that GREEN blog

“Going green” is a concept that can be applied to almost every area of your life, including how you select your home’s window treatments. Most people see window treatments as a way to decorate or have more privacy in their homes, but there are a few characteristics you can look for in blinds, shades or draperies that make them more eco-friendly.

The first of these characteristics is energy efficiency. This is not only good for the environment; it’s good for your wallet too. Energy efficient window treatments can help drastically reduce your energy bills by providing thermal protection. In the winter, certain window treatments can help provide insulation by preventing heat loss. Others can be effective in the summer by reducing heat gain. Your location and the type of material you select are both factors in a window treatment’s energy efficiency.

Checking the R-Value and Shading Coefficient ratings of the material is the best way to determine how energy efficient it is. The R-Value tells you the material’s effectiveness at preventing heat loss and the Shading Coefficient will tell you how much heat is coming through the window. So, if you live in a region where temperatures are colder for most of the year, you want to go with a material that has a high R-Value and low Shading Coefficient.

The next characteristic you want to look for in a “green” window treatment is whether or not the material is made from recyclable or renewable materials. Try and find products that are made from natural materials like cotton, hemp or silk and are not treated with pesticides or other harmful chemicals. The impact a treatment has on air quality is a factor in this as well. GREENGUARD certified products are your best bet as they have been tested for chemical emissions. The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute is a non profit organization whose mission is to improve public health and quality of life by improving indoor air quality.

Sustainable manufacturing is the final characteristic you should look for in an eco-friendly window treatment. This means selecting a product that is manufactured without the emission of greenhouse gases, generating waste, or using non-renewable or toxic materials. A product’s entire life cycle and its full impact on the environment and the surrounding community are considered in sustainable manufacturing. The goal is to be able to manufacture in a way which is so sustainable that it is able to continue far into the future.

There is no one treatment that encapsulates all of these characteristics and unless the product comes with some sort of certification statement, you may have to do some research into a product to find out just how eco-friendly your window treatment is. But if you follow these guidelines you should be able to select a treatment that is best for you, your wallet and the environment.

by Mike Spencer

Mike McNern has ran into many brick walls while trying to institute a simple program to stimulate the alternative energy industry in Colorado and the neighboring area. He would appreciate an opportunity to promote electrical generation with wind, solar, and hydrogen and stimulating the alternative energy economy with like-minded people. Mike McNern has encountered some obstacles to the green economy, some of which are as follows: -

1) Excel, a large multi-state power company tried to place a 2.6 cent / kWh capability surcharge on anyone installing solar energy whether you needed their power from the grid or not. This was defeated after much screaming and hollering. If the sun comes up in the morning, they send you a bill.

2) He spoke to representatives of two US Senators to get support for putting people back to work with the project outline in the following text called PAWE. One called it socialism to put people back to work and feed their children. The stimulus money spent to stimulate the moribund economy is being siphoned away by large corporations like the defense contractor Lockheed Martin, or is never spent at all.

I would like to share with you Mike McNern’s proposal called Practical Applications of Wind Energy and hope that this will fit with your vision for putting people back to work, stimulating the wind and solar industries, and creating a substantial reduction on America’s need to import foreign oil. I seek your help and advice on moving this project forward. Mike McNern is looking for a mentor familiar with grant applications and to hear what you have to say about putting people back to work doing necessary work stimulating the alternative energy economy.

Mike McNern has shot a documentary to accompany course materials and has completed a 5 minute demo video showing the successes and failures of wind pioneers and wind entrepreneurs throughout the state of Colorado. You can view this proposal as a video in the original article I posted on Pledging for Change (see resource box).

Much of the wind resource mapping done to date as w ell as production tax credits benefit only the large scale wind developer and utility companies. Many ranchers with significant wind resources are not able to sell their power to a market that wants renewable energy as a substitute for fossil fuels. Mike McNern has a solution that will benefit homeowners and ranchers, put people back to work, and train people to perform work that cannot be out-sourced to India and China.

A program for small to medium size wind turbines is needed to do the following:
Help create a public-private partnership by bring together interestested ranchers with representatives of the utility companies, government agencies, and equipment vendors, and lenders.

Assist ranchers and homeowners in gathering wind data specific to their land by providing off the shelf anemometer equipment that is easily integrated into their home computer equipment and whose data is readily accessed from the Internet.

