Looking for Guest Bloggers

Do you like going green topics? Can you write to inform? I need writers for my blog. My other blogs are taking too much of my time and I need people who can write blog articles for You Can Go Green. I will pay $5 for every article that is accepted for inclusion into the blog. Articles must be pro-green and be at least 300 words long.

Send articles, name and address and if your article is included, I will send you $5. Send them to bruce@bruzzbuzz.com. Make sure to include keywords in the title and in the first and last paragraphs. If your article is not chosen for inclusion, you will not be paid. If an article is close to being good enough for inclusion but needs some work, I will email you and tell you the changes that need to be made.

If you are good and you create 100 articles per month, you can make $500. That is decent money and probably is better than any other way you are trying to make money online.

There is a Difference in Instant Hot Water Systems

I always thought that instant hot water systems were pretty much all the same. Little did I know that there are different classes of instant hot water systems and that some are not really eco-friendly. William J. Lund explains the different systems and who makes each. This is a very interesting article and one you should read if you are interested in an eco-friendly instant hot water system.
Instant Hot Water - Cheap and Easy
by William J. Lund

Instant hot water has a lot to be said for it. Not having to stand around waiting is one. Saving tons of water is another. Instant hot water can save you time water and energy, and along with those savings are other less tangible benefits. Reduced green house gasses are released into the atmosphere when you use less water since it requires energy to pump and process water before it gets to your home, and then again as sewage. If you have a septic system it can extend the life of your system. If you are on a well, your pump won’t have to run as much.

There are a variety of systems on the market today that are designed to get you faster hot water. There are different views on just what “instant hot water” is. Some people say that you have to be able to get hot water within a second or two after turning on a tap. With most of these systems there is definitely a waiting period, which usually occurs before you turn on the tap, so not all people view all of these systems as producing “instant hot water”.

For our purposes we shall define “instant hot water” as that which arrives within a few seconds of turning on the tap even if you had to wait before turning on the tap.

One way to have instant hot water is to circulate the water in a big loop from the outlet of the water heater, past each fixture, and on back to the inlet of the water heater. In my opinion this is the only way to really have “instant” heated water. You walk up to the tap and turn it on, and within a second or two it’s there.

At first this sounds like a great idea, but after closer scrutiny it becomes obvious that this system is not so great after all. It is an energy hog! What you end up with is a giant heat radiating system that keeps the water heater working harder and more often to keep this big piping radiator hot. Even if you insulate the heck out of the pipes, the surface area to volume ratio insures that you will consume a huge amount of energy. Energy to heat water is much more expensive than the water that is being heated.

These continuously circulating systems also suffer from breakdowns due to the fact that heated water tends to form sediment even while being circulated. This sediment gets deposited on the surfaces of the pump parts and pipes forming clogging deposits which cause breakdowns.

Continuous circulating systems won’t work with tankless water heaters. This is unfortunate, since tankless water heaters take longer to get the heated water than normal plumbing systems. More wasted water is the result.

Grundfos and Taco are two manufacturers of continuous circulating pumps and systems.

An alternative to the continuous circulating systems are the temperature controlled circulating systems that use the cold water piping as the return line back to the water heater. Like the previously discussed system, the hot water gets circulated in a big loop from the water heater, past the fixtures, and back to the water heater. The pump is usually located at the fixture furthest from the water heater, and the inlet connects to the hot pipe and the outlet connects to the cold water pipe With some systems the pump can be located at the heater, and just a valve at the fixture.

Since you obviously don’t want your cold water piping full of heated water, the pump has a temperature sensing circuit, and the circuit shuts the pump off when the water gets up to about 95 degrees at the pump. The pump turns back on when the water temperature cools down to about 85 degrees. This means that when you turn on the tap you don’t have to wait as long for the hot water to reach you since the pipes aren’t as cold and won’t suck the heat out as much as cold pipes would and so you get hot water more quickly. It certainly isn’t instant though.

These “luke warm” systems as I call them also waste a whole lot of energy since they keep the pipes full of partially heated water. They don’t use as much energy as the standard circulating systems, but they still use much more energy than a normal plumbing system uses.

