This is a process common in factories. Decomposition of organic wastes leads to the production of methane. When fossil fuels are transported or produced methane gas is emitted. Livestock farming is the major source of methane emission. There is a wide range of greenhouse effect that varies from one gas to another. Heat absorption and trapping also varies which give out varied effects onto the atmosphere. However debates surrounding the effects and processes of greenhouse gases ebb when people start noting the natural process of the formulation of these gases.

Some of the major sources of greenhouse gases

Vehicles running across the roads everyday form a large part of earth’s total percentage of greenhouse gas emissions. Fuels burn out in huge quantities every day. Cars, planes, trains, ships and trucks are mostly dependent on these fuels. Diesel, petroleum and gasoline form a major part of fuel consumption.

Producing livestock in agriculture emit a lot of greenhouse gases. Rice production and agricultural soils are responsible for producing these gases.

Producing electricity gives out large quantities of greenhouse gases. Estimates have come up with suggestions that electricity is possibly the largest of all greenhouse gas emitting sources. Fossil fuels like coal and natural gas are the major sources of electricity.

There are a wide area of forests and lands that act as a reasonable source of greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is absorbed by the lands and forest areas spread across USA. However they have not been emitted into the atmosphere.

There are several household and commercial use products that emit large quantities of greenhouse gases. Heat is produced by burning fossil fuels. Wastes produce these gases. When an estimate of yearly carbon footprint is made it is visible how food, packaging and various other household products give out greenhouse gases.

Effect of Greenhouse gases is massive. Earth has been warming up fast for the past few years. This has been a result increased greenhouse effect. Natural causes also lead to this effect. Water vapour, rains and lightening form increased levels of these gases. Earth is a natural place of all imbalances. Emission and absorption of greenhouse gases take place simultaneously.

Average temperature of the earth is increased which results in complete change of climates.  Human activities have been assessed for decades and they has been stated as the main cause for global warming, rise in water levels and change in land use patterns. Understanding of situations and awareness drives will save the atmospheres and climate behaviours from being further hampered.

About the Author

Adam Wilson is a notable environmentalist dealing with ways that reduce earth’s temperatures. He also writes on different topics like RECYCLING PLASTIC: HOW DO YOU GET BENEFITTED? window tinting in Denver etc.

Solar energy is immensely significant to the earth as it is the very source of life! American politician J.D. Hayworth had stated that solar energy is one of the most renewable, pure and affordable sources of energy on this planet. He had also added that man would consume a considerable amount of time to harness solar energy. The sun’s energy is extremely vital for the birth, growth and sustenance of mankind and environment at large. As opposed to the other forms of energy like coal, petroleum and natural gas which are non-renewable, solar energy is an infinite source of energy which should be accumulated and utilized efficiently!

Image Source:www.ehow.com  1

Advantages of solar energy: Solar energy is quite convenient due to the following reasons:

• Zero greenhouse gas: Solar energy is a completely natural source of renewable energy! One of the best benefits of this type of energy is that it does not discharge harmful greenhouse gases. Harnessing solar energy is a very scientific process which does not comprise smoke or any chemicals.
• Boundless free energy: Excluding the installation charges, this energy is totally free. Unlike regular power production, trapping solar energy does not involve any exorbitantly priced process.
• Employment opportunities: According to EIAA, about 1,00,000 job opportunities have been created in Europe, thanks to its ever expanding solar industry.
• Boon for environment: Solar energy does not play any role in destructing human or natural habitats as is done by activities like mining. The earth constantly loses significant raw materials through mining.

Disadvantages of solar energy: There are certain disadvantages of solar energy as well. They are as follows:

• Incompetence: It is believed that solar energy is quite inefficient. This is because of the astonishing fact that only 22% of the solar radiation can be harnessed by a solar panel to be converted into electrical energy. This implies that a vast surface area is required to produce a generous quantity of electricity.
• Preserving solar energy: Solar energy is quite convenient when it comes to storage! Solar panels are enormous and therefore you need larger panels to store it.
• Expensive: Price of establishing solar panels in buildings is quite expensive. Huge upfront costs are a big deterrent for most people.
• Massive size of panels: Solar panels are generally massive and utilizing them can prove to be very cumbersome.

