Want to know more? Well, a wood burning boiler is a biomass heating system which burns wood pellets, logs or chips. The key difference to a wood burning stove is that a wood burning boiler is connected to your central heating and hot water system.

Burning wood is an environmentally friendly way of producing heat because when you set wood alight, the carbon dioxide released by the process equals the amount of carbon dioxide drawn into the tree during its lifespan, meaning that the same amount of CO2 is released as if the plant had died and decomposed naturally.

There are a range of wood burning boilers on the market, including wood pellet, chip and log boilers. Each is powered by a different type of wood material – you guessed it – wood pellets, chips and logs.

Wood pellets are made from processed wood, such as old sawdust and wood shavings. They are strictly regulated in size and moisture content, making them a good choice as fuel. <a href=” http://www.woodburningboilers.org.uk/wood-boilers/wood-chip-boilers/”>Wood chip boilers</a> are fuelled by small wood chips and although they are cheaper than wood pellets, they aren’t as regulated, meaning that their quality isn’t always assured. As for wood logs, they’re a good option if you have wood suppliers in the local area, but logs must be manually fed into a boiler.

Wood burning boilers could save you up to a staggering £600 a year compared to electric heating, according to the Energy Saving Trust. The environmental benefits are also huge, as the expected CO2 saving of a wood burning boiler compared to a gas boiler is three tonnes every year.

The UK government is offering financial support for owners of wood burning boilers as well. The Renewable Heat Premium Payment Scheme, which runs until the 31^st March 2013, provides help with the installation costs of a wood boiler up to £950. You may also be eligible to receive payments for the units of heat you produce as part of the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) when the scheme launches in October 2012.

In case you haven’t been watching the news,  a number of things have been bubbling up over the years which are now starting to  manifest.  All are likely to be significant influencing factors on your life.

It would be naïve of me to try and cover them all here but here are just a few.

• Potential economic collapse / significant alterations in global economic power structures
• Decreasing oil and the increasing oil price.  This stuff isn’t limitless and our whole way of life is dependent on it

• Increase in global food prices.  As oil prices go up so do the costs of transportation, energy and fertilisers, richer countries may survive in the short term but if things get really bad think widescale famine in the developing world.  Grain yields increased in 2011 but demand exceeded the increase by over 100%.  Stocks have been slowly eroding for some years now.

• Climate change – Whether you form part of the limited few, that still think climate change is not anthropogenically influenced, it’s happening and will result in sea level rises, water shortages, and a whole raft of climatic changes and shifts that will like put traditional crop growing land usage out of action and feed into the above.

• Revolution -Maybe you are already living through a countrywide revolution.  If not just look at what is going on elsewhere – could this be your country in the future?

What can you do?

1. Get a survival mindset.  If you need help I can personally recommend one of the survival courses ran by survival expert Nigel Startin at www.intrepid-expeditions.co.uk.  After one of their Survival Programmes (if you survive) you’ll feel as though you can tackle the world head on.  Learn about Survival and you’ll realise it is much about a mind set above anything else.  At worse those challenging days if your life will start to seem and lot less challenging.

1. Work out your risk exposure.  Start to question aspects of your life.  You don’t need to do this all at once, but it’s important start imagining what your life will be like in a world where oil and food prices are sky high. Have a gas guzzling car – can it run on cooking oil if things hit the fan?  Maybe you have pension funds, how are they structured,  are you investing things that clearly won’t have a future when everything kicks off?  Do you know how to grow things?  Do you have space to grow things?

1. Get equiped – What stuff do you need to get while things are still cheap.  Torches, candles, food, seeds, knowledge and books.  The list could go on.  Get it now and be prepared like a good scout.
2. Share ideas – No man or woman is an island.  Though sometimes I wish I was on an island away from mankind, the fact of the matter is together we are stronger.  Build your network, get a community of people are know and can share things with, whether that is a few extra eggs from the lady with the chickens down the road or ideas about running things off old car batteries with your mates on Facebook.  What about that guy you remember that knows how to skin a rabbit, or the lady that grows potatoes in old bags.  Get to know your neighbours, you’ll want to know them when the lights start to flicker.
3. Get interested – Watch the news but flick around different sources.    Don’t just use one source.  Work out what is going on in the world and piece together a picture of potential risk yourself. Get in the know.

