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All about avid technology informationSolar Geyser – Going Green With Solar Geysers
Posted on November 12, 2011Saving money nowadays has become a top priority for most consumers, and many people are continuously looking for ways to save money where ever possible. In today’s volatile economy, saving money or attempting to remains an extremely difficult feat to accomplish. One of the biggest power guzzlers in our households and the culprit responsible for raking up the monthly electricity bill is the geyser.
The geyser has become an indispensible part of any household, and cannot easily be done without. Solar geyser technology has made it possible for us to now have a system installed in our homes and businesses to reduce energy consumptions. By harnessing our sun’s natural resources to create free energy, we can now enjoy the benefits of zero energy consuming appliances such as solar geysers.
The solar geyser is probably one of the most efficient ways of saving on your electricity costs and provides you with a way to save money without compromising the comfort of your regular lifestyles. The geyser has three main parts consisting of a solar collector which that gathers the sun’s rays, a transfer medium which is only water mixed with glycol.
The glycol is used to treat the water from freezing in very cold temperatures. The third component is one of the most important aspects of the solar geyser, namely the geyser storage container. It is slightly bigger than the traditional geyser storage system and requires much more insulation for keeping the water warm. These containers can be mounted either in your roof just like normal geysers, or it can be installed on top of your roof.
Investing in a solar geyser can be one of the smartest investments you will make for you and your family, not to mention the amount of money you will save on electricity costs. Not only will you reap the money saving benefits but you will also be helping to decrease the world’s carbon footprint!
By: JuanPierre Du Preez
Solar Geysers – Going Green the Energy Efficient Way
Posted on November 12, 2011More and more people are now realizing the importance of saving money as the cost of living increases. Electricity prices, pre-paid or straight, have become exuberant and people are struggling to make end’s meat largely due to this one factor. One house hold appliance on its own does not consume too much electricity, and even all our household appliances together do not consume as much electricity as conventional geysers. This is certainly food for thought, and attests to the wisdom of investing in sustainable energy products such as solar geysers.
Utilizing energy from the sun, the solar geyser is probably one of the most efficient ways of saving on your electricity costs. But as with many good ideas, solar geysers also have its pros and cons. Besides the splendid financial benefits in the long run these geysers also add to the going green campaign. They contribute to preserving our country’s natural resources. The only foreseeable problem with a solar geyser is that on a rainy or cloudy day or in areas where temperatures can dip below freezing point the geyser may be slightly less effective. Fortunately this problem can be eliminated by installing an indirect solar geyser.
A solar water heater has three main parts consisting of a solar collector, which collects the sun’s rays, a transfer medium – which in a direct solar geyser system is just water and in an indirect system a mixture of water and glycol. Glycol is used to prevent the water from freezing in extreme cold temperatures, with the storage container, as in cases like conventional geysers is insulated. The solar water heater storage container is however larger and has more insulation than the conventional geyser. This increases the utilization of the solar power.
These storage containers can be mounted either on top of one’s roof or inside the roof like the conventional geyser. However before mounting the storage container on the roof of your house one has to be sure that the roof is strong or sturdy enough to hold the container.
By: JuanPierre Du Preez
Reverse Osmosis Filters in the Home Waste Our Precious Water Resources
Posted on October 30, 2011
When reverse osmosis water filters were first developed in the late fifties, it made some sense to apply that technology in individual homes. Now, however, we need to do everything we can to conserve water. And reverse osmosis filters waste most of the water put through the system. Even the very best systems flush four gallons of water for every one gallon of drinking water produced. Why would anyone pay to flush water down the drain?
In 1959 researchers at UCLA were the first to show that the process of reverse osmosis could be used for the removal of salt to obtain pure water. There was a big push for this technology during the Kennedy years. The slogan was “to to the moon and make the desert bloom”. With the support of government, the breakthrough came with the production of reverse osmosis water filters with a membrane made from cellulose acetate polymer.
The next step was to put these new reverse osmosis water filters into practice. The town of Coalinga in California was chosen for the first commercial plant, where the improvements to the process continued. The plant began operations in 1965, producing 6,000 gallons per day from the local brackish groundwater. This was a great improvement for the residents, as the drinking water had to be trucked in before the plant was built. Ocean water is about ten times saltier than brackish groundwater. A plant was next built in La Jolla to work out the problems of converting sea water into fresh water.
