Archive for July, 2011
10 Eco-Friendly Green Toy Companies
Looking for great toys this holiday season, but want to make sure the toys does not hurt the environment. Then you will want to purchase toys from the 10 following companies.
1. PlanToys
PlanToys are wonderful wooden toys that have very high play value. All PlanToys are made with clean, natural rubberwood from rubber trees which no longer produce latex. PlanToys does not use dyes containing lead or any other heavy metals. They use non-toxic water-based dyes on their toys and soy and water-based inks on their printed materials. They use solar energy and low emission biofuels to power the machinery that kiln-dries the wood and the finished toys.
2. Haba
Haba Toys are made primarily of indigenous maple, beech wood and water-based paints. Fabric, felt, leather, cardboard and glass add dimension and variety to the Haba line. Their manufacturer process includes thermal energy and using wood scraps instead of coal for heating. Awarded national and international prizes for their top-quality, child-oriented design, Haba’s inventive playthings are a perfect match for inquisitive minds.
3. Habe
Habe is also known for their wooden toys made with natural materials. They have just launched the world’s first collection of bamboo toys. It took Habe years to develop this line of toys because bamboo, a giant natural grass that grows as tall as a tree, is its sensitivity to sawing, cutting, filing, dyeing, temperature and bending. Once cut, bamboo grows back completely in a mere three years. Bamboo also combines lightness with stability and is flexible but very strong. The bamboo grain has a wonderful tactile feel and is enhanced with a bright water-based paint.
4. Wonderworld
Uses rubber-wood that is made of replenishable source from plantations and widely accepted throughout the world as the environmental-friendly material. They also use non-toxic water based paints as well as biodegradable fabrics.
5. Sprig Toys
Sprig Toys have an exciting line of battery-free, eco-friendly, paint-free, kid-powered toys. Recently, they have expanded their line to include even more imaginative toys.
6. miYim
miYim makes a wonderful collection of plush toys using organic cotton.
7. imagiPlay
imagiPlay toys are made of natural materials such as wood from Rubber Tree and Bamboo. Some of their toys utilize MDF, compressed sawdust. They are utilizing the byproducts of another industry. The MDF they use is formaldehyde free and tested for child safety. Every step of their toy production from seed to shelf is carefully thought out to minimize impact on the earth. They select factories that are close to our raw materials to avoid this needless expenditure of gas, oil and greenhouse gases.
8. Thames & Kosmos
Thames & Kosmos provide hands-on science kits with serious foundations in real science. Their mission is Key to connect science education with relevant issues, including an alternative Energy & Environmental Science line. They have updated versions of their Fuel Cell and Power House kits, along with entirely new Hydropower and Global Warming kits. Their commitment to environmental issues extends beyond the kits themselves, as they donate one percent of sales of their Wind Power and Hydropower kits to environmentally focused non-profits.
9. Orange Blue Games
Blue Orange Games are made of wood, in order to provide quality and durability, warmth and appeal. Blue Orange uses natural playing materials. Pine, Birch, Beech are among the trees planted by Blue Orange Games for renewal of the environment. Blue Orange plants two trees for every tree used to create Blue Orange games.
10. Green Toys
Got Milk! Well, Green Toys does. They make all of their toys from recycled milk containers. The same ones you and I drink our milk out of. When we throw our container away in the recycling bin, it gets sorted out and sent to Green Toys. Next, the milk containers are reprocessed into super clean fresh plastic. The material is called high-density polyethylene (or HDPE). This material is considered one of the safest, cleanest plastics around. They make a variety of cooking sets, trucks, and sand toys.
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Prepaid electricity is not a typical type of electrical service. Prepaid-electricity works in that a person will be able to buy one’s electricity before it is used. This is useful for a number of different reasons.
The first thing to take a look at is that there are no fees involved with prepaid-electricity. The only costs that are going to be involved are costs that relate to getting the specific amount of electricity that one is looking to get.
Next there is the fact that there will be no surprises involved with regards to getting a bill. A problem with traditional electricity is that it is something that can be too expensive for some people to get. The sticker shock that can come about from one’s electrical bill can be too great. A person who uses prepaid-electricity will not have to deal with this concern. The person will instead know what one is getting and will be able to easily expect what is going on.
Another thing comes from how a person who uses prepaid-electricity will be able to keep from spending too much electricity. A good thing to see is that the average person who gets prepaid electricity will be able to do more to conserve one’s electrical use. This is great for economic and environmental purposes. Using less electricity can help to get fewer natural resources to be used while it can also work to ensure that a person’s electricity is not going to be used up too quickly.
A good thing about this benefit of prepaid-electricity is that a person will know what one is getting into. This can be used as a guideline with regards to how much electricity one can work with for a certain period of time.
