Tag Archives: Easy

Dec 09 2011

EzW2 Software Makes W2 And 1099-MISC Filing Fast, Easy and Stress Free

by admin in Solar Power

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) December 09, 2011 W2 and 1099-misc tax form preparing has always been one of the most challenging tasks for most small businesses. Business payroll tax software provider, Halfpricesoft.com (http://www.halfpricesoft.com) has released the new ezW2 software in time, which makes small business 1099 and W2 tax reporting a breeze with free trial, no registration, and no obligation for the Year 2011/2012 tax season. Designed with simplicity in mind, the new edition of the already popular product was updated according to the suggestions from customers including:


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Nov 10 2011

Renewable Energy Made Easy: Free Energy from Solar, Wind, Hydropower, and Other Alternative Energy Sources Reviews

by admin in Green Power

Renewable Energy Made Easy: Free Energy from Solar, Wind, Hydropower, and Other Alternative Energy Sources Studies have shown that the average North American family will spend more than a quarter of a million dollars on energy in a lifetime. What many other countries, including Germany, Spain, France, Denmark, China, Brazil, and even Iceland, have realized is that there is a better way to power our homes, businesses, and cars by using renewable energy sources. Recently, the United States has begun to understand the importance of reducing its reliance on coal, natural gas, nuclear power, and hydropowe List Price: $ 24.95 Price:


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Dec 17 2009

How to Make Your Own Renewable Energy Source in 3 Easy Steps

by admin in Green Energy

Have you noticed your energy bill getting more and more expensive every month? I sure have. Sometimes I almost feel hopeless when it comes to paying my bills on time. My energy bill just keeps on getting more and more expensive each month! But you know what, I found a great way to cope with the rising costs of energy. I’ve created my own source of energy, and I’m willing to tell you how I did it in just 3 easy steps! 1) Researching Renewable Energy The first thing that I did was research ways to create my own source of renewable energy. Just like you I was eager to learn about the possibilities of making my own energy and saving some money on my electric bill. What I found was that I had two options when it came to making my own renewable energy. I would either have to build a wind turbine or solar energy generator. Both of these energy sources have something in common. They are forms of green energy. This means that they are cheap, renewable, and clean. I’m going to be honest with you. After discovering that I was going to have to make my own wind turbine or solar panel I was extremely intimidated. I thought to myself, “How in the world am I going to be able to make my own green energy source?”. And this led me to the second step… 2) Do You Have Directions? Ok, so at this point I had come to realize that I was going to have to build my own natural energy source. So what did I do? Well, I did a little more tedious research. I did what everybody does these days, I asked Google. After hours of searching for phrases like “how to make your own energy” and “how to build a wind turbine” I was left very irritable and discouraged. I found that manually researching something like this was not only tedious but also unreliable. That is until I came across a little hidden gem… 3) The All Powerful Guide Truth be told I did waste many hours researching only to be left with garbage. But I did gain a very valuable tool that helped me successfully build my own green energy source. I came a across a DIY homemade natural power guide. In it I found every single piece of information that I needed to build my own natural power system. It was filled to the brim with detailed diagrams, pictures, schematics, secret tips, you name it. It was all there. And guess what? I was able to build my own natural power system in just two days. Want to know how much it cost me? The total cost of everything was less than $200! This isn’t cheap but it sure beats paying $20,000 for a professionally installed green energy source. The best part is that I payed off the initial costs within a month, and am now saving hundreds of dollars every month. You CAN make your own green energy source. All you need is the right resources. If you believe in yourself and you believe in saving money on your energy bill every month, then I highly recommend you click the link below. You will learn about the specific DIY green energy guide that I used. Why spend dozens of hours on tedious research when all you need is right in front of you? Make Your Own Renewable Energy. Click The Link Below. http://www.squidoo.com/howtomakenaturalpower http://www.squidoo.com/howtomakenaturalpower