Again, as with the previous types of systems the luke warm systems will not work with a tankless water heater. They pump water much too slowly to activate the tankless water heater’s flow switch, and so they would just circulate cold water around and around.

Manufacturer’s of the luke warm systems include RedyTemp, Laing, Grundfos and Watts.

The good news is there is a type of system that gets you fast hot water, doesn’t run water down the drain, doesn’t use more energy, and even works with tankless water heaters. In addition it is inexpensive and easy to install. The type of system I am talking about is a “demand system”. When you “demand” heated water, by pressing a button, the pump comes on and pumps the heated water to your fixture rapidly. As with the luke warm systems, the pump is located at the furthest fixture from the heater, and connects to the hot and cold lines.

Instead of being temperature controlled though, the pump only turns on when you turn it on. It has a temperature sensor built in, and when hot water reaches the fixture the pumps shuts off. At that point you have instant hot water when you turn on the tap. Since the heated water was not circulated, you did not use any more heat energy than if you had a normal plumbing system. Since the pump only runs for a few seconds each time, it only uses a dollar or two per year in electricity costs. If you have a system with a powerful pump like the Chilipepper CP6000 pump, you can get your water much faster than normal. The CP6000 pumps up to 3 gallons per minute, and many fixtures limit flow rates to less than one gallon per minute. So you can get your heated water up to three times as fast. And what you get is hot water, not luke warm water.

The demand type systems do not seem to have any drawbacks. They get you your hot water faster, saving you time. They don’t use more energy than a standard system. They are inexpensive, or at least some of them are. And some of them work with tankless water heaters as well. As long as the pump is strong enough to turn on the heater, it will work.

The Chilipepper pump has the strongest pump on the market and will turn on any tankless water heater. Metlund makes several models, and not all will work with a tankless water heater so if you have a tankless water heater check with the manufacturer to make sure it will work with your model of heater.

Demand systems are typically inexpensive, the least expensive being the Chilipepper at about $180.00, and Metlund with several models under $300.00. Taco also manufactures a demand system very similar to the Metlund D’mand system. Often you can install them without even turning off the hot water to the house, just turn off the angle stops under the sink where you are installing it. You will need a 110 volt outlet to plug the pump into.

If you decide you are interested in a demand type system check with you local water company, as several water companies around the country offer their customers rebates of up to $200.00 for the installation of such a system to conserve water. So be green, help out the environment, and stop waiting for hot water.

For more information about d’mand systems, water heaters, demand systems, and tankless water heaters visit: Tankless Water Heater Info

Mr. Lund has been an inventor for over 35 years and has over a dozen patents. For information about patents, inventing, prototyping, online marketing, and new product stories visit Free Invention Help
Article Source: Sustainable Living Articles

Global Warming and The Amazon Rainforest

We know that the earth is overheating. This article describes the evidence that exists proving that global warming is for real. How does the Amazon Rainforest play into global warming? Read on and find out.

Rainforests and Global Warming

Introduction

This article is the first in a series of articles which will take the reader on an alphabetic journey on global warming, commencing with A for Amazon Rain forest

The phrase global warming is a term that has been in common usage for some time and usually refers to the warming of Earth's atmosphere, and which also implies a man-made or human influence.

Earth's atmosphere is comprised of many gases, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapour to name a few. These gases are collectively called greenhouse gases and they keep the Earth's temperature at a comfortable 15 degrees Celsius, without them Earth would be a chilly - 18 degrees Celsius. Since pre-industrial times, usually taken to be around 1750 we know from ice core records that Carbon Dioxide (CO2) levels were around 280 ppm, that's 280 parts of CO2 per million parts of air. As industrialisation got under way mankind started to farm the land more intensely than ever before, deforest for agriculture and settlements, and later since around 1850 or so, burn fossil fuels for energy and transport which have added considerably to greenhouse gas levels, particularly Co2.

This has resulted in CO2 levels increasing to around 385 ppm, an increase of around 37% from pre-industrial levels mainly as a result of burning fossil fuels.