Put local people back to work assembling wind towers, and erecting towers with the anemometers attached.

Gather needed wind data to encourage a market in renewable energy equipment such as wind turbines, photovoltaic cells, inverters, voltage controllers, and appropriate deep cell batteries.

Practical Applications of Wind Energy (PAWE) is a program to assist ranchers and home owners to help determine whether wind energy or a wind / solar combination is a viable alternative at their site.

PAWE consists of the following:

1) A seminar to teach ranchers, farmers, and homeowners how to determine their power consumption and whether they can expect to reach that power use through wind and solar electrical power generation. Explain how tax credits can offset some of that cost.

2) Gather data from the ranchers in the classroom to find the most suitable locations for the loaned anemometer, software, and tower. The equipment is off the shelf, grants are needed to make this affordable.

3) Install a low cost anemometer with an attached radio transmitter. Send the data from the anemometer to the rancher’s home computer. This data can be uploaded to the Internet allowing one to remotely determine the viability of the wind collection site. Determine whether signal repeaters are necessary once the optimum wind site has been located.

4) Assist homeowners and ranchers to make the best decisions regarding how to build a scalable wind / solar system. Provide assistance in classroom setting to determine how much power is required at their home, and determine the economic effectiveness for a wind and solar power system at that site. Bring in wind turbine and solar photo voltaic vendors to sing the praises of their equipment.

USA is is now and has always been bursting at the seams with innovators and idealists creating better solutions. Secondly, these innovators are analogous to mechanics building the first cars in their garages, film is the best medium to take their ideas out of woods where these folks tend to live and bring their ideas into the mainstream. Film can bridge the genius of these first mechanics and show people how wind / solar can be a more turnkey type of operation.

Upon request Mike McNern will send you the following:
1. Proposal for the creation of the Colorado Conservation Corps and the Practical Applications of Wind Energy Seminar.
2. Practical Applications of Wind Energy skill set
Phase 1 – staff and volunteer training required for the wind energy seminar, wind tower construction, and data collection and analysis.
Phase 2 – staff and volunteer training required for wind turbine installation and integration of wind turbines and solar photovoltaic modules.
3. Practical Applications of Wind Energy Seminar Outline

Mike McNern has spoken on several occasions to the regional representative of Sen. Bennet, Annie Oatman-Gardner, and has met with Senator Udall’s regional representative, Casey Howard. Although everyone loves the idea of a green energy project that is long on putting people to work , Mike McNern is still looking for constructive information on finding individuals who have grant money for putting people back to work.

With your help, Mike Mcnern can train people to produce their own energy, and to put people back to work. When people enjoy the dignity of a job that needs to be done, you feed their souls and their children.

Consider this Chinese proverb: ” When the wind changes direction, there are those who build walls and those who build windmills.”

Mike’s Original Article with Video & Links to Documents
More article on wind power

Here are some facts and easy to understand direct physics and NASA data Examining a Wind Energy Study

This study is about Exploring the concept of wind powered generators. Multi-bladed. Low wind capacity. As opposed to 3 bladed wind foil gigantic monsters.

A Farmer’s windmill

Many years ago, farmers built windmills. As we all know, farmers are extraordinarily gifted in the arts of “do it yourself,” and “make it work.” They are personally driven by production. They built windmills to lift water out of the ground for their cattle and for irrigation. They did not use silly, three bladed, passively turning windmills. They did build multibladed windmills which aggressively captured the wind and aggressively converted the wind to torque energy. And did you notice, by their folding design, when they were hit by hurricane winds they automatically folded out of the wind, and automatically unfolded when the extreme winds subsided? Mechanical automation without computers to reboot, and without electronics to short out. And NO silly three bladed things. Smart farmers.

Maybe we should have real farmers in charge of government spending? Less silly three bladed wind turbines.