The discovery of reverse osmosis filters has impacted the entire world. In the Middle East and North Africa desalination plants produce trillions of gallons of purified water each day. The process has also been applied to in home demineralization.
There are two types of membranes for household reverse osmosis water filters. They are the Cellulose Triacetate(CTA) membrane and the Thin Film Composite (TFC) membrane. When deciding which to use, you must consider the filtration ability and the tolerance to chlorine. The CTA membrane tolerates chlorine better, but only rejects 93% of contaminants. The TFC/TFM membranes reject 98% of the contaminants, but it can only be used with chlorine free water. Most public water supplies are chlorinated. The membrane for the reverse osmosis filters can be made in a number of different geometric configurations. Water pressure forces the water molecules through the membrane leaving the contaminants behind. These, now more concentrated, contaminants are flushed down the drain.
The average reverse osmosis system is a unit consisting of a pre-filter to remove chlorine and sediment, the reverse osmosis membrane, a storage tank, and an activated-carbon post filter.
Better membranes continue to be researched for desalination, as well as membranes for water reclamation and hazardous waste remediation systems. There is definitely a need for this technology.
But for individual home systems a better choice would be system that does not waste any water at all. Advances in water filtration technology have made the use of reverse osmosis water filters obsolete. Do your research, there are much more economical and earth friendly choices.
By: Renee Smallwood
Never Ending Source of Energy Types
Posted on September 27, 2011The idea of the solar energy began more ago than 100 years, but the technology has not been as great as it is it until today. With the companies the search of new forms to use the resources of renewable energy, the solar energy is going to be more important. The solar energy is one of the best renewable energy sources because he is very abundant. We are going to never take the sun the drought, that never it must hope to that the sun to gather nor we must perforate in the Earth like with many of the other renewable energy sources. Nevertheless, to use solar energy, we have the solar paddles. The solar paddles are important because without them the idea of the solar energy would be useless.
Solar paddles work of two different ways. First of all, they are the solar cells that turn the luminous energy into electricity. This is a little expensive in the face, that does not make it as popular as the energy form is used now. Nevertheless, they are in a series of products. Space shuttles and the satellites use. Parts of these treat in the solar paddles. These objects have the space for all the groups that need. Another form to use solar paddles is using the heat of the sun. The solar paddle attracts the heat and a liquid with a low boiling point is warmed up. This liquid transfers to the water the steam that is used in a generator. This process is simple, and cheap effective.
Solar paddles come in different forms and there is no exact form of one. Different versions from the solar energy also exist. There the solar energy is concentrated, that is a sea of combined mirrors to attract the heat of the sun. These are generally in the desert and the use of thermal energy to create means to warm up the homes, the water heat and electricity machines. This type of energy is a little more expensive than the Aeolian energy, but the photovoltaic energy costs less than, that is used commonly in the homes.
One has become profitable the solar use of energy to warm up his home and the power. In the initial stages of the production of solar paddles, who adventure to people to have an opportunity at him. From the first stages, the solar paddles have modified to attract better the sun. Different types from metal have been put on approval to see which works better. In the panels of concentrated solar energy, that also is known like parabolic solar energy, the aluminum is the best metal for its capacity to attract the sun and the robustness in an outer atmosphere. The technology is more and more cheap resident them as to use the process it becomes more refining.
The solar paddles are important for the evolution of the society. It is important for the countries, like the United States, to move away of the dependency of foreign petroleum and to use the power resources that can be obtained easily. Nobody can deny the sun is not a constant of resources. Even in the dimmed days, it must not have sufficient light and the rest of energy for energy homes during the day. More countries must discover the way to use solar paddles like part of the daily life. The problem is still is cheaper to use combustible fossils in the short term. In the long term, the solar paddles worldwide the energy cheaper is taken than before.
By: Michael F King
Solar Power Hot Water – The Future is Here!
Posted on September 08, 2011
Introduction
Solar water heating systems use sunlight to heat water. Solar energy is a pollution free and rich energy resource that can be used to complement many of your energy requirements. Solar energy can be used as a form of heat as in the case of solar water heating.
