ROI For Businesses Installing Solar Energy Systems
Sustainability

ROI For Businesses Installing Solar Energy Systems

The primary reason many businesses install solar panels in their commercial premises is to enhance their green credentials and thus contribute to the quest to reduce the use of fossil fuels. For others, this may influence their decision to do so. Still, for many, the main driver is seeking a reduction in their energy bills and, ultimately, a return on the initial investment required to install their solar energy system.

With the cost of electricity seemingly rising continuously rather than the reverse, many businesses are looking for ways to reduce their electricity bills, and solar energy systems offer an alternative, reliable, and renewable energy source that can provide significant cost savings. All of this feeds into the ROI that a solar energy system can generate, and in this blog post, we will examine this in more detail.

Understanding ROI For Solar Energy Systems

ROI, or return on investment, is a financial metric that measures the profitability of an investment relative to its cost. In the case of solar energy systems, ROI measures the amount of money a business can save on its energy bills compared to the initial cost of installing the system and, in many cases, increased revenue. Several factors affect the ROI of solar energy systems, including the property’s location, system size, and energy usage so let us look at these.

Location: A business’s location affects how much sunlight its solar panels can receive. Areas with more sunlight will generate more electricity than areas with limited sunlight. Businesses in areas with high amounts of sunlight can expect a higher ROI from solar energy systems than those with less sunshine or are more prone to cloud cover.

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The Four ‘R’s Of Green and Eco-Friendly Dentistry
Green Offices, Sustainability

The Four ‘R’s Of Green and Eco-Friendly Dentistry

The concept of a dentist having to operate to protect the environment is at least a decade old, but for many dental practices, that concept is still relatively new. That is not because they do not care or are in any way against protecting the environment.

Instead, it is partly because specific dental processes identified as having some of the most significant negative impacts on the environment might be consideredconsidertal procedures.

Just two prime examples include x-rays for identifying issues within teeth and gums and the filling of tooth cavities. Both of these use toxic materials such as mercury and x-ray fixers, yet they are used in abundance throughout the world of dentistry.

To assist medical professionals, including dentists, in better understand how they could improve their green credentials, a simple concept called the four ‘R’s was introduced. These four ‘R’s are four words that go to the heart of how dentists and any individual or business can reduce the harm they do to the environment.

The ‘R’ words are, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rethink. They are given in that specific order, which often surprises people who assume that recycling would be the fir. However, reducing and reusing can play a more significant role in decreasing waste.

Whilst you probably have some understanding of each of the words, we shall go through each of them with a bit more of an explanation as they relate to how they can guide a dental practice towards protecting the environment.

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Water Saving
Sustainability

Top Water Saving Tips to Protect the Environment

Saving water should be a significant plumbing consideration across the world. Countries globally suffer from increasingly severe water shortages every year, and as global climates change, these shortages are expected to affect more and more people.

Fortunately, there are numerous things that you can do to ensure you’re saving as much water as possible. We recommend speaking with your local plumber to ensure you’re not using old, inefficient plumbing systems. However, there are also plenty of things that you can do in your own time to save water, including:

Using Water-Saving Appliances

Modern appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines are becoming increasingly water-efficient. If you can afford it, we’d recommend upgrading to a more water-efficient appliance as soon as possible. You might be surprised by just how large the water savings are.

Install a Low-Flush Toilet

Similarly, low-flush toilets are becoming increasingly efficient as well. Although they became increasingly popular around twenty years ago, many people were put off from using early models because they didn’t always work like traditional toilets.

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The Lemon Life
Eco-Living, Sustainability

The Lemon Life: The Many Uses of a Humble Lemon

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. But you can also make a lot of other things, as well.

According to expert cleaners Gleam Clean WA, believe it or not, lemon trees are one of the most common fruit trees in the average Australian’s backyard, but not everyone is using them to their full potential – such as for sustainable cleaning, crafting, and cooking. Read on to learn how underutilised your lemon tree is.