The last benefit is that there are no sudden worries to see with regards to flat rates. A problem with some electrical plans is that they work with flat rates that charge minimums to people. This is regardless of how much money is being spent on prepaid-electricity. A prepaid-electrical plan will work to at least keep a person from having to deal with any of these fees. This is especially valuable for those who do not use as much electricity as others.
All of these benefits of prepaid electricity are great benefits for anyone to take a look at. Prepaid-electricity is a service that works without the use of expensive bills or costs. It will work to instead allow a person to save money and at the same time allow a person to be able to use less energy than what one would be handling through a standard electrical plan.
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Do you want to know the advantages and disadvantages of alternative energy solutions, and how you too can harness this energy for home use? There are many different alternative energy sources ranging from renewable to non-renewable ones, with some being much more sustainable than others. Nevertheless, it has become the topic of conversation for many people as more people are becoming more environmentally conscious.
1. What Are Some Examples Of Alternative Energy Sources That You Can Use At Home?
One of the most powerful forms of renewable energy that can be harnessed at home is solar power. Wind turbines can also be built to harness wind energy and convert it to electricity for home use. Other forms of renewable fuel can be wood that can be renewed with the re-growing of trees, sea, crops and waste products. But rapid usage can still deplete these resources easily.
2. What Are The Advantages Of Alternative Energy Sources?
Alternate energy sources, especially those that are renewable, are seen as the long term solution to deal with the problem of high carbon emissions and climate change.
3. What Are Some Disadvantages Of Alternative Energy Sources?
There are still some disadvantages when considering the use of renewable energy. The harnessing and production of renewable energy can be very expensive when compared to using fossil fuel plants. It is also very difficult to make a lot of energy quickly in a short period of time, and the cost to make the same amount of energy when using renewable power sources like wind turbines is much higher compared to using a coal or oil power station.
Thousands of people have already eliminated their own home electricity bills with a free energy system. They learned how to build it by downloading a step-by-step guide online. You can find out more about how to build this homemade power system at the website link below.
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With residential natural gas to electricity converters, the genie may finally have come out of the lamp. Around the turn of the last century, people would fill their gas lamps with oil from whale blubber and other crude combustible products. Now, with recent advances in how natural gases can be converted to electricity, energy can be created inexpensively without the need for burning.
While these new converters can convert a myriad of gases to electricity, the most common and inexpensive gas currently is methane. Biogas can also be converted to a usable AC current with this new technology, but currently the field of biofuels in still in its relative infancy so it most likely will be decades before any usable quantities will be generated.
Seven universities in the California college school system are currently installing large commercial natural gas converters on their campuses (among those universities are UC Santa Barbara in Southern California and San Francisco State University in Northern California). These colleges are installing these commercial converters not only to help reduce costs, but also to study this new science.
One of the most predominate types of natural gas converters is also commonly called a solid oxide fuel cell or a natural gas inverter. Since in effect hydrogen atoms (the most common element in gases and the first element on the periodic table) are a combination of one proton (positive charge), one electron (negative charge), and a neutron (no charge), it is not such a stretch to imagine that through a process not requiring combustion that a stream of electrons (commonly referred to as electricity) can be produced. Many people chose to refer to these products as natural gas inverters not only because the final process in converting natural gas to electricity involves inverting the direct current produced to a usable alternating current (hence, inverting the direct current to alternating current). Also, many people have already become familiar with the inverter used in conjunction with photovoltaic panels so the terminology “natural gas inverter” makes sense with the already recognizable “solar inverter.”
Ironically, so much recent publicity has centered around the commercial installations of these gas to electricity converters that the residential portion has been almost completely overlooked. With companies like Wal-mart, eBay, and others having installed these units, it is easy to understand why those installations would hog all of the attention. In reality, it is still a little known fact thousands of similar smaller units have been installed in homes across the country.
In general, the cost per kWatt-hour is about half using a residential natural gas converter than what people are currently being charged from their electric companies when the national averages are taken. So in effect, the “wish” of all those asking for lower utility bills is on the peak of being granted by what would appear to many to be a magical money saving genie installed at the point where their existing gas line comes into their home. Believe it or not, residential natural gas to electricity converters are on the verge of exploding, but not in the manner that you first may think.
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While awareness of biodiesel and running diesel engines on vegetable oil is growing, you still have to get the oil from somewhere. The conventional choice is to buy vegetable oil, or take used vegetable oil from a restaurant. However, there is another possibility: Produce your own oil, with algae.
Algae
Algae are a form of “simple,” photosynthetic, and aquatic organisms. The most complex forms of algae are commonly called “seaweed,” though algae range in size and complexity from unicellular forms to this more advanced form. They are called “simple” because they lack many complex features found in land plants. The most useful feature of algae for our purposes is that algae produce significant quantities of natural oils. In fact, there are estimates that the yield from algae can be 200 times greater than that from a comparable area of other sources of conventional vegetable oils.