Solar water heating systems are a combination of solar thermal collectors, a fluid system to pass the heat from the collector to the point of use, and a tank to store heat for later use. The systems can be used to heat water for domestic or business consumption, for swimming pools, under floor heating, energy source for space heating and cooling and industrial uses.
When placed in low latitudes areas (below 40 degrees), solar water heating system can supply around 60 to 70% of domestic hot water consumption with temperatures up to 60 ?C. The most frequently used types of solar water heaters are evacuated tube collectors (44%), glazed flat plate collectors usually used for domestic hot water (34%) and unglazed plastic collectors largely used to heat swimming pools (21%).
Solar water heating systems are one of the most cost-effective utilization of solar energy which supplies hot water for domestic use. Each year, more than a few thousands of solar water heaters are being installed all over the world.
How it works
To use solar energy to heat water, a collector needs to be fastened to the top of a building or on a wall which faces the sun. Collectors could also be free-standing. There are two types of solar water heating systems; active that has circulating pumps and controls and passive that is driven by natural convection.
The collector can be made of a set of metal tubes surrounded by an evacuated glass cylinder or a glass covered insulated box with a flat solar absorber made of metal sheet which is attached to copper pipes and painted black. A solar water heating system pumps cold water required to be heated to a collector and the hot water flows back to a collection tank. This type of system can supply adequate hot water for an entire family.
The working fluid for the absorber could hot water from the tank but usually it is a separate loop of fluid which has anti-freeze and a corrosion inhibitor which provides heat to the tank through a heat exchanger. Another method is the ‘drain-back’ which does not require anti-freeze. Here the piping is sloped so that water is drained drain back to the tank. The tank is open to atmospheric pressure. When the pump is switched off, the water flow is reversed and the pipes drain off before freezing occurs.
Central heating is required at night when there is no sunlight and in the winter when sunlight is limited. Water in the collector could result in high temperatures when the sunlight is good or if the pump fails. So it becomes important to have designs that take into account to provide relief of pressure and excess heat with the help of a heat dump.
Benefits
United States expends more than $13 billion every year on energy for domestic water heating. It equals to almost 11.4 barrels of oil per household.
Solar water heating systems reduces the fuel needed to heat water as the system uses the sun’s renewable energy. Solar water heating systems can also be used for car washes, hotels and motels, restaurants and swimming pools. The advantages of solar water heating systems are the following:
o Reduces 80 to 95% of the water heating bill
o Reduces your energy bill
o It is environmental friendly and pollution free
o Reduces greenhouse emissions by minimizing the use of electric or gas water heater
o Qualifies for the 30% federal tax credit
o Doubles the amount of hot water available
Selecting a Solar Water Heater
In the United States the typical hot water usage is 15 to 30 gallons per person everyday for home use. The typical water tank is sized to store a day’s worth of use. So for a family with four members you could use an 80 gallon tank for everyday water requirements of 20 gallons a person per day.
So when choosing a system you should first analyze if freeze protection is required. If the place you live is freeze-free, a batch heater or a thermosiphon unit is sufficient. If you have larger needs, go in for open loop direct pump system circulating water from storage tank to flat plat collector. If freeze protection is required or the water is hard, you can go in for drain back or closed loop systems with antifreeze and a heat exchanger.
There are different types of solar water heating models and systems available. When purchasing and installing a solar water heating system you need to do the following:
o Consider the cost of a solar water heating system
o Assess your location’s solar resource
o Find the right system size
o Find out the system’s energy efficiency
o Estimate and compare system costs
o Find out local conventions and regulations.
Installation and maintenance costs
For installing solar heaters one has to take into account the solar resource, climate, your building code and safety considerations. After the installation it is required to maintain your system well. Passive systems do not need much maintenance. In active systems the plumbing and other usual water heating components require the usual maintenance as regular systems. Maintenance is required for every 3-5 years and the ones with electrical components need to have certain parts replaced after 10 years.
The initial costs of a solar system if financed and evaluated with energy costs, then the monthly cost of solar heat will work out cheaper than most regular hot water heaters. Also, the federal and local incentives are high.
Summing up
Solar water heating systems are a highly cost-effective way to produce hot water for your house. They produce hot water in almost climatic conditions and the only fuel they use is sunlight which is available free of charge.