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Dec 15 2009

An easy way to saving energy and water

by admin in Green Energy

With increasing pressure to save energy and water, homeowners can sometimes sacrifice the use of a bath, for the more stringent shower. When deciding whether to install a bath or a shower you may want to consider which of the two saves more water. Taking a shower instead of a bath is a commonly known money/energy saving tip. To save water through shower usage depends on the time you spend in the shower and how quickly the shower head dispenses water. A typical bathtub requires about 30 gallons for a bath. A standard shower head will flow about 3 gallons per minute. In five minutes, this uses only 15 gallons of water. Using a low-flow shower head can cut the total water usage to less than ten gallons saving thousands of gallons of water per year. Depending on your showerhead and whether it has a flow restrictor in it and how long you shower, the answer could oscillate either towards shower or bath. There are two types of low-flow shower heads: aerating and non-aerating. Aerating – mixes air into the water stream. This maintains steady pressure so the flow has an even, full shower spray. Because air is mixed in with the water, the water temperature can cool down a bit towards the floor of the shower. Aerating shower heads are the most popular type of low-flow shower head. Non-aerating – air is not mixed into the water stream. This maintains temperature well and delivers a strong spray. The water flow pulses with non-aerating shower heads, giving more of a massaging showerhead effect. You must evaluate the situation carefully when deciding to replace a bath tub with a shower. In certain circumstances replacing a bath tub with a shower can devalue a property. This depends on the market the property appeals to. If it is a 1 or 2 bedroom house, then the market may lie in couples, first-time buyers or investors. With these sorts of purchasers, the property would not be likely to devalue as showers are a suitable alternative to baths. Larger properties, however, would benefit from bigger bathroom features such as baths or hot tubs. While replacing the bath with a shower cubicle may not affect the value for young couples and investors, it is essential to finish the bathroom to a high standard, as this will definitely affect the value of the property. So, whichever route you take with regards to your bathroom, plan the layout well and finish the job with quality and precision. If space is the issue, then flexibility of choice can be limited depending on the size and shape of the bathroom.


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Dec 12 2009

The Easy and Inexpensive Way to Build Wind Power Turbines

by admin in Green Energy

People around the world are realizing the importance of clean sources of energy such as wind and solar power. Building wind power turbines has become a lot easier nowadays. In fact one need not be a qualified engineer to build one. Man has been using wind power for several centuries now, though it is only recently due to the rising levels of pollution that interest has been revived in them. Windmills and wind turbines can be seen making a comeback in most parts of the world for this reason. It is always preferable that you do a bit of research on the various parts that make up wind power turbines, before you try your hand at making one. To start off the process you must first of all gather all the equipment that you would need. Construction material is the next thing that you need to decide on. Although both wood and aluminum are used to make windmills, these days aluminum is the preferred material, since it is considered more durable. The next thing that you need to carefully plan is the location of the turbine. You must make sure that you install it in a place where there is ample open space. Remember, even the best turbine ever built will not be of any use if there were to be insufficient wind flow.


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Dec 11 2009

Easy Tips to Generate Homemade Wind Power

by admin in Green Energy

With people being enlightened about the fact that their electricity bill is going too high, they are looking for alternate sources of energy that can help them in this regard. What can suit this situation better than homemade wind power? The main idea here is to use the energy of the wind which is a renewable resource that can never get depleted and convert it into electricity. This simple ideology of homemade wind power is made even easier to be adopted with the availability of several instruction manuals that gives you detailed information about the setting up of such instruments. You need to first understand the science that is behind the generation of homemade wind power. The power of the wind rotates the blades of your windmill and this mechanical energy is converted to electricity. In pure science terms, this is termed as conservation of energy. There is a false notion that there is a necessity for large amounts of wind to make this plan successful. The fact is that even small amounts of wind that we can find around our farmhouses are more than sufficient to generate homemade wind power. You will need components like a rotating platform, turbine blades and electrical systems for making a complete homemade wind power generator. These are not so difficult to find. If you look around your home, you can be sure of finding most of these components and even if you don’t these are available at the nearest hardware store and the entire construction and setting up will fall much cheaper than finding a pre fabricated one. This requires plenty of planning and this is the most important field. First of all you need to decide on how much electricity you require for your home. This can be found out very easily as all you need to do is inspect your electricity bills. Then you need to fix on a good location for the windmill. Don’t you want to cut down on your electricity bills? Then choose alternate forms of energy such as production of homemade wind power for electricity. For details on how to go about this, visit Earth4Energy


