Wind to Power Cell Towers in Southern California

A global renewable energy company, Helix Wind, announced this week it will begin a technology demonstration and test of two small wind turbines to power cell phone towers in Southern California.

The  turbines will be installed by early 2010 and the test will run for one to three  months.addition to powering the towers, the test will explore the feasibility of selling power back to the  electrical grid under a Power Purchase Agreement.  The test will represent one of the first grid- connected  cell sites powered by renewable energy in Southern California.

This market segment is of great interest to California. There are approximately 3,500 cell phone  towers in  Southern California, and due to the continued expansion of broadband wireless, the  data volume of which  has doubled in the past three years, an additional 1,000 to 1,200 towers  should be brought on line over the next five years.

Grid connected cell phone towers can benefit from renewable energy, and wind power can dramatically reduce the emissions and carbon footprint associated with them. Under the right conditions, the towers may even be able to produce surplus energy, providing an additional revenue stream to tower owners.

About Helix

Helix Wind Corp., a global renewable energy company, is engaged in the design, manufacturing and sale of small wind vertical axis turbine designed to generate 300W, 1kW, 2.0kW, 4.0kW, and 50kW of clean, renewable electricity.

Additional information can be found at http://www.helixwind.com. See a video of it at HELIX.

NEW Dimmable Fluorescent Flood Lamp

CFL Floodlight

Now available, Dimmable Fluorescent Floodlights that are similar in size and light output to standard incandescent floodlights that save up to 75% in energy costs. These new energy efficient Dimmable Fluorescent Flood Lamps are also good for wet location use, and may be used in recessed cans, ceiling fixtures, track lights and outdoor fixtures.

They have and 8,000 hour average rate life and last up to eight times longer than incandescent flood lights. Dimmable from 100% to 20% for lighting preference and added energy savings. Another added benefit of Dimmable Fluorescent Flood Lamps is that they produce significantly less heat than incandescent Flood Lamps significantly reducing cooling costs during the summer months. If you are interested learning more or want to buy some see their site at AMConservation.

Simple No Cost Actions for Winter

Check your hot water heater’s temperature. If you have a dishwasher you can heat it up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius). If you don’t have a dishwasher you can keep it lower. Try lowering it to 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius). In some homes, those savings have amounted to more than 10-12% of the total energy usage.

Use a hot water heater blanket. If your water heater is in an unheated space like an unfinished basement, wrap it in an insulation blanket to prevent heat loss. They cost about $40 and can be found at your local home improvement store.

Clean or replace your filter every month. A dirty filter makes your furnace work harder, which uses more electricity. Your home improvement store sells permanent filters that you can wash so you don’t have to replace the filter each month. Changing your filters can save you up to $60 a year on heating costs.

Dust and vacuum those radiators and vents. Dust acts as a great insulator and will actually stop the heat from getting to where you need it.

Don’t empty the bath until the water has cooled down. The heat will dissipate into the air. It will also add needed humidity in those winter months.

Open the stove door after cooking. By leaving the oven door open slightly after you have used it to cook you will allow all the heat to move into the room versus it staying put inside your insulated oven.

Use an old towel to block the air at the bottom of the door at night. Putting an old rolled up towel along the base of your door or windowsill will block any drafts from coming through.

See our SAVING $ tab for more ideas.

FOUR YEARS. GO.

The below video is worthy of watching. We can all make a BIG difference in a short amount of time if we make the effort to conserve energy, waste less and do things smarter. At the end of the video you can find out more about this fine organizations efforts and how you can make a difference. Or you can see their site at www.fouryearsgo.org

Only a Very Small Percentage of Retired Phones are Recycled

While the huge number of retired phones continues to grow and the demand for refurbished phones is accelerating, only a very small percentage of displaced phones are actually making it into the recycling channels.

Nokia estimates that 74 percent of people are not even aware that their old phones can be recycled and most others don’t know how or where to recycle them. From the results of a worldwide survey done in 2008 by Nokia, only three percent of displaced phones are being returned for recycling – even less than the four percent that are being thrown in landfills. The rest remain in our respective drawers at home.

So Where Can They be Recycled?

The first thing you should attempt to do is to clear your mobile phone of all data and get it back to its original state. If you still have the manual you can easily find how to do it. If you do not , you will have to scroll through the set-up and or mechanical menus to find the option to do this. Another method that I recently did to clear my Blackberry of data before selling it on eBay, was to search the internet via your favorite browser search engine with “erase data on XXXX” where XXXX is the manufacturer and model on your phone. This popped up a number of  sites to assist me through the process. While also doing a search, key in “cell phone recycling” to get a list of places to either resell, donate or eco dispose of it.

Some sites we like are:

• Charity Guide
• GRC Recycling
• Gazelle
• EcoCell

This a small listing of many you will find if you search the Internet as mentioned above. Many of the large office supply chain stores also offer drop boxes as well as many of the cellular phone providers either at their retail locations or via programs on their websites. The bottom line is to get rid of the old ones cluttering your draw to save some space, make a few bucks or to donate to the less fortunate. Don’t delay do it today!

