Tag Archives: Green Planet

Going Green Electric Car Conversion Tips

Have you heard that the US government offers tax refunds for anyone that converts their cars from gas guzzling to electric power? It is true. The IRS will give up to a thousand dollars in refunds to those who do a conversion. Wonder why? Gasoline prices are going up constantly. they sometimes go down for a short time and increase even more after. With an DIY electric car conversion you could start saving cash in green friendly way.

Most drivers do not realize that instead of getting a super expensive hybrid, you could instead enjoy a DIY electric car conversion. You will not even have to be an expert in cars, or know all about gas to electric conversions.

The advantages of having your own ev car are obvious, but what are the advantages of doing your own ev conversion – well, that’s a entirely different matter.

You do not have to get frustrated about doing a DIY electric conversion. With the mileage by itself, you will save a ton of money each year and you’ll be able to go do so much more because of not spending so much on gassoline. In an average car, one would get about 16 miles to a gallon on fuel but with the aid of an electric conversion kit, one could get up to 200 mpg with only a single charge which only costs one dollar. You’ll also prolong the life of your vehicle as there will not be internal combustion in the car now. The engine will be quiet and smooth but will still be able to run as much as 65 mph. Doing the conversion is worth the savings and not to mention the other perks. In addition to the tax cuts that the US government will give you, you’ll also be contributing to a cleaner environment. One month of having an ev vehicle will pay for the cost of the entire electric car kit!

Much different than gas-powered automobiles, the wearing down on electric autos is minimal, so when you begin on the ev conversion, you won’t even have to stock up extra parts. The most commonly replaced part is the battery, which is easily available.  green-car

There are many different designs of the ev conversion kit to get. But of course, some are better quallity than the rest. The optimal way to pick is to be sure that you will get all the facts without all the junk. Some give really good instructions with info as to what is needed in the electric conversion in terms of tools and parts. In only few hours of time, you can have a totally new vehicle. So quit spending 1000s each year on gasoline; now you can start saving up for the trips you have been dreaming of for years. There’s no need to worry about building it all by yourself; with the information and easy instructions these provide, you can finish it in a snap.

Maintenance is going to be simple with an ev auto. Think – no more need for any tune-ups, This is great for the car and the pocket book.

Doing an electric car conversion isn’t as simple as appears. It is not as if you can just go and buy ev parts anywhere and replace them right away. You could need guidance, and thats why the kits are the best option. Well, if you do not buy a guide then you will have to hire a mechanic.

convert car to electric, electric conversion, electric car conversion

Conventional farming limits greenhouse gas emissions

Advances in conventional agriculture have dramatically slowed the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, in part by allowing farmers to grow more food to meet world demand without ploughing up vast tracts of land, a study by three Stanford University researches has found.

The study which has been embraced by many agricultural groups but criticized by some environmentalists, found that improvements in technology, plant varieties and other advances enabled farmers to grow more without a big increase in greenhouse gas releases. Much of the credit goes to eliminating the need to plough more land to plant additional crops.

The study’s authors said they aren’t claiming modern, high production agriculture is without problems, including the potential for soil degradation through intense cultivation and fertilizer runoff that can contaminate fresh water.

But some environmentalists said the study is flawed, arguing it’s based on unrealistic scenarios of what would have happened if yields hadn’t increased during the study period. The yield is the amount of a crop grown per acre.    agriculture

The other authors are Jennifer Burney, a physicist who focuses on energy and food security research at Stanford’s Program on Food Security and the Environment, and David Lobell, an assistant professor of environmental science at Stanford who has studied the effects of food and bio-fuel production on the environment.

The three decided to look at the impact of agriculture on greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Agriculture accounts for about 12 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activity.

The researchers set up hypothetical models in which the world’s growing population was fed by cultivating even more land. Those models were then compared with actual agricultural production between 1961 and 2005.

Yields for major crops like corn and soybeans have increased dramatically over the study period. Midwestern corn farmers for instance now average well over 160 bushels an acre. That’s roughly double what they produced in the early 1960s, according to US Department of Agriculture statistics.

Without those increases, it would have taken an additional 4.35 billion acres to feed the world according to the study. The cultivation of that land including the release of carbon in the soil and burning of brush and trees that covered it would have released an additional 317 billion to 590 billion tons of greenhouse gases, the authors wrote.

UK witnesses large butterflies comeback

Large blue butterflies were driven to extinction in Britain 30 years ago, but now they’re making a comeback, thanks to some loving care from conservationists. Down a track, through beech woods so thick you must turn on your car headlights, lies a secret meadow, full of flowers. Mauve scabious and darker purple knapweed wave their heads in the aftermath of summer thunderstorm.  This insect, which baffled conservationists for more than a century because of its strange and wonderful life cycle, became extinct in Britain in 1979. In the following decade, two scientists brought it back to life: Jeremy Thomas, professor of ecology at Oxford University, worked out exactly what it needed to survive; and David Simcox, a conservation consultant for the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, drove his VW Campervan to an island in Sweden, collected some eggs from the large blues that fly there, and released caterpillars in Devon and Somerset, south-west England. The large blue, which is globally endangered, now flies at sites in Somerset in greater numbers than anywhere else in the world.    butterfly

After pioneering that first ever successful reintroduction of a butterfly driven to extinction in Britain, Thomas and Simcox, with assistance from everyone from the National Trust and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust to Holland and Barrett, is this summer attempting an ambitious second phase. They want to help the large blue move north, to the Cotswolds, where it hasn’t flown for 50 years. So far, so straightforward, but establishing a new colony of these unique butterflies is an almost unimaginably delicate and labor-intensive operation. If it goes well, this secret site will next year dance with five different species of blue butterfly. It would be pointless, Simcox agrees, if these rare butterflies had nowhere else to go, but this reintroduction is the first step in a landscape-scale project. There are other suitable sites nearby and, with luck, clever land management and the funding to pay for it, this rare butterfly, and other wildlife, will spread naturally, enriching our meadows and animating our summers, without our help at all.

— The Guardian

Abu Dhabi gets greener

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It floats on a sea of oil in a country that has the largest ecological footprint, yet Abu Dhabi aims to convince the world of its environmental credentials with Masdar initiative.

For four years it has gathered developers of clean energy to discuss and exhibit the latest innovations against climate change at its World Future Energy Summit. It will also host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency.

This week, UN chief Ban Ki-Moon led an army of foreign guests for the summit, praising its bid to promote clean energy. The UAE, a federation of seven Gulf emirates including Abu Dhabi, has the largest per capita carbon footprint.

Masdar, a government initiative to advance renewable energy and sustainable technologies, is building the Zero-carbon Masdar City on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi eco-friendly cities. The development spreading over six square kms got its first residents in October as 175 students the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, developed in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The city under construction features buildings topped with photovoltaic solar panels and solar power farm. “We have a 10-megawatt photovoltaic system on the site that generates too much electricity (for now) that we have to export to the grid,” Frank Wouters, the director of Masdar Power, told AFP.