The farmer needed power to lift water, a long way up from a well, consistently for their cattle or irrigation. Water weighs a lot. Just lift a gallon of water and see what it weighs. Consider lifting all of the water in a well pipe 50 feet up inside of that well pipe. There was a steel rod transversing all of that distance to lift the water, so to the weight of all that water add the weight of the steel lifting rod. That is a lot of weight. The farmer needed enough power to lift the entire length of that water. Yes, the entire weight every time. The water valve is at the bottom of the pipe, down in the water. And NO they did not set the valve 32 feet up, because the seal might not hold. (And YES they could pull a lever at the bottom of the tower, or use a float valve, which released the mechanical lifting of the water when they had enough for their cattle. And YES they had a lever to pull which disengaged other parts for maintenance, even when the windmill was turning. And YES the design would automatically fold itself out of the wind when hit by hurricane winds, and automatically reset itself when the extreme winds subsided. And all of this with NO electronics to go bad, and NO computer controls to have to reboot, etc.) Smart farmers. So, as we were saying, they needed a lot of power, every time that the well pump shaft was lifted by the windmill.

Now, think about this. How many times have you seen three bladed windmills out west, were the water table is a long way down? Never. You never saw that. You always saw multibladed windmills. Never 3 bladed ones.

Many Years of Wind Mill Experience

Now, think about this. Wilber and Orville Wright invented the airplane in 1903. There was publicity about that at the time. There were other people trying to utilize the Wright Brothers’ designs for wing shapes for themselves after that.

1903- That’s over 100 years ago.

Lots of people doing lots of thinking for over 100 years. But, no airplane wing windmills EVER became popular with the farmers. Nope. None. Did not happen. You go look again at the windmills out west pumping water. No airfoils using passive air lift. Not for the farmer. Remember the farmer needs power to help on his farm. He is not some silly teenager buying the latest fad advertised at the mall. He demands production. He demands power. He builds a windmill to work. You say, “But that is not the way it is done”

All of the other lemmings are building airfoil ‘wind turbines.’ The blades ‘fly’ and there are ‘turbulent slipstreams.’ Oh, no! Do not make me think!” Go talk to the average farmer today. Today’s farmer, with his Global Positioning System on his big turbocharged Electronically Fuel Injected tractor, and ask a farmer what he thinks about the three bladed “wind turbines.” Go. Ask. He will probably smile and be nice to you. But when you ask him why he does not invest in them, he will probably simply get back on his state-of-the-art, GPS equipped, self-navigating, air-conditioned tractor and go back to plowing, thinking that you are some city-slicker idiot that will never learn.

Farmers are probably a lot smarter than the average big city lawyer. Lots of farmers these days have a four year college degree in agriculture, which means that they study a lot about their business. A lot. And to top it off, they have direct, hands on experience with an extraordinary range of electrical and mechanical equipment. A farmer using a windmill to pump water is wise. The rest of the U.S. should learn from them.

Before your irritation at a blatant disregard for current standards and engineering expertise and even government spending get you upset, think about it.
Energy for Household Power

We estimate that the average needs about 12kw for average daily use. We looked on the net and found a range of 10kw “wind turbines” which require a “startup” wind speed from 22.5 mph to 31 mph. (Oh, and by the way, they seem to have changed their advertised startup speed since we began telling the world of our low wind speed startup design.) That is a lot of wind. Are you willing to wait for a tornado to go past your house for the “wind turbine” to work? Probably not.

Can you afford even one of the homeowner sized three bladed, airfoil imitating, “wind turbines” like your tax dollars are being wasted upon? Waiting for that rare blast of wind might be a silly investment. So, it is probably not in your current budget.

OK, so what do you do? You think like a farmer. Remember, farmers are smart. Get yourself a multibladed wind powered generator. Get a bumper sticker that says, “Think like a farmer.” Remember, just because the other lemmings are dashing into the sea does not mean that there is any true logic to three bladed “wind turbines.” Whatever it takes, get your head straight. Think.

Not enough logic?

Really?

You say, “But the engineers . . .”

Wind Powered Generators Archimedes, Levers, Torque

Archimedes, about 287-212 BC said about the use of a lever,

“Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth.”

And guess what, a blade on a windmill, or on a wind powered generator, or even on a “wind turbine,” is a lever. Remember that Physics class that you took, where you should have learned more. Here is a refresher: (force) x (distance) = torque. So, if you want a lot of power from your “wind turbine,” it is a good idea to make the blades capture lots of wind. Got it? You want a lot of the force to be directly on the blades, not wasted in aerodynamic “lift.” Got that? And, you want to capture most of the wind passing through the blade area. See? That was not so difficult to understand. Think about what you have seen. Farmers need mechanical power. Multi-bladed Windmills produce lots of power. Three bladed, aerodynamically “lifted” “wind turbines” do not produce much power. The laws of physics are not wrong. Wind Powered Generators, based upon the laws of physics are the best way to go.