It’s not only what is inside that counts this holiday, but how you wrap your presents that matters as well. All of those lovely gifts can lead to a pile of boxes, gift-wrap and plastic packaging destined for the landfill. In 2009 Americans threw away 78.5 million tons of packaging, making up more than one third of all solid waste in landfills.

It’s in the Wrap

Everyone will appreciate gifts wrapped with recycled love. Comics are favorites, but outdated maps, yellow pages and finished coloring-book pages also can have a nice wrapping effect. And how about cutting the brown paper bags from the grocery store. Cut them open and use the inside for a crayon or paint canvas custom designed by the artists you have at home. If you must use wrap, look for recycled or at least partially recycled brands.

Gift Bags, too

Reuse last year’s gift bags if you can, but if you’re low on supply, try one made of natural fibers or recycled content, or make your own. Brown (recycled) lunch bags are always good as are the paper sack from the grocery store. If you must buy some new ones, once again look for at least partially recycled products.

One site we like is Green Field Paper. Of course there are many more just Google “Recycled Wrapping Paper” and you will have many to choose from. We are certain that with a little extra effort your holiday, be it Hanukkah,Christmas, Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice will be greener and more meaningful.

Be on the cutting edge with LED holiday lights.

Each bulb with this new LED technology uses only 0.04 watts and is up to 90 percent more efficient than its incandescent counterpart. So a household burning 10 strands of lights for eight hours a day for a month at $0.0853 per kilowatt-hour would spend $127.67 for large incandescent bulbs, $7.20 for traditional mini-lights, and just $0.72 for LEDs. Also these newer bulbs are sturdier, last up to 100,000 hours, or 20 years, and barely warm up thus eliminating most fire concerns.

To also maximize holiday lighting savings, use timers to limit light displays to no more than six evening hours a day. Leaving lights on for 24 hours a day will easily quadruple your energy costs while also creating 4 times as much green house gases from the additional energy needed to light them.

And be safe, unattended lights can cause fires, especially if the lights are on a dried holiday tree or wreath, so always unplug your interior lights before going to bed or leaving the house. See the U.S. Department of Energy website to learn about the savings.

You upgrade your computers and other office equipment periodically so when was the last time your business upgraded its electric meter?

Well you are not alone; as with most commercial businesses electric meters have not been touched since their initial installation. Not to worry though, your local electric company will soon bring your electric meter into the 21st century as a Smart Meter.

• Monitor, track, and adjust real-time energy usage.
• Get more accurate billing to create better utility expense forecasts.
• Quickly identify energy hogs allowing for consumption adjustment to assist in lowering bills
• With real-time pricing, you may choose to run certain business processes based on off-peak pricing
• Depending on your type of business you may benefit by shifting working hours based on lower energy prices.
• Calculate an ROI for making a decision for an investment in an alternative energy solution like solar or wind for your business.

The smart meter/grid is rapidly progressing so begin today to start learning about how you can incorporate it into your business to save money.

RCA Airnergy Pulls Power From Thin Air

RCA Airnergy is a small USB device that harvests electrical power from Wi-Fi signals. Anytime the device is in the vicinity of one or more Wi-Fi sources, the Airnergy is Minor Limitation

The Airnergy unit, expected to hit the store shelves some time later this year (~ $40) is expected to only have a USB connection, meaning it won’t sync with a lot of devices like your iPhone or iPod without using a connection converter. So this means you will have another piece of gear to take with you. We hope RCA realizes this short coming and takes an appropriate action. We would also like to see the USB port also accept power input so it can be charged from your laptop or PC.

Who thought we would see such innovative products from a an old time company like RCA, the inventors of the 7″  vinyl single well it turns out RCA is actually now a brand from electronics giant AudioVox… who knew!

The K3 Wind and Solar Charger

A fully charged K3 charges a mobile phone over 5 times and charges an iPod/mp3 player over 10 times!*

Just one hour of sun & wind provides about 30 minutes of talk time and over 300 minutes of mp3 music!*

K3 FEATURES

• 2 in 1 dual charging ability for collecting sun, wind, or both
• The largest rechargable battery capacity of its group – ready to use over and over again
• USB port built in with available adapter tips to charge various devices
• Stand up, lay down, or hang the K3 – works in any charging environment
• Power status LED level indicators with the press of a button
• Durable, weatherproof design you can take anywhere
• Storage inside for multiple device adapter tips
• AC adapter included for pre-charging before you go

The product is great for camping, boating, to throw in your glove box or in your attache when traveling. This product is now available at many retail locations or via the companies website store at: http://www.kinesisindustries.com

*Performance figures will vary based on different mobile phone models and iPod/mp3 player models, as well as sunlight intensity and wind speed consistency.