An electronic device giving off heat is wasting energy and feeding your electric bill. Especially as the screens get bigger and brighter that has become a factor to consider in our present economy.

A recent study shows that about 10% of energy used in a home is for powering the televisions. You can make the calculation and see it adds up to quite a few dollars a year.

The major manufacturers of flat-screens have come up with new models to solve this problem.

The newest “eco LCD TV” from Sharp, the Aquos D series,  feel quite cool when you touch them.

Sony came out with the new Bravia VE5 models and claims a 40% reduction in electric consumption because they have:

• a new type of backlight
• a motion sensor that turns it off when nobody is in the room
• a light sensor to adapt to ambient light
• an easy OFF switch, not just standby mode

Panasonic is the market leader in plasma TVs and is also following this eco-televison trend. Their newest line , the Viera V series is using 48% less power than the earlier generation.

In the coming years we can expect more eco friendly TV sets with OLED-screen, which do not use backlighting and laser technology which will be even more energy conserving.

The prices of LCD and plasma TVs have been declining for the past few years and will continue to do so. Especially in the current economic climate where consumers are more reluctant to buy high ticket items, it remains to be seen if this move by the manufacturers will be succesful.

When buying a new TV set you should not only look at the ticket price but you should also consider the energy cost over the lifetime of the TV. You could be saving money with the more expensive green TV and feel less guilty on top.

Big companies are losing money converting corn to ethanol in spite of government subsidies (read taxpayer money) for ethanol fuels which are usually a blend with gasoline.

The impact on greenhouse gases is minimal. In theory the advantage over fossil fuels is that plants will absorb CO2 as they grow. It is then released again when burning the fuel, so this should be a carbon neutral process.

But in reality it depends on the efficiency of the production process. If you burn coal to create electricity that is used by an ethanol plant then the net emission of greenhouse gases could be higher than if you just burned gasoline. And then you still have to produce fertilizers.

The US is still highly dependent on foreign oil. American oil imports have fallen but you cannot attribute that to biomass ethanol production alone. Drivers are more conscious about there driving habits and new cars get more fuel efficient.

As always people disagree on the impact of higher demand for corn on food prices. While wholesale prices are skyrocketing the retail cost is also influenced by labor and energy needs.

Of course if you live in a corn growing state like Iowa or Illinois you may enjoy the growth of jobs and businesses around you.

Livestock producers argue that rising corn prices are making it harder for them to make a profit.

To counter this a lot of research is being done on the use of other crops. Switch grass has been proposed as an alternative and so is waste material. The progress in developing cellulose ethanol is very slow though. Another option is improving the corn variants so the contain more sugar.

In Brazil biofuels have been produced from sugar cane in much more efficient ways since many years. To protect their own struggling farmers the US are subjecting imports of foreign ethanol to high tariffs as opposed to the subsidies for the home grown variant. But that is a whole different political discussion.

You can read more about the politics and business interests surrounding biofuels at http://www.ft.com/indepth/ethanol .

It’s not all good news though. A big controversy is building on the influence this is having on the world food prices. Already prices of agricultural crops have gone up substantially in the last 12 months.

You can make ethanol from corn, then mix it with gasoline to drive your car. More corn is needed because it is also used to feed the cattle in the US and Europe. So it changes from a low value commodity into a high value renewable energy source.

The same is happening with palm oil which is a basic cooking ingredient in most of Asia. More and more plantations are being seen as fuel farms because the oil is mixed into a biodiesel and prices of palm oil is becoming a problem for low-income residents.

biofuel or food?

Some other voices: A Swedish bus company ‘Flygbussarna Airport Coaches’ is advertising their transition to environmental biofuel using some funny pictures.

Tags: biofuels, biodiesel, ethanol

First, you’ll need to know how much power you use in your home. You can do this by figuring out the wattage required by all the appliances in your house. You can also look at your power bill to see how many kilowatt hours (kWh), your home uses each month. Compare this number to the power available from solar systems. Remember, if the numbers on a solar system seem too good to be true, they probably are. Make sure that you’re investigating reputable providers and that any system you’re thinking about buying comes with a warranty or guarantee.

Most people use too much power to directly replace their existing power provider with a home solar system. However, that doesn’t mean you have to give up on a solar home. There are a number of different ways to incorporate the benefits of solar power without going completely off the grid. Solar water heaters are popular. In these systems, the sun’s power (with or without the use of solar panels) is used to provide hot water for the entire building. Rooftop tanks are popular, but check to see whether or not your roof can support the extra weight. Some people with swimming pools switch to a solar-powered heating and filtration system, to reduce the environmental impact of their pools.

If you’d like to provide electrical power to your home via the sun, you’ll require a solar power system. This doesn’t have to be a standalone setup, however. One popular method of providing sustainable power without going off-grid, and without having to buy expensive batteries is called a grid tie-in. In this setup, power produced by your solar power system goes to supply your house if it’s needed, and when it’s not, it goes back into the power grid. Your power company will reimburse you for this power, either at the rate it costs them to produce that power, or by running your meter backwards.

Remember to consider your location. Solar power isn’t for every home. If you don’t receive enough hours of direct sunlight, you could have trouble justifying the expense of a solar power system. Consider making adjustments to your home to allow it to use passive solar energy, using a wind system, or look into power companies that produce their electricity in a sustainable manner instead. While passive and active solar installations are easiest with new construction, don’t rule out adapting your existing structure to be more efficient and make use of the sun’s energy.A solar power home isn’t right for everyone, but it can work for many homes. Investigate further to find out if your home and your site are right for using the sun’s power.