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Dec 09 2009

Wind power turbines – easy to build and easy to maintain

by admin in Green Energy

A few years ago if someone were to have told you that you can generate electricity right inside your home, then you would have laughed at that person. Today, it is something that is no longer a fantasy. It is a reality for which an increasing number of wind power turbines stand testimony. You can now easily build your own wind turbine and generate wind power electricity. Ideally speaking, having a lot of free space around your home would be preferable, if you want to build your own windmill and turbine. Roofs of houses are another place which is ideally suited for installing wind power turbines. Building your own wind turbine is not that a difficult process, if you were to follow instructions from a do it yourself wind turbine guide. You can find many such useful guides over the internet. These guides usually come with detailed step by step instructions which you need to follow in order to build wind power turbines. You can easily find all the supplies needed for building your own windmill at a hardware store near you. This apart, you can even go one step further and make one from scrap materials. This way you would be doing even more good to the environment. For instance, you can always visit the local junkyard for some of the materials or parts that you will need to build wind power turbines. You can easily find PVC pipes in junkyards, which can be used for making the blades of the wind turbine. Something as simple as an old roller paint pan can be used to make the tail of the turbine. Being innovative is the key to building wind power turbines. This kind of an approach will also make the entire building process fun too. There are plenty of online sources that can teach you how to build wind power turbines on your own. Visit Earth4Energy Review to find easy to follow instructions that can help you build one and drastically cut down on your energy bills.


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Dec 08 2009

Home Energy Audit: An Easy Decision

by admin in Green Energy

Have you ever


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Nov 04 2009

Pollution Control is Easy Using the Right Wind Power Design

by admin in Green Energy

With a basic wind power design, you should be able to produce sufficient power for running all of your domestic electrical components. When you use your personal wind power, you will be able to start saving your earnings as well as the environment side by side. Nowadays you can find websites that provide plans to design and construct a wind mill that is simple with basic supplies from most hardware stores. Some supplies may have to be purchased from an electric supply shop, but these things are typically found without much difficulty. Generating Your Own Wind Power Can Help You Benefit By Saving Quite A Bit Of Money Keeping in mind that most people pay nothing less than $150 monthly on electrical power, this totals up to a little short of 50,000 dollars in about twenty five years. When you capitalize on wind power, you will offset the cost of the construction of the wind mill. Take into consideration the lessening of carbon levels if every single person exploited wind power for homes as well as for their offices. Even if only twenty three people built and used a wind turbine, the combined savings could potentially reach way more than one million dollars in 25 years. Opting For A Wind Generator at Home Provides You With Free Power Once you pay for your wind power construction details and all the other necessities, you are finished with paying for power every month. There are no mandatory fees, no grid to hook up too and the most exciting news is that there is no power company that is waiting to collect any kind of fees. Just about the only charges that you will need to bear would be towards occasional repairs and regular maintenance as your turbine ages. Which Wind Power Design Is The Best? The vast range of wind power designs that are available can be intimidating for most individuals. However, you are sure to soon see basically there are just 2 types wind mills or wind turbines, as they are widely known as. What you will get are large turbines that produce an average of 2000 watts or smaller sized ones that generate 700-1000 watts on average. The size of the turbine’s rotor and average wind speed will have an effect on how much power you would be able to produce. What are the Alternatives that those Skilled Experts Suggest? Most wind turbine pros will suggest that take it easy when starting out and then take off from there as you get more familiar with it. There is lots of manual work that is expected assembling a wind turbine at home. You can start small and use your first project to provide power to another building such as a garden shed. If your pilot project thrives, you could then consider building a turbine that is more complex that can power up a larger space. You Certainly Do Not Have to Be a Specialist Wind turbine construction will involve the use of a few basic tools, including a metal cutter. In addition you should have a little familiarity with electrical wiring and components. Most plans related to wind power will come with explicit instructions and diagrams. When in doubt, go ahead and get the opinion of a specialist when you get to the intricate parts of the project. Wind power is among the most environmentally friendly ways of generating power. Look for a simple wind power design over the internet today and you can start conserving energy in no time.