The total installed capacity of solar water heating systems as of 2007 is around 154 GW. China leads in the utilization of solar water heating systems with installed capacity of 70 GW as of 2006 and a plan to achieve 210 GW by 2020. Israel leads in the per capita usage of solar water heating systems with almost 90% of homes using this system. In the United States, Canada and Australia, solar water heating systems are largely used to heat swimming pools with the installed capacity of 18 GW as of 2005.
By: Paul Kapschock
Gladiator Garage Works is Always Designing New Products
Posted on August 16, 2011
Gladiator Garage Works specializes in all things for making your garage a better place, from workbenches to cabinets, full wall systems and wall components, to appliances and flooring. But as a company that strives to be the best, they are continually coming out with new products that fulfill various needs or improves on other products. A majority of these new products are designed to hang on their wall slot system. Lets take a look at some of these handy ideas.
First is a storage bin holder. This holder comes with two hooks that you can position at any distance apart so that it can hold a variety of sizes of bins. The two hooks will hold a combined weight of 50 lbs. They have vinyl tips to protect hung items from being scratched. This is great for bins that you need to access on a regular basis.
Another great Gladiator Garage Works item is an extra deep, heavy duty steel shelf called a Gearloft Shelf. This shelf is also designed to hang on the Gladiator wall system, and having it extra deep is really nice, because I often wondered why shelves on these types of systems were so narrow. The shelf is hung on the slot wall with strong brackets that are a part of the shelf. The shelf can be hung with the brackets up or down. Though I would have to say that one of the best features is that the shelf is made of see through woven metal mesh. This is really nice because you can hang the shelf up high, and still be able to see from below what is on the shelf.
For the avid fisherman who is tired of his poles getting tangled there is the Gladiator fishing pole holder. This is a set of four round hooks that can be used for two poles. The bottom of the pole rests in one hook, and the top is held in place with another on the wall slot system. Poles can be hung vertically or horizontally.
With Father’s Day approaching soon, a Golf Caddy that hangs on your Gladiator Garage Works slot wall may be a great option versus a new tie. The caddy has enough room to hold two large golf bags with a shelf underneath for your golf shoes. There is also a ball holder that will hold up to six golf balls.
If you have any kids, then you probably have a lot of balls rolling around, they just don’t stay well on a shelf! So Gladiator came up with a Ball Caddy that is made of mesh with vertical elastic bands to create two 4.5″ openings. This is great of accessing any ball without having to get them all out of the caddy. This mesh basket is large enough to hold up to nine basketballs.
I think that Gladiator Garage Works most innovative new product is the Project Caddy. This caddy is designed for most any hobby. It is composed of a small shelf with side hooks and a portable utility bag that hangs on a hook below the shelf. Great for easy viewing and access to any tool or item you could need for a multitude of hobbies and projects.
These are just some of their new products that are currently available, but Gladiator Garage Works does not stop there, they have even more new products being released this summer.
By: MJ Marks
How Being Energy Efficient Can Save You Money
Posted on August 10, 2011Energy efficiency comes in all forms even within ourselves. Through technology, we were able to do things that were a little bit impossible for the past century. Today, you can talk and see someone thousands of miles away without actually leaving home. That’s how technology makes miracles and that’s how important power sources are.
As we grow with technology, each day more power is needed to cope with it. A long term solution for this might be a little far away to this day. But we need energy and we need technology. In order to maintain all things in balance, we need to be energy efficient. And additional good news is, energy efficiency can save you money in return which is quite a bonus.
Longer appliances service life comes with using energy efficiently. The magic over this is the fact that components that uses small amounts of energy to operate tend to worn out late. This is due to heat upon the application of energy. Though power sources are vital part for our appliances to operate but it hastens the aging of components. So how can you make sure you are using energy efficiently while using appliances? One thing you can do is to choose energy efficient alternatives. Many appliances these days conform to energy efficiency standards. But then again there are appliances that are really built to consume power like flat irons. Given this, always make it a point that you are using it in an appropriate time and place where they most likely not to loose the heat needed.
Lesser resources to be used can affect electricity bills and ROI. Sometimes, we tend to use things inappropriately. Have you gone with your gadgets? How many cell phones do you have? How about your cars? Oftentimes we simply acquire more things than we are using. Why? We simply love looking at it owning it. And most likely these things will double our bills in the future. Try owning and buying things that you really need and not only what you want. You’ll surely appreciate some saving afterwards.
