Fluorescent Efficiency From The Energy Superstore

Biofuel

Today’s world is plagued by hunger and war, and despite all technological advancement, these are two things that humanity has been unable to eradicate since ancient times.

With global warming, the earth’s climate has changed drastically, influencing the seasons and thus crop growth around the globe. While global warming is contributing on one end to the ever-increasing food prices, another major contributor to this issue is oil.

OIL vs FOOD

The fossil fuels are undergoing fast depletion with excessive usage, and as the stock runs out, the prices increase steadily. But how does rising fuel cost affect food, you may ask.

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Indoor Fireplace

This sentimental piece on wood stoves was written by a friend of the Energy Superstore, Julie, from Colorado. Here’s what she has to say about an old American tradition: burning wood in a wood stove for heat during the colder seasons.

The Magic of an Indoor Fireplace

I think about all the times I have spent in front of a roaring fire in my husband’s arms, staring out over the beautiful Colorado mountains. A roaring fire invokes a certain warmth, not just from the heat of the flames, but from the feelings it stirs inside.

It is a sight to behold–the crackling warmth of the fire, the sparks rising into the air–both real and metaphorical. Nothing gives a more definite sense of comfort than a real wood fire. The smell of the burning wood, the flickering light, and the warmth can make even the most temporary of places feel like a real home.

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Winter 2008

As winter approaches here in the US, many people are breathing a major sigh of relief. Just three short months ago, the price of crude oil was at historic highs.

Americans first felt the impact of high oil prices to their wallets in the price of gasoline. As the price of gas rose, people began to drive fewer miles in order to budget appropriately.

Looming in the distance, however, is the winter season.

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Palm Tree

Palm oil is currently the most commonly produced vegetable oil in the world. For many rural poor countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, income received from the production of palm oil is the sole source of income.

Palm oil is extremely versatile. While it is extremely high in saturated fats, it is almost solid at room temperature. However when heated, palm oil turns into a liquid. It is used for a variety of purposes, from producing margarine, to a source of alternative energy.

Palm Oil As Biodeisel

Palm oil is used as a fuel in biodiesel internal combustion engines. It is being researched as an alternative to crude oil for its benefits in reducing greenhouse gases and depleting the ozone layer. It is also a renewable source of energy, which means we can always get more; whereas energy sources such as crude oil are finite in their resources.

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US Oil

The election of 2008 is an important one, and with the state of our country’s troubled economy everyone needs to make an educated choice. Don’t trust the television ads: they are ALL biased.

That being said, most Internet articles will be biased, and this one is a little too. I will do my best to talk about the candidates, their plans for the energy crisis, and their views on the future of US oil dependence.

As we all know, our country is in a recession. With the recent drop in the stock market and the rising price of oil, the future is not looking too bright. As much as we may deny it, we all know the cause of our current economic state is partially due to oil.

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Researchers have created a new material that overcomes two of the major obstacles to solar power: it absorbs all the energy contained in sunlight, and generates electrons in a way that makes them easier to capture.

Solar Panels

Hybrid Solar Materials

Ohio State University chemists and their colleagues combined electrically conductive plastic with metals including molybdenum and titanium to create the hybrid material.

In a study published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry, Malcolm Chisholm explained, “There are other such hybrids out there, but the advantage of our material is that we can cover the entire range of the solar spectrum.”

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With oil prices increasing and signs of climate change becoming ever more noticeable, there is much interest these days in alternative fuel sources. On example of such an alternative fuel is hydrogen.

What Experts Know About Hydrogen Power

Hydrogen Fuel Cell

You may think of hydrogen as a fuel source, like gasoline, but it is actually more of an energy storage solution, like a battery. This is because there are not reserves of existing hydrogen that can be mined from the earth. Hydrogen must therefore be produced using another energy source before it can be used. This may make hydrogen sound less useful as a fuel, but energy storage is actually a very important problem.

An Energy Storage Solution

Many clean alternatives for generating power at power stations such as solar and wind are being developed, but without storage solutions this energy cannot be used in places like your car where it must be portable. While batteries can be used for storage, they can be expensive and harmful to the environment. It may be possible to develop a cleaner and less expensive solution using hydrogen.

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Natural Gas

Millions of years ago, the remains of plants and animals decayed and built up in thick layers. This decayed matter from plants and animals is called organic material — it was once alive. Over time, the mud and soil changed to rock, covered the organic material and trapped it beneath the rock.

Pressure and heat changed some of this organic material into coal, some into oil (petroleum), and some into natural gas — tiny bubbles of odorless gas. The main ingredient in natural gas is methane, a gas (or compound) composed of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms.

In some places, gas escapes from small gaps in the rocks into the air; then, if there is enough activation energy from lightning or a fire, it burns. When people first saw the flames, they experimented with them and learned they could use them for heat and light.

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Energy Savings Calculator

Here is a neat little tool that is rigged up over at the Energy Superstore. Plug in your numbers and see how much you can save by switching from incandescent lighting to compact fluorescent lighting.

Here is the link to the Energy Superstore’s Advanced Energy Savings Calculator.

One of our recent clients plugged in her numbers for the weekly household usage of 5 lamps in her upstairs and downstairs. By switching to compact fluorescent screw-ins, she will be saving 436.8 kWh per year with a return on investment of 163.7%.

So our question to you is this: when it is time to replace your light bulbs why not just pick up compact fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent, and save yourself hundreds or thousands of dollars a year?

Here’s that link one more time: Advanced Energy Savings Calculator.

Nuclear Power Plant

There are over 400 nuclear power reactors that are up and running on the planet, and believe it or not, the number is growing. The whole process of converting uranium into nuclear power is complex, but it all starts off with a mining operation to extract uranium ore. Believe it or not, uranium is not hard to find, it is actually a pretty common element, more common than gold.

Many people don’t realize that our own body houses trace amounts of uranium! Canada’s actually taken advantage of this relatively abundant resource and is so far the number one uranium producer in the world.

Reasons to Avoid Nuclear Power

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