Today fossil fuels like coal and petroleum are steadily on the decline, which is a cause of alarm for our environment. Our daily activities like driving and excessive use of electric appliances like air conditioners encourage constant emission of detrimental greenhouse gases which swell carbon footprint to a large extent.

There are numerous commercial benefits associated to solar energy. Harnessing and utilizing solar energy will assure you of a cleaner and healthier environment, without exhausting the non-renewable resources of energy. Currently, the governments of several nations promote employment of solar energy in an attempt to upgrade our ecosystem! However, there are certain disadvantages of solar energy as well.

About Author

Adam Wilson is a professional writer who has written several articles about environmental impacts like global warming, recycling and so on. He has also contributed articles regarding home decor and home window tinting in Denver for Sunglowf.com. This article speaks about the advantages and disadvantages of solar energy.

Image courtesy of Make Africa Green.

JOHANNESBURG – Make Africa Green (Pyt) Ltd is a South African black consultancy company established for the purpose and objective of providing consultancy, training and nurturing communities and most importantly learners across South Africa and Southern Africa in the field of natural farming, sustainable natural resource management, permaculture, environmental greening and food security projects by means of community development.

The founder member Mr Joe Matimba has a track record in community and environmental greening solutions and is backed up by many years of experienced vested.  Joe has been involved in numerous greening initiatives, food security, community development and training across South Africa and SADC region while still working for Food & Trees for Africa for 18 years.  He is one of the most experienced permaculture and environmental specialists and community developer in the country.

Image courtesy of Make Africa Green.

Make Africa Green will be the instrument he will be using to provide skills development, training and capacity building on food security to subsistence farmers, community developers, school learners, educators and historically disadvantaged communities. Says Make Africa Green’s Managing Director, Joe Matimba, “Make Africa Green understands the delicate balance of human sustenance and nature’s ecological demands.  That is why through permaculture we can assist beneficiaries to make better use of their environment to create a health community who free from starvation, hunger and malnutrition.

Make Africa Green runs a number of programmes, most of which provides practical experience, hands-on experience.  “We organise field trips to environmental conservation sites to share skills, knowledge and information with participants who are beneficiaries of our programmes to increase their knowledge and first-hand experience of that which they learn through our programmes,” states Matimba.

“Our programmes contribute towards job creation, alleviation of poverty, crime, and substance abuse reduction and reduced levels of malnutrition within children.”

Make Africa Green is playing a major role in mitigating poverty, unemployment, maintaining agricultural productivities; promotes economic viability in both short and long term; and maintains stable rural communities and improves quality of life for communities.

Permaculture food gardening techniques build on current agricultural achievements, adopting a sophisticated approach that can maintain high yields and profits without compromising the natural resources on which agriculture depends on.

Image courtesy of Make aFrica Green.

“Permaculture and environmental education optimizes the transferring of skills, knowledge, information and technology to achieve long-term stability in agricultural enterprise, environmental protection, conservation, preservation, management and consumer safety,” concludes Matimba.

Strategic consultants

Make Africa Green has a number of consultants based in different provinces of South Africa to implement some of the company’s environmental greening, food security and sustainable land design and management, landscaping, medicinal herb processing, capacity building, educational tours, permaculture training and workshops in disadvantaged schools and communities.  Make Africa Green provides a turnkey solution for all environmental greening, food security and community empowerment and development requirements. This makes Make Africa Green one of the most adept permaculture and environmental consultancy companies in Southern Africa.

For more information about our programmes visit our website: makeafricagreen.co.za

Joe Matimba, 082 889 3946

Suza Adam

Spindle Communications cc

131 Buckingham avenue, Craighall Park 2196

PO Box 516, Auckland Park 2006

Tel: +27 11 880 0364

Fax: +27 11 788 3697

Cell: +27 82 789 9777

suza.adam@spindlecommunications.com

skype: SpindleComm

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Recycling is a social responsibility and it is really beneficial to the environment as well as to every individual. While most of the people are aware of the benefits of recycling, there are some people who need some more valid reasons to get convinced about the huge benefits of recycling. Now, in this article the benefits of recycling plastic have been discussed. Plastic has turned out to be one of the most extensively used materials, throughout the globe.

