Monthly Archives: January 2010

Save Money By Making A Solar Panel

28/01/2010

Many individual homeowners are attempting to figure out ways to save money without compromising their way of living. A way to accomplish this goal is to reduce the cost of utilities. This doesn’t mean that you leave off the heat in the winter and wear layers of sweaters. Additionally, it does not mean you spend the whole summer season in the mall since you refuse to turn on your house’s A/C. You can save money on your utility bill by investing in solar panel.

Most people still believe that solar power is futuristic. They notice a home with a roof covered with solar panels and believe a “environmentalist” family has to be living there. Saving money and going green don’t have to be two different things. Moreover, with just a few items purchased at any hardware store and a set of very simple instructions, you can build your own solar panel right at home for a very low price indeed.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to construct a solar panel. Solar energy is not rocket science, as they say, and almost anyone can do it.

Being able to build your own solar panel has almost endless advantages. With this in place, it is possible to reduced your power bill significantly. Property owners who generate power with solar panels, enjoy annual savings every year from now on. You can also expect a tax break from installing alternative energy sources such as solar panels.

You might be wrong if you think that you do not have the skills you need to build and install your own solar panels. Making a solar panel is easy with the variety of kits that are on the market today. It isn’t that hard, it isn’t that expensive, and you can begin to see a reduction in your utility bills the very same day the solar panels are installed.

There is more to solar energy than just being cost-efficient. You are being environmentally conscious if you are making a solar panel. You are helping out the environment by keeping the air cleaner, the earth cleaner, and providing a future for generations to come.

Your home should go up in value because of the installation. Many potential homebuyers are looking for homes that are green and energy-efficient, and by installing solar panels, your home will fit the bill.

Want to know more about making a solar panel? Stop by http://www.makingasolarpanel.org for more free information.

By Doug Taylor | Posted in environmental | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Easy Wind Power Systems

26/01/2010

As our society matures and we begin to understand and appreciate that everything we do will have an impact on our environment, we are starting to look for better ways of supplying our energy needs. Using wind turbines might just be one of those alternative sources of energy. Harnessing the power of the wind is nothing new, and now both countries around the world and the typical homeowner can produce electricity using the wind and household wind turbines.

Converting wind energy into electricity is done with a wind turbine. You’ve probably seen these behemoths in fields across the country. Recent advances in the technology have made it possible to downsize the turbines and make them viable for home use. If you’ve been noticing funny looking ‘wind mill’ things popping up in your neighborhood, you may have wondered if your neighbors have lost their minds or if they just know something you don’t. The truth is that there are wind turbines made especially for home use which are small enough to be mounted in the backyard or on a roof.

For many people, spending $600 to $10,000 for a home wind turbine is simply too much for the budget. Even if you were to save a lot of money on your electric bill, it would still take years to recoup your investment. However, you don’t need to give up. The truth is that many homeowners are building their own wind turbines for only a few hundred dollars.

More and more homeowners have decided to build a wind turbine. It is far easier than you might have imagined. The supplies you need to build a wind turbine can be found in any hardware store and will cost about $200, and the whole building process won’t take more than a few days. A good instruction manual with easy to follow directions will guide you every step of the way.

Since one turbine can be enough to generate almost 60% of the electricity you’ll need for your home, you can start to realize significant savings. Every day your wind turbine is working means another day of savings.

So if you want to save yourself some money while doing your part to help out the planet, you should consider building and installing your own home wind turbines. You can easily and inexpensively build a wind turbine in just a few days, and enjoy the savings for years to come.

A wind turbine can reduce your electric expenses by as much as 50 percent. Why not join the green revolution and learn how to build wind turbines for your home. Find out how to make your own wind generator and free yourself from the electric grid by visiting Make A Wind Turbine today!

categories: wind energy,wind power,alternative energy,energy efficiency,renewable energy,global warming,home improvement,home remodeling,environment,do it yourself,DIY,home and garden,planet green,home repair

By Dan Allanson | Posted in environmental | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Positive Power of Principled Profit, January 2010

26/01/2010

As we switch to paid subscriptions, we are developing some awesome content for you. And we’re also totally overwhelmed with the seemingly thousands of details involved in launching my latest book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green <http://www.guerrillamarketinggoesgreen.com>. So while we get ready, Frugal Marketing Tips, Recommended Book of the Month, and Clean and Green Business Spotlight (formerly called Positive Power of Principled Profit Spotlight) are taking off the month of January (there will be a Book Marketing Tip next week, and there was a Frugal Fun Tip. And there will be a special mailing about the launch, and the many wonderful bonuses you can get. Any paid
memberships or subscriptions will begin with the February issues, and will run for their full term.

