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Here Comes the Sun: Solar Panels for the Home

By Cherl Petso ecomii.com
April 6, 2009
File under: Solar Energy

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As spring has fully sprung, we are blessed with longer days and more sun, which brings to mind an image of a house humming with the power of solar panels.

With all that sun, we’ve got to do something with it, right?  The good news is solar panels are becoming more popular and more affordable.

Solar panels, or cells, are photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into electricity.  The photovoltaic cells are made of a semi-conductor material, such as silicon. When the sunlight strikes, the energy is partially absorbed into …read more of Here Comes the Sun: Solar Panels for the Home here

 
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New Year’s Resolution: Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

By Cherl Petso ecomii.com
January 1, 2009
File under: Heating Sources, Reusable Energy, Waste Reduction

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As the New Year begins, people begin to consider making changes in their lives.  The vast majority of people make resolutions around fitness and weight loss.  While health and fitness goals are resolution-worthy, what about making a resolution around your individual impact on the Earth?

The term carbon footprint is one that is thrown around and sometimes not understood.  It’s a measurement of the impact our daily activities have on the environment in relation to climate change, measured in carbon dioxide units.  Essentially, what are you doing day-to-day that is harming the planet?  According to the EPA, the average carbon footprint for a two person United States household is about 41,500 pounds.  Different calculators take different measurements into account.  For instance, my footprint is average on calculators that don’t take food into account; however, if the calculator accounts for the fact that I’m vegan, the decrease in emissions is amazing. …read more of New Year’s Resolution: Reduce Your Carbon Footprint here

 
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Oil Man T. Boone Pickens Launches Alternative Fuel Plan

By Cherl Petso ecomii.com
December 22, 2008
File under: Alternative Sources, Electric Sources, Energy Sources

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Long time oil man T. Boone Pickens is all over the place these days. This 80-year-old entrepreneur has launched The Pickens Plan, a detailed blueprint for getting America off of its addiction to foreign oil. Like Obama, he wants to employ a ten year plan that will wean us off of foreign fuel by combining the use of natural gas for our transportation and the use of wind for our energy use.

Pickens and followers are promoting this plan now in order to have the full attention of Obama’s administration when he takes office in January. Currently, the U.S. uses a quarter of the world’s oil and 70% of that oil is imported, compared to 24% in 1970. This imported oil costs us $700 billion per year. The Pickens Plan proposes spending a lot more money on the move to wind and natural gas, but it’s an important point that this is a one-time cost. …read more of Oil Man T. Boone Pickens Launches Alternative Fuel Plan here

 
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Is Biodiesel Really Green?

By Cherl Petso ecomii.com
November 21, 2008
File under: Alternative Sources, Biofuel

 Is Biodiesel Really Green?

Biodiesel yields three times the energy it takes to produce.  Pretty impressive.  It’s an entirely domestic fuel that doesn’t come with strings attached.  There’s no war to fight over it, no importation, and it’s grown right here in the U.S.  With the focus on alternative fuels renewed with recent sky-high gas prices, biodiesel is at the forefront of an alternative fuel revolution.  It’s hard to imagine that anything is wrong with this simple fuel, but is it really so environmentally friendly?

Here’s the scoop.

Biodiesel is made from soybeans, corn, canola, cottonseed, sunflower, beef tallow, pork lard and used cooking …read more of Is Biodiesel Really Green? here

 
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