Benefits of Recycling Plastic (Image Source: Bangandfilm.

It is known that there are approximately 10,000 kinds of plastic that are being used for manufacturing different types of products, including pet bottles, kids’ toys, household goods, accessories etc. This, results in a considerable increase in plastic waste discarded across the world. It has been observed that a major portion of the global waste consists of various kinds of plastic, which causes a harmful impact on the atmosphere. So, plastic recycling was initiated in order to produce new goods from useless plastic bits and waste.

Here are some of the most important benefits of recycling plastic materials –

Conserves natural resources and energy – Recycling plastic helps to save a huge amount of energy which is needed to manufacture new products. By using recyclable plastic materials factories may produce new products using almost 2 to 3 times lesser energy. Natural resources like petroleum, water, and natural gas are also saved by recycling plastics.

Especially oil and natural gas, the two most important resources to make plastic, are not only limited in supply, but also in huge demand for the production of other important products like electricity or powering automobiles. According to American Plastics Council, plastic production accounts for 70% of plastics that are made from domestic gas and 4% of total energy consumption of U.S. Since plastic materials are already there in plenty, recycling the existing material helps to save lots of resources.

Saves landfill space – Since plastic is not an automatically recyclable material, it can stay in a landfill for hundreds or thousands of years. Hence it is important to recycle plastic properly. In fact, one ton of recycled plastic may save almost 7.4 cubic yards of space in a landfill. Moreover, plastics can be recycled time and again. This ensures that they could probably be removed from landfills altogether.

Recycling helps to reduce the amount of harmful emissions – Plastic products, manufactured from raw material generate a huge amount of harmful greenhouse gases. Using recycled plastic materials, therefore, ensures lesser amount of harmful emissions and helps to make a healthy environment.

Recycling plastic is easier   – These days, almost 80 percent of Americans have easy access to plastic recycling programs. They can always participate in a municipal curbside program or leave all the wastes near a dumpster or a drop-off site. According to the American Plastics Council more than 1,800 U.S. organizations deal with or repossess used plastics. Moreover, there are also many grocery stores that collect plastic wraps and plastic bags.

About Adam

Adam Wilson is a popular author. In this article he has discussed about the benefits of recycling plastic.

Eco friendly means environmentally friendly it also mean nature friendly and green. It is a term used to refer services and goods, guidelines, laws and policies that are claimed to inflict no harm or minimal harm on the environment. Many companies use this term to promote their goods and services. It is also used as greenwashing. A renewable product is a natural product with an ability to reproduce. It happens through natural or biological processes. Renewable products are part of our natural environment and thus form eco system.

There are different eco friendly renewable materials available such as agricultural products, biomass, water and other. Coming to biomass, it comes from renewable materials like residues from agriculture, such as crops, animal waste and human waste and wastes from industrial sectors of food industries and wood manufacture. It is used to increase energy efficiency, decrease the emission of green house gas and sustain climate change.

When carefully controlled treatment, release and usage are followed water is also be considered as a renewable product. If those conditions are not followed at that location it would become a non renewable resource. Removal of water from pore may cause permanent subsidence then it cannot be renewed. There are many other eco friendly products like banana leaves, coconut products, cogon grass etc.

Preparing a list of resources which are renewable is a helpful way to know more about the environment. Another important renewable product is wood. Now many countries have policies which clearly state how supply of timber and wood is to be managed. Trees play a vital role in the environment.  There are many different products that use natural renewable energy resources like solar energy, wind energy, bio mass etc. The products that use solar energy are solar charge controller, solar fans, solar garden lights, solar heater, solar inverter, solar water heater etc. These products utilize the solar energy effectively.