1. Get the skills – If you had to be at this moment in time, have much of your life depends on others, and other sources?  How independent could you really be.  Start acquiring the skills to lower your exposure and dependenc on other sources.  Think of it as a journey, but start the journey tomorrow,  you won’t learn the way to self sufficiency over night, but each day on the path will make things a lot easier later on.  Cooking, woodwork, hunting, making soap, sewing, knitting, carpentry, mechanics…. Expand your practical skillsets.

Well established in the commercial sector for its highly successful range of LED and CFL lamps, MEGAMAN, which leads the way in energy-saving lighting, has helped a Dutch deluxe private housing project save thousands of pounds.

Over a process of two years, the Soestduinen home, in Holland, was built integrating the latest energy efficient technologies to create the ultimate in green homes. Finished this month, the home that is aptly nicknamed ‘The Green House’, because of its energy efficient credentials, uses MEGAMAN lamps throughout. Thanks to this, is likely to save the homeowner over £130,000 (over 150,000 Euros) in terms of their lighting bill, and over 240,000 kg’s of CO2, over the lamps minimum 30,000 hours (equivalent to 10 years) of operation.

The homeowners vision for The Green House was to use as much of today’s technology as possible to maximise energy efficiency in the home. The Dutch homeowner explains further: “Although I wanted to create the most efficient home possible, I also wanted to ensure it was comfortable and easy to control. I believe that there is a point where a home that is full of the latest technology can begin to alienate the user, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to have a space which could be automated as much as possible to adapt to external light and temperatures, without us having to alter the controls manually. At the same time, I wanted to have the option of overriding these settings from my home, or from further away, if our plans changed.

”I not only gave great attention to the type of HVAC systems used, but to lighting as well, as lighting is one of the greatest consumers of electricity in a home. This particular selection of ground breaking technologies which I have chosen to use in The Green House would not have been possible even two years ago, as the technology just wasn’t available then. I have only chosen to use MEGAMAN LED and CFL technology because of their energy saving capabilities and quality of light output; the results speak for themselves.”

Various lamps from MEGAMAN’s LED Reflector Series have been used within The Green House, as well as a selection of MEGAMAN’s CFL range. MEGAMAN’s LED Reflector series was chosen as the lamps within the range offer all the benefits of light quality and control of their halogen counterparts, but are also highly energy efficient, offer excellent colour rendering and minimal heat generation.

Within The Green House a cross section of MEGAMAN lamps has been used and includes:

* MEGAMAN’s AR111 15W LED reflectors, which have been used within the home’s wine cellar to ensure minimum heat generation for maximum light

* The company’s PAR16 5W and 7W LED reflectors, which have been used to highlight works of art and the owner’s collection of Delft china. With its minimal UV characteristics protect the art pieces from harm.

* MEGAMAN’s PAR38 15W LED reflectors, which have been used with the corridors and exterior lighting areas

* A wide range of additional MEGAMAN CFL dimmable and non-dimmable lamps, which have been used within table, standard and pendant lamps.

Specifically, MEGAMAN’s self-ballasted T2 dimmable linear tubes, for sweeping indirect light effects.

* MEGAMAN’s ultra slim GX53 Series of CFLs, which has been used throughout the bedroom and office areas

* MEGAMAN’s PAR38 15W LED reflectors, which have been used with the corridors and exterior lighting areas

To maximise the efficiencies of these already highly efficient light sources, the homeowner also worked closely with Domotica to link all the lamps into a lighting control solution. In addition, GIRA’s an Instabus KNX/EIB system was used to create future-proof, electronic nervous system designed according to globally valid standards. The Instabus KNX/EIB system offered the installation team numerous solutions for optimising the use of the home’s resources and the visualisation of actual energy consumption.

