Making HVAC Systems More Environmentally Friendly

In recent years, homeowners have become more concerned about reducing their families' carbon footprints and doing their parts to preserve the environment. What role do HVAC systems play? What should the environmentally responsible homeowner understand about HVAC systems and the environment? Here, an HVAC professional, Aris Parviz of Able Air-1, Inc., explains how HVAC systems impact the environment and what you can do to make your home heating and cooling system more environmentally friendly.



These days, much has been reported on the detrimental environmental impact on processes and products we've simply taken for granted for years. In addition to concerns about damage to the ozone layer, there is also growing concern over fossil fuel consumption and the environmental impacts of burning these fuels. And so, like all industries, the HVAC industry also faces pressures to improve energy efficiency.



Fossil Fuel Consumption

Fossil fuels, including coal, oil and natural gas, provide about 95% of the world's energy. The consumption of fossil fuels, however, poses serious environmental problems. When fossil fuels are burned, gases and particles like ash, sulfur, nitrogen and carbon are released into the atmosphere, all of which can be harmful to the environment. The processes of extracting and transporting fossil fuels are also of environmental concern since they often disrupt local ecosystems and require A tremendous amount of energy. Furthermore, fossil fuels are a limited resource as there is a finite supply. Reducing energy consumption and finding alternative energy methods are essential to ensuring that the world's fossil fuel supplies are not depleted.



Improved Refrigerant

Their potential contribution to ozone depletion is the primary environmental concern with home HVAC systems. Most early air conditioning units used a refrigerant called R12. Like many types of early refrigerants, R12 is a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC). CFCs are a group of compounds that have been found to have unusually high potential to damage the ozone layer. R12 fell out of favor with manufacturers of home HVAC systems when new standards were imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the mid-90s, so it is unlawful to vent R12 into the atmosphere.



Newer refrigerant called R22 has been used in place of R12 for the last 15 years or so. Although still harmful to the ozone layer, R22 represents a significant improvement over R12. However, R22 is being phased out in favor of more environmentally sound refrigerants thanks to updated environmental protection regulations which take effect this year. The replacement, R410A, is much more reliable, which contains no ozone depleting chemicals and operates much more efficiently.



Improvements in HVAC Efficiency

Thanks to new EPA standards designed to reduce fossil fuel consumption and associated emissions, heating and cooling systems are becoming more energy efficient. Not only are high-efficiency HVAC systems reducing the amount of energy it takes to heat or cool your home, but new construction methods and improved insulation are also making it easier for HVAC systems to warm or cool your home.



Variable speed motors and geothermal heat pumps are just two examples of recent improvements in HVAC efficiency. Variable speed motors improve efficiency by maintaining a more constant temperature and by eliminating energy-hogging "blasts" of heated or cooled air. The most energy-efficient heating option available to homeowners today, a geothermal heat pump transfers heat into home from the ground in winter, and pulls heat from the home in summer to provide a cooling effect. Geothermal heat pumps use 30% to 40% less energy than their traditional counterparts.



Additionally, HVAC systems are all assigned a SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating). The higher the SEER number, the more efficient the system. A SEER of 10 was common for systems manufactured in the early 1990s, but by 2006, a rating of 13 was the norm. Now we're able to achieve a SEER of 15 or higher, which translates to much lower energy costs for homeowners and less environmental impact.



Aris Parviz is a writer for Yodle, a business directory and online advertising company. Find an HVAC contractor or more HVAC contractor articles at Yodle Consumer Guide.

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The Worst Man Made Disasters

There are 1,060 hazardous waste sites on the list of the environmental Protection Agency, U.S.A. They have recently added a further 10 toxic waste sites to the 527 contaminated properties which endanger life.

Here are just a few of the worst man-made disasters, as toxic contamination is a world-wide problem and not limited to any one nation.

The most toxic place in the United States, Picher, Oklahoma, was once the world's richest zinc and lead mining field, housing 20,000 people. Less than 25 people remain. Mountains of mining, lead contaminated waste, loom over the empty town, which has a toxic water supply.