Solar products make use of solar energy to charge their batteries, once they charged they can  use the charged batteries to continue work. The battery backup will differ from product to product. Similarly the other important renewable energy resource is wind energy. By using wind energy and with the help of turbines we can generate electricity.  There are different products that make use of wind energy and generate electricity like turbines of S series, E-3120 and G-3120 so on.

The eco friendly products are nature friendly but not user friendly in terms of their price. The cost of this items is a little bit high. They are available from $3000. It is a good idea to use eco friendly products even though they cost high. In order to buy those products, if you are short of money then you can go for loans such as personal loans, gadget loans, payday loans etc. It would be better to choose loans with PPI (Payment Protection Insurance) that can help you to provide some coverage if you loss your job or if you are not able to work in the future.

Author Bio: The guest post was contributed by Lucy, financial guest blogger from Manchester, UK. Wrote many articles on ppi claims . Find out more about her blogs @financeport.

Sustainability in construction has become increasingly important over the last few years. Sustainable building methods reduce the damage to the environment and they minimize energy use, waste and pollution. Maximizing energy efficiency in your home is environmentally friendly, but it will also save you money in the long run. Let’s have a look at how to build an energy efficient house.     

Walls, windows and the roof
The first step we need to take to make sure our house is energy efficient is to prevent heat from escaping the house. This can be achieved by insulation of walls and the loft. These actions will insure that warmth is kept in and this is extremely important in saving energy and money. Installation of cavity walls will take only a few hours. Small holes are drilled in the mortar between the bricks and then insulation material is pumped in. Loft insulation can also be done in only a few hours. The insulation material is simply rolled out and laid flat across the loft floor ensuring that the heat will not escape through the roof. New houses will already have decent insulation, but older homes will definitely benefit from I and these older homes will certainly need insulation to prevent warmth from escaping. Many old homes also have single glazing windows, which should be replaced by double glazing. A lot of heat escapes from single glazed windows and only half of this amount is lost through double glazed windows. These are important measures to be taken as you probably don’t want money and energy fly out through the walls, windows and the roof! Up to a fifth can be saved on heating costs by making this relatively simple change. Not even to mention the waste of valuable fossil fuels. Old wooden or aluminium frames should be replaced by recycled upvc plastic frames, which are durable and draught free. When it comes to the outside of the roof we often see dark roofs in countries with a cold climate and white roofs in countries with a warm climate. This is done to reflect the heat and light away from the white roof to keep the building colder. Dark roofs send the warmth back into the house as the dark colour soaks up the heat. For these reasons walls, windows and the roof are vital matters before you even start to think about durable energy solutions like solar panels or wind turbines.

Natural energy
Because of the tremendous efficiency evolution in solar panels over the last few years, they are becoming increasingly more common and popular. Even President Obama ordered the installation of a solar water heater and solar panels for the White House. It can very well be only a matter of a few years that solar power will overtake coal in terms of efficiency and costs. Solar panels are even a good option in countries where the sun doesn’t shine all the time, as they still will save a great deal. If you are lucky enough to live in a country with a lot of sun, you should see if a large glass window will work for your house. If you live on a hill or by the sea why not take advantage of wind power? You can purchase a wind turbine for less than £2,500, which will generate enough power for the lights and electronic appliances. These are excellent ways to generate power without having to pay for it.

 About Author

Rens has worked in real estate all his life and has been a blogger for ages. He specializes in house clearances and green energy.

In the past two years OPIC has made significant efforts to expand its work in Africa, resulting in an extraordinary 300 percent increase in the agency’s commitments to the region last year. Whereas Africa comprised only four percent of OPIC’s global portfolio of loans, guarantees and political risk insurance in 2001, today it stands at a full 22 percent.

“OPIC’s focus on Africa reflects both its strategic importance to the Obama Administration and also the growing interest of U.S. investors in the continent” said OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield. “We are very bullish on Africa, and we expect that the dedication of a senior staff member for South Africa will mean new opportunities for OPIC to support investment to key African countries through its financing and risk mitigation instruments.”

