Myths about Air-Conditioners

Misinformation can lead to wastage and air-conditioning is one such subject that you can be better educated on.

· Set it lower, it will cool faster – This is entirely false. Setting your thermostat to a lower temperature than the one you want, just because you want it to cool faster, will achieve nothing. Depending on the size of the room, your air-conditioner will take a certain amount of time to achieve whatever temperature you set. This only varies due to the size of the room, ambient temperature, heat sources, etc. The only instance where this is not true is with air-conditioners that do not possess a thermostat and instead have a Low-High setting. With those types, you can achieve faster cooling by setting it to high.

· Keep it running all day – This is a complete waste on several levels. First of all you are a unnecessarily cooling a space that you are not occupying for around 8 to 10 hours. Next, you are consuming electricity to do this. Finally, the compressor unit in the air-conditioner is being run for extended hours which wear down the unit. Fix this by switching off the air-conditioner when you leave home and set it to come on about an hour before expect to get back.

· Get the biggest one – Every air-conditioner is capable of optimally cooling a room provided that it is the correct size for that room. Getting one that is too small or too big will only result in you paying higher electricity bills.

· Put it wherever you like – Picking the right spot to install you air-conditioner is very important. Heat sources like lights or TV’s in proximity to the thermostat will only affect it’s readings in the wrong way. The outdoor unit should also be installed in the shade and out of direct sunlight. Ensure that the airflow around it is not blocked in anyway by shrubs or other obstacles.

The Hazards of Residential Open Burning

Residential open burning refers to the act of burning anything on the outdoor premises of a private family home, such as in the garden or backyard. Unlike chimneys, enclosed burn chambers or smokestacks, open burning allows smoke to rise freely, thus contaminating air and posing risks for air pollution. While there are country as well as state laws that protect the environment against impractical burning practices such as this, people fail to understand the true hazards that make this burning activity a bad, bad idea.

First of all, all forms of open burning creates smoke, which pollute the air and are often toxic to all life forms. In fact, smoke from burning at least five pounds of leaves would contribute at least one pound of pollution in the air. What happens during open burning is that a ground-level ozone is formed, making the air around living humans, plants, animals and even buildings and homes heavily dense with pollution. Little do we realize that it’s this dense, polluted air that actually causes buildings their untimely ruin. If such air can cause a building to degrade, what more can it do to vulnerable life forms like humans, plants, and animals? Residential open burning can come with a lot of health problems like irritation of respiratory systems (hence the coughing, sneezing, watery eyes and nose).

If the burned materials have toxins, the particles can enter the lungs and cause severe, irreversible damage. Polluted air also slows down mental capacity and oxygen consumption. So before you even think about burning, it is worth looking at these risks. Also, make sure you know your state’s laws regarding residential open burning before you light a match.

Benefits of an artificial grass lawn

The benefits of getting an artificial grass lawn are endless. One can talk about how longer lasting it is, how much more wear and tear it can take, and so on and so forth. However, in terms of how it looks, it is just as good (or even better) than an actual grass lawn.

The biggest differentiator is maintenance, and especially for folks who don’t have the time (corporate America) or the energy (like senior citizens!), one will understand how an investment in synthetic lawn turf is good for not only the home but commercial as well as for those sports surfaces.

While people are not accustomed to getting a warranty for the natural grass that they use for their lawn, this benefit often comes with an eight year warranty. For those who use artificial grass turf for sporting events, the patchiness of the grass resulting in unusual movements can often create injuries for players, and this again, does not happen with artificial grass.

And yet again, one does not have to maintain the turf except for spraying it with water before the match is played (in the case of field hockey).

One way or another, if you are deliberating on artificial or natural grass, these benefits should point you in the right direction.

We also recommend Royal Roofing to repair leaking roof.

Getting Rid of the Stockpile Mentality

Today, a good number of people are appreciating the benefits of recycling paper, plastic and other materials. But, if there was one thing we could not bring ourselves to recycle, it would be tires. Enter stockpiles, which is a metaphor for how the rest of the world behaves (read: procrastination) around the idea of re-creating a greener place to live in. Stockpiles of tires lie around in scrap yards and garages, and have a lot of impact on waste reduction, and ultimately environment and climate improvement.

Why are tires left in stockpiles anyway? Unlike paper or plastic, tires are created with tough and durable rubber material, which makes the task tedious, and for some, impossible. There is at least one discarded tire for ever person every year, and when the stockpiles in garages and yards become overwhelming, the tires are brought to landfills, which are another serious environmental issues that also have great health implications especially to people living within the landfill sites’ vicinity. This is because landfills are generally damp, and toxins from the rubber tires can leak into the soil and can endanger people, plants and animals. The truth is, means to recycle tires have actually been invented more than 100 years ago.

In 1820, Thomas Hancock created the “Masticator”, an industrial machine which could tear up old tires into bits and pieces, to make the recycling even easier. Pieces of the rubber which have been “masticated” are then mashed even further, like dough, and then shaped into large blocks which will eventually be used to create new rubber materials and products. So it is about time industries got rid of the stockpile, or the procrastination mentality and do something about those tires today, because, you have read, it isn’t at all impossible.

Why Should you Recycle?

Sometimes, when you have been doing something for a long time, it is easy to forget why you are doing what you are doing. Recycling is one such thing. Most of us probably do it because “it is the right thing to do”. Well here’s a reminder of why exactly we all should recycle.

1. Economy – Recycling sends back valuable raw material to the manufacturing industry. By doing this, the high cost of importing or sourcing raw materials is cut down.

2. Jobs – Over a million Americans are employed in recycling or reuse plants across the nation. The more we recycle the more jobs we create.

3. Waste reduction – On average, every American citizen dumps over seven pounds of garbage every single day. The garbage ends up in landfills and is then compacted. The compacted garbage is then buried underground.

4. Energy reduction – Compared against raw materials, using recycled materials consumes less energy in the manufacturing process.

5. Landfill reduction – The less we send to the landfills, the fewer landfills we need.

6. Reduce global warming – Recycling reduces the amount of greenhouse gasses that are released into the atmosphere. Essentially this means reduce our carbon footprint.

7. Conserve the environment – Recycling means that less of the forests, rivers, and wetlands are destroyed in the search for raw materials. It also means that less pollutants leak into the ground though landfills.

These may seem like simple things that you always knew. Nevertheless it is always good to remind yourself that recycling is more than what it seems at first glance.