Fishing boats rust in a vast, contaminated desert wasteland, the Aral Sea, which was drained empty by Soviet irrigation. Guiyu is the world's second-most polluted place on the planet.

China's biggest e-waste village, where electronic trash is dismantled by hand to extract wires and valuable parts. Circuit boards are burned, cooked and soaked in acid to extract scraps of precious metals.

Twice the size of Texas, the Pacific Rubbish Vortex consists of 3.5 million tons of rubbish, 90% of which is plastic debris, swirls between California and Hawaii.

Following gas drilling in Java, Indonesia, that created a 'mud volcano', which killed 13 people, hot sulfuric mud gushes continually from the ground. The steaming mud pool covers over 25sq k and is growing at an estimated 50,000 cubic meters per day. Scientists say the mud will continue erupting for another 30 years.

Once a copper mine, the Berkeley Pit Lake contains over 40 billion gallons of acidic water and heavy metals. It is a serious hazard to migrating birds.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Station contaminated millions of square miles and released radioactive material into the air, when it exploded in 1986. The entire area is a radioactive freeze frame of the old USSR.

In 1984, the Union Carbide pesticide manufacturing plant leaked 32 tons of deadly methyl isocyanate, in Bhopal, India. Thousands died and thousands more were deformed, blinded, and disabled. More than 2,000 bodies were cremated in one day. The soil and water near the factory are toxic from the still leaking plant. There has been no attempt to clean-up.

Following nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, in the late 1970s, the U.S. government dug up 111,000 cubic yards of radioactive soil and dumped it on Runit Island in a 350-foot wide crater created by the nuclear explosions. A huge, foot-and-a-half-thick, 100,000-square-foot dome made up of 358 massive concrete panels, was built over the site. The area is still radioactive.

A hole, 328 ft. wide, in the Turkmenistan desert, has been continuously on fire, for 38 years. A Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, in 1971, causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. Poisonous fumes began leaking from the hole. To head off a potential deadly catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole aflame.

Due to health concerns Australia’s Wittenoom, Pilbara, was officially closed down in 1966. It was once the area’s largest town in the asbestos mining area, but is now a toxic ghost town.

In 1992 Centralia, Pennsylvania's entire town was condemned. An underground coal fire had ignited sometime in 1962. In 1981 a 12-year-old boy fell into a 150-foot hole that suddenly appeared in his back yard.

Decades of strip mining for phosphorus have devastated over 80 % of Nauru's land, leaving it a barren wasteland of jagged limestone pinnacles up to 49 ft. high. Today Nauru has just a 150-meter-wide strip of fertile land left along one of its shores.

Finally we have the Mexico Gulf oil spill, that is as yet unmeasurable.

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The Environmental Impact of Harmful Lamps vs. LED Energy Efficient Lighting

How Do LED Lights Work?

LED lighting products work much like standard lights, except for the fact that LED lights are much smaller and contain no filament and harmful gases. Instead of a filament and gas, an LED creates light using nothing but the movement of electricity along the path of its semiconductor. As the electrons stream across the semiconductor, they create electromagnetic radiation. Some forms of this electromagnetic radiation can take the form of visible light. There are no harmful gases such as mercury used in the production of LED lights, as opposed to the toxic levels that are used in all the other different light sources.



How Do Fluorescent, Sodium, Halogen and Metal Halide Lamps Work?

A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas discharge lamp that uses electricity to stimulate mercury vapor. The stimulated mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor to fluoresce, producing visible light. A fluorescent lamp changes electrical power into light more efficiently than an incandescent lamp.

There is also a Sodium vapor lamp that is a gas discharge lamp which uses sodium in an agitated state to produce light. There are two varieties of these lamps: low pressure and high pressure.