U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Donald Gips said, “We are excited that OPIC has chosen South Africa for this commitment of resources in Africa. As the continent’s economies continue to grow, and its middle classes increase their spending power, ever more investment opportunities will present themselves to U.S. businesses. Having OPIC resources engaging in southern Africa’s business gateway will enhance our ability to bring those opportunities to realization.”

The OPIC staff member, along with other U.S. Government personnel, will also help OPIC implement the U.S.-Africa Clean Energy Finance Initiative (US-ACEF), a new program which aligns the resources of OPIC, the State Department, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and the U.S. Agency for International Development to catalyze private sector investment in clean energy projects throughout Africa. US-ACEF is expected to catalyze hundreds of millions of dollars of new OPIC financing, as well as additional private sector investment, in clean energy projects.

OPIC is currently providing $629 million financing and political risk insurance to projects in South Africa, in the financial services, construction and power sectors. Last month, OPIC’s Board of Directors approved $250 million in financing for the agency’s first solar power project in the country, a 60-megawatt plant with SunEdison that will help diversify the country’s electricity generation beyond its heavy coal concentration and in the process create jobs and displace approximately 140,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in its first year alone.

Over its 40-year history, OPIC has committed more than $7.6 billion in financing and political risk insurance to 460 projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. Those projects have delivered nearly 2700 megawatts of new electrical power across the continent; hundreds of thousands of new housing units; thousands of loans and microloans for African entrepreneurs; and the construction of railways and port facilities, miles of new roads and other physical infrastructure critical to the continent’s economic growth.

OPIC is the U.S. Government’s development finance institution.  It mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances U.S. foreign policy.  Because OPIC works with the U.S. private sector, it helps U.S. businesses gain footholds in emerging markets catalyzing revenues, jobs and growth opportunities both at home and abroad.  OPIC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, guarantees, political risk insurance, and support for private equity investment funds.

Established as an agency of the U.S. Government in 1971, OPIC operates on a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to American taxpayers. OPIC services are available for new and expanding business enterprises in more than 150 countries worldwide. To date, OPIC has supported more than $200 billion of investment in over 4,000 projects, generated an estimated $75 billion in U.S. exports and supported more than 276,000 American jobs.

For more information contact,

Suza Adam

Spindle Communications cc

131 Buckingham avenue, Craighall Park 2196

PO Box 516, Auckland Park 2006

Tel: +27 11 880 0364

Fax: +27 11 788 3697

Cell: +27 82 789 9777

suza.adam@spindlecommunications.com

skype: SpindleComm

www.spindlecommunications.com

www.twitter.com/SpindleComms

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Germany’s switch to renewable energies is driving up electricity bills across the country, with a green technology surcharge set to rise by nearly 50 percent next year. With frustration over the high price tag, it promises to become a key issue in next year’s election campaign.

Germany’s four leading electrical grid operators — RWE, E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW — announced on Monday that they would be hiking by 47 percent the charge to consumers that goes into financing subsidies for producers of renewable energy. For the time being, solar, wind and biomass power make up a quarter of the country’s electricity supply but are set to account for 80 percent by 2050… Read more

1. Dodge the Draft(s)

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, drafts can waste 5% to 30% of your energy use. Start simple and adopt that old Great Depression fixture — the draft snake, which you can easily make yourself. Just place a rolled bath towel under a drafty door, or make a more attractive DIY draft snake with googly eyes, felt tongues and the like. You can use any scraps of fabric — even neckties — and fill with sand or kitty litter for heft… Read more

The European commission has watered down proposals to reduce the indirect climate impact of biofuels, but is sticking to a strict new limit on the amount of food crops that can be used to make fuel, draft legislation showed.

The late changes mean that fuel suppliers will not, as originally planned, be held accountable for the indirect emissions biofuels cause by displacing food production into new areas, resulting in forest clearance and peatland draining known as indirect land-use change, or ILUC.

“The 5% limit is still in, but the ILUC factors are now purely for reporting purposes and not part of the sustainability accounting rules for biofuels,” one EU source involved in the discussions said…. Read more