With the rising costs, pollution and greenhouse gases associated with generating and using electricity, environmentally conscious homeowners are looking for renewable forms of energy that are easy to use and set up. Using wind power for homes is becoming an extremely attractive option for those who want to save money on their power bill and do good for the environment at the same time.
Although purchasing a wind power system can be expensive, it can be made much cheaper if you do it yourself. By building your own wind power system using instructions found at Earth4Energy.com, you can build a wind power generator in your very own back yard. You can avoid the cost of paying for power, and the cost of purchasing a wind system.
Building a wind power for homes generator can be a great family project and you will all learn a lot about how wind power works in the process. So go ahead, create a a wind power generator in your home.
If you’re a gardener that has access to an unlimited supply of water, consider yourself lucky. There are many of us who live in drought zones where the garden and lawn watering rules are very constrictive to the healthy growth of gardens and plants.
Many people just give up when they find out how few gallons of water they are permitted to use, but some of us have just found ways to cope with less water. There are many ways to optimize your garden to conserve water while still keeping it lush.
Some of the ways include drip irrigation (the use of a pipe or hose with small holes to allow water to gradually seep into the root zones of plants), the placement of plants in groups with equal watering needs (to prevent wasting water on plants that don’t need as much), and using compost or mulch to minimize evaporation and runoff of the water.
Occasionally a period of drought will be forecasted far in advanced, or those already experiencing a drought will be given a rare reprieve, with heavy rains. To take advantage of this, you should set up one or more rain barrels. Many people think this would be a time consuming, silly thing to do. But it can save you many gallons of water, and hardly requires any work.
Finding the barrels will probably be the hardest part. You can use your own garbage cans, or head to your home improvement store to get 55 gallon plastic drums. These can be expensive and difficult to transport, so keep that in mind before you go to the store. You will want to cover the top of the barrel with a screen of some sort to filter out any unwanted leaves or debris that might fall off the roof of your house and to prevent mosquitos breeding in any standing water.
Once you have your barrels ready, you’re faced with the decision of where to place them. Usually during rainfall, there is one corner or segment of the house that most of the rain tends to pour off of. If you are taking the simple approach to barrel placement, just place the barrel under all the downspouts where you see large amounts of water drainage. However, while this might be the easiest way to place them, you won’t see very high volumes of rain in the barrels.
If you’re open to taking a more complicated approach, you should consider tweaking your roof gutter system a bit. If you remove each individual segment and place it at a very slight slant so that all the water is diverted to the nearest corner of the house, you can place a rain barrel at each corner. So essentially your entire house acts as a catcher for the rain, instead of just a portion of the roof. This will help to maximize the amount of water your rain barrel will catch.
After a heavy rainfall, each individual barrel probably won’t see very much rain. If it looks like it won’t be raining more any time soon, it’s a good idea to empty each barrel into one main central barrel. Seal it and save it out of the way, for whenever you may need it. Then the next time it starts to rain, you’ll be able to quickly put all your catching barrels into place without having to lug around all the water you’ve accumulated so far.
The use of water barrels might sound like an antiquated idea. However, when you’re in the midst of a drought and you’re able to spare that extra couple of gallons for your garden in addition the city allotment, you’ll be grateful for every bit of time and money you spent on collecting all that rain. All it takes is a few trips out in the backyard every time it starts to sprinkle, and you’ll be a very happy gardener when water isn’t so abundant.
If you’re not a do-it-yourselfer, you can always buy and install the many rain barrel or rainwater harvesting systems designed for residential use. It’s a simple, easy way to be good to a planet where the looming water crisis is sure to overshadow even the climate change crisis.
When you think about concrete, you usually think about the sidewalk, your driveway and maybe your porch— but what about your landscape? Concrete landscaping is extremely versatile, low maintenance, and is all the rage these days. On top of that, it is an eco-friendly product because it is easily recycled.
Most people use concrete designs for the walkways and paths that wind through their gardens. This is more for those with larger yards. Even if your yard is small you could put down a lively patio for you and your friends to hang out and have drinks or tea or a barbecue. There’s nothing more fun than a little party out on the patio on a nice day.
Stone walls are another form of concrete landscaping that has really caught on like wildfire. They make great retaining walls for raised planting beds, and can double as extra seating. These days you can buy stamps to give the concrete a more natural look and you can also stain it to appear like stone. If you want a textured look, concrete walls take well to stucco finishes or even tile to complement the overall theme of your landscape and garden.
Finally, even small concrete stepping stones can add punch to a landscape and function as way to keep you from stomping down your plants as you walk through the beds. The best thing about concrete landscaping is that while it can be functional you can make it look as if it’s just there for looks.
There is so much that you can do with concrete landscaping because it is so easy to form and work with. You can use concrete landscaping bricks or you can use whole solid slabs. You can even get custom made concrete landscaping stones that are in unique and creative shapes and patterns. The best part is that concrete projects are do-it-yourself friendly. Take some time and see all the options out there for concrete landscaping— you might just be surprised.