A blade that is wide at the furtherest part away from the hub should give better torque and thus more power.

A blade that is wide close to the hub and skinny way out from the hub is exactly backward. That is an idiotic way to design them (unless you don’t want them to work??? If they worked then the need for oil and gas might seriously diminish. Now who would benefit from shoving non-efficient silly three bladed wind turbines down the public’s throat? Hmmm?). Think. Think. Think. Look at the blades on this link: “wind turbines,” and here; silly of them to ignore simple physics like that. Think.

You have seen “wind turbines.” Something is definitely not right about them.

Wind Energy Physics

Think. Use your own brain. Do not be afraid to think. Something is not right with those “wind turbines.” Look at them again. They are just not right. Archimedes was not wrong about levers. Farmers are not wrong about pumping water with windmills. Physics 101, where you should have studied, was not wrong about force x distance. Those “wind turbines” are just plain idiotic. Think. For yourself, think.

Take a piece of paper. Go ahead. Hold two corresponding corners in your hands, make that section flat and horizontal, and blow across the top surface. Sometimes, the back of the sheet rises, if you blow hard enough, and get the air flow in exactly the right place. It is called “Lift.” Now take the same piece of paper and hold a large width of both ends and blow directly onto the middle, with the same amount of air.

Yeeooow! What a discovery! You do not need an engineering degree and calculus to see that direct air pressure against the side of a flat surface produces far more force than over the edge with “lift.” “Wind turbines” work on lift. Windmills work on air flow pressure. Lift vs. direct flowing air pressure? You have no excuse for thinking that “wind turbines” work well now. Physics does not lie. That paper in your hand did not lie. That was a pretty simple example. Those farmers’ windmills were built right. Think for yourself.
Wind Energy Common Sense

You tell your children to think for themselves. You tell them of examples of people that did not think for themselves. There is even a famous tale of an emperor, being duped by lies, when he did not think for himself. Remember when you were young and your parent’s read you the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes? Think about it. Think for yourself. Look around you and observe reality for yourself. “Wind turbines,” as they are now, are like the Emperor’s New Clothes. A little child, being innocent of the vanity of adults, simply asked “Why is the Emperor not wearing any clothes,” and the truth was set free. Think.

. . .”But the blades fly”. . . “But turbulent slipstreams”. . .” But, but, but, everyone KNOWS that 3 blades are best because you do not want too much power.”. . . “And the Emperor really WAS wearing new clothes”. . .

Obviously this was not written for idiots. If you feel like a lemming, and want to dash into the sea; well, don’t. Lemmings do not always dash into the sea. You can think for yourself. You can read the links that we give for physics and NASA information and you can see the facts for yourself.

Wind Energy= Natural Energy

Look at solar and find that the solar panels created such a tiny trickle of power that they were actually a waste of space. Thousands of dollars to trickle charge a few batteries? No way. Not with our money.

We looked at water power from streams and rivers and found a huge amount of potential energy there. But, not many people have fast flowing streams available on their property.

Look at wind power and you’ll find vast and renewable resources of energy there. Look at wind turbines and you’ll find the 3 bladed ones to be idiotic in design. Look at the old farmer’s windmills and consider them to be extremely logical in design, extraordinarily aggressive in capturing wind energy, and phenomenally safe for birds.

We compared the calculated wind energy capturing capacity of our Wind Powered Generators (per kilowatt rating) with the calculated “airfoil lift” wind turbines and found that our Wind Powered Generators have a calculated Kilowatt-Hour return of more than 4 times that of the “airfoil lift” wind turbines.