Low-pressure sodium (LPS) lamps have borosilicate glass gas discharge tubes (arc tube) containing solid sodium and a small amount of neon and argon gas to start the gas discharge. When the lamp is turned on it emits a dim red/pink light to warm the sodium metal and within a few minutes it turns into the common bright yellow as the sodium metal vaporizes.



High-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps are smaller and contain extra elements such as mercury. They produce a dark pink glow when first struck.



Metal halide lamps are a member of the high intensity discharge (HID) family of lamps and they produce high light output for their size. This makes them a dense, potent, light source. By adding rare earth metal salts to the mercury vapor lamp, improved luminous efficacy and light colour is obtained.



A halogen lamp is an incandescent lamp with a tungsten filament contained within an inert gas and a small amount of a halogen such as iodine or bromine. The combination of the halogen gas and the tungsten filament produces a chemical reaction known as a halogen cycle.



The incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is a source of electric light that works by incandescence. An electric current passes through a thin electrical filament, heating it to a temperature that produces light. The enclosing glass bulb contains either a vacuum or an inert gas to prevent oxidation of the hot filament.





Harmful Effects

All mercury vapor lamps (including metal halide lamps) must contain a feature (or be installed in a fixture that contains a feature) that prevents ultraviolet radiation from escaping. Usually, the borosilicate glass or outer bulb of the lamp performs this function, but special care must be taken if the lamp is installed in a situation where this outer case can become damaged. There have been documented cases of lamps being damaged in gymnasiums by a ball hitting them and sun burn and eye inflammation have followed as a result. When used in locations like gyms, the fixture should contain a strong outer guard or an outer lens to protect the lamp's outer bulb. Also, special "safety" lamps are available that will deliberately burn out if the outer glass is broken.



Even with these methods, some UV radiation can still pass through the outer bulb of the lamp. This causes the aging process of some plastics used in the construction of luminaries to be accelerated, leaving them significantly discolored after only a few years of service. Polycarbonate suffers particularly from this problem, and it is not uncommon to see fairly new polycarbonate surfaces positioned near the lamp to have turned a dull, 'ear-wax'-like color after only a short time. It is important to note that if the polycarbonate is being damaged what is the UV radiation doing to people that are under these lights all day and night? It has been suggested that the effects have caused tumors in lab animals.



Exposure to mercury vapor can occur through inhalation, eye or skin contact. The effects on humans are as follows. Mercury vapor can cause effects in the central and peripheral nervous systems, lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes. It is also a mutagenic and affects the immune system [Hathaway et al. 1991; Clayton and Clayton 1981; Rom 1992]. Acute exposure to high concentrations of mercury vapor causes severe respiratory damage, while chronic exposure to lower levels is associated with central nervous system damage [Hathaway et al. 1991]. Chronic exposure to mercury is also associated with behavioral changes and alterations in the nervous system.



With all fluorescent, sodium, halogen and metal halide lamps containing mercury and other harmful metals and gases it is important to note the effects of exposure to the mercury vapor. We know that LED lighting products are a safe alternative to mercury lights and UV radiation from lights.



The life cycle of an LED light is 10 times longer than mercury lighting, and for this reason the LED’s light will last a house hold a life time, as opposed to the alternative mercury lighting, that will fade then need to be installed by a qualified electrician and discarded of by added to our ever increasing waste deposits.





End of Life and Waste of Fluorescent, Sodium and Halogen Lamps



Mercury vapor lamps rarely burn out completely and suffer drastically from lumen depreciation (light output). The lamp produces 50% less light every five years, to the point of becoming ineffective while still drawing the same amount of power it drew when it was new. This happens because the emitter is deposited as a film, darkening the arc tube wall and reducing light output.

When discarding a fluorescent tube, the main concern is the mercury, which is a dangerous pollutant.

A broken fluorescent tube will release its mercury content into the atmosphere, and be inhaled by others. Safe cleanup of broken fluorescent bulbs differs from cleanup of conventional broken glass or incandescent bulbs, 99% of the mercury is typically contained in the phosphor, especially on lamps that are near their end of life.