Clean Your Microwave

It can go against every fibre in your being to use a multi-purpose spray solution inside something that heats your food. You might think it’s the only way to clean your microwave, but lemon is sitting right in front of you, ready to take the reins.

Slice lemons in a bowl of water and microwave it for up to ten minutes. Once you remove the container, use a washcloth or recycled paper towel to wipe out the food mess. Your microwave will be lemony fresh for as long as you need it.

Carpet Cleaning

To assist with your carpet cleaning, you can mix lemon juice with a small amount of water. Scrub it into the area using a clean cloth. Then rinse the specific area and then wipe the lemon juice away using a steam cleaning machine with some detergent. Leave it to dry and then the smell should have disappeared.

Cleaning Your Clothes

Okay, so lemon doesn’t really clean your clothes, but it can certainly offer a new brightness. If you want to steer away from manufactured products in favour of sustainable cleaning products, then try lemon as a brightening and whitening agent. A small amount of lemon juice to a load of whites can have more of an impact than you think.

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Compostable vs. Degradable vs. Biodegradable
Eco-Living, Gardens, Sustainability

Compostable vs. Degradable vs. Biodegradable – What’s the Difference?

In a world that’s far more aware of the importance of sustainability, it can be a challenge to get to grips with marketing jargon. You want to make sure the products you purchase are safe for the environment, but how do you understand the various terms that describe if it is or not?

Three terms you will see thrown around quite a bit are: compostable, degradable, and biodegradable. Do they mean the same thing? Are they different? Is one better than the other? Read on to learn what these three words mean, and if you should be using any product labelled with any of them more than the other.

What is a Biodegradable Product?

Something biodegradable is the epitome of sustainability. It means that the item you have just bought can break down into the natural environment through natural elements and organisms.

The way in which they biodegrade can make all the difference as well. If they use water, organic material, and carbon dioxide, they are breaking down without doing any harm to the environment.

Most products that boast a “biodegradable” label feature sustainable materials and plant by-products.

However, how you dispose of your biodegradable product can matter more than you might think. In a landfill environment, it may not be able to break down while being buried under tonnes of trash. The best way to dispose of such products is by sending them to a recycling plant.

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Watering Your Garden
Eco-Living, Gardens, Recycling, Sustainability

Are You Watering Your Garden Right?

It is easy to understand the ‘why’ when it comes to watering the plants in your garden. However, the ‘when’ and the ‘how’ are often the most misunderstood aspects of the practice of gardening. Landscapers Sydney say this can literally make or break your garden. Therefore, it is best to understand what reticulation practices are good, and what methods spell disaster.

Tackling the ‘when’ –

Truth be told, professional landscapers tell us that there is no right time or wrong time to water your plants. The ideal time depends on a number of factors such as the climatic conditions in the area concerned, the type of plants that need to be watered, the kind of soil they are planted in, and a number of other criteria. A little trick to work around this arbitrary situation is to check the soil.

The consistency required to determine if the time is right to water your patch is somewhere between moist and dry. The right balance has to be struck between these two states. The mud has to be moist enough to form a consistent ball in the fist of your hand, but also loose enough to fall apart when you drop it. If you have plants sheltered in a nursery, over time, you get better at determining just how heavy or how light the soil should be when it is adequately watered.

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Small Packages
Sustainability

Sustainability in Sending Small Packages

If you are a small business who uses a transport company to deliver small items of freight, there are many ways you can be sustainable and save your costs as well.  Many businesses also receive goods such as supplies, so they will have various kinds of packaging to dispose of. While it may be sent off to the recycling centre, it could be a better option to keep it and re-use it for the packaging needs of your business.

Recycling packaging for your business will save in many ways.

  • It saves on the cost of purchasing more packaging
  • It saves on the cost of disposing of it in some other way
  • It saves on the cost of fuel in having new packaging delivered to your business.

