Tag Archives: Ideas
Energy Efficient Dehumidifiers — Ideas for Cutting Dampness Problems Without Spending a Fortune
It seems almost everyone has basement dampness problems. Where does all that water come from? Humidity can enter your house naturally in the air, in warm weather through open doors and windows, and through air leakage when the heat or AC is on, such as poorly sealed windows and doors, cracks in exterior wall plaster in older houses, cracks in upstairs ceilings, or attic hatches that lack proper weatherstripping. Anything that draws air out of your house, such as a woodstove, exhaust fan, or a low- or mid-efficiency furnace, will also pull outdoor air in. So one way you can reduce moisture is to restrict the flow of fresh air, especially during humid weather. Water can enter through your basement walls from outside. You need to direct surface water away, seal the outside of the foundation, improve drainage below the foundation, and you may even need to seal the inside of the masonry wall as well. Aspects of your own daily life such as breathing, sweating, showering and cooking, can also create moisture when the house is closed up. The daily activities of inhabitatns can add as much as 20 gallons of water a day to your house. Rain collecting in your driveway, or pouring out of an eaves trough, makes its way downhill. If the soil is porous around your foundation, or if there is a gap between the pavement and the house, the water will percolate through the ground or the crack until it meets the water table or is otherwise halted. Once it can’t flow down, it flows across, which is when it starts seeping through your foundation walls. So keep surface water away from the walls of your house. Keep eaves troughs cleaned out and properly angled, and downspouts in working order with their outflow running away from the house. Your driveway should slope away from your house, or you can run a line of mortar along the gap between the driveway and the house to keep water that accumulates in the driveway from working its way down along your foundation walls. Gardens, lawns, and other surfaces should also draw water away from your home, and if you have a sump pump it should drain far from the house as well. Protecting your basement from groundwater is a bit more challenging and can be expensive. A basement contractor can dig a trench to your foundation walls from outside, and apply a sealant to the exterior below-ground walls. They should also backfill the trench with gravel and sand to improve drainage, and they can put in drainage tile at the bottom to draw groundwater down below the floor of your basement. A more affordable option, if you have exposed masonry in your basement, is to scrub down the masonry to a hard, clean surface free of grit or mineral sweat, and use a parging compound to add waterproofing on the inside of your walls. This works for minor humidity problems but won’t solve serious basement moisture problems. Any moisture you can avoid producing indoors will help cut down on humidity problems. You can’t stop breathing, but you can cook with lids on, and turn on the range hood when boiling water; you can cut back on showers or run the bathroom fan when showering; and be mindful of aquariums, decorative fountains, and other possible humidity sources. If winter humidity is a problemIf you have humidity problems in the winter and your home is recently built and well insulated, it is possible that your home is sealed too well. A well sealed home cuts your heating costs, but if it’s too well sealed moisture will build up, as will off-gassing from synthetics, woods, carpets, and other materials that may harm your health. You might consider buying a heat exchanger rather than a dehumidifier if this is your problem. Heat exchangers let air flow in and out of your house, while keeping the heat in as the exhaust air is blown out. Before go out and buy a dehumidifier to solve moisture problems that can’t be solved by the tips above, you should understand how humidifiers work, their rankings, how ENERGY STAR dehumidifiers are ranked, and how to choose the best model for your situation. Dehumidifiers remove moisture from the air using a compressor, condenser coils, and fan. They work the same way a refrigerator works, except that their cooling power is used to condense water out of the air. Dehumidifiers have a humidistat that keeps them on until the moisture reaches a set lower level, or until the tank fills up, whichever happens first. Dehumidifiers are grouped based on extraction capacity — how much humidity they extract from the air per day — and by tank capacity — how much water they hold. In the United States, extraction capacity is rated in pints per day and capacity is measured in quarts. In most other countries, extraction capacity is rated in liters per day and capacity in liters. Once your tank fills up, the dehumidifier will not extract any water from the air until you empty the tank. If you place your dehumidifier near a basement floor drain, you can run a hose from the tank to the drain, so that you never need to empty the tank. (Most dehumidifiers come with an opening for a hose.) If you can’t do this in the room where you’re putting the dehumidifier, make sure you buy a unit with adequate tank capacity. The energy factor for dehumidifiers is the number of liters or pints of water removed from the air per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity used. The higher the energy factor value, the more efficient the dehumidifier is.