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Oct 31 2009

Six Easy Steps to Estimate Cost of a Solar Power System

by admin in Solar Power

Solar power energy systems are not inexpensive. That said it’s important to compare them within context of other types of home improvement projects. Home buyers and realtors view a solar photovoltaic or solar hot water heating system as a significant value-added improvement ? similar to adding a deck or remodeling your kitchen. Plus unlike a deck or kitchen remodel, you also gain one-up on your power bills. Here are some foolproof ways to estimate the cost of a solar photovoltaic or solar thermal system and to figure out if a solar energy system makes sense for you. Six Easy Steps To Estimate Cost of a Solar Power System Solar power energy systems are not inexpensive. That said it’s important to compare them within context of other types of home improvement projects. Home buyers and realtors view a solar photovoltaic or solar hot water heating system as a significant value-added improvement ? similar to adding a deck or remodeling your kitchen. Plus unlike a deck or kitchen remodel, you also gain one-up on your power bills. Solar power systems often get an additional financial boost as well: many jurisdictions and utilities across the USA offer attractive financial incentives to drive down the upfront capital costs associated with a solar power system. Here are some foolproof ways to estimate the cost of a solar photovoltaic or solar thermal system and to figure out if a solar energy system makes sense for you. Let’s start with a home photovoltaic (PV) system. Step 1: Estimate your home’s electricity needs To get started, it’s good to have a sense of how much electricity you use. You’ll have a better point for comparison if you find out how many kilowatt hours (kWh) you use per day, per month, per year. Your utility bill should include that information. Of course, the utility bill will also display your costs and many utilities include a graph that displays how your monthly energy use/cost varies throughout the year. That helps you estimate where your highest energy use is and at what time of year. New Home Construction If you are constructing a new home, then you’ll need to estimate your demand based on the type of equipment you plan to install and your home’s square footage. The pross call this “your load”. To figure out your anticipated load, create a table to record the watt use for each appliance. Each appliance ? be it a water heater, electric light, computer, or refrigerator ? should have a nameplate that lists its power rating in watts. Or you can get the information from the manufacturer’s website. Some labels list amperage and voltage only; to obtain watts multiply the two together (amperage x voltage = watts). In another column, record the number of hours each appliance is expected to operate. Then multiple the watts and hours together to estimate watt-hours used per day. Since it’s hard to anticipate all electric loads (it may get tedious scouting out every toothbrush and mobile phone cell charger), you might want to add a multiplier of 1.5 to be safe. Step 2: Anticipate the future In 2005, average residential electricity rates across the USA ranged from about 6 to nearly 16 cents per kilowatt hour depending on where you lived. Average retail and commercial electricity rates have increased roughly 30% since 1999 and the upward trend will likely continue especially as costs for the coal and hydropower used to generate that electricity rise as well. So think about your home electricity needs and present and future cost in relation to one another. Step 3: How much sun do you get? The Florida Solar Energy Center has conducted a study to examine how a 2-kW photovoltaic system would perform if installed on a highly energy efficient home across the continental USA (http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/publications/html/FSEC-PF-380-04/). The study accounted for all factors that impact a PV system’s performance such as the temperature effect on the photovoltaic cells, the amount of sun peak hours in various regions, and the efficiency of inverter to convert solar derived energy from DC to AC. As the study implies, solar photovoltaic systems work just about anywhere in the US. Even in the Northeast or in “rainy Seattle”, a pv system can pencil out if designed and installed properly. In New York or New Jersey, a one kilowatt system should produce about 1270 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, in Seattle, a one kilowatt system should produce about 1200 kilowatt hours per year. In the Southwest, of course, those ratios will be much greater. Solar contractors in your area can help determine the best size for your solar photovoltaic system. Step 4: Size your system In general, solar photovoltaic systems sized between 1 to 5 kilowatts are usually sufficient to meet the electricity needs of most homes. One advantage of grid-tied systems is that you can use solar PV to supplement or offset some of your electricity needs; therefore you can size your system to match your budget and always add to the system later if needed. Also as a side note, here’s a rule of thumb to remember to help you estimate the physical space your PV system might need: one square foot yields 10 watts. So in bright sunlight, a square foot of a conventional photovoltaic panel will produce 10 watts of power. A 1000 watt system, for example, may need 100 ? 