Algal Oils
Oil from algae is quite similar to oils produced by conventional oil crops and oilseeds. Chemists generally do not speak of oil, which is a common word for a vaguely defined group of chemicals. Biological “oils,” or lipids, are chemicals called triglycerides, composed of a central glycerol unit with three fatty acids attached. Chemically, biological lipids are similar to petroleum to the extent that both groups of chemicals are based on carbon and hydrogen.
The main problem with using biological lipids as fuels is the fact that lipids are much more viscous (or resistant to “flowing,” in layman’s terms) than the refined petrochemicals which make up gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, and other petroleum-based fuels. As a result, unrefined lipids will not be completely burned off in an engine, and leftover product which did not burn can accumulate in the engine.
Biodiesel from Algae Oil
The process of making biodiesel from oil is all about lowering the viscosity of oil by removing the glycerol; the process of converting algal oils is the same as that with any conventional vegetable oils. Chemists refer to this process as “transesterification,” which in the case of biodiesel means splitting the triglycerides, separating the glycerol, which will settle, and converting the fatty acids into a solution of methyl esters, called biodiesel. This is done by mixing the biological oil with sodium methoxide.
Cultivating Algae
Algae can be cultivated at home using a device known as a “photobioreactor,” or a bioreactor which includes a source of light. A basic reactor can be made from clear plastic tubes or plastic bottles or a plastic container of some sort. Algae need water, carbon dioxide, and light to grow; the reactor will contain water into which has been placed a culture of algae. Depending on the type of reactor chosen, algae can be cultivated continuously or in batches. The light source can be an LED, a phosphorescent bulb, or natural sunlight.
Getting Oil from the Algae
The making of biodiesel involves a number of separation processes, even more so in the case of biodiesel from algae: separating the algae from the solution, separating the oil from the algae, and separating the glycerol from the biodiesel after the reaction is complete. All of these separation processes can be done simply with a centrifuge.
Conclusions
While even biodiesel isn’t quite a free lunch, getting biodiesel from algae can bring you one step closer. The product you get from algae-produced biodiesel is equivalent to that you get from other oils and the conversion of algal oil is the same as the conversion of any other oil; the algae are simply a renewable source of oil. Algae are quite safe, being commonly used in commercial products including food.
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The world is a place where greed and speed have predominated, but recently even the gods of pace have acknowledged that they either have to embrace environmentally friendly options or become extinct like the dinosaurs of old.
‘Earth Car’ gets the Formula 1 ball rolling
Team Honda was the first of the Formula 1 teams who turned talk into tactics and two years ago they opted to make an environmentally conscious statement by branding their cars not with corporate labels but an untarnished and uncorrupted map of planet earth.
Granted, this small contribution to the burgeoning problem of carbon gas emissions didn’t do anything practical, other than to constantly remind us of the failings of Formula 1 and FIA bosses to take this challenge to heart.
The motorsport moguls have every intention of becoming the high-tech pioneers and unequivocal leaders in the ongoing battle against climate change, one of the unpleasant facts of life that has the potential to destroy us all.
FIA President, Max Mosley, and company have effectively outlawed any further development on petrol engines and have instead put their formidable financial backing and expertise behind innovative and a more hybrid approach to the development of increased power.
Biofuels a solution
Formula 1 can learn something from the United States where the Indy cars have been running on ethanol for quite some time now and there is plenty of discussion around the possibility of utilising biofuels instead of the dangerously low reserves of fossil fuels left in the world today. Formula 1 racing cars currently burn nearly a litre of fossils fuels per kilometre, an equation that cannot possibly be sustained, even for another season.
KERS could change the face of F1 forever
One of the ideas that has manifested itself in KERS, or kinetic energy recovery systems, is that of harnessing the energy lost during braking by re-using it to boost acceleration. When you consider that racing cars have to brake from speeds of over 200mph to 50mph in 2.5 seconds, then it is a given that an enormous amount of energy is lost through braking and the consequent heat loss associated with braking.
Energy allotments may be introduced
Another idea that looks fit to materialise is that by 2011 each Formula 1 team would be given a parcel of energy for each race on the Formula 1 calendar. This parcel would shrink year by year and the team that wins the race would be the team that has utilised the energy the most efficiently and effectively.
This would mean a major shift from a sport where fuel consumption has always been the major contributing factor, to a sport where the effective energy use of the racing car is paramount.
Team Honda’s battle to reduce their carbon footprint
Team Honda have made a concerted effort to reduce their carbon footprint by
- introducing a recycling scheme at the Honda plant
- providing incentives to their work force to cycle or walk to work
- using low energy light bulbs throughout and installing solar panels on the roofs of all the trackside motor homes
- holding video conferences instead of flying to meetings
- turning off all lights and computers at night
It is worth remembering that it’s not only the grandstanding gestures that make the difference but a whole range of little ones too.
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