Wind Energy and NASA

We looked at wind powered energy sources and quickly found that they were not well designed. The commercially produced wind powered energy sources were incredibly inefficient. But, in their inefficiency, they were more efficient than the solar panels. Thus, we decided to analyze them and potentially build our own. We looked at the parts for wind power sources and studied each part incrementally. This has taken us a few months, about a year now. An airfoil [or here] on edge, in a steady stream of air, does create lift. Albeit, very little lift unless there is a lot of air flow, but lift none the less, and measured in joules of energy per volume of air flow, it is very little. A flat plate, perpendicular to a steady stream of air, has the maximum mechanical advantage, and has far greater joules or energy per volume of air flow. But, we do not want to totally blow away our wind powered generator by making it flat to the wind, so we set the flat plate on a 45 degree angle. Maximum force perpendicular to the direction of the wind. And that force is against the blades of the wind powered generator to make it turn! Yes, there is drag. But drag, in this case, is transferred to the mechanical structure of the wind powered generator. Maximum turning force. Maximum torque on the shaft that turns the wind powered generator.

Having difficulty envisioning this?

Look at the NASA example of a kite. Click on “select view” then “side” then Click on “Trim.” Adjust the “B-Bridle” and the “K-Knot” until the “lift” is maximized. It is a simple visual representation, but it gets the point across. More information from NASA at “Kindergarten through 12th grade” explanations: Kites, and general Aerodynamics. Get it? Flat plate. 45 degree angle to the wind. Maximum torque for energy generation.

Wind Energy and Angle of Attack

Flat plates are a logical starting point for the design of a wind powered energy system. From fluid dynamics we know that an attack angle of 45 degrees is the most efficient for angular energy conversion of flowing air against a flat plate. At 45 degrees, it spills the energy depleted air flow which is replaced by the upstream air flow, as it has to because it is wind power. Stay with us on this. Focus. Think.

We have studied solar and wind as alternative energy sources. We are giving you a report of our findings. We are giving you direct references to physics and direct examples from NASA. We have made some discoveries of products being offered, their benefits, and their shortcomings. We are building wind powered generators based upon logic and the laws of physics. We have read and listened carefully to the lemming followers of the “wind turbine” fad. We have studied their calculations and their conclusions and found them lacking. The laws of physics are not false.

Flat plates, even if they are slightly curved for structural strength, are far better than airfoils for a wind powered generator.

David Bruce is a professional blogger who blogs on the topic of Wind Powered Generators http://windenergysystems.blogspot.com/

Going solar is more than just slapping some panels on your roof and generating electricity. It is a complete different way of utilizing a variety of ideas to offset the amount of energy that a family will use. Most people think that if they put some solar panels on their roof then they can use as much electric as they want, not change to more efficient appliances or light bulbs and other wacky ideas.

The reality of the situation is for many solar panels are an investment just as much as they are doing the right thing to reduce carbon emissions from burning coal or oil to produce electric. With solar panels, just like any other type of investment, whether it is a business or a piece of real estate, there are steps you will want to take to make sure you get the most bang for your buck.

Before you even purchase a solar panel system you should take an energy audit of your own home. You should write down the amount of electric you are using on average during each month over the past three years. This is easy to do if you kept your electric bills. If not I am sure you can get a printout from your power company. You are looking for the number of Kilowatt hours (kWh) used each month to see which months you are using more electric. If you have electric heat chances are it will be the winter months if you live in a cold climate and if you are in a warm climate the hotter months due to running the AC.

Now that you know what you use and how much of it use and when you use, you need to know some things that will help reduce these costs before you even put one solar panel on your roof. For starters are you still using those incandescent light bulbs? If so switch to CFLs. They have become very affordable and also now come in a variety of styles that meet every need. Start with replacing the bulbs in the rooms you use the most, such as the family room, kitchen, etc. Make sure you read the package because for lights on dimmer switches and motion sensors you need to buy a CFL specifically designed for that purpose. The ideal solution would be to use LCD lights, but they are very and I mean very expensive, so they are not an option right now. But keep an eye on them for the near future.

Do you have trees planted on your property? More importantly do you have them planted in an area where they would block out the sun in the hotter months? Trees take a long time to grow but they are an investment that pays off in so many ways. They beautify the home and provide shade from the sun. In the colder months they block out the wind and if you buy a tree that produces fruit such as apples or pears they can also provide a food source. The choice of tree is obviously up to you but you should definitely plant a tree or two for all the reason mentioned above.