Green Home tips – Eco heating ideas
Autumn is approaching and that means colder days ahead. However, Australia is blessed with an amazingly moderate climate where even our chilliest days are nothing compared to other regions in the world. This means that Australian residents can take advantage of all natural low emissions heating in their green home. As well as insulation and energy efficiency, there are other innovative heating ideas to keep your home toasty warm for the winter. Eco Home Tip #31 – Seal up draughts – Put snakes under door jambs, get weather stripping for your windows. Heavy curtains also help keep in the heat and keep out the cold. You’ll be amazed at how cosy a room can be without any heating at all. Eco Home Tip #32 – Look beneath your feet – the soil beneath you home acts as a natural insulator, keeping the ground warm all year round. By employing a geothermal heat pump, your home can be take advantage of this natural heat during the colder months. In a geothermal system, liquid is circulated in pupes that run beneath your home. As the liquid gets warmer, it is pumped up to a heat condensor where the heat is released into your central heating system. Eco Home Tip #33 – Keep it low – Switch your thermostat down a single degree. When we come in from the cold, we’re very likely to crank the termostat up much higher than necessary. Remember that every degree lower on your thermostat can potentially save up to 10 per cent on your heating. Throw on a jumper instead. Eco Home Tip #34 – Cut your system down to size – as with air conditioning, don’t go overboard with your heating. You’ll be amazed at what a single space heater will do. Eco Home Tip #35 – Look for the Energy Star – As with all appliances, energy star ratings give a good indication of the energy efficiency of the appliance. Energy star rates furnaces, boilers and heat pumps for central heating in your home. For more green ideas for your eco home, visit the Green Pages at www.thegreenpages.com.au Visit your leading sustainability directory and news source at www.thegreenpages.com.au
Green Home Ideas – Energy Efficient Lighting, what a bright idea
Setting up a good green home starts with energy efficiency. Traditional incandescent light globes lose almost 90 per cent of their energy in generating heat – only 10 per cent of the electricity used is actually going into lighting your room. And because of their various filaments and parts, incandescent bulbs generally have a much shorter life span than their more energy efficient counter parts. Installing energy efficient globes is one of the most cost effective and easiest options available for a good green home. Some companies had even traditionally given out energy and water saving “packs” for people to try out. Nowadays, these energy saving globes are available everywhere – so the question becomes, which light fitting is right for you? Eco Home Tip # 36 – The lowdown on CFL – Compact Fluorescent (CFLs) are the most common energy saving fitting. CFLs use just about 20 percent of the energy required for the same amount of light from an incandescent globe and last 10 times as as long. All in all, a CFL will help reduce the cost of lighting your home by as much as 60 %. Eco Home Tip # 37 – Keep your CFLs close, if shaded – a British study last year revealed that CFLs produced a small amount of UV radiation when used unshaded and in close proximity. Open globes were of note, which “encapsulated” globes were considered safe. So if you’re using a work lamp with a CFL, keep it shaded of opt for an encapsulated globe instead. Eco Home Tip # 38 – Recycling your CFLs – The typical CFL contains a minute 4 mg of mercury sealed in its glass tubing. Some manufacturers have lowered its CFL mercury content to as little as 1 – 2.5 mg. Handle your CFLs with care and take advantage of recycling programs for CFLs to keep mercury from ending up in landfill. Eco Home Tip # 39 – Leading by example with LEDs – Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are another popular energy efficient lighting option, especially to replace halogen globes and downlights in your home. The small cluster of diodes can be arranged in a number of configurations and sizes to suit your home. LEDs have been traditionally found in electronics including clocks, and have a variety of uses in terms of producing a broad spectrum of bright coloured light. LEDs are the perfect substitute to the more heat intensive halogen globes and last for over 50,000 – 60,000 hours and uses 70 percent less energy than standard halogen globes. LEDs are also mercury free. Lighting a home can account for as much as 20 percent of a home’s energy use. Energy saving lights are simply a bright idea for your green home. Looking for more eco home tips and ideas? Visit the Green Pages directory for more great eco home tips and ideas! Visit your leading green directory and news source at www.thegreenpages.com.au