Lesser electricity bills tend to be dependent on how we use our resources. Remember, lesser power consumption is related on how we use it. There’s a great difference between a need and a want but oftentimes we do not see this. Just like with lights, style does matter sometimes. And with this, we use several bulbs or lamps, which have lower power ratings, to deliver our wants. But is it effective on lighting? One fifteen-watt CFL can deliver more light than three five-watt counterpart.
Being energy efficient has two positive gains: that is saving you from monstrous electricity bills and from additional expenses on some inadequate applications. Through proper utilization and application we can save some power and we save our pockets.
By: Lowell Sansolis
Garett Metal Detectors – Your All-Around Buddy
Posted on July 27, 2011
Garett is an active treasure hunter who does it for hobby, and an avid metal detector maker for the good part of the last four decades. Garret has since established themselves around the globe in terms of their market share in advanced metal detection.
The All-New Garret Ace Series is not just a line of detectors, but a whole new innovative way of thinking. The Garret company has taken the initiative to be the leading ones in the industry by packaging innovative and creative features from the GTI and GTAx line and incorporated them into enhanced products, ones that look the most aggressive and the most rugged. These metal detectors have the ability to be head turners and would make the company a valuable competitor in the metal detector industry. It offers features like custom notch discrimination, pinpointing, adjustable sensitivity and depth settings. It also offers the newest addition of the Performance coils series, the 6.5 x 9′ ACE coil.
Garrett Ace 250 is loaded with tons and tons of features. First of all, avid Garrett patrons totally love its sleek and design-hungry outdoor look. Plus, it has full range notch discrimination, which is actually an important feature for treasure hunters. It also has a very special pinpoint feature that comes with a graphic target ID or identification program. Moreover, the detector also has a readily installed variety of hunting modes. In fact, it has five pre-set hunting modes that make the Ace 250 a wonderful touch-and-go device.
With the Garrett GTI 2500 Metal Detector’s Elimination Control it gives you the ability to no longer see irrelevant materials such as waste and non metal things and only gives you access to what is significant such as coins, jewelry, relics etc. This saves you so much time and takes away possible distractions. It also offers state of the art technology that allows you to discover the many secrets underneath your own back yard.
By: Athena McDonald
Wind Power Electricity – Saving The Earth and Going Green
Posted on July 02, 2011We are in dire need of saving the earth and going green. The masses need to realize what all resources are we left with and what can be the other alternatives that we can depend upon. It’s high time and we definitely need to look back and take some immediate measures to save our earth. About 5000 years back when humans had no fuels to run appliances, we used most of the natural sources of energy to make our living better and to reduce the time frame for each work. Natural resources of energy like wind power, animals, water energy were to commonly used to work out things.
On the contrary, today during the modernized era several nations are in a race, sort of competing with each other to excel on the technology front and devise newer and newer ways of energy generation using renewable sources. This will also help them grow and prosper on the economic side as natural resources come for free and it is only the upfront cost that has to be paid. Current scenario reveals clearly that for today and definitely tomorrow we are left with the one and only source of producing energy and that is Nature. So better late than never we should quickly learn how to make the best possible use of it to obtain the maximum energy to make life possible not only for us but also for our future generations. Researchers should mainly focus on the natural resources which are no doubt available in abundance and devise ways to manage it wisely. Wind power is one such untapped source and is available for no cost at all. Wind, water and sun are perhaps the biggest assets to mankind. They have got unmatched potentials to retain the whole earth forever provided we use it judicially and perfectly. The various ways in which we used to make use of wind energy was for propelling sail boats, sailing ships, wind mills, irrigation pumping and many more. In case of production of electricity huge turbines are used joint together. The working entirely depends on the speed of wind at a particular time. As the speed fluctuates frequently, so will the number of units generated in the form of electricity vary.
Wind powered appliances to be used at home is also a sensible idea but will be fruitful in areas where wind energy is available in abundance. Moreover it is economical by all means to the owner as it would cut down the cost of electricity bills completely. All in all wind power offers a clean and safe mode of an alternate energy source. With the available technology, we are precisely in the exact situation today that we should and we can exploit this form of energy completely. So it is advisable to the entire human community to make use of it up to their level best so that the natural resources are utilized effectively and the mankind is blessed forever.
By: Bradley Otero