Archive for August, 2009

Diesel Containment – How to Contain Diesel Spills and Make Clean-up Easy

Does your truck ever leak diesel fuel? Or maybe you’re even transporting diesel in your tractor trailer. Read on to discover an economical approach to diesel containment, one that makes clean-up easy as well.

Of course, you should be prepared at all times. In fact, environmental rules require that you are. But isn’t it costly?

It doesn’t have to be. Spill berms are ideal for containing leaks and spills, especially from trucks, and they come in a variety of versions, all of them surprisingly economical and portable. So when it comes to affordable diesel containment, berms are the way to go.

Check out the following:

L-Bracket Berm

The L-Bracket Berm is probably the most economical. You simply arrange it around the diesel spill area and it will prevent the spill from spreading.

No Assembly Spill Berm

You can actually lay these berms out and place your equipment on the berm. They have sides that snap up when you have a spill. This is ideal when you have to park your truck somewhere, especially if you’re loading or unloading diesel.

Emergency Spill Berm (Portable)

You can also find a portable spill berm that is ideal for emergencies. It’s small enough to stash in your truck so you can have it handy any time you might need to contain a diesel spill.

And for the actual clean-up…

Absorbents

After all, once the spilled diesel fuel is contained in a manageable area, you still need to clean it up. For that purpose, you should carry absorbents, in bags, pillows, absorbent sheets, or pads. There are many options. And best of all, you can find them at the same place where you get your spill containment berms.

As to which type to get… Since diesel is a hydrocarbon chemical, you need to make sure to get absorbents that are specifically made for oil only. Those will repel water and absorb all the spilled diesel fuel.

And between spill berms and oil only absorbents, you’ll have the perfect diesel containment tools. Just make sure you get both from a reputable company for the best quality and the assurance that they will perform as expected.

Nissan unveils all-electric Leaf car

Nissan unveils all-electric Leaf car
Duration: 00:01:44
Views: 214,093
The Nissan Leaf is powered by Lithium Ion batteries and due to be launched in Japan, the US and Europe in late 2010. It also includes advanced IT systems.

Simple Tips to Reduce Your Energy Consumption

The most difficult day of every month is when the time comes to pay bills and mostly the enormous electricity bills that we get. It’s high time and we need to take serious measures to reduce the energy bill. Do not worry. We will share some key tips and will make you reach your goal.

Make sure to discuss with family members about the importance of saving electricity. You can reward them a treat if their participation has led to savings. Suggest them some tips like switching of the lights when they are not present there and attending a call in another room or having dinner at the dining table. Make sure to switch off all the appliances even if you are sure to be back in five minutes. Yes, that will help a lot. Every drop of water makes an ocean.

We may prefer to switch off the television set or turn off the fan, but not the tubelight.We need light at the time of night but see that the usage is required in all the rooms or not.Taking care of such these small precautions will surely lead us to savings in the long run by reducing the bills of the power demon.

One should plan to invest smartly on power. Replace all the incandescent bulbs present in the house with compact fluorescent light or those CFL bulbs. These bulbs consume less electricity as they consume less power.

Buy the energy saver gadgets that are available in the market. Such gadgets will monitor the intake of the entire power supply in your house and makes you take decision on how to control the usage.

Most of us assume on the fact that the rise in electricity bill is due to the vast number of electrical items present at home. But the truth is that the electricity bill is not directly connected or affected due to the number of gadgets, but by the way one uses them.

Take a step forward to avoid using those typical items regularly that consumes lot of power -

Passively Heated & Cooled Homes – Wave of the Future?

With the current concerns about energy usage, the cost of oil, and comparing the size of your carbon footprint to everyone else’s, it is no great surprise that we’re seeing the spread of passive homes across the globe.

Passive homes are designed and built with concepts and materials that allow them to not usually require an active heating or cooling system; some passive homes do require a small amount of active heating if they are located in areas that are above 60 degrees latitude because of colder temperatures and reduced amounts of sunlight in the winter. The vastly reduced amount of energy required to heat or cool a passive home translates nicely into a far reduced carbon footprint due to less use of resources and less out of pocket costs for the home owner.

Passive homes basically work by using a combination of techniques to keep the warmth in (or out) of your home while still allowing fresh air to circulate. This is managed by using extra-thick superinsulation to reduce heat transfer though the walls, roof, and bottom floor of the home as well as triple-pane windows with the dead air spaces filled with argon or krypton gasses, covered with low-E glass coatings, and glazed with special high R-value frames.

These passive homes also require special ventilation to help move fresh air into the home, heat it up, and circulate it. Because these homes are airtight, this is more important than in a conventional home.

Solar panels are often used on these types of homes, as well as high efficiency appliances, and sometimes earth warming tubes which capture heat from the earth.

The problems with passive homes are pretty few and far between. There is an increased cost for some of the materials needed to build the house initially, but these costs are usually offset by the greatly reduced cost of running the house. Builders need to take great care in choosing materials and finishes that give off as low of a VOC emission as possible, however, due to the reduced air movement.

In general, the costs of building these passive homes is becoming more in line with the costs of building a traditional house. As the materials and products needed to create these homes becomes more available, we can expect the costs to likewise be reduced as well.

Hotels on the Moon?

This is not a far fetched idea some scientists say. With the much advancement in Aeronautics, it is quite possible for this to happen. NASA has not said whether or not this is ever going to be possible and many have said that this is a Trekies dream. But is it possible? That question has yet to be answered correctly. It is possible if you asked people living in the 15th Century if there were going to be two story homes and electric cars in the 21st Century they would have laughed and called you crazy. Many have also thought of this tactic when confronted with hotels on the moon in 2015. But it is plausible.