Passive and Proud: Green Energy Ideas for your Home
Solar energy comes from the sun. A biology class will tell you that in addition to affecting climate and weather, sunlight provides the energy that sustains most life on earth. It also can be harnessed to provide heating, lighting and electricity. Solar power has become a hot topic lately, but this technology is nothing new ? Native Americans, people in China and even the early Greeks have historically turned their buildings to the sun for heat. These early architects were using what is known as passive solar energy. This technique makes the best use of regular building materials to trap heat with no additional mechanical equipment used. Floors, windows and roofs play a role in attracting (or deflecting) the sun’s rays. There are a number of ways to take advantage of solar radiation, starting with the house’s placement. Having the house face the equator (we’ll assume we’re in the Northern Hemisphere, thus the house should face south) means that it gets the day’s sunlight. Window orientation is also important ? for optimal efficiency, most windows should point within 30 degrees of due south. Maintaining a small percentage of north facing windows will ensure that your home is comfortable year round (and not cooking in the summer). Rock or stone tile floors and brick walls will absorb the solar radiation and continue to give off heat after the sun is gone. While common windows allow heat to escape, special windows with low-e coating, multiple panes, inert gas fill, and/or insulated frames can reduce heat loss 50 to 75 per cent. By sealing your building envelope and insulating well, you will ensure that the heat stays in the house. It can then be distributed through the house using a regular ceiling fan. Direct sunlight is not the only important light to think of when considering energy use. By using overall daylight to light a space you can cut down the need for electrical lighting and the heat that’s created by it. Artificial lighting has only been the main source of illumination since the 20th century. And using natural light may have added benefits for your physical and mental health. In addition to windows, daylighting makes use of skylights, light pipes (also known as light tubes), atriums, and light shelves to illuminate the interior. This is best considered when building, but with a few small renos your house can be much brighter, naturally! Passive cooling is another way to cut your bills and become more energy efficient. This is especially useful in warmer climates, where air conditioning can be a major power consumer. Passive cooling refers to using things for shading, to absorb the heat, and goes hand in hand with passive solar energy. It can be accomplished using exterior landscaping choices ? trees and other vegetation ? or interior/exterior building options, such as shades, blinds or special glazing on windows. Whether you are building a new home, looking at doing some renovations or just want to cut your energy bill, passive solar energy and cooling techniques are an easy way to incorporated green ideas into your home. With the rising interest in environmental issues, they make an excellent selling feature and they’ll save you money. This article was produced for Carolyn Gjerde-Tu and the team at Discover Davis Homes. For more information on real estate in Woodland CA, visit Carolyn ? your online source for Davis CA real estate, www.discoverdavishomes.com
Where Can I Sell My Ideas?
I have a few really good ideas that will make companys money and make them more appealing to consumers(going green).. Also I have product ideas that I KNOW will make money. I dont want to go threw the whole patient and production thing, how can I sell my ideas to others and they can do all the work?
I Am 42 And Want To Change Careers To A Green Energy Job Such As A Consultant, Does Any One Have Ideas?
I am willing to train up to a year, but I am not sure which direction to go into. I am not an engineer but have scientific background. I think our economy is going in this direction and there will be opurtunities in the green energy area. Please let me know any area’s of green energy carreers that is interesting and has decent salary with advancement? Thanks.