While the latter may not be saving your own fuel costs, it still helps to save the earth’s resources.

You may think that being, in effect, your own recycling centre will take up more room, you would still have to find storage for the new packaging materials if you purchased that. This room can be utilised to store recycled packaging just as well.  It is possible to flatten cardboard boxes so they don’t take up too much room. If you store them in piles according to size, it will be easy to find the right ones for your needs.

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Solar Panels and Colorbond Roofing
Eco-Living, Sustainability

Solar Panels and Colorbond Roofing

With solar panels becoming ever more popular in Australia, anyone with Colorbond roofing or who is thinking about getting one will want to know whether it is okay to put solar panels up on such a roof. The simple answer is yes, but there are certain things you should be aware of before you start.

For a start, only allow a professional tradesman to do the work – and make sure they have a good reputation. Unfortunately, there are professionals whose work is nothing short of shoddy and who just want to get the job done quickly and go – after getting paid, of course. Choose someone who is proud of their standard of work and cares about doing the job properly.

When walking on any roof, but particularly on Colorbond, you should wear shoes with soft soles that will not scratch the surface of the paint. In addition, it is important to tread only on the top of the corrugations, never in the bottom part, especially if you have chosen a profile with a wide pan or valley.  The top curve is the strongest part. It is also wise to only tread where the steel sheeting is supported by the timber frame underneath.

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Freight Transport
Sustainability

Strategies for Sustainability in Freight Transport

Our world today is full of freight being sent across the city, the country or the ocean. Altogether, it accounts for a great portion of fuel use, environmental emissions and energy use.  Not every transport company seeks to find ways and means to be environmentally friendly, yet it can actually reduce costs and make their business a great deal more efficient.

Determining the strategies for sustainability are not difficult. There are many ways in which packaging can be optimised.

  • Analyse the shipping weight of various containers. Both crates and packaging materials add to the total weight. The more the packaging weighs the more your goods cost to send and the more resources are used to carry them to their destination.
  • Look at shipping densities. Empty space that could be filled with more goods is costing the company in terms of wastage. One large box that is not filled to capacity costs more to send than one of the right size, due to oversized rates and the fact that more could be sent for the same amount of fuel used if that space was reduced.
  • Observe the damage. There is always some wear and tear on boxes and crates. You need to find the fine line between damaged goods through not enough or the wrong type of packaging, and absolutely no damage to the box or its contents, which might point to over-packing that costs more than necessary.

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Sustainability

Choosing an Environmentally Friendly Exhaust System

There are multiple ways to make your car’s exhaust system more friendly for the environment. It depends on the parts you select, the fuel you use, and your own conservative mindset as a driver. The following methods can all be used to create a more environmentally friendly vehicle for the road.

Use an Eco-friendly Catalytic Converter

Catalytic converters are an essential part of your car’s exhaust system. They utilize a catalyst comprised of precious metals, which react against the harmful exhaust gasses. These gases are converted into water through the catalytic converter and then expelled from the vehicle.

This is the process of a catalytic converter for virtually any modern car, but if you want an especially environmentally friendly converter, you can buy a new model which lasts longer and boosts a vehicle’s fuel efficiency. Environmentally friendly converters enhance the oxidation process, reducing the amount of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides emitted.

Burn Fuel Wisely

You can make your car more environmentally friendly simply by being more conscientious of the fuel you use. One easy way to do this is to buy a vehicle that has a high fuel efficiency rating. You can also be conscious of the fuel you’re using by keeping your vehicle well-tuned and your tires at full inflation in order to reduce exhaust emissions.

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Streetlights
Eco-Living, Sustainability

Streetlights Powered By Both Wind And Solar Energy

When does a streetlight stop becoming something ordinary and turn into a self-sustaining work of art? Apparently, once it finds its way to Japan. Outside the Panasonic Center in Tokyo, one is greeted with several streetlights that incorporate both solar and wind energy systems. The design is called a ‘Seagull’ and takes advantage of light during the day to store energy for night; while producing electricity to push back into the grid thanks to the wind. The vertical turbine on this pole doesn’t appear to require too much wind to turn. No idea what the payback on this might be, but it’s certainly cool to see it in motion.

