Earth Friendly Oven Cleaning

It’s pretty easy to clean your stove top or microwave in a fashion that’s not a health or environmental concern.  However, a regular oven can be a little more difficult.  Most of us have generally turned to caustic chemicals.  If you’ve ever used too much and spent an afternoon feeling light headed, or found that all the food baked in your oven tasted like oven cleaner, you know what a problem these products are.

There are lots of harmful substances in regular cleaners.  They start out in plastic and steel cans, and contain substances like diethylener glycol monobutyl ether - a VOC that’s not good for the waterways, monoethanolamine or MEA - a toxin harmful to fish, butane - yet another fossil fuel, and sodium hydroxide - lye or caustic soda.  This is a very caustic chemical that must be used with care, and is hard on the eyes and skin.  It also alters pH levels in waterways.  In small amounts and with the right usage, lye isn’t so bad, but there’s a lot of it in oven cleaner.

Of course, if you want to avoid environmentally harmful products, you’re still going to need to clean your oven.  There are a number of ready made green oven cleaners made using citrus oil and other plant based solvents, and surfactants derived from corn, soybeans, or coconut.  They’re usually packaged in a refillable spray pack, which allows you to avoid tossing a can.

If you’d prefer to use inexpensive homemade products, you can coat surfaces in the oven with baking soda and water paste.  Let the substance stand overnight, then scrub it off.  You can also use baking soda’s slightly harsher cousin - washing soda.  It’s sodium carbonate instead of bicarbonate, occurs in nature, and is better for jobs that baking soda can’t handle.  However, you may want to wear gloves.

A borax and liquid soap mixture dissolved in warm water and sprayed on will work, also.  Let it rest for a while, then scrub it off.  Just remember that borax has its own concerns, so don’t use too much.  A baked on mess can be dealt with using tea tree oil or citrus oils, and vinegar soaks are good to clean difficult areas also.

Just remember that you’ll usually need to scrub harder than you would with a commercial cleaning agent.  However, the need for gloves is minimal, you don’t need to worry about ventilation as much, and cleaning your oven with these products won’t give you a headache.  For many people, that’s worth a little extra effort.

There are also ways reduce time between clean.  Use lower temperatures when possible, and cover items when cooking to keep splatters down.  Place a sheet of foil on the bottom of the oven under the heating element to catch spills, but be sure it doesn’t touch the element.  You can also periodically wipe the oven down with a vinegar soaked cloth to keep grease from building up quite as fast.  Prevention is always better when it comes to cleaning, and it’s true for ovens, too.

This is a picture of the stove we had in Ohio.  They are “zero” clearance stoves.  The pipes are 3″ double insulated.  Ours was 10,000 BTU and had a circulating fan that we never put higher than medium.  This stove was put in a 24×25 room.

In 2005, a 40lb. of pellets cost about 3.00 a bag, or 2.50 if purchased by the pallet. (50 bags, or a ton)  At 125.00 a ton, we usually got 2 tons for the winter and never went thru it all.  We would start our burner about 6 am and shut it off around 8 or 9 pm.  In that time it wouldn’t go thru quit a 40 lb bag.  We would clean the burn pot every morning prior to lighting.  Over the entire winter we didn’t have enough ashes to fill a 3 lb coffee can.

Over all, we were extremely pleased with the performance of our pellet  burning stove.

Cindy

…Build a Wind Generator!

You may have heard it and not believed it, but you can build a wind generator on your own. Even better is the large amounts of money you can save when you build a wind generator instead of purchasing one from a wholesaler or retailer.  It is easy to build a wind generator with the plans and instructions available. By utilizing used auto parts, odds and ends and general supplies from your local hardware store, you can build a wind generator in no time.

You may be wondering why you should build a wind generator when you can just purchase one, but commercial wind generators cost in the thousands to buy.  The materials needed to build a wind generator, the DC motor, batteries, towers and hub, are fairly inexpensive.  It is possible to build a wind generator for under $500 and that means realizing the return on your investment years before you would have buying a professionally installed commercial model.  Even if you invest in better quality materials when you build a wind generator, you will still find your total cost way below that of the professional installation.

Electric power generated by wind is one of the most efficient renewable power resources available.  Many cities worldwide have started to convert to wind power to supplement their energy supply.  It is possible to have a green energy supply by taking the time to build a wind generator.  Not only are you helping the environment, but also you can save money at the same time.
It is not difficult to build a wind generator. The average do-it-yourselfer can complete this project with simple tools.There are detailed instructions and plans available to build a wind generator in your workshop or home.  So build your wind generator today and put it on your roof or support pole and start generating your free power, thanks to a little breeze.

If everyone did one small thing today to make a move to living greener, can you imagine what a difference it would make?  If that was continued every day of the year?

Please enjoy the video trailer below.

Below are a few small things you can do to help with a Greener Lifestyle.

Take shorter showers.

Use Fluorescent light bulbs.

Try organic gardening.

Use Eco Friendly cleanin supplies.

Turn off your computer, that alone can save a couple hundred dollars a year.

Unplug phone chargers from the wall.  They still use power even if nothing is plugged into them.

Do your laundry with cold water.

Plant a tree.  They help clean the air and help prevent errosion.

Use Energy Star qualified equipment when you can.

Reduce your hot water tank temperature.