How do we know this? Well, data from ice core records that go back at least 650,000 years now show us that CO2 levels have fluctuated naturally during this time between 280 and 300 ppm. CO2 levels have also been measured accurately from the top of Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii since 1958, and results show an increase in CO2 levels from 315 ppm to 385 ppm since that time. Therefore CO2 is now at 85 ppm more than it has been for at least 650,000 years of Earth's history. It is a known scientific fact that higher levels of greenhouse gases will lead to higher temperatures, which appears to be happening now. The world has warmed by an average of 0.74 degrees during the last 100 years or so.

As a result of this warming, polar ice has started to decrease and melt, and so are Earth's land based glaciers. This in turn is causing sea levels to rise which is putting low lying islands at risk of flooding or total submersion, and will eventually threaten more and more of the worlds coastal cities and regions.

As Earth's atmosphere starts to warm, the warming itself may cause further positive feedback mechanisms to kick in. A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapour, which is itself a powerful greenhouse gas. This will in turn cause further warming, and so on.

Melting ice means that more sunlight is absorbed by the surrounding "darker" water and land, meaning further warming, and more melting ice. Methane deposits currently held in a frozen but stable state under the sea and under the permafrost maybe released as the oceans warm and permafrost melts, which will cause further warming as methane is a potent greenhouse gas etc etc.

Where better place to start this A-Z journey on global warming than with The Amazon Rainforest, which has an incredibly important role to play in maintaining a balance in the Earth's climate. The Amazon as well as other rainforests are inextricably linked to the issue of global warming and have a considerable influence on Earth's climate.

Amazon Rainforest Facts

The Amazon river basin contains the largest rainforest on Earth and covers approximately 40% of the South American continent. The Amazon Rainforest is located within eight countries, Brazil contains 60% of the forest, with Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guyana containing the rest.

The Amazon forest is a natural reservoir of genetic diversity, containing the largest and most species rich tract of tropical rainforest that exists. The Amazon contains an amazing thirty-percent of Earth's species. One square kilometre of Amazon can contain about 90,000 tons of living plants! It's also amazing to consider that one in five of all the birds in the world make the rainforest their home.

The Amazon basin is drained by the Amazon river, the worlds second longest after the Nile and the river is essentially the lifeline of the forest. The river is the most voluminous on Earth.

A few hundred years ago tropical rainforests covered as much as 12% of the Earth's land surface, but today the figure is less than 5%. The largest stretch of rainforest can be found in the Amazon river basin, over half of which lies in Brazil.

Why is the Amazon Rainforest so important in the context of global warming?

The rainforest acts as a major store of carbon and produces enormous amounts of oxygen. The Amazon has been referred to as "The lungs of the Earth" because of its affect on the climate. The way this is achieved is of course through photosynthesis, the process by which green plants/trees use the energy from sunlight to produce food by taking CO2 from the air and water and converting them to carbon. The by-product of this is oxygen.

The Amazon therefore helps recycle CO2 by turning it into oxygen, and its estimated that the Amazon produces about 20% of this essential gas for Earth's atmosphere.

Trees, plants and CO2

Levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have been measured since 1958 from a monitoring station located on Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii and they show sharp annual increases and decreases in CO2 levels, similar to the tooth on a saw. The readings almost mimic a breath of air being taken in and out; it's almost as if the Earth is breathing. The readings correspond to the amount of vegetation on the planet (most of which is contained in the Northern Hemisphere, as the landmass there is greater), taking in CO2, and giving out oxygen. During the Northern Hemisphere summer, when the Earth is tilted toward the sun, the Earth's vegetation is able to photosynthesise resulting in an uptake of CO2, causing worldwide CO2 levels to drop. During winter, when the Earth's axis is tilted away from the sun, the opposite happens causing CO2 levels to rise again.

When one becomes aware of the correlation between the Earth's vegetation and CO2 levels, it is easy to understand why the Amazon, and rainforests in general are such an important part of Earth's ecosystem. If global warming is to be tackled, the Amazon, and other rainforests must be saved.

This article is taken from a book entitled The A-Z of Global Warming which was published by Schmall World Publishing on 25th September 2008. Further information can be obtained from the following website- http://www.a-zofglobalwarming.com
Article Source: Sustainable Living Articles