An atomic clock is accurate to one nano-second! That’s pretty accurate by anyone’s standards.

Atomic clocks are already fitted to many devices, like GPS, but soon they could win a place in our daily lives if they were smaller and cheaper. In the near future, such watches measuring only a few centimetres and costing less than 100 euro may emerge.

A team of physicists from the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST), located in Boulder, Colorado, has developed a technique to miniaturize atomic clocks, which could fit into a volume of one cubic centimetre.This would mean

Polylactic acid or Polylactide (PLA) is a biodegradable, thermoplastic, aliphatic polyester derived from renewable resources, such as corn starch (in the U.S.) or sugarcanes (rest of world). Although PLA has been known for more than a century, it has only been of commercial interest in recent years, in light of its biodegradability.

In recent years PLA has been used to line the inside of Paper Cups in place of the oil based lining more commonly used, create Plastic Cups, Cutlery, Carrier Bags, Food Packaging and even Nappies.

This product however is produced by turning land over once used for growing food crops and like bio-fuels contributes to increased food prices.

PLA is also more expensive than many petroleum-derived commodity plastics and can create problems in recycling streams by contaminating the oil based plastics (making more waste!)

Now ordinary oil based plastic and recycled plastic can now be made biodegradable.

Oxo-biodegradable Plastics (OBP’s) are conventional plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene to which is added a proprietary mixture (d2w additive) that accelerates the breakdown of the chemical structure of the plastic.

OBP’s degrade, then biodegrade, on land or at sea, in the light or the dark, in heat or cold, in whatever timescale is required, leaving NO fragments NO methane and NO harmful residues.

These plastics are the main ones used in a variety of catering disposable packaging applications. The resultant breakdown products are then amenable to conversion by micro-organisms, for which these products are an energy source or food, into carbon dioxide and water; thereby returning otherwise intractable plastics to the ecosystem.

These plastics can now have a shelf life, determined at the point of manufacture. Shopping carrier bags, food wraps, plastic glasses et al that will completely and harmlessly biodegrade all with a pre determined shelf life. Utilising this new technology does not mean the products cannot be recycled.

Some commercial products that have already incorporated this new technology include carrier bags, garbage bags, Ziplock bags, cling film, shrink-wraps and EPS trays.

Expect to see use by dates on your plastic cups in the future!

When you appear on “Jeopardy,” and the little blue screen lights up with “two basic wind turbine tower design requirements,” you either answer, “What are size and elegance?” or Alex gives you that condescending look, patronizing you with his patented “I’m sorry.”

Size and elegance determine the quality of your wind turbine tower’s design. High-quality materials help, but even allegedly “unbreakable” materials will fail if the design does not honor the basic principles.

Questionable designs for wind turbine towers…

Towers come in as many shapes and sizes as Dunkin’ Doughnuts has sweet treats, and the engineer or factory representative behind each “new and improved” design swears his will max-out power while minimizing cost. The slickest sales guys will show multi-color charts and graphs, dramatically proving how their towers beat the competition by every measure-except you never have heard of the strange measures and bizarre calculus these guys have applied to make their graphs bubble-up in just the right places. The more you study, the more perplexed you become. Meanwhile, you really would like to get yours and running before fossil fuels run-out and something vaguely apocalyptic befalls.

The slicker the sales pitch, the greater the hyperbole, the more enthusiasm in the sales guy’s voice, the more you absolutely must not trust the guy’s claims if they seem unreasonable. As you select yours, keep the basics firmly in mind: You want yours to spread as fat as possible and stretch as tall as possible with just enough of just the right stuff. Guyed wires, for example, do not meet the test of elegance if in a high visibility area though they are a great choice for many.

You do not need an advanced degree in civil engineering to select the right tower for your location and machine. You do, however, need unwavering common sense. Among big wind turbine towers, the principle of “big and elegant” always applies, and common sense prevails. It may not be as important for smaller towers.