Wind turbines capture kinetic energy from the wind, converting it to electricity by using a reduction gear to take the slow moving fan blades to run a fast generator in the center, which then delivers electricity to the house. If your utility uses net metering, any excess electricity you generate is credited against your bill – indeed, in some months, the local electric "bill" is a check because you gave them more electricity than you used. Most turbine companies will send a crew out to set up the turbine, and help you fill out the paperwork with your utility.

The primary benefit, from an engineering standpoint, of home wind power generators is that they eliminate the overhead caused by transmission line power losses. While an individual wind power generator isn’t as efficient as an individual coal fired burner on a BTUs to kilowatts basis, the reduction in transformer and power line losses makes up for it. In terms of carbon offsets, for a typical household use, a wind power generator offsets about 1.2 tons of sulfates and nearly 200 tons of CO2.

A typical wind power turbine costs about $12,000, with larger ones going to $20,000 and will last for 20 years. Dividing even a high end one by 240 months (20 years times 12 months) will give a per month cost of around $85; the question becomes "Will it save you more than $85/month in electricity bills?"  And the answer to that is dependant on your location and local zoning ordnances. Fortunately, wind turbines are very low maintenance, and as demand for them rises, prices are coming down. There are models for as low as $6,000 available now.

It’s an open matter as to whether or not a wind power generator increases your property’s resale value. In some markets, where green consciousness is high, it is – in others, where having a giant fan sticking out of the backyard is considered an eyesore, or blocks line of sight for the neighbors, it’s definitely not – talk to your local community advocacy groups to get the lay of local opinion before installing one.

Wind Power Facts

Modern wind power generators don’t grind grain or run pumps; they’re turbines that generate electricity that’s stored in battery units or used directly. Using modern construction techniques, modern wind power turbine blades are made of lightweight materials so they can turn freely as they catch the wind; a set of reduction gears takes the angular momentum of the turning blades and spins a small electrical generator inside the housing; the power is either stored in a battery for local use (for a home based wind generator) or put directly into the electrical grid.

At current prices, wind power is still more expensive per kilowatt-hour generated from coal, at least until the costs of pollution and CO2 remediation is factored in. Once those factors are put into place, it becomes a bit more competitive, but is still a marginal case. Most homeowners who install private wind power generators do so to have a public display of their environmental "green-ness", and to trim down their electrical bills.

Equipment And Location

The archetypal image of wind power generation is a tower with a three bladed "fan" rotating on the end of it – they’re called wind turbines. These tall towers (as tall as 50 feet high in some areas) use both active and computer guidance to have the blades of the fan facing the incoming wind; some also have solar generation plants. They’re usually painted haze gray so that they’ll blend in with the sky, though even this causes some communities to vote against them as eyesores.

The "Not In My Back Yard!" attitude has driven a lot of innovation in the wind power market, including moving them out of marked migratory paths, and into offshore locations, where they’re often tied with tidal bed generators. Moving wind power sites offshore lets them use the generally stronger ocean winds to move them, but also causes problems with wear and tear due to the effects of salt water and constant battering by waves on the pilings at the base of the tower.

Rural Use of Wind Power

The other effect of the "NIMBY" attitude mentioned above is that rural areas are the dominant users of wind power – particularly in the Great Plains and mountain west, where a lot of no longer viable ranching land is available, there’s plenty of room to put up forests of wind power turbines, and they can usually be made shorter, particularly in locales with strong wind.

Some of the older wind power generators used in rural areas actually bring to mind the windmills used to dry out the Zuider Zee in the Netherlands, and are used to draw groundwater from deep underground. Most were built to generate electricity in the Australian farm country, where getting conventionally supplied electricity to rural stations was almost impossible. These designs were then imported to the United States where they’ve made a deep impact.

As the social pressure for more "green" power sources grows, the demand for wind power generation is rising – and with it, hopes that the installation cost will drop. It’s still the costliest form of commercially viable power sold to the grid, and is something of a "boutique" power source. Even so, it’s a great way to add extra generating capacity to rural areas, and is affordable for home owners to install.

Now they also include things such as ethanol for motor vehicles. It is wise to learn how alternative energy works, what it is, and what the various types are. As you stay up to date on environmental political campaigns and legislation you can make the best choices for your home and family.

Basic Definition of Alternative Energy

Quite simply, alternative energy is the creation of energy from materials that do not harm the environment or drain the Earth’s natural resources. Therefore, energy from a nuclear plant or coal can not be categorized in this group because they are harmful to the Earth and deplete the natural resources.

Renewable energy is also a form of alternative energy. This is because they use natural resources that renew themselves and never run out. It is a fact that 13 percent of the world’s energy comes from renewable sources.

Different Types of Alternative Energy

Hydropower is generated by water. Micro-Hydro turbines are placed into flowing water to create energy.

Solar power is generated by the sun.

Sunlight can be turned into energy by using cells made from silicon. When these cells are exposed to the sun, they create an electric charge. A different kind of solar panels will heat up water which can be used in the house.

Wind power is created by turbines on large poles or towers and when the blowing wind is transformed into electricity.

Ethanol is an alternative fuel that can replace gasoline. It is a common form of alcohol produced from corn or wheat or any plant that contains sugar. Biodiesel is an alternative fuel solution to petroleum diesel.

Biodiesel can be made from vegetable or animal fats and also from dry waste biomass.

There are many types of alternative energy. For a cleaner world we need to start thinking of the things we use on a daily basis and try to replace our power needs with something that will not destroy the ozone layer or deplete the Earth’s natural resources.