about it much except for the ones who are already
into renewable sources of energy. Environmentalists have always
loved the idea of solar energy but what has kept it from going
more mainstream, being more widely used and looked upon as
something someone wants to spend money to install on their
property? There have been improvements in the technology of
solar energy, but has there been enough? Isn’t the war on terror
and the desire to be independent of foreign energy sources
enough to persuade people to use solar energy? At what point
will solar energy become the great and never ending source of
energy many of envisioned many years ago?
Well, I, for one, think that the time has just about come for
solar energy to really take off because of one reason: it will
be economically the right and smart thing to do.
Last year I was driving to Las Vegas from San Jose and when I
was just about three quarters of the way to my destination I
passed a sign that said something about a “solar farm.” I
glanced over and saw row upon row of solar panels sitting in the
middle of the dessert. This is about the only farm that could
survive in the dessert I thought to myself. Then I thought ”
Wow. Why can’t I do that?” In a smaller fashion of course
because of my limited resources. But I thought why not rent some
land and buy some of these panels and start my own little farm?
It made sense and actually it still makes sense to me.
I went home later and looked into the solar energy industry. I
wanted to see if this was possible now and I thought if these
people put all those panels out in the dessert and sold the
energy to others why can’t a small businessman?
Well, what I found out is that it isn’t quite possible to do
just yet. Why? Because the cost of the panels, property, labor
etc.. wasn’t low enough to make a profit for what you can sell
the energy for. The solar farm was more than likely subsidized
by the government. So I looked into the possibility of using
them on homes. This thought has been around for decades and you
do see the panels on more homes than you used to so I was
wondering if this was possible now. I found out that it just
takes too long for the average consumer to get their investment
back to consider putting solar panels on their homes.
The average time for a homeowner to get the money back on their
investment is anywhere from 12 years to 20 years. For this
industry to take off that figure I believe will have to go down
to around 5 to 7. Not that far really. It could actually go
below that.
Three things have to happen for the solar energy promise to
become a reality and for homeowners and entrepreneurs to decide
in large numbers to use solar panels to create electricity:
1. The price of the panels will have to decrease. 2. The panels
will have to improve and produce more energy. 3. The cost of
energy will have to increase.
Actually just one of these factors can happen to a great degree
and the other two stay constant and the point will be reached
where the solar energy industry will explode. But more than
likely, all three will come closer together and at some point
people will decide to start buying the panels in record numbers
and we will see this way of creating energy from a clean and
renewable source be common place.
Here is why I think the time is very near for this explosion to
happen.
1. There is a bill in the state legislature in California now
that will spend on rebates for solar energy. The
governor wants to show that he is in the front of this movement
and wants to be aggressive. Some don’t like the way the bill is
written, but there is a good chance it will pass. Click here for the
article
2. The panels are becoming more and more efficient at producing
more energy.
3. The price may go down dramatically if contracts with China to
produce the panels are put into place. Normally I don’t like our
jobs going oversees to people who only get fractions of what the
US worker makes but in this instance it will also create many
jobs here to install the panels, sell them, warehouse them
etc… Plus this is something the country needs I feel. Clean,
renewable energy that makes us less reliable on foreign oil and
gases.
Also, some companies are producing these new generation flexible
solar energy panels that come in sheets and can be rolled up and
then out onto surfaces. These may bring the cost way down and
make the instalation much more easy and cost efficiant. Here is
an article about this new product: Click Here
At what point will these three variables merge?
I predict in the next two to three years this industry will take
off like so many of us were hoping it would many years ago.
If you want to know how to install a solar electric panel system
to your house here is a inexpensive e-book that shows you how.
Click
Here People can act now, and many already are by buying and
installing these solar panels. With the war on terror looking
like it could last decades many look upon this investment as not
only a clean green solution and a smart investment on increasing
the value of their home, but as almost a patriotic gesture in a
way to free us from the dependence on middle eastern oil and
natural gas. Here is a link to a terrific site where you can get
these panels at wholesale prices. This site has all sorts of
renewable energy sources at great prices.
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Tim Phelan
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/is-it-time-for-solar-energy-to-get-hot-1280.html
The Potential Of Hydrogen Based Energy
This article illustrates the potential of hydrogen based energy systems. We want to show you that if the world chooses to follow the hydrogen road then all the basic technology is available now, we are not waiting for research breakthroughs.
