Beat the Heat...Beat Global Warming...with Ceiling Fans

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Ceiling fans and air-conditioners have been the main cooling equipment for decades. First came the fans and then the air conditioners. Air conditioners dominated the cooling equipment sector but it should not be promoted due to the enormous consumption of electricity and supporting the causes of emission of greenhouse gases.

Almost one-sixth of U.S. Electricity is consumed by the air conditioners per year. During peak periods in scorching summers this figure raise to 40%. The ongoing trend of rising global temperatures and intense heat waves can increase the consumption further.

The rapidly increasing energy demand in U.S. is creating more environmental pressure. Almost 30% of the country's greenhouse gases & 70% of the acid rain is caused by the electricity generation from fossil fuels. Half of the US energy is produced from coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. The power plants generating electricity from coal produce two-third of sulfur oxide emissions; one-third of nitrogen oxide, main component of acid rain and smog; one-third of the country's mercury emissions, which settle in waterways and contaminate the food chain; and one-third of carbon dioxide emissions, the primary global warming reason.

If comparing the figures given in previous two paragraphs, one can easily estimate that how-much the use of air-conditioners is responsible for global warming.

Just reverse are the ceiling fans, not only a quiet, elegant and inexpensive means but an excellent energy savers. A ceiling fan at maximum speed uses 50 to 75 watts per day, as much as an incandescent bulb, that is one-tenth as much as a medium size air conditioner. Running 12 hours a day cost almost $1.50 a month, much less compared to $25 for an air conditioner.

Also the ceiling fans work on a different principle. Ceiling fans, one of the popular electric fans, cool by creating light breezes that evaporate moisture from the skin. On the other hand air conditioners consume huge amounts of energy to push the heat from indoor air and blow it outside. The circulating air generated by ceiling fans feels 9 degree cooler. Combined with other energy efficient means, ceiling fans can yield even greater savings.

The electricity generated for the average household in US expel 13,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, 77 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and 47 pounds of nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere each year. Isn't this our duty to do our bit to save our environment? And that too without sacrificing comfort, and saving some dollars.
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Energy Efficient LED Lighting Products From Delta Electronics

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Complying with its mission "To provide innovative, clean and efficient energy solutions for a better tomorrow", Delta Electronics Inc. has announced the completion of a full line of advanced energy-saving LED lamps & lighting products.

According to Raymond Hsu, senior vice president and general manager of Delta's Components Business Group, "Delta is dedicated to pursuing energy efficiency and carbon reduction by focusing our technology innovation in two main areas: renewable energy and LED applications. These new products confirm Delta's commitment to developing energy-saving solutions."


The products announced by Delta fall in three major categories: Outdoor lighting, Indoor lighting, and Functional lighting.

Outdoor Lighting
SLDT Series: The SLDT series outdoor lightings are 8-meter high open-structure street lights. They are one of the most energy efficient lights produced in Taiwan, cooled by natural air convection.

SLDN Series: The SLDN Series are closed-structure outdoor LED night light for street that are 8 meters high or less. Due to its industrial design, these lights can use interchangeable heat pipes for natural air convection and lighting modules that allow changing lenses for optical conditions. The SLDN Series are a result of cross-industry collaboration between Delta, using newest thermal solutions of Taiwan's Neng Tyi Precision Industries Co. Ltd, and Lustrous International Technology Ltd packaged LEDs.

Solar-LED Pathway Lighting: These solar-led lighting are designed to provide light to areas with a limited electricity supply. They are equipped with features like smart energy-saving designs by remote control, motion-sensing, daylight-nighttime-sensing, max-power tracking, and of course temperature compensation feature to lengthen battery life while keeping the same amount of light emission.

Indoor Lighting: The indoor lighting series includes office OA, T8 tube, and E27 screw-base bulbs. It is also called general lighting, and is used in general office buildings and households. All lights are designed to fit compatibly with already existing led lighting fixtures to facilitate direct replacement by end users. Like other Delta LED lighting products, they are highly energy and lumen efficient, and have great optical qualities.

Functional Lighting: Functional lighting includes products having high brightness uniformity, embedded full-range stepless phase-dimming.
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Bathroom Cleaning Guide – Scrub the Spots & Scums

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A bathroom without spots and stench is good for health and it also reflects your state of mind and style of living. Cleaning bathroom is a tedious task for all of us for it takes a lot of time and hard work. We often prefer to clean bedroom, guest room and other rooms than the bathroom. The soap scums and spots covering the faucets, sinks, and floors make the bathroom slick and stenched. To get rid of them, a variety of cleaning chemicals can be used.