Well-designed wind turbine towers…

Civil engineers no less than fashion designers ought strictly to follow the fundamental “principle of elegance,” insisting on simplicity. Conceiving it a little more practically, civil engineers ought to insist on “just enough of just the right stuff.” When a design has more fluff and frou-frou than rigidity and stress tolerance, we ought not walk it down the runway or erect it in our backyards. Too many moving parts make wind generator towers vulnerable. Lattice towers and welded steel posts with guyed wires will perform well in small earthquakes and high winds, but please beware because Mother Nature’s gyrations can tear out your anchors if not installed properly.

Insulation is an extremely important part of your home, in that it helps to protect you from the elements. If homes weren’t insulated it would take an enormous amount of energy to keep them at a habitable temperature. Insulation works by creating a barrier and holding the heat (or cold) from escaping (or getting in). You might be saying “Duh” right now, but do you know how much the wrong insulation could be costing you?

If no insulation equals huge amounts of energy spent on heating and cooling, what does poor insulation mean? It means more of your money is literally radiating away. R factor, which is a combination of the type of material and how thick it is installed, is a way to measure the insulating properties of a material. Basically, the higher the R factor, the better insulated you are. But don’t be deceived by quoted R factors without knowing all the facts.

Some insulation, like blown in cellulose (nice word for shredded newspaper), or fiberglass can actually start out with a good ‘R factor’. However, they both have some serious drawbacks. What happens when you set a cold glass of water out on a hot sunny day? It sweats. Moisture is a serious consideration when choosing insulation, especially in Minnesota. When wet, both cellulose and fiberglass lose their insulation properties, or R factor. Cellulose can actually absorb moisture and compact down up to 30% in your wall leaving you with a large surface area of un-insulated, no R factor, space. Not just that, because it can absorb moisture, it can grow mold which can irritate allergies and cause sickness.

You might be thinking I’m about to say something like “But now there’s something new!” Sorry, no. The best insulation has been around for years. Thermal Mineral Rock Wool Insulation has been being installed since the 40′s. It has the same R factor when installed as the others, and moisture does not affect it. Mineral Wool will not compact; it is non-organic meaning it can’t absorb or hold moisture, so no mold. Plus, because it is so much denser than the others, it is a better sound barrier.

Possibly the most impressive fact is that Mineral Wool Insulation could actually save your life in the unfortunate event of a fire. The Thermal Wool will not support combustion and won’t even melt until twice the temperature of the competition (if you would call it that) actually acting as a fire retardant.

In this article you will learn how and why you can be saving cash whilst creating energy for yourself. During these times of economic struggle, can you really afford to keep throwing out money you don’t need to?

Would saving hundreds of dollars/pounds appeal to you? It is a widely held belief that renewable energy, although being very good for the environment, are a lot more expensive, and do not help out much with the energy bills at all, like they say they will. They, apparently take ridiculous amounts of time to install and get up and running and commonly breakdown.

There is now a very affordable method for creating your own renewable energy in your back yard! I am a firm believer in how renewable energy is the way forward, and the more people that follow this belief, the cleaner the environment will be. Statistics show that the non-renewable sources of gas, coal and oil are going to run out within the next 50 years at the rate we are using them. The government itself is implementing their own policies and trying to build more renewable energy sources in preparation for this.

What do you think will happen when oil and gas continues getting used until there is little left? It will get more expensive, meaning larger energy bills for you at home. Surely having your own wind turbine and/or solar panels will be a no brainer, and the sooner the better. Just think if you had a solar panel installed on your roof for 5 years, as energy prices were rising and rising, how much would you have saved? Depending on the size of your household, between 2000 and 3000 dollars could easily be saved!

‘This is the way forward; it has to be, and the sooner everyone installs their own solar panels and wind turbines, the sooner the planet can get cleaner and healthier.’ If your looking for the best way to get started with this then look no further than the earth4energy service. It is all you will ever need in terms of renewable energy for a small price. So, do you want to save money on up to your entire energy bill?