There are many, many more ideas and way to lead a Green Life.

Enjoy the day.

Cindy

The majority of the cleaning products we use are heavy on caustic and toxic chemicals, are bad for our health, and do some serious damage to the environment.  With all the green cleaning products available, there is no reason to use these unnecessarily harsh products, wear gloves and the need to worry about ventilation while we clean.  Until you’ve tried an ecologically friendly equivalent product, don’t buy another conventional type of cleaner.  You’ll be surprised at what green cleaners can do, and how well they work.

If more of us are willing to do this, we’ll have cleaner water.  Almost seventy percent of US waterways contain high concentrations of detergents, and those detergents come from our household cleaning.  These products are also responsible for a tenth of children’s toxic exposures.  If you don’t have them in the house, you don’t need to worry as much about children getting into cupboards, or playing with these caustic items.
Read the rest of this entry »

Zero-Energy Homes

Zero-energy homes are structures built with the eventual goal of producing as much energy as they consume. They incorporate the most advanced energy efficient features for heating and cooling, lighting, siding and insulation, roofing, and solar power. The attainment of zero energy involves not only the selection of the right high-efficiency components, but also the prudent use of electricity throughout the home.

From 2002 to 2005, TVA and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory built five such homes in Lenoir City, Tennessee, through the Habitat for Humanity program. As each new home was built, the lessons learned from the earlier homes were incorporated into the design to produce even greater energy savings. The goal of a fully sustainable zero-energy home has not yet been reached but should be attainable for new homes within a few years.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vegawatt is an innovative co generation system for restaurants and food service facilities, which uses waste cooking oil as a cheap and readily available source of fuel to generate on-site electricity and hot water, thus saving thousands of dollars as well as providing a clean and renewable source of energy.The system consists in a completely automated device just as big as a refrigerator, which can be placed on the back of the building.

A compression-ignition engine fueled with waste cooking oil produces heat and hot water to be used directly by the restaurant; it integrates into conventional systems and can supply up to 25% of the average electricity consumption. Additional savings can come from the reduction of waste oil disposal costs.

Vegawatt allows restaurants to reduce their carbon footprint and to make their image to the public “greener”. It provides also further revenue through Renewable Energy Credit and Carbon Credit trading, and LEED credits toward Green Building Certification.

For more information please visit the following website:
http://www.vegawatt.com

Cleanliness and Godliness:

From the
National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Programs
Scripture teaches us that we are all created in the image of God and that our bodies are to be temples of the Holy Spirit. Our 21st century lifestyles, however, often cause our bodies to reflect modern lifestyles more than sacred living. There are over 82,000 synthetic chemicals registered for use in everyday household items, emulsifiers automotive, agricultural, food processing, and other industries. We are exposed to these chemicals in our homes and work places, in the food that nourishes us, and in the air we breathe. Alarmingly, only ten percent of these chemicals have been tested for their effects on human health.
–from “Mindful Living: Human Health, Pollution, and Toxics”
National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Programs, 2008

There are many good reasons to us non-toxic cleaning products. They are safer for you, much safer for children, and are a part of hospitality. They are generally less expensive, widely available, and may involve less packaging and advertising. Also, they are quite effective. Though they may lack artificial scents, colors, and foaming agents used in commercial products to give you the impression that the product is working, they tend to work as well or better than their more toxic and expensive counterparts. Experiment for yourself!
Read the rest of this entry »

Wind turbines that are located properly can generate electrical power.  The ideal place would be a location that has strong and steady winds.

Turbins use  momentum from moving air to quietly turn large blades that are attached to the shaft of an efficient electric generator.

TVA’s wind power site is on Buffalo Mountain near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In 2004, TVA greatly expanded its wind generating capacity when it added 15 very large turbines to the three original, smaller turbines at the site. Wind energy is now a major contributor to Green Power Switch. Learn more about the wind turbines here.

Just a few decades ago, almost no one would have thought that simple carbon dioxide would be considered a major pollutant. After all, it’s important to nearly all life in some way. However, this extremely common gas is also thought to be a major contributor to global warming. It’s not alone in the possible contaminants of our air, too. All kinds of air pollution keep occurring, and some of these pollutants are showing up more often.

Clean air is extremely important, with air pollution acting as a major threat to everyone and everything. Air pollution in some areas kills more people yearly than automobile accidents. In China, over sixty-five thousand people die each year due to air pollution, and there’s actually a visible brown cloud in the atmosphere above parts of Asia. Air pollution is a real problem, and it’s affecting plants, animals, humans, agriculture, and even the weather. Below are a few of the major types of air pollution and where they come from.

Nitrogen Dioxide

One of the most common pollutants in the air, this is a reddish brown gas with a sharp smell and toxic by inhalation. It’s produced primarily by vehicles, and can have a negative effect on respiratory functioning. It can contribute to acid rain, as well, causing serious environmental effects.

Sulfur Dioxide

This is a substance produced in nature by volcanoes and other catastrophic events, but also by petroleum products and coal burning. Mixtures of sulfur dioxide and water produce acid rain, which has a slow, detrimental effect on architecture and acidifies waterways, killing all kinds of plants and animals. Even organisms in the soil can be destroyed by acid rain, disrupting entire ecosystems.
Read the rest of this entry »