Garbage Pickup
Sustainability

City Sues Man For Reducing Waste, Cancelling Garbage Pickup

53 year-old Eddie House was proud of his efforts to reduce his waste. Being concerned for the environment, the single bachelor found that his sustainable habits left him with near-zero garbage. With nothing left to throw out that couldn’t be recycled or composted, he did what any individual might do to go the next mile: canceled his garbage service. As a reward for reducing his impact on the planet, House received a lawsuit from the San Carlos Deputy City Attorney claiming he was in violation of not maintaining garbage service. Wow. From the article,

The lawsuit claims House broke the city’s municipal code requiring all residential, commercial and industrial properties to contract with Allied Waste for pickup at least once a week — a standard requirement in most cities, San Carlos Deputy City Manager Brian Moura said. “It’s just me and my dog, so I don’t have a whole lot of garbage to begin with and I recycle everything,” he said.
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Bobolink
Sustainability

Bobolink-1

National Geographic has a story about how the West in America is going to dry up in the future. Turns out the past 100 years is the especially wet period for this area, not the norm. That spells trouble for a lot of people, depending on how dry it might get.

Football player Tony Gonzalez has gone Vegan. That’s a big boy.

Treehugger has a survey up asking readers how they are planning to spend the rebate checks, if we get them. You should vote in it. The Green Options network also has a story about the stimulus package. I have yet to meet anyone who is going to spend it on much more than a small amount of things.

Our opinion on what you should do with it? Use it bulk up your food savings. Pick up some large packages of beans, rice, wheat and other supplies so you won’t be unprepared in the future. After that, look for cheap ways you can raise the efficiency of your house. Insulation, making rain barrels, starting a garden. Whatever you do, don’t go buying a plasma TV. If that’s one of your choices just save it, which you could do anyway.

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Dog House
Sustainability

The Green Roof Dog House Roof!

While your busy making all those cool green upgrades in and around your house, don’t forget that your four-legged friends might also want a piece of the action. Well, at least that’s what one company called Sustainable Pet Design believes. They’ve introduced “Green Roof Animal Homes” that ‘smell good, grow plants, attract butterflies, filter water, insulate, and repeal fleas naturally.’

Each home is custom-built and uses only non-toxic materials, including untreated red cedar planks, zero-VOC paint, and beeswax waterproofing. All vegetation for the green roof is native to the region you live in.

Pretty cool idea — and something nice for those that would prefer not to take a hands-on approach. Otherwise, we’re pretty sure creating something similar wouldn’t be too difficult for the novice carpenter inside you. You might even be further encouraged to take that path when you see the starting prices for an extra-small green doghouse are just around $1,000. Want a really cool big one? $6K.

Makes me glad I have a porch for my pooch.

Ducted-Wind-Turbine
Sustainability

Ducted Wind Turbine Provides Efficient Rooftop Energy

A company named Marquiss Wind Power has successfully finished raising $1.3 million for development of its Ducted Wind Turbines. Unlike their much larger counterparts, ducted turbines are boxy and stand about 19ft tall. Despite what appears to be aerodynamic disadvantages, this shape actually allows the turbine to re-orient itself according to the direction of air flow; something that can be a bit random in urban centers. The ducting is intended to increase wind speed as it approaches the blades. According to the website, these factors combine to allow the power output from the MWP turbine to exceed that of any traditionally designed comparable turbine. From the article,

At the moment, two models are sold — one intended for areas with wind speeds of 6-10 mph, and another for higher average speeds. The turbines are intended for buildings between one and three stories tall.