The disposal of phosphor and particularly the toxic mercury in the tubes is an environmental issue. Governmental regulations in many areas require special disposal of fluorescent lamps separate from general and household wastes.

Only a few tenths of a milligram of mercury are required to maintain the vapor, but lamps must include more mercury to compensate for the part of mercury absorbed by internal parts of the lamp and no longer available to maintain the arc.



By changing to energy efficient lighting with LED lighting products, you save financially in the short and long term, plus, you are assisting the environment by not adding harmful gases into the atmosphere and not adding to our waste deposits. You also save on the maintenance that is required for conventional mercury light sources from a qualified electrician.



Make the change to a bright start.

For more information on LED Lighting Products and the range available, please visit www.ledecolighting.com.au

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The Easiest and simplest option eco-friendly energy project

Alternative Green Energy Projects That You Can Do At Home

Fossil fuel consumption is quite exhaustive because it is a non-renewable energy source. But times are really changing and a good alternative green energy is needed now. There is also an increasing interest among folks who would like to try their luck in generating energy sources that are affordable, highly available and environment-friendly.

Along with it is the increasing number of alternative green energy sources that can be implemented and run at home. Some of them can be installed quickly, while others are a bit complicated. Whichever you choose, these alternative sources are there to help in reducing the dependence of humans on fossil fuel.

Here are some of the best alternative green energy projects that are good to set up at home:

DIY Solar Power

You can search for information regarding solar energy systems on the net. For those who love gadgets and show their support in environmental efforts, then green energy products are ideal for you.

Green energy products - what are they?

Green energy products or gadgets basically use natural sources of energy to power them and/or to power other products. These products are also beneficial and not just full of aesthetics, so make sure that you handle them with care.

Here are some of the green energy products that you may be interested in:

Solar laptop charger - Laptop charges usually come with long chords and adapter for the electrical outlet. It is inconvenient when you have to charge and you happen to be outdoors and beyond reach to an electrical outlet. Solar cooker - This gadget uses the same technology as the solar laptop charger and it is quite handy whenever you need it outdoors. If you love camping and hiking, it's best that you have a solar cooker to bring along. The cooker starts working upon exposure to sunlight and it can beat at electronic oven with 1000W to 12000W power.

LED flashing bike pedals - This is one of the green energy products that you can always put to the test once you're outdoors. These small LED flashing pedals may be able to save lives and prevent biking accidents at night. It generates energy by itself by harvesting and storing small amounts of energy once you start stepping on the pedals.

There are many other fun and interesting green energy products out there. If you need to invest in one, it's best that you invest on a gadget that will benefit you in the long run.

Where To Find Green Energy Sources

The message is clear regarding energy conservation and saving the environment, and it is going strong each day. Many people are now realizing the difference that they can make in contributing to help lessen the negative impacts of too much wasted water and energy.

The earth's main energy source is fossil fuel which is already depleting and should be acted upon immediately. Numerous scientists have predicted that in less than 20 years, these fossil fuels and their sources will dry out. This brought about numerous projects and researches that relate to finding and using green energy sources.

Many people have already experienced the positive effects and advantages of using solar power for the home. http://factsaboutsolarenergy.net/

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Fixing a Warn Safety on a Walther P22

One of the biggest complaints about the Walther P22 is that after some wear and tear the manual safety lever begins to drop and engage when the pistol is being fired. In order to fire the P22 the safety lever must be moved upward to disengage the safety. Over time as components begin to wear, the detent balls that hold the lever in place don't sit tightly enough in the detent holes to keep the safety lever from falling and engaging when the pistol is held upright in the firing position.

This problem doesn't occur with all P22s and some pistol owners may never have to deal with the issue. It really depends on how often you're using the pistol and how many times you're clicking the safety back and forth during use. If this does happen to your Walther, there's a pretty easy solution that's not too involved. It does require removing the safety level screw and lightly filing a portion of the safety lever. If you don't feel comfortable with this, it's best to take your pistol to a gunsmith for repairs. If you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty, here's how to fix your Walther's problem safety lever.