Not only does the Domotica system have preset scenes programmed into each of the keypads and displays, but thanks to GIRA’s system daylight, motion, Co2 and the external weather station have also been integrated, to ensure that light levels within the main areas of the house are automatically adjusted dependent on the amount of daylight available. This level of integration has ensured that The Green House achieve maximum lighting efficiencies, no matter the time of day or night.

Thanks to the integration skills of home automation company Domotica Platform, The Green House brings together a wide range of technologies within a centralised management interface that is easy to use and update as required. Using KNX – the world’s only open source platform for all applications in home and building control – to link the wide variety of technologies together, the Domotica

system not only co-ordinates the artificial and day lighting control system throughout, but also the geotherm energy heat pumps, the ventilation system, the automatic sun screen and parasols, the grey water recycling system, the exterior gates and the security and fire alarm system. The entire system can be accessed via touchscreens and keypads in the home and pool house, or via Apple® iPhone’s™, iPad’s™ and touch-screen technology, for the ultimate in energy efficient living.

The homeowner began this project with the aim of achieving the most energy efficient, yet stylish home possible. This has been achieved using the latest technologies. He concludes: “Thanks to the advances in LED and CFL technology, MEGAMAN’s lamps offer me a highly cost effective and visually attractive way to light my home, without needing to replace them for many years to come, and I have the knowledge of knowing that I am also helping the environment as well”.

Editor’s Note:

MEGAMAN LED Reflector Series Technology

MEGAMAN’s LED Reflector Series delivers low energy, wattage and maintenance cost advantages, combined with high quality lighting performance and negligible UV. In addition, with low heat output, an excellent colour rendering of Ra92 and over 90% lumen maintenance at 30,000 hours, the MEGAMAN LED Reflector Series were the ideal solution for The Green House’s energy, sustainability and colour rendering requirements.

Providing a true eco-replacement lighting solution for traditional halogen, metal halide and incandescent applications is the driving force behind MEGAMAN’s product development. Unlike many LED lamp manufacturers, MEGAMAN uses reflectors instead of lens technology to offer the most efficient LED lighting solution. The LED reflector lamps mimic the design of traditional light sources, delivering excellent distribution of light and providing energy saving compared with conventional lamps of the same output.

Using Thermal Conductive Highway^TM Technology (TCH), the MEGAMAN patented LED lamp design results in longer-lasting lamps with high lumen maintenance, resulting in up to 90% of initial lumens being available at the end of the lamp life.

For more information contact: Louise Ball, Marketing Communications Manager, Neonlite International Ltd, louise.ball@neonlite.eu.com and visit www.megamanlighting.com

For more press information contact: MEGAMAN team, Publicasity, +44 (0) 1442 261199, megaman@publicasity.com

About MEGAMAN^®
MEGAMAN^® is a global brand in high-performance, energy-efficient lighting and an innovative leader in LED and CFL lamp design, with technology targeting the best eco-lighting solutions. MEGAMAN products are widely distributed throughout the world, including Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa and South America, covering more than 90 countries. By setting environmental management as one of the company’s highest priorities, MEGAMAN is focusing on eco-friendly environmental processes from initial design, to manufacturing, research and development, and the disposal and recycling of their products.

1. How much can a household save (in money and carbon) if they

change their 6 halogen light bulbs to MEGAMAN® light bulbs?

Great question, but this depends entirely on how long their lights are on. For instance, if the household has their lights on for a full 24 hours per day, they can expect a payback in six months if they replace their halogen by LEDs. However, if they replace them with our CFLs, then the pay back would be much faster. A product such as an 11W GU10 in CFL is a great one for the home and there are also options now in LED of course.

Not only will you be saving energy by also a CO₂ saving – For example 1.4 tonnes of CO₂ can be saved by using just six 11W GU10 CFLs for the rated life of 15,000hrs.

2. What is the most exciting eco product MEGAMAN presently has on sale and can they give us a glimpse of what is coming in the future?