It sure ain’t elegant — but there’s a lot of science at play with this design. I especially like that AeropointT500 can operate in low wind speeds. I have no ideas on price — but hopefully that $1.3 million will go a long way to fleshing this product out a bit more.

Genetically-Engineered-Beast
Sustainability

Monsanto Releases Another Genetically Engineered Beast on The Earth

A news story today discusses Monsanto and how they have obtained approval to release a genetically engineered sugar beet onto the market. You’ll be shocked to hear that the beet has been modified to live when Roundup is sprayed on it.

From the article:

“The law requires the government to take a hard look at the impact that deregulating Roundup Ready sugar beets will have on human health, agriculture and the environment,” said Greg Loarie, an attorney at the Earthjustice law firm, which is helping represent the plaintiffs. “The government cannot simply ignore the fact that deregulation will harm organic farmers and consumers, and exacerbate the growing epidemic of herbicide-resistant weeds.”

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Air-Powered-Car
Sustainability

The Air-Powered Car Finds A Future Home In India

Viva la France! French engineer Guy Nègre has been working on the concept of an air-powered car for the past 15 years. Thanks to a new contract with India’s main car manufacturer, Tata Motors, Nègre’s technology is about to reap the benefits of a major corporate backer; not to mention access to a massive, growing market. Geeks Are Sexy lays out the details on the tech,

“The principle that makes this car work is very simple. Instead of using gas to create an explosion and make the pistons move, the vehicle’s engine is powered via three compressed air tanks located under its chassis. Environmentally speaking, this means all that goes out the exhaust pipe is cold, pure air, which can even be used as an air-conditioning source on a hot summer day.”

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Philips’-Eco-TV
Sustainability

Philips’ 42-inch Eco TV Is Perfect For Your Off-Grid Home

It doesn’t come in green, but Philips’ new 42-inch Eco TV is certainly sporting some earth-friendly credentials.

Announced at CES 2008, this television is packed with power-saving features; something a few of my off-grid friends might find interesting when considering their next (or first) television. From the article,

“Chief among them is the ability to dim the backlight–by up to five times peak brightness–in response to program material, much like the “local dimming” found on Samsung’s LED-based LN-T4681F. Dimming the backlight in darker scenes has the dual benefit of saving power and improving black-level performance, according to the company. The backlight can also be dimmed via a room lighting sensor, so in dark rooms it will use less power. There’s also traditional a “power-saving” mode that caps the peak light output.”

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Cup-Lasso-Vases
Sustainability

The Cup Lasso Turns Water Bottles Into Appealing Vases

I always enjoy creative fixes to environmental eyesores. Take for instance this concept for a slip-on cover made from wool felt for water bottles. Called the Cup Lasso, it effectively turns what might otherwise simply be recycled into a suddenly useful and appealing vase for flowers. Nice, right? The concept comes from Orcadesign’s “GreenHouse Effect” project — which explores 10 concepts for eco-friendly living with aesthetic appeal.

Solar-Collector
Sustainability

New Solar Collector So Efficient It Works At Night

While we’ve seen solar cell efficiency squeak past 40% in labs this year, we’re still stuck commercially with panels that at most convert about 20% of what hits them into energy. Then there’s the whole “darkness” thing that cuts into production for part of the day.

Researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory have potentially solved both issues by turning to another hot field: nanotechnology. From the article,

With this new technology, millions of extremely small twists of metal are molded into banks of “microantennas”, which can be placed on almost any material, including plastic sheets. These spiral shaped “microantennas” are about 1/25 the width of a human hair. They are so small that they resonate from the interaction with the sun’s infrared rays. This resonation can be translated into energy. During the day, the Earth soaks up a lot of this infrared energy, which is then radiated out at night — enabling these microantennas to collect power even after the sun has set.

