Clipmarks | rmowery's AlternativeEnergy collection

How to make a compost pile

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 22:45:19 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Compost is one of nature's best mulches and soil amendments, and you can use it instead of commercial fertilizers. Best of all, compost is cheap. You can make it without spending a cent. Using compost improves soil structure, texture, and aeration and increases the soil's water-holding capacity. Compost loosens clay soils and helps sandy soils retain water. Adding compost improves soil fertility and stimulates healthy root development in plants. The organic matter provided in compost provides food for microorganisms, which keeps the soil in a healthy, balanced condition. Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus will be produced naturally by the feeding of microorganisms, so few if any soil amendments will need to be added.

Why Make Compost?

Most gardeners have long understood the value of this rich, dark, earthy material in improving the soil and creating a healthful environment for plants. Understanding how to make and use compost is in the public interest, as the problem of waste disposal climbs toward a crisis level. Landfills are brimming, and new sites are not likely to be easily found. For this reason there is an interest in conserving existing landfill space and in developing alternative methods of dealing with waste. Don't throw away materials when you can use them to improve your lawn and garden! Start composting instead.

Our hands our being forced to deal creatively with our own yard waste, as one by one, cities are refusing to haul off our leaves and grass clippings. About one third of the space in landfills is taken up with organic waste from our yards and kitchens, just the type of material that can be used in compost. With a small investment in time, you can contribute to the solution to a community problem, while at the same time enriching the soil and improving the health of the plants on your property.

Want the super quick version of how to make compost? Visit our Composting Tips page.

Tags: alternative energy, recycling, environment, soil, food clippings

Bush almost kills himself, Cheney and CEO of Ford

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:11:06 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.detnews.com

Ford President Alan Mulally, right, had to be quick on his feet to make sure President Bush plugged a power cord into the right socket on a Ford hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid.

Plug it in, fire it up, Mr. President

Credit Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally with saving the leader of the free world from self-immolation.

Mulally told journalists at the New York auto show that he intervened to prevent President Bush from plugging an electrical cord into the hydrogen tank of Ford's hydrogen-electric plug-in hybrid at the White House last week. Ford wanted to give the Commander-in-Chief an actual demonstration of the innovative vehicle, so the automaker arranged for an electrical outlet to be installed on the South Lawn and ran a charging cord to the hybrid. However, as Mulally followed Bush out to the car, he noticed someone had left the cord lying at the rear of the vehicle, near the fuel tank.

Tags: ford, hybrid, bush, alternative energy

Car that runs on air

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 03:38:57 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Nice! Good-bye Oil companies

Clip Source: www.celsias.com

A French designer of engines for Formula One racing cars has turned his attention to creating an engine that runs on, and emits, only air! By all accounts, this is no pie-in-the-sky dream invention either - as the vehicle’s release is slated for later this year.

With a top speed of 110kph (68mph) and a range of about 200kms (125miles), it looks to be an entirely useable commuter, and more. In fact, once the initial model is on the market, there are plans for a hybrid version - a car that will use a small amount of fuel to generate the compressed air required for the main engine - resulting in a 4,500km range (2,800 miles) from just one tank of fuel!

Tags: air, compressed air, alternative energy

Rolamite - Frictionless Machines from Rollers and Bands

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 04:07:15 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.rexresearch.com

Donald F. Wilkes: Rolamite

The first (or second, after Bellocq's wave-pump) new mechanical principle discovered in the 20th century

Contents ~

"Frictionless Machines from Rollers & Bands"
by Harry Walton

As basic as the lever or pulley, the simple concept called "Rolamite" promises a revolution in mechanical design.

Popular Science (March 1966)

What's a Rolamite? It looks like a simple gadget made with two rollers and a steel band, but it's much more. As basic as the wheel, the lever, or the hinge, it is the only elementary machine discovered this century. Its use will be widespread --- in everything from switches, thermostats, and valves to pumps and clutches, and as almost frictionless bearings.

The Rolamite concept is the invention of Donald F. Wilkes, a Sandia Corp. engineer who was studying a suspensions system made with a bent elastic band fastened to opposing surfaces in an S shape. He found that the center of the loop could be moved horizontally with amazingly little resistance (To try it, clamp one end of a steel tape to a table and another section to a ruler held horizontally above it).

But the band can provide no positive mechanical action. In a flash of genius, Wilkes inserted two rollers, large enough to overlap and so key themselves in, and the Rolamite principle was born. The rollers may move in a fixed frame or one of the horizontal frame members may move on the rollers, travel being limited by the length of the band.

Tags: rolamite, energy, mechanical design, wilkes, sandia corp

Glow in the Dark Pebbles

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 22:32:44 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.collectionsetc.com

Glow In The Dark Pebbles - 54045

Add a magical nighttime glow to your patio or backyard with these decorative moonlight stones. With 350 glow-in-the-dark pebbles, the options are endless. Pebbles glow for six hours when fully charged by the sun. Includes 350 pieces. Pebbles measure approx. 1"L.

Price: $9.99

Availability: In Stock.

4 Pc Glowing Stair Treads

Solar Light- 7 Color Changing

Tags: pebbles, alternative energy, decoration, glow in the dark

Backyard Solar Cooker

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:35:13 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.harborfreight.com

SOLAR COOKER

SAVE MONEY AND THE ENVIRONMENT!

One of our adventurous buyers traveled all the way to Tibet to find this powerful earth friendly cooker. Requires no electricity to run. Great for camping and back yard cooking. Pot sold separately.

