Homemade Solar Cell

Your holiday decorations can be green and earth friendly. The holidays are almost here so it is time to put out the Christmas decorations and put the home in a festive mood. There are lots of different Christmas lights you can choose from. Here are a few ways you can decorate your home and still be green.

Use natural holiday decorations: There are lots of Christmas decorations that do not use electricity at all. You can make your home festive with fresh evergreen wreaths and other cold-weather plants like holly trees and mistletoe. Natural decorations are biodegradable, will not end up in a landfill and add an sophisticated touch to any home’s decor.

Use energy efficient Christmas lights: You can save up to 60% on your energy costs for holiday lights if you switch to LED decorations. Some hardware stores are trying out Christmas decoration trade-in rebates to help encourage people to change to LED holiday lights. But be aware, LED Christmas lights are not always a great deal. LED (light-emitting-diode) Christmas lights cost a little more new but they offer huge energy savings over regular light bulbs.

Reuse lights you already own: By reusing Christmas decorations again and again you are keeping lots of plastic out of your local dump and being wise about using resources. Try to avoid purchasing all new holiday decorations each season. One of the greatest ways to save cash is to go shopping in your own basement!

Many of these environmentally friendly decorating tips will put more money in your wallet that you can spend on Christmas gifts! With a little planning you can put up decorations for the holidays and still be environmentally friendly. Don’t forget that your choices today can be a perfect gift for tomorrow’s generations.

Looking for more great holiday decorating ideas and tricks? Check out our site for all sorts of diy home project articles for Christmas or any time of the year!

A solar pool cover traps heat from the sun and then transmits that heat to the swimming pool. A solar swimming pool cover may also be called a solar blanket. A solar pool cover traps the heat from the sun in the pool and keeps it from escaping into the air.

A solar pool cover floats freely on top of the water. There are no anchors or tie-downs. This makes the solar pool cover very easy to remove. A solar pool cover reel may also be used, and this will help roll up your solar pool cover easily and makes for great, clean storage. A solar pool cover can also be pulled out and folded up, but this can be a messier task. Get more information on solar pool cover reels, because these are usually the best bet for storage.

A solar pool cover is ideal to use in a sunny climate because the more heat they can gather, the longer the swim season. Note I did not say the climate needs to be warm all the time, but the blanket does need to have access to the sun.

Consumers must understand that a solar pool cover is not a safety device. Solar pool covers should always be completely removed before anyone enters the pool. The goal of a solar pool cover is not cleanliness, but they do keep a lot of debris from the pool.

Solar pool covers are available in many different shapes and size. They are often times round, square, oval, or even a custom design. They can be used for in-ground or above-ground pools just the same. A solar swimming pool cover can keep your pool 10-15 degrees hotter and are much cheaper than a pool heater, which can cost hundreds of dollars a month in the summer, especially if you have a larger pool.

Rose Thomas is an expert in solar pool covers and runs a very informative and busy blog about solar pool covers. She has helped thousands of people get educated on the benefits of solar. Save time, money, and the environment. Go Green!

One of the most difficult factors when you decide to install energy saving light bulbs in your home is cost. Since each energy saving light bulb will cost you approximately $5 each, it is clever to stop for a moment and ask yourself what your Return On Revenue (ROI) will be.

As I was visiting the GE Lighting website (which I have no affiliation with), I found a very useful tool for calculating cost savings if you install energy saving light bulbs. This calculator assumes that you use a light for 4-hours a day and a energy rate of 10c/kWh. It then show you how much money you will save by installing energy saving light bulbs.

If you wish to replace 4 100-Watt standard bulbs with 4 26-Watt energy efficient light bulbs (CFL bulbs), it is calculated that your annual savings will be $43.22. I used 4 x 100-Watt bulbs since that is a standard configuration for a sierra fan.

I took stock of how many 100 and 60-Watt bulbs I have in my home. 25 x 60-Watt bulbs and 40 x 100-Watt bulbs. Based on the GE Calculator (and my own), replacing all of them with energy efficient light bulbs will cost me $325, considering one bulb runs about $5 each. Most interestingly the yearly electricity cost saving will be $625 per year.

To calculate your ROI for installing energy saving light bulbs, let’s look at how to calculate it: ROI= [(Payback - Investment)/Investment)]*100 [(625-325) / 625)] * 100 48%

During the first year we will see a return on our investment of 48%. As I was looking at these numbers it became evident that it will be smart to upgrade to energy efficient light bulbs, even if in the beginning it will cost us some money.

Cutting cost is in the numbers. Changing one 100-Watt bulb to a smart energy saving bulb, will save you $10/year. The average home has between 50-100 bulbs. Considering the increase of energy rates, this would indeed be one of the smartest things to you for your family.