The first thing to check is that the safety screws aren't loose and there's no debris caught underneath the levers. Before taking anything apart, use a flat-head screwdriver and make sure that each of these safety screws are snug. Don't put too much pressure on the screws. You don't want to strip them. You just want to make sure they're not loose. If the screws are snug and the lever is still falling, we'll have to look elsewhere for the cause of the problem.

The next step is to remove the safety lever screws and inspect the slide and the underside of the levers for damage or debris. If everything looks clear, you'll need to keep going. If you find some obvious dirt or other obstructions, give the area a good cleaning and then reassemble the pistol to see if the problem is fixed.

If the lever is still giving you problems, it's time to do some light filing. Remove the safety levers again and examine their underside. You'll notice that there's a raised portion in the middle of the lever that sits inside a sunken portion in the slide that when turned engages the safety. You'll also see the detent ball that snaps into the detent hole on the slide to hold the lever in place.

The detent ball is the source of the problem. When it doesn't fit snuggly enough into the detent hole on the slide the safety lever drops. To fix the problem, you need to remove some material from the back of each safety lever so they sit closer to the slide and the detent ball sits deeper in its hole.

To accomplish this use a fine file to gently remove a little bit from the backside of each lever. You want to file the raised portion in the middle of the lever and the areas beside it evenly. You don't want to remove more material from the middle than from the sides or more from one side than the other. If you do, the lever will sit unevenly against the slide or it won't fit snuggly against it which can lead to more problems. Don't go crazy! You won't have to remove much material to get the job done and you can always remove more, but you can't out any back.

Once you've filed a little bit of material evenly from the back of each lever, reassemble the pistol and test the safety. You should be able to feel that the levers snap more aggressively into place and they should no longer fall. If they do, remove them again and repeat the filing process. Again, it's better to have to repeat the filing process a few times than to take too much material off the first time and have to purchase new levers.

Value Investing: 3 Lessons from Seth Klarman's "Margin of Safety"... and 1 Value Investment Recommendation

When the stock market gets stuck in a trading range, funny things happen on Wall Street.

This year, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) reported an 83% jump in revenues, and its stock promptly fell 13%. Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) said new-store sales rose 4% - considered terrific at many restaurant chains -and its shares tumbled 8% on heavy volume.

In short, growth is no guarantee of higher stock prices.

That is why investors are switching to "value" plays, looking for stocks that may not have the best earnings outlook, but are selling so far below their intrinsic value that they have little downside risk and considerable upside potential.

Thus, the new hot "sector" is value investing. At the end of this issue, we'll reveal one of today's most successful value funds. But first, let's look at a used book on this strategy that's currently selling on Amazon and Bookfinders for anywhere from $1,295 to $2,003. You can even rent it on eBay for $75 a week...

The World's Most Successful "Value" Investor

The book is Margin of safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor, by hedge fund manager Seth Klarman. It was written in 1991, but is long out of print, and the author and publisher have no plans to reprint it.

Why? Because Klarman has been so successful as a hedge fund manager that he doesn't care to reveal his secrets to the general public. Since 1982, his oldest Baupost Group partnership posted a cumulative return of 6,133% after fees, four times better than the S&P 500 Index (1,517%, including dividends reinvested).

But before you run out and buy this obscure title, let me give you a summary of its contents:

Basically, Klarman is a devotee of Benjamin Graham, who first wrote about his "margin of safety" formula for picking stocks in Graham and Dodd's classic work, Security Analysis. The idea is to buy companies at deep discounts to underlying business value.

Of course, there are thousands of value-oriented investors and fund managers, but Klarman takes Graham and Dodd to an extreme. Despite his subtitle of seeking "risk-averse" value investing, Klarman speculates in distressed securities and even bankrupt companies where the current price is close to the value of its tangible assets (excluding goodwill).