The cost of changing to a hydrogen-powered world will not be excessive, especially if the external costs of pollution and ill health associated with fossil fuels are taken into account as credits towards the cost of using hydrogen as a clean fuel with no external costs. Only when hydrogen enters a market at small volumes is there going to be a cost problem and we will just have to find ways around these temporary obstacles.
The following sections will show you how to calculate the cost of changing to hydrogen. See for yourself, if you think our input figures are wrong then you can substitute your own and see if a hydrogen powered world is feasible. We would be very pleased to have some feedback on this because it is difficult to get well documented information on costs.
If global warming is partly or wholly due to atmospheric CO2 produced by the use of fossil fuels, then the hydrogen energy system described here is one way of producing more energy for the world without adding more CO2 to the atmosphere that would make global warming worse.
Global warming will have adverse effects on climate and will lead to rising sea levels flooding towns, cities and farmland.
We cannot realistically expect to reduce the total world use of energy because only a quarter of the world’s population are using approximately three quarters of the world’s current energy production. This a quarter of the world’s population are unlikely to make the reductions in use required to accommodate increases in energy use by the three quarters of the world’s population currently needing more energy supplies.
Some people advocate cutting back the consumption of resources and energy generally as the way to a sustainable future. But the dynamics (i.e. increasingly capitalist ) and realities of the world’s population and economies are such that a peaceful global reduction in consumption is not possible. What is needed is environmentally sustainable growth of world production to meet human needs. This will require an increasing supply of clean pollution-free energy and the recycling of the Earth’s material resources which will also involve using more energy.
A hydrogen based system offers totally clean energy supplies with no pollution. The system is based on renewable sources of electricity and uses hydrogen as an energy carrier/fuel that is able to replace all existing uses of fossil fuels. The hydrogen energy system could meet all the world’s energy needs forever.
It is more likely that the argument over what to do about global warming is going to be won by people who say what can be done and not by people who say what cannot be done. The hydrogen energy system offers a way out of our energy supply impasse.
The hydrogen energy system is a simple concept, it is based on current technology and would not be particularly expensive. Water, which comes from the atmosphere as rain, is converted into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis using clean renewable electricity. The hydrogen, which is an energy carrier and fuel, is then transported to where energy is needed and at the point of use the hydrogen combines with atmospheric oxygen to form water which returns to the atmosphere as water vapour. The exchange of water and oxygen via the atmosphere is always in balance and there is no pollution.
James Nash
http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/the-potential-of-hydrogen-based-energy-579659.html
This Why We Need Alternative Energy Sources
The need for alternative energy sources is getting urgent, hence the development of renewable energy is moving fast. Nationally and internationally various individuals and research companies are creating new and exciting energy systems. Some of these apparatus are great works and need improving for massive use. Politician’s world-wide are drafting policies and are making agreements to make greater use of these energy sources.
The first problem is that the fossil fuels are depleting in a rapid rate and are harder to retrieve. The consequence is that we can be facing an energy crisis in the future is we are not careful today. The energy prices will sky rocket and not be available for many individuals or countries. To avoid this doom scenario we need to find alternatives and used them to their full potential. Luckily this is already happening.
The second problem is that the fossil fuels that are widely used today are harmful for the environment. In the early seventies and eighties there were people and even scientist who preach otherwise, but today the negative effects are showing. The earth is warming up and climates are changing. There are parts in the world were there be more rain and sunshine and others parts will be come dryer then they already are. Another negative effect is that the ozone layer is getting thinner which also leads to a warming up of the earth. These two effects compliment each other and make it even more crucial to make another step in a different direction. This step will lead us to the use of renewable energy.
Another problem lies in the development of small economies. Because the energy prices for crude oil are going through the roof, these countries suffer even more. Many of these countries need crude oil for their electricity and means of transportation. These high oil prices have their effect on almost everything. The monthly electricity costs for households increase among others like transport cost and prices for basic products. Hence, these high oil prices make it harder for these small countries to grow there economies.
The solution for the above problems can be resolved by renewable energy. Our beautiful planet gives us the opportunity to make proper us of sunlight, flowing water, strong winds, and hot springs and convert these into energy. These energy sources are abundant and free to use. We must be sure that we convert the energy the right way, without causing other problems that can again hurt our environment. Luckily the many efforts by individuals and companies show that this can be done.
Bryan Wong