200 square feet of area, depending on the type of PV module used. Step 5: Know your rebates Many states and local jurisdictions offer rebates, tax credits and other types of incentives to homeowners for installing residential photovoltaic and solar domestic water systems. To view a comprehensive database of the incentives available for renewable energy visit http://www.dsireusa.org. At the Federal Level, you can take advantage of a 30% tax credit (of up to $2,000) for the purchase of a residential solar system at least until December 31, 2008. Step 6: Run the numbers Although the cost for a solar PV system will depend on the size of the system you intend to install, your electricity rate, the amount of kilowatt hours you expect to generate, and the state/local rebates/tax credits that may be available, the formulas for calculating the returns are pretty much the same. For those who appreciate having the formulas, use the ones listed below to do a quick ballpark estimate of how much a solar photovoltaic system might cost you. Retail Price for Solar Photovoltaic System + Building Permits – $2,000 Federal Tax Credit – State or Local Tax Credit or Rebate – Utility Rebate or Other Incentive = Net Investment Kilowatts of electricity generated from PV per year x Kilowatt hours used per year = Annual Kilowatt energy from the PV system Annual Kilowatt energy from the PV system x Current Residential Electricity Rate = Annual $$ Saved Yearly Excess PV Energy Produced x $$ credit applied per watt = Annual Value from Net Metering Of course, a more accurate assessment can be made by a pro. Work with a solar power contractor to size and price the right system for you. As is true with any major purchase, don’t hesitate to ask for several bids from different contractors. Many solar power providers will provide you with a comprehensive estimate. Helpful information to know includes: – Total cost to make the system operational (labor cost for design and installation and equipment costs) – Equipment (Make and Model) – Warranty info – Permit costs, if needed – Tax, where applicable – Federal tax credits – State or local jurisdiction tax credits or rebates – Utility rebates – Expected Renewable Energy Certificates or Net metering credits – Expected operation and maintenance costs – Projected savings Solar Thermal (also called Solar Hot Water) Solar thermal systems capture the sun’s energy to heat water and are one of the most cost-effective renewable energy systems. They are used to heat hot water tanks and/or a heating system. A solar pool heating system is another type of solar thermal system designed specifically to heat a pool or hot tub. Generally it’s worth investigating the economic viability of installing a solar hot water system if you have an electric water heater with utility rates of at least 5 cents per kilowatt hour and have tax credits or rebates available. (It may even be worth changing out a gas-powered water heater if your costs are at least $8/million BTU). The formulas for costing out a solar water heater system are similar to estimating the cost for installing solar PV system. Many solar energy professionals can help you determine what system might work best for you. Heating Your Swimming Pool with Solar Power Although few jurisdictions provide financial incentives for using solar energy to heat a swimming pool or hot tub, in general, using solar power to heat your pool is a “no-brainer” from a return on investment standpoint. The electricity used to heat a pool during the swimming season often amounts to the same amount of energy that homes-without-pools consume over a year. Combining a solar thermal system to generate heat for the pool with a solar thermal pool cover to retain the heat generated can further maximize efficiencies and extend your swimming season. Most installers recommend that a solar collector used to heat a pool is sized at roughly half the square footage of your pool surface area. Solar thermal panels typically last 10 ? 20 years and come with a 10-year warranty. How long it takes to break even on the cost of your solar power pool system depends on where you live. In California or other parts of the Southwest, you’ll break even in 1 to 3 years but places as “far north” as Canada, a solar pool heating system pencils out over a slightly longer period of time. Find more solar panel and solar power information at Cooler Planet.


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