The most exciting product at the moment is the LED Classic which is a direct replacement for traditional light bulbs. These are currently available in 5W and 8W (this is equivalent up to 40W in a traditional light bulb) which is already a useful wattage for your typical household and will last around 15 years if used for 4 hours a day.

A glimpse into the future for MEGAMAN® – we are currently extending this range in higher power units with LED replacements for the widely used, 60W light bulbs. These products are light-weight and have a similar shape to ordinary light bulbs. They emit light in all directions just like the old technology so there are no ugly shadows created on a light shade. On top of this they have good colour rendering which means that they replicate the warm colour of a traditional light bulb and are dimmable which is great as more and more consumers begin to understand the impact of lighting on the mood/feel of a room.

3. How would MEGAMAN® respond to critics that claim eco-light bulbs are bad for health and cost more in energy and carbon to produce than keeping your old incandescent light bulb?

A simple response to this is that these claims are not true. The energy cost saving and the lesser effect on the environment are far more significant than the energy consumed to make them. Putting it into context, one LED is the equivalent to at least 25 traditional light bulbs meaning you cannot really compare the energy costs of making one LED and that of making one incandescent.

As for the health issue, there is an obvious lack of information in the market which leads to scare stories. It is the role of the industry to educate the public, which is something we will try to address not only through our website and catalogues but also by working together with various environmental organisations, government offices and our industry colleagues.

MEGAMAN® LEDs offer a light spectrum which is more in line with the colour emitted by traditional light bulbs and there are no harmful UVs or infra-red radiation. As for CFLs, all of MEGAMAN®’s lamps are made using amalgam mercury rather than the traditional method of liquid mercury. This means that that almost all of the very little mercury t contained in the bulbs will not escape even in case of breakage.

The World Rivers Project has been set up to create a landscape of  river from across the world in the form of a giant curtain.

Participants are asked to dip a white cloth (any size and any type) in a river and take photos of the event.

The result is then mailed back to Artist Lee Tracy, who will individually embroider it with the river name, location, and date. Then add it to a all the others.  The final artwork will be a patchwork of all the rivers across the world and their unique shades and colours.

For many rivers are a vein of hope, and a means to survive.  With the recent oil spill on the Yellowstone River we are reminded how precious our natural waterways are.

Take up the challenge and ensure your river is covered in this fantastic art piece.

http://worldriversproject.com/

Introduction to Wind Power
Wind power is the conversion of wind into a useful form of energy e.g. using wind turbines to create electricity. But this is not the only form of energy that it is capable of being converted into, other forms such as using wind mills for mechanical power, wind pumps for pumping water or drainage, or sails to propel ships with kinetic energy are also applicable. Some, are recently starting to doubt the ability of wind power to provide enough energy on a global scale (power output vs. Needs of nation) for it to be economically viable (see recent article in the Telegraph). However, it is still unquestionably one of the most popular methods of renewable energy on a personal scale.

In terms of electrical uses on a large-scale, wind farms are the key. These are a collection of many wind turbines to collect as much wind power from one geographically-viable area as possible. Wind Farms are connected to the electric power transmission network, whereas smaller facilities are used to provide electricity to isolated locations. Utility companies increasingly buy back surplus electricity produced by small domestic turbines.

Wind energy, as an alternative to fossil fuels, has plenty of positive factors. It is plentiful, clean, renewable, widely distributed, and produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation. However, the construction of wind farms/turbines has been frowned upon in some communities and areas, as it can have a large visual impact aesthetically. Yet, with some of the most viable areas for wind farming out to sea (and thus more wind farms being built at sea) this could be a small complaint of the future. Any effects on the environment, nevertheless, are generally among the least problematic of any power source, making it a favourite amongst the more environmentally friendly of you.

In a wind farm, individual turbines are interconnected with a medium voltage, power collection system and communications network. At a substation, this medium-voltage electric current is increased in voltage with a transformer for connection to the high voltage electric power transmission system.

In small scale wind energy generation, the surplus power produced by domestic microgenerators can be fed into the network and sold to the utility company, producing a retail credit for the microgenerators’ owners to offset their energy costs. This works on a retail credit system, the same as that used in small scale solar power generation.