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Urban Agriculture
Sustainability

Growing Power-An Urban Agriculture and Education Center

A few friends of mine from the fledgling Sustainability NPO we recently founded, Sustain Jefferson, spent a few incredible hours touring Growing Power this past Monday. Growing Power is a non-profit Urban Agriculture and Education facility in Milwaukee, WI that claims to grow enough food for 2000 people on 2 acres. With a claim like that I was drawn like a moth to flame. Their website offered some clues to their system-vermiculture, aquaculture, and several greenhouses. The actual tour filled in many of the details and inspired me in a way that I haven’t experienced since I was originally introduced to Permaculture and Bill Mollison several years ago.

What excited me most about Permaculture was the sheer common sense of it all. Taking wastes and turning them into resources is not something we typically think of today. Just as Forests have no waste products, Permaculture strives to promote such perfect systems in human endeavors whether it be designing a garden or linking businesses together via Natural Capitalism. Using the waste of built systems to add energy to another allows you to drastically reduce your time and energy taking care of problems and reap the benefits of one integrated system working in concert is something that continues to fascinate me Aquaponics, especially in the uber simple system that Will Allen of Growing Power sets up, fits the bill perfectly.

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Freeganism
Sustainability

The Roots Of Freeganism Part I: Food Waste

Freeganism, the philosophy of non-participation in the capitalist economy through minimization of what one buys, has been getting heaps of press lately, with outlets as high-rolling as the New York Times and the Washington Post running pieces on the subject. But while much recent media coverage focuses on what it’s like to live as a freegan, I’m interested in the forces that freegans are reacting to, and the realities that allow them to sustain their lifestyles. In this four part series, I’ll be examining these questions by looking at food waste, disposable culture, modern work, and the state of community in America.

One night in late November, in the courtyard of a community center in Bushwick, Brooklyn, a bread mountain was constructed. It measured about four feet tall and 10 feet in diameter, the product of a few nights of dumpster diving throughout New York City. Hundreds of rolls, pumpernickel loaves and baguettes lay stacked in various states of edibility, but like so much wasted food in New York City, they would never make it to the people that needed them most.

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The Wind Shade Roof
Sustainability

Green Ideas We’d Like To See: The Wind Shade Roof

Architect designer Michael Jantzen has created a green oasis of sorts with his wind shade roof concept. Basically, it’s a large oval roof clad in wind turbines that powers whatever is under or around the structure.The particular roof in these concept photos is shown covering a large swimming pool. The integrated turbines would provide power for night lighting, pool maintenance, pumps, temperature control, etc. These would also make really cool pavilions, say, for farmers markets or other functions.

Bluenergy-Solar-Wind-Turbin
Sustainability

Best Of Both Worlds: The Bluenergy Solar Wind Turbine

A German company has created what appears to be the first integrated solar vertical axis wind turbine. Obviously, the advantage here is that when one resource isn’t available, the other may still come through to help produce some energy.

The company, Bluenergy AG, based their design on sailing engineering. The wind rotor is rotated by two spiral-formed vanes. According to the site, the installation costs relatively little, produces no noise or significant shadowing, and can be easily maintained from ground level. It also appears that the vertical wings can be lowered horizontal for access as well. One interesting design highlight claimed by the site is that the solar cells are cooled by the rotation of the turbine and thus generate more electricity. Anyone know if this would add significant output?

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Green-Energy
Sustainability

One Trillion Reasons To Invest In Clean, Green Energy

U.S. Bank Morgan Stanley has estimated that global sales from clean energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal power and biofuels could grow to as much as $1 trillion a year by 2030. In the meantime, the market may hit $505 billion in sales by 2020 — almost 9 times the level in 2005. Not a bad idea to invest, right?

Well, maybe. While it’s a sure bet that renewable energy will grow in percentage sales of global energy sources; there’s no telling how rapid or sustained such growth might be. Morgan Stanley was clear to indicate that current numbers are based on bullish investments, the rising value of oil, and current worldwide concerns over global warming. A change in any number of these factors could affect the industry. From the article,

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