According to the latest SEC filings, Baupost Group holds mostly obscure securities whose prices have plunged, and have hopefully bottomed out, such as:

- Mills Corp. (NYSE: MLS), a REIT

- Alliance One (NYSE: AOI), a tobacco company

- Pxre Group (NYSE: PXT), a reinsurer; and

- Novelis (NYSE: NVL), an aluminum manufacturer.

His biggest position is in News Corp. (NWS). Clearly his approach is not for the faint-of-heart.

Three Highly Valued Investing Lessons From A Highly Priced Book

1. Value investors must be patient, willing to wait for months to find a truly undervalued play. Klarman has sometimes invested half his portfolio in cash waiting for opportunities to buy cheap stocks or bonds. According to Klarman, value investing "can be a very lonely undertaking, and may experience poor, even horrendous, performance."

2. Successful investors "tend to be unemotional, allowing the greed and fear of others to play into their hands." His statement reminds me of Joe Kennedy, a strict contrarian who had an ideal temperament for speculating: "a passion for facts, a complete lack of sentiment, a marvelous sense of timing," as one confidante said.

3. Create a "margin of safety" by waiting for stocks of good companies to sell at a significant discount to enterprise value (or in his case, distressed companies that have valued assets and a good chance of turning around).

A Mutual Fund That Shares Klarman's Value Investing Philosophy

Mutual Shares is one of the most successful value funds, stressing turnarounds and distressed securities. The fund's founder was the late Max Heine of Heine Securities.

Heine died years ago, and his successor, Michael Price, has left the firm. Today, Mutual Shares is owned by Franklin Templeton Group of Funds and managed by Peter Langerman, who used to be an analyst for Heine in the 1980s.

Mutual Shares is available in A shares (TESIX) with a front-end load; or B shares (FMUBX) with a back-end load. Mutual Shares owns a big position in Tyco (NYSE: TYC), a potential turnaround. The fund is rated 4 stars by Morningstar.

By the way, don't bother to contact the reclusive Klarman, who manages $6.2 billion of assets in nine partnerships. His firm is so successful that they are refusing new investors.

And don't bother buying Margin of Safety. I suspect it won't be long before a new edition comes out, or pirated copies appear in Asia.

Good trading, AEIOU,

Mark

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Signs of a Healthy Work Environment

There’s no denying that a healthy work environment is a top concern for most employees. Review any employee satisfaction survey and you’re apt to find this issue among the top five concerns of your staff – sometimes above the issue of pay.

So how do you know if your organization provides a safe, healthy environment for employees? Well, there are some signs to look for.

1. Employees laugh often.

Generally, humor is a sign of comfort. Employees that feel comfortable with co-workers and have joy in their work will exhibit laughter throughout the day.

2. Employees freely share their ideas.

Does management truly have an open-door policy? Employees need a safe environment to share their ideas. Most employees have an opinion about how to make things better. Lack of unsolicited feedback from staff may indicate that they do not feel safe in presenting their opinions.

3. Employee values and expectations are clear.

Staff must know what is expected from them. Codes of conduct, expectations of behavior on the job, and professional values must be included in each job description, and reviewed at each performance evaluation.

4. We work simply.

Frivolous demands and activities can add stress to an already busy schedule. You’d be surprised how many non-essential duties staff are asked to perform. Some are hidden. How many reports and activities are collecting the same data?

5. Our organization is reasonably orderly and comfortable.

A cluttered, disorganized environment is not healthy. A healthy work environment is also comfortable. How many chairs do you have that employees refuse to sit in because they are uncomfortable? Why are they still around?

6. Employees have strong connections with others.

A link to the community is a sign of caring. Encourage and reward staff that volunteer outside of work. Have a special event that the organization supports as a whole.

Creating a healthy work environment is possible. First, make having a healthy work environment a priority. Then, look for the above indicators. Some areas you have control, others you do not. Lastly, support actions that encourage improvements in the above areas.

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Manual Handling Safety - Workplace Safety Materials Handling Training - Safetycare free preview

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