Quickly reaches temperatures from 360° to 400° F

Uses the sun's heat to cook naturally all day

Captures the natural flavors of foods which can get baked out in a conventional ovens

Self standing, includes tripod stand

Overall dimensions: 46-3/8'' L x 62-5/8'' W x 40'' H, Cooker weight: 55.20 lbs., Shipping weight: 86 lbs.

Tags: solar power, solar cooking, backyard cooking, alternative energy

Ethanol could leave the world hungry

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:33:30 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: This is crazy. There could be plenty of corn and other grains. The problem is that the government for the last 20 years has paid farmers, NOT to FARM. Mainly this blaance the supply/demand. If all these lands start famring, there can be plenty. It will just piss off those who make money in the Futures market and also those making money in the Oil and Gas stocks.

Clip Source: money.cnn.com

Ethanol could leave the world hungry

One tankful of the latest craze in alternative energy could feed one person for a year, Lester Brown tells Fortune.

August 16 2006: 5:39 AM EDT

By Lester Brown

(Fortune Magazine) -- The growing myth that corn is a cure-all for our energy woes is leading us toward a potentially dangerous global fight for food. While crop-based ethanol -the latest craze in alternative energy - promises a guilt-free way to keep our gas tanks full, the reality is that overuse of our agricultural resources could have consequences even more drastic than, say, being deprived of our SUVs. It could leave much of the world hungry.

We are facing an epic competition between the 800 million motorists who want to protect their mobility and the two billion poorest people in the world who simply want to survive. In effect, supermarkets and service stations are now competing for the same resources.

This year cars, not people, will claim most of the increase in world grain consumption. The problem is simple: It takes a whole lot of agricultural produce to create a modest amount of automotive fuel.

The grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol, for instance, could feed one person for a year. If today's entire U.S. grain harvest were converted into fuel for cars, it would still satisfy less than one-sixth of U.S. demand.

Tags: alternative energy, corn, rice, beans, farming, government

Nikola Tesla Built an Electric Car in 1931

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 18:59:21 GMT

clipped by: adamc
clipper's remarks: Tesla is one of my biggest heroes. In 1900 he understood the concepts behind what finally became the "web" and would have built it given the right support. He also had plans to distribute electricity wirelessly around the world for free. I truly believe he would have accomplished that too.

Clip Source: www.keelynet.com

Supported by the Pierce-Arrow Co. and General Electric in 1931, he took the gasoline engine from a new Pierce-Arrow and replaced it with an 80-horsepower alternating-current electric motor with no external power source.

At a local radio shop he bought 12 vacuum tubes, some wires and assorted resistors, and assembled them in a circuit box 24 inches long, 12 inches wide and 6 inches high, with a pair of 3-inch rods sticking out. Getting into the car with the circuit box in the front seat beside him, he pushed the rods in, announced, "We now have power," and proceeded to test drive the car for a week, often at speeds of up to 90 mph.

As it was an alternating-current motor and there were no batteries involved, where did the power come from?

Popular responses included charges of "black magic," and the sensitive genius didn't like the skeptical comments of the press. He removed his mysterious box, returned to his laboratory in New York - and the secret of his power source died with him.

Tags: nikola tesla, electric car, car, automobile, 1931, inventor, invention, science, electricity

Solar Powered Sun Brick

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 02:51:17 GMT

clipped by: pianoomann88

Clip Source: blogofwishes.com

Solar-Powered Sun Bricks

The Solar-Powered Sun Bricks use solar panels to charge during the day, when the night comes they turn on automatically a LED array to make the place they are put an easier to follow path even in complete darkness.

The best of all is that there are no external power requirements or wires whatsoever, you can’t find a simpler or more inexpensive way to illuminate dark walkways around your home or in your garden. Just replace a few of the standard bricks or pavers with those completely self-contained Sun Bricks.

Flush-to-the-ground, integral solar panels generate up to 8 hours of light each night. So guests can follow a cheerfully illuminated path to your door. Amber LED’s provide a warm, welcoming glow, consume little power, and can’t burn out.

Sun Bricks come on automatically when darkness falls, and incur no operating costs. Just recess them in your walkway, and forget them!

The price for a pair of Sun Bricks is $59.95.

- If you are interested in the Solar-Powered Sun Bricks…

Posted by Anton on Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 at 6:06 pm.

Tags: solar power, sun, brick

A 'Smart' alternative to the SUV?

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:05:25 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: news.com.com

A 'Smart' alternative to the SUV?

By Caroline McCarthy
Staff writer, CNET News.com

Published: June 28, 2006, 2:52 PM PDT

Automaker DaimlerChrysler's fuel-stingy, supercompact Smart ForTwo, sold in Europe since 1998, will be available to U.S. car buyers within two years, the company said Wednesday.

Americans' affection for monstrous SUVs might be withering in the face of rising gas prices, but no one's really sure whether they'll readily accept the little Smart ForTwo as a remedy for fuel-pump woes. More than 750,000 ForTwo units have been sold throughout Europe over the past eight years, DaimlerChrysler says. The car is also available in Canada.

The ForTwo isn't a hybrid, nor is it actually "smart" in the high-tech sense--i.e., it doesn't contain any fancy chips that let it talk or fly or automatically know where its driver wants to go--but the pod-shaped car certainly gets impressive gas mileage, averaging 46.3 miles per gallon in cities and 70.6 on the highway, according to DaimlerChrysler.

And the Smart ForTwo is tiny; the two-seater (hence the name--there's also a Smart ForFour in Europe) is less than nine feet long, slightly less than five feet wide, and a smidgen over five feet tall. Compare that with the Mini Cooper, the vehicle most Americans think of when "subcompact car" is mentioned. The Mini is about three feet longer and six inches wider, not to mention more than 900 pounds heavier.

Tags: smart car, suv, fuel efficiency, environment