I can not tell you how many people I have met do not do the basic thing of putting window shades over their windows to block the sun in the warmer months. Even more importantly is the fact that any shading they do use is fairly inadequate. On the windows that get the most sun, use a thicker or darker shade usually around 12mm. It will block out a lot of the sun and keep the room and house in general cooler.

For under $300 you can install a solar powered attic vent fan. Nothing reduces the life of your roof and makes the house warmer in the summertime that hot air that is not moving in your attic space. Installing a solar attic vent fan is the way to go. You do not need to hire an electrician because there are no wires to hook up and there are no costs to run the fan since the sun is free (always has been, always will be). This is a great investment that will pay huge dividends.

These are just a few of the many ways you can save on energy long before you invest the money into an expensive solar panel project. Make sure you maximize all of the ways first so the return on your investment will be its greatest.

Would you like to make some extra money writing about your solar engery experience? You can join Bukisa today and start earning residual income on every article that you write about solar engery.

Imagine how you would feel?

Just listening to Al Gore and DR David Zuzuki on talk radio CBC.
And hearing these selfishly motivated speakers (we believe) to advance only their agenda’s.
And those of CBC as supporting their agenda being in the same group.

Imagine the conclusion David said is, “The main problem of the world crisis is the burning of fossil fuels contributing to climate change!”
Some meager truth to that. But is not the real problem!

Here’s the dilemma or actual root of the problem, Those (Al Gore David Zuzuki, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and the media such as CBC and CTV and those in the US of A) with the biggest pockets talk only of their agenda and how to solve the crisis while they line their pockets! But where does that leave those who cry out for help saying may be here in lies a solution?

Trying for a long time to get even the slightest help from anyone who will listen.
You have tried many times even to contact Al Gore, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, David Zuzuki and media stations and many others.

You can call it what ever you like stubbornness or plain stupidity of those mentioned above or including ones self. (note we included our self)

We know we are not perfect, But how would you now feel hearing all these wealthy persons speaking, “we got to do something about the pollution”!” and the climate change that is taking over our earth producing global warming!” When it seems they have a one track mind to line their pockets. When we are taught it’s better to give.

Then there is your self a man with a big heart who realises this, spends 1000’s of hours doing up paid research supported only by ones self, in a most profound field that has confounded all the intellect’s world wide. Obviously the intellect’s tell everyone this is not possible.

But just because they say “NOT” possible, does “NOT” mean what they say is true!

Now consider, having been given a fairly good education in the fields related to this subject they say Not possible. Which is (Mathematics and electronics) by a very good teacher who’s books are now used in several universities and institutes. And being able to comprehend their teachings of most learned in these field’s of physics.

That leaves us with the question WHY? Why ignore some one who tries?
Has anyone thought that just because one person financially without funds and does this mean he or she will not be the one to provide the final answer?

How would you feel possibly finding an over looked law in physics, that one wants to explore, and can’t because of lacking funds? No one listens. Then one thinks to them self, why should we give these selfishly motivated persons the knowledge one has found? Why shouldn’t we be allowed this opportunity first without contractual agreements? Especially when one knows and can possibly see many uses for this energy. (Replacing all fossil fuels to nuclear. medicine and including the possibility of space travel)

Then may be one has not got the best website to attract the attention of the simple in mind.
Does this mean they should be ignored many times?
Just because they can’t spell or communicate properly, does this also mean they should not get help?

Or is the simple answer that those who look upon the nature of what we said are the ones with the actual P brain? May be we are calling the kettle black before we have found anything.
May be we are the hypocrite with a “P” brain and not those who have been contacted and or read our web site!

How would you feel? Not having asked for money but to have asked a different reason, because we feel they won’t part with even pocket change, But to have asked for just some simple recognition to help raise a few pennies from those who like to help. All we wanted in the past was to ask for a web link as below or the mentioning of this simple research, By one who cares and is trying to do his part. By one who has never asked for a ton of money. Just enough to get by and buy the odd piece of material when needed. Rather then to consider should I buy this for my experiment or will I need this for my tires getting bald or is it food on the table this time?

It’s possibly to much to ask but,
Thank you for hearing me,
David Chura,
(the only) Research investigator field of CMA energy.
cma.energy @ gmail.com
www Climate Change Magnetic Energy com

David Chura, research investigator, field of CMA energy, readers digital buying a kindle as a gift global warming