Category Archives: Copenhagen Accord

Energy Savings Through Christmas Decorations – Even businesses can

Posted on by
Reply

I had no idea how wide the custom had spread.

http://www.christmasdesigners.com/?gclid=COy__vLpgqYCFUS5KgodHRvsoA

Christmas Decorations and LED Christmas Lights

#1 Choice for Pros and Christmas Enthusiasts Alike!

  • Innovative, top quality LED Christmas Lights
  • High quality Christmas decorations for the Christmas Enthusiast
  • Commercial Christmas Decorations for cities, businesses and organizations.
  • Wholesale to the Professional Christmas Industry
  • 30 years designing, building, installing and selling high quality Christmas and holiday decorations and lighting.
  • Our high volume purchasing allows us to pass our savings onto our customers by offering the best prices available anywhere.

Popular Categories

LED Christmas Lights

LED Christmas Lights

Replacement Bulbs & Cords

Replacement Bulbs & Cords

Christmas Designers has been in the commercial Christmas and lighting business for the past 30 years. During that time we have had the privilege to design and create some of the most imaginative and unique Christmas displays in the world.

Our specialty is indoor and outdoor commercial Christmas decorations, ranging from small garland pole decorations to giant Commercial trees, reaching heights of over 100 feet tall.

More recently, we’ve expanded our business to include the Christmas Enthusiasts market as well as the wholesale Christmas markets. By tapping into our 30 years of experience designing, building and installing Christmas decorations and lighting, we’re able to offer products and services unmatched in the industry.

With our base year round staff of 25 employees and our seasonal staff of over 100, we are unmatched in the industry when it comes to hands on experience with Christmas decorations and LED Christmas lights.

:}

One more shopping day until Christmas. Guys get going. More tomorrow.

:}

Cutting Home Energy Costs – Something that is easy to do

Posted on by
Reply

Save Energy – Save Money. That is the mantra of Communty Energy Systems.

http://www.powerscorecard.org/reduce_energy.cfm
Reduce Your Energy Consumption

Twenty Things You Can Do to Conserve Energy

Conserving energy, by taking actions like insulating/weatherstripping your home and purchasing Energy Star certified (high efficiency) appliances, is usually the smartest, most economical and most potent environmental action you can take. Cleaner, greener energy supplies may provide the cleanest supplies of needed electricity, but minimizing the energy we need is still the first step to take before selecting the cleanest, greenest supplies.

Whenever you save energy, you not only save money, you also reduce the demand for such fossil fuels as coal, oil, and natural gas. Less burning of fossil fuels also means lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary contributor to global warming, and other pollutants.

You do not have to do without to achieve these savings. There is now an energy efficient alternative for almost every kind of appliance or light fixture. That