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

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.

Energy Efficient LED Lighting Products From Delta Electronics

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.

Bathroom Cleaning Guide – Scrub the Spots & Scums

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.

Green Builder Hardware Associations

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.

Zero Carbon Homes - Another Initiative to Turn Green

In another attempt to go green, the Litchfield Group is all set for the curtain raiser of its new range of sustainable and energy efficient window hardware, doors and structural wall products. This launch happened at Ecobuild in the low carbon building category. Cashing upon the programme objective that is Reducing carbon dioxide emissions, lowering fuel bills and improving the insulation of buildings, the managing director of the firm claims to have heavily invested in the development of products that will be applicable in the zero carbon home requirements even in the year 2016. The company has launched three step solution to counter the growing carbon emission. They include Sheerframe HED window system, made to measure Masterdor Thermal door-sets and ICF Tech structural walls. The Sheerframe HED (Homogenous Energy Dynamics), a new thermal PVC window system that is aimed to deliver U-values as low as 0.8W/m2K.

Litchfield is a UK based company that has installed technology like regional fabricators and installers, 55mm insulated timber engineered Masterdor Thermal door-set and Insulating Concrete Form (ICF) system to make its product a success in the building market and construction industry. All these products manufactured by the company qualify the UK government standards. Some of the main features of this range of zero carbon homes are that they provide excellent sound reduction, are low on maintenance and are secured by design accredited.

Other Related Articles:

• Tips to Make Your Green Kitchen A Success
• Green Dreams

Home Improvement Tips Using Modern Furniture Hardware

While choosing furniture hardware for refurnishing your house, it is more that obvious that a person can get confused. Besides, remodeling a home is an expensive affair as well, especially if you are planning to integrate a new design or style into the interior of the abode. But however, to rescue you from all these spendings there are various ways to cut down on your home improvement expenditures. Though a new piece of furniture frames and headboards will be instrumental in giving your house a new look.

The Initial Step

Designing a well placed furniture plan is essential if you do not want to go wrong anywhere and want to meet your comfort as well as needs. You should also be clear about the style of the furniture that will best suit your room.

Replace Bulky Items And Save Space

This is the foremost step when remodeling your house. Replace bulky ancient furniture with streamlines modern furnishings that acquire less space are are easy to manage. Old furniture use up a lot of space and if your house is small then choose from a wide range multi purpose furniture. For example, use the Ottoman (storage + seat/foot rest) or Sofa bed that can perform the task of both sofa and bed. A modern style is more practical as they tend to be smaller and clean cut edges which do not hang out much and thus cuts down on the space they take up. Go for a bed that has storage compartments and brackets, so that there is more space for better use of wardrobe and drawer.

Plan Before Purchasing

There is no dearth in the furniture hardware industry for furniture supplies, so do not shop in a haste. If you have made up your mind to replace those big antique furnishings with latest sofa that has exquisite furniture legs, then be prepared to hover a little longer before you actually find the best piece. Keep in mind the measurement factor so that the furniture hardware compliments your room. Get a tape measure and start measuring the dimensions of the room so that you will know what size will best fit in it.

Consider the Design

This is also an important factor before purchasing the furniture hardware for your home. Modern furniture differs in the designs as per the taste of their designer. Some of the furniture that have modern tags might have a vintage look. So be clear about the design that will suit your home the most.

Cut Cost By Window Shopping

This is a must before you actually purchase the most coveted furniture piece. Make sure you do a window shopping of all the furniture outlets to have a feel of all the modern furniture available in the furniture hardware industry. Compare the prices of the same stuffs to make this activity cost effective. Also you can wait for the furniture shops and department stores in your area to go on sale or to put huge discounts on their furnishings before you start buying one for your very own.

Renovate Your Bathroom in Green Way

Green..green..&..green. The word has really become quite important today in the perspective of increasing danger of global warming. We need to protect our resources and ensure that a minimum is wasted, and better if the wasted ones are recycled as well. So the entire focus is on saving the natural resources, be it the construction of your bedroom or renovation of the bathroom. Government and some private organizations like green building association are working towards it and helping residential communities, Realtors, and individuals.

Bathroom is the place of solitude where one want to feel relaxed in a healthy and hygienic environment. The bathroom remodeling may be the initial step of your home renovation. In such blue economy situation, saving money is the top priority while considering bathroom renovation. There is no greater way of adding value to your bathroom than a greener way. The most prominent benefit of green bathroom remodeling is saving of water and energy resources.

Renovation with Recycled Materials
A number of bathroom hardware made of recycled materials are becoming popular like tiles, vanities and flooring. The use of recycled fixtures like refinished counter-tops and sinks encourages green bathroom remodeling and save your valuable money as well as conserve natural resources. The old fashioned claw foot tubs are regaining its popularity and might be a good choice for you.

Reduce the Water Consumption
Minimizing the water consumption must be your top priority while planning for your bathroom renovation in an environment friendly way. It should be considered that how much water is used in your bathroom, during flushing the toilet or during shower. You can reduce your water consumption by almost 20% by switching from old traditional toilet to smaller dual-flush toilet.

Old water guzzling shower heads are the prime culprits of wasting water. Replacing them saves in water bills. Dual- flush toilets help saving the amount of green washed into the toilet. It has two flush modes, one is for number one that flushes less water compared to the number two mode. That will definitely cut down your energy bills.

Remodel with Durability
It has been found that most of the bathroom renovation does last only a few years, and most of the waste that reaches landfill sites come from home remodeling including bathroom remodeling. This kind of bathroom remodeling creates a bad impact on environment as well as on your pocket. You make ensure that your green bathroom remodeling is durable and last longer.