Since our day starts after spending first few minutes in bathroom, we must keep our bathroom clean and fresh. Here are some very useful and proved bathroom cleaning tips that one can use with ease to get out of these problems.

Toilets

Ring around toilets are a common problem and they occur due to the alkaline deposits. One to two cups of white vinegar, once in a month can eliminate this problem.


Cut off the water supply to the toilet and remove the water from the surface. Wet a couple of heavy duty paper towels with orange citrus cleaner or white vinegar. Cover all the areas with it. Leave the towels damp for several hours or even overnight till the spots get dissolved. Then use a nylon brush or toilet bowl cleaner to scrub. If the white vinegar is not enough use a pumice stone and a stiff toothbrush to scrub the deposits.

Sinks

Pour one cup of baking soda or salt into your sink followed by a cup of white vinegar. Leave it for an hour and then flush it with hot water. The combination of hot water with salt unblock the pipes and removes most of the buildup. You can apply the same for kitchen, tub and shower sinks.

Tubs and Shower Stalls

Spots on the shower walls and glass doors appear due to the alkaline deposits in the water. Applying car wax can help removing these stains. Glass and fiberglass both are porous, and car wax seals these pores that makes cleaning easier and keep the water spots away. However don't use it on the floor as it gets slick. Twice in a year will be enough and keep stains away.

The soap scum has been an age old problem in the bathroom. The prime culprit behind it is the talc found in most bar soaps. Switching to liquid soaps or natural soaps can solve this issue. Besides you need to clean the shower once in a week.

Use orange citrus based cleaner once in a week to clean the showers. Just spray it and wait for a few minutes before the dirt dissolves. No need to scrub abruptly. Even if the soap scum remains then orange based concentrated cleaner can help. Pour it in a bowl and using an old dishrag apply it on the walls and doors. Boiling hot white vinegar can come handy too. However it takes time to dissolve the buildup.

After the buildup is dissolved, use a white bristle pad to scrub. The colored scrubber are coarser and might scratch the surface. Dampen the pad and gently rub the surface. Doing this will remove the dissolved buildup and mineral deposits from the glass doors.

Faucets

Deposits often buildup around faucets and that feels irritating when we use them. To get rid of these deposits, place a paper towel wet in white vinegar around the sink. Plug the drain and pour half a cup of white vinegar in the sink. Wait for a while as it takes time to dissolve the deposits. Scrub using a nylon toothbrush.

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Green Builder Hardware Associations

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Green Builder hardware association are those government as well as private bodies that monitor as well as promote sustainable building along with providing information on green builder manufacturers, green building suppliers and manufacturing associations and professional associations in all sectors of the green building industry. These associations provides and shares resources and various technologies to aid in the designing of high environmental standards that includes minimizing energy requirements, reducing water consumption, using building materials of low environmental impact, reducing wastage, conserving the natural environment and safeguard human health and well being.

Countries all over the world have configured their own set of rules and standards of efficiency for green building. These organizations play an active role in facilitating the learning process between the members and thus help the building industry in avoiding the hazardous impact on non green buildings. The green building hardware association have access to international network and they use their resources to bring together all the representatives of the green hardware industry and further expand its growth among the member companies. The advantages of these trade associations is that they provide source of technical expertize and focus on maintaining the green standards of the global green building industry. While browsing through these trade associations one can gather fruitful information on the latest happenings in the green industry. Promoting and sensitizing the building hardware manufacturers about the environmental impacts of green building is the key aim of these green building associations.

Following is the list of some of the most popular green builder associations across the globe -

US Green Building Council is a non profit community of leaders that works with the aim of making green buildings available for every generation. This 15 years old organization is the prime association among the green building trade associations and also license some of the other organisations that run on similar pattern.

Builders Owners & Managers Association, of Canada manages the building environment standards along with certification, along with replacing their Go Green and Go Green Plus programs.

The New Zealand Green Building Council, provide the construction industry with an objective measurement for green buildings and to recognize and reward environmental leadership in the property industry.

UK Green Building Council
, was launched in February 2007 and aims at providing sustainable building environment by radically transforming the way it is planned, designed, constructed, maintained and operated. The participation list in this membership council includes businesses, NGOs, academic institutions and government agencies.

Sustainability Practitioners Association was formed in July 2004 by 14 consultants working in different areas of sustainability. Based in Australia, the vision of this green council is to endure, high impact association to connect and help in developing Australian sustainability practitioners.

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