PS: If you’d like to support us in the book launch and grow your own list, we have a no-cost partnership for you:
<http://guerrillamarketinggoesgreen.com/submit-a-bonus>

Hear & Meet Shel

* Pioneer Valley Book Launch Event for Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green:
Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, Broadside Books, Northampton, MA, 7 pm, Tuesday, January 26.

* Roger C Parker, a well-known marketing guy and author of numerous books including Looking Good IN Print (a classic of design principles that’s been on my bookshelf for decades), interviews me about my brand new book Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green (co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson), Wednesday, February 3, 7 pm ET/4 pm PT. This is for paid members of my co-author’s Guerrilla Marketing Association, but I’m allowed to invite people to the call. Check the Green and Ethical Marketing Page on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Green-and-Ethical-Marketing-with-Shel-Horowitz/203659771513?ref=mf
or my Twitter feed http://twitter.com/shelhorowitz for the call details after January 28.

* I speak at the two-day Forum Davos conference in Davos, Switzerland, February 9: “Communicate the Value in Your Values and Turn it Into Sales: Effectively Marketing Your Social/Environmental Commitment” (this is the same hall and just after the world-famous Davos World Economic Forum, where people like Bill Clinton speak–I’m extremely
excited).

* Monday, February 22nd at 9:00 pm ET, 6 pm PT, I’ll be leading another teleclass for Hilton Johnson’s organization (which means, once again, you’ll be getting notices about his health coaching and about the other speakers booked that month, which include T. Harv Ecker). This time, my topic is “Create Value from Your Values.”

* February 23, the incredible Sean D’Souza from Psychotactics will interview me about cracking the best-seller list without any kind of big dollar outlay.

* Wednesday, February 24, 5 pm, I’ll be exhibiting my new book and other goodies at the Amherst-Area Chamber’s Buy Local Expo. Somewhere within ten miles of Amherst, MA.

* I’m attending Ryan Lee’s Continuity Summit, March 4-6 in Stamford, CT, http://www.ryanlee.com/rsvp/. He’s not even charging for the seminar, though of course, you’re on your own with lodging. Last year’s conference was excellent, although a bit high-pressure for my taste.

* March 24, I’m doing a teleseminar for Stacy Karacostas on Green and ethical business success: stacy (at) success-stream.com

* April 25, I’ll be speaking on collaborating with a co-author at the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference in New York. http://asja.org/wc/2010/

* May 8, I’ll be speaking once again on book marketing at CAPA University in Hartford, CT (also in negotiation to speak at both IBPA-U and Book Expo America later that month)

You can also read several recent interviews with me:

* Willi Paul interviews me on sustainability and frugality:
http://www.planetshifter.com/node/1455

* Dollar Days, on frugal/ethical marketing and the new Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green book:
http://blog.dollardays.com/small-business-expert-interview-shel-horowitz-ethicalgreen-marketing-expert/

* The Examiner, on environmental advocacy, the Greening of my own life, and environmentalism’s intersection with marketing:
http://www.examiner.com/x-14744-LA-Renewable-Energy-Examiner~y2010m1d4-Interview-with-Shel-Horowitz-of-Frugal-Marketing

* Dr. Dave Hale interviewing me and other experts on our social media predictions for 2010:
http://drdavehaleonline.com/blog/social-media-predictions-for-2010/

Friends Who Help

* Gina Mollicone-Long’s book Think or Sink impressed me a great deal, looking at the interaction of physiology, emotions, and success. I particularly like her approach to failure as a learning experience. If stress, job worries, or even weight loss issues are dominating your thinking, this book can pull you out of your funk. Visit
http://www.ginaml.com/think/ for the book and a pile of bonuses, including my 12 New Year’s Resolutions For a More Ethical, Ecological, Profitable, and Successful Business.

* Meanwhile, Jim Garland hopes to raise $10,000 for The Mark Victor Hansen Foundation’s antipoverty/literacy/entrepreneurship training work through his book, The Practical Guide to Exceptional Living. Lots of focus on gratitude and how to discover your ultimate life experience. You get the book, e-book, audiobook, and $2500 in bonuses.

Next week, you’ll get a special mailing about my own new launch, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green–the most exciting book I’ve ever done, and one with the potential to change the business world.