Practical Uses

Microgeneration. This is the small-scale generation of heat and power by individuals, small businesses and communities to meet their own needs, as alternatives or supplements to traditional centralized grid-connected power. Although this may be motivated by practical considerations (such as unreliable grid power or long distance from the grid) it is primarily used to describe the environmentally-conscious and their approaches to generating power that aspire to zero or low-carbon footprints.
Environmentally, studies have backed-up the environmental impacts of wind power on a small-scale in the UK.  (A new study by the Carbon Trust into the potential of small-scale wind energy has found that small wind turbines could provide up to 0.4% of the total UK electricity consumption.

This is saving 0.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission.
Wind turbines have been used for household electricity generation in conjunction with battery storage over many decades in remote areas.
There are several different ways to secure a wind turbine. Mounted on a suitable tower, using a ‘shelter model’ to predict how nearby obstacles will affect local wind conditions, or even installed on a roof. Installation issues then include the strength of the roof, vibration, and the turbulence caused by the roof ledge. Small-scale rooftop turbines suffer from turbulence and rarely generate significant amounts of power, especially in towns and cities.

Conclusion
So, it seems that whilst wind turbines seem like a great idea for urban personal renewable energy, it may be best left to those in areas high above sea level, or in less densely populated urban areas, and of course the most environmentally conscious. However, due to factors like; ease of installation, benefits to the environment and ability (in the right conditions) to easily (and effectively) produce electricity in many different environments, wind power will continue to be a popular source of personal renewable energy.
Carlo Ruggiero is a green aficionado who is passionate about getting the word out on renewable sources of energy and all things green, from funding your hot water to making money from your electric heating.  You can follow his struggle with social media and daily musings on Twitter.

8th – 30th November – The chickens are getting very friendly and follow us when we appear in the garden.  Sounds crazy but sometimes they seem to be speaking to us.

When we first started, we  bought layers pellets and corn, we soon discovered that they prefer layers mash, and were not too keen on corn. As a special treat we give them dried mealy worms – they get so excited when they are fed these – we discovered it is cheaper to buy these in bulk from ebay.  They’ve also developed a taste for sweetcorn, bread and green vegetables chopped up small for them. This is their morning treat when they are first let out of their coop.  Recently we have have been experimenting with cooked potato peelings boiled up and mixed with bran.

The last 10 years have seen an explosion of innovation in low-carbon tourism – initiatives aiming to reduce the carbon intensity of travel. But which ones are the best?

The Responsible Tourism Awards 2011 are calling on the public to nominate the most innovative and inspiring organisations in tourism and for the ‘Best low carbon initiative’ category are hoping to recognise advances in green and low carbon tourism technology. People who nominate the best are also in with the chance to win a responsible holiday to Kenya.

What are they looking for?

The ‘low carbon initiative’ category of the Awards is looking for fresh approaches to reducing the carbon impact of tourism – the latest in train innovation, electric car hire, and any initiative promoting low carbon transport or technology to make getting to or around your holiday less carbon intensive.

Did you forego the car hire route for the adventure of a well-organised bus network run on used cooking oil this year? Perhaps you stayed in a city where free bike rental made the centre a no-car zone, and connected high speed rail with walking routes? Horse-drawn barges, tuk-tuk fleets and hybrid ferries are all likely contenders for this Award.

Unsure who to nominate? Previous winners include:

Seat61.com (http://seat61.com/) – an invaluable online resource for planning train travel around the world

snowcarbon.co.uk Ltd (http://www.snowcarbon.co.uk/)– a website aimed at skiers looking to avoid air travel covering 30 resorts reachable by rail on a site that is easy to use and written by travel journalists

Alcatraz cruises (http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/)– ferry operator with a commitment to carbon reduction that includes technology innovation and home to the US first hybrid ferry, the Hornblower Hybrid – an eco friendly vessel is powered largely by solar panels, wind turbines, and grid electricity.

Swiss Travel System (http://www.swisstravelsystem.ch/en/) – offering the SwitzerlandMobility network – an exemplary model of a consistent and comprehensive approach to travel at the national level. The network offers 20,000 kilometres of non-motorised itineraries around Switzerland, incorporating hiking, cycling, mountain biking and canoeing, as well as information on booking accommodation services, luggage transfer and discounts for public transport.

Bycyklen – The Foundation City Bikes in Copenhagen (http://www.bycyklen.dk/) – more than 2,000 city bikes for free public use by locals and tourists alike, Bycyklen demonstrating the potential scale and replicability of an initiative which reduces carbon emissions in the city and promotes exercise.

Nominations are made online at www.responsibletourismawards.com, and there are 13 categories in total to choose from besides Best low carbon initiative, including Best accommodation for the environment, Best volunteering organisation, and Best in a marine environment. The deadline for nominations is Monday 17^th June, so be quick to share your recommendations for the best.

Bio: Alexander Lyons is manager of the Responsible Tourism Awards as organised by responsibletravel.com. He is interested in connecting with organisations that have exciting stories to share in responsible tourism, and can be contacted on alex@responsibletravel.com, or on Twitter, via twitter.com/RTAwards.

Facebook Open Compute

While that all may sound wonderfully altruistic and community centric the question comes up, “what makes this so important?” The answer is the focus on green issues, energy efficiency and better data center performance. First, the servers that they created for the data center are six pounds lighter than standard servers are, and are unpainted with no stickers or other external printing. This meant that there was 120 tons of material that did not need to be shipped, saving energy. The bare exterior saves on printing and other unnecessary elements that would use non-renewable resources.

That is some detailed stuff, and that is, for the most part, the kind of detailed thinking that Facebook put into these systems. The company custom designed two motherboards for the new servers, one for AMD processors and the other for Intel. What they also did was to remove any chip or feature that they did not explicitly need; no expansion slots or other hardware that had a function that could be replaced by remote virtual systems. This cut down on actual power usage.

The servers themselves are 1.5U high. “1U” is the standard rack server height. The reason for the change is that it allows the servers to be fitted with bigger heat sinks and better airflow, making the servers run cooler while using with less energy. The Pineville data center was designed from the ground up to use as little energy as possible. The data center itself makes extensive use of passive heating and cooling systems, using heated air from between the server racks to heat the offices for example.

Another interesting innovation is that they use 480-volt power systems. This reduces the amount of line loss in the transmission of power further increasing efficiency. This is clearly a commitment to green principles and energy efficiency, so what’s up with Greenpeace attacking Facebook demanding that they “unfriend” coal?

Can’t Win For Losing

Pineville, Oregon, was chosen for a number of reasons for the data center’s location. The local power company still operates a number of coal fired generators which was the only drawback, and the reason that Greenpeace was offended. It decided that Facebook had “Friended” coal power. This kind of automatic negative reductionism results in companies not bothering to try to go green, or do anything else productive.

Facebook has given away much with this project. The data center costs 24 percent less to build that traditional data centers, a fact that they could have brokered into a data center business model, but didn’t. The overall performance of the data center, as measured by power consumption, is 38 percent better than any other, which is another fact that has capitol value that they could have monetized, but didn’t.

This is a genuine effort to set the standard for using less power for our data needs because they are so huge. In 2007, it was estimated that data centers used 1.5 to 2 percent of the nation’s electricity. This number has doubled since then, and it will double again soon. The rush to cloud computing and online-based services will drive data center demand further increasing power usage in this sector. Whatever Greenpeace’s problem is, they need to “check their six.” Facebook may seem like the monster that will evolve into an Internet monopoly, but it is only trying to help, contributing to help our global energy crisis. What is not needed is Greenpeace throwing mud.

About the Author: Jon T. Norwood is a managing partner at High Speed Internet, a site dedicated to providing information on Internet Providers and Technology. Jon can be reached at jon@velocityguide.com.  TransitionVert.com takes no responsibility for any inaccuracies or false information in this article.