* If you follow me on Twitter, you might notice that some of my Tweets originate from ShelHorowitzEthicalGreenMarketing”–and that if you click on that origination message, it takes you to the home page for my new book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green. I think this is waay cool. If you’d like to get your own branded tweets, from whatever you want to be known for and pointing to the link of your choice, it costs nothing to sign up: http://su.pr/1vpxQN Thanks to Tammy Fennell for developing this, and telling me about it.

* Suzanne Evans is driven by a passion and desire to help business owners discover the key to success – being authentic in their business. In just two years she grew her business from zero to a quarter of a million dollars by helping more people. She thought this growth was normal and when she realized it was not, she wanted to find
a way to share her journey with you. In retrospect, she realized that helping more people and making more money begins with finding your own authentic marketing blueprint. The coolest part? When she stopped traditional “salesy” marketing, she made over a half a million dollars. She’s sharing her story on a no-charge call on January 12:
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1076845

* At the recommendation of both Mari Smith and my long-time Vitual Assistant Michelle Shaeffer, I just signed up for Backupify, the leading social media Backup provider. Backupify makes secure, automated, daily backups of your online accounts. Backupify supports backup of Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, Wordpress, Basecamp, Flickr, and more… 15 services in total. Too new to know how well it does, but certainly worth trying. Best of all, Backupify is free if you sign up before Jan 31st. Click this link to register: https://secure.backupify.com/signup

Published monthly since May, 1997 by Shel Horowitz
16 Barstow Lane, Hadley, MA 01035 USA
413/586-2388

Shel Horowitz, 16 Barstow Lane, Hadley, MA 01035, United States

By Shel Horowitz | Posted in ethical marketing, principled profit | Comments (0)

The Green Pig Syndrome

23/01/2010

One would hope that what I am about to say is mostly fantasy, but I don’t think so. On the heels of a variety of calls from people claiming to be environmentally concerned, I am finding that environmental issues rarely supersede convenience and cost. One remarkable comment came when the person said, “I don’t mind being environmental as long as it doesn’t cost me anything.” Frankly, I was too shocked to respond like I should have. The best response was that irresponsibility is costing us all the time. The price of doing nothing is rarely zero. What is the price of not going to work? What is the price of refusing to fill the gas tank when the needle is on empty? What is the price of neglecting our children when they ultimately require an attorney to get them out of their latest jam?

So, it occurred to me that there is a “Green Pig” Syndrome (GPS) at work. The Green Pig Syndrome is like greenwashing except that it means that we don’t want our environmental obligation to intrude into our lives. You see, you can paint a pig green, but it is still a pig! A pig will do absolutely nothing different than it has always done. It will squeal and complain when things don’t work like he wants, and it will consume as much as he can in a day, hoping only for another day to do the same.

We love convenience, luxury, and excess. Constant gratification isn’t such a bad way to go, wouldn’t you say? If there were no consequences to how we lived life, one might suppose that we would all be happier. Or, at least we think that would be best. Like it or not, we live in a consequential world, and every day is an investment in making life better or worse. The simple task of depositing your trash in the next trash bin or throwing it out of the window has compounding consequences. We can survive the odd incident, but I have been in countries where trash lines the streets and festers in the alleys.

The Green Pig Syndrome is a values placement process. Pigs, I am told, are relatively near-sighted but are considered the fourth most intelligent animal in the world. They see only what is in front of them, and they are driven by their appetites. Who wants the life of a pig, though? In our example, they are not long thinkers. So, they never worry about how the world will be tomorrow. Life does not consist of what can be done today no matter what the real cost might be in the long term. That would be a Green Pig’s attitude, however.

Let’s face it. You can paint a pig green, but that does not change the way it thinks. And, anyone can paint themselves as environmentally-concerned, but how many things are they willing to change? The success of the environmental program is not just in building Green buildings or buying Green products. Those embracing these solutions are merely “Green by Proxy.” The real impact is felt when Green is made a part of the lifestyle. It could be considered behavior modification, but it is the necessary modifications for our collective future. We need not “Go Radical” in our transition to Green. It is a learned behavior that allows for people to grow into a better environmental citizen.

The reality about Green is it is not free, and it will certainly intrude on our convenience-oriented world. It is the challenge that we all face no matter if it is for an individual or business. Environmental problems are more like the rising tide without enough high ground to keep ourselves out of the encroaching waves. Slow disasters still deserve our attention, even though we are not up to our necks in trouble yet. It will not be expedient, relaxed, or pleasant. It is, however, necessary for the world that we live in today. The problem is not as violent as a war, or as immediately pressing as a hurricane. This is not a call to monastic living, moving into a grass hut, or trading your car in for a bicycle. We cannot make the necessary changes without changing the behavior of each and every individual.

The cure for the Green Pig Syndrome is not an H1N1 shot. We can be Green humans who have the cleverness to see the future and change what we are doing today. There is a cost to Go Green, and there are simple ways to transition to Green Practices that are often mildly intrusive. Some Green practices will cut costs. If you are ready to be both human and a humanitarian, it is time that we all decided to make the changes without concern for the cost or difficulty.

The Green Business League assists businesses in their Green business certification by an recommended program of audit and certification. Those wishing assistance with Green Business Certification can request a Free Green Business Assessment from a Certified Green Consultant.

By Michael Richmond | Posted in environmental | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Highly Recommended: Living A Green Lifestyle

20/01/2010

Home improvement manufacturers have joined the bandwagon of environmental protection. More and more home decorations are made into eco-friendly products utilizing natural materials or recycled goods. Natural area rugs are widely available in the market as environmentally conscious alternatives to the conventional products that have dominated the consumer market and public awareness for a long time.

Decorative items made of natural materials and processed the non-toxic way are not less impressive as the conventional products. In fact, they are worthy of admiration for more than just their beauty, but also for their contribution to the environment. Natural area rugs for instance, are allowing environmentally conscious homeowners to adorn their homes with decors without harming the environment.

Using natural area rugs and other items made from renewable materials is not the only way to contribute to green living. Recycling is also an easy and effective method. If you survey your home, you will see several decorative items that you can reuse or recycle. To change a look of a room, simply swapping it with another decor or repainting the furnishings and walls can instantly upgrade your home to a brand new design. Putting off buying new items can save you a lot of money. Unless you intend to buy eco-friendly goods, then you are better off using old decors. This is a simple way of preserving the environment. Moreover, less waste, more breathing air for Mother Earth.

Using natural area rugs is trendy! How can it not be when going green is now the latest craze? Hopefully, it will become everyone’s lifestyle and not just a phase of interest.

Natural area rugs have been in existence even before my awareness to the environmental cause has started. For the last ten years, natural-made rugs have been doing their rounds in the consumer markets. I sure hope that they will not be going anywhere but to more stores and more homes. That the underlying reason for their existence will reach more people’s awareness.

I don’t think it will be impossible. These area rugs are great decors to have at home. The selections in colors, shapes, designs and patterns are huge! Even the sizes vary to fit any room space and area. The prices too can accommodate different budgets.

Bamboo and sisal area rugs are just two of the well-known natural area rugs. They look good in any room, but so are the other natural rugs. A green theme for your home is not a bad idea. Not at all.

Our best hint for decorating with environmentally friendly rugs, is to use these bamboo shag rugs which will suit any modern furnishings.

By Christine Nunez | Posted in environmentally-friendly | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Ways To Save On Energy Expenses By Draught Proofing Your Sash Windows

19/01/2010

One way that people can save a significant amount of money very easily is to draught proof their home. By following a few tips to save on your energy bills by draught proofing your sash windows you will be able to address one of the areas where heat, energy, and money escape from your home on a regular basis.

There are many areas in a home that may be draughty and identifying the areas where you are losing heat will be important. Because of their size and location, most heat is lost from sash windows and you will save a significant amount of money when you properly treat your sash windows for energy efficiency.

An easy way to check for heat loss in your home is to light a candle slowly move it around the frame of windows and doors. When the candle flickers, there is a draught that needs attention. There are a few steps you can take to help eliminate draughts from your sash windows that are affordable and relatively easy to carry out.

Using heavy drapes or curtains across the windows will stop immediate draughts in the room. The curtains that are used should have an energy efficient backing to repel heat and cold. If you have sash windows that have not been regularly maintained, there may be costs involved in making them energy efficient. Checking for available grants from the Energy Trust may offset the cost of replacing or repairing the windows in your home.

Using clear silicone bathtub caulking works very well if you have lose panes in your windows. Older sash windows often have panes that come loose. The silicone will seal the pane into the frame of the window and keep air from passing through any gaps.

Sash windows that are very old often will need further assistance from a professional to achieve the level of energy efficiency that will save significant amounts of money. The professionals can re-glaze or apply secondary glaze to the windows which will increase their efficiency. These professionals are also available to re-fit the windows and make them thoroughly energy efficient with parting beads, foam, and seals. When you have completed the repair of your windows you will save on your energey bills by draught proofing your sash windows.

If you are going to save on your energy bills by Sash window draught proofing, you might want to spend some extra time taking care of all of the draughts in your home in the form of sash window repairs London and cut your general energy costs.

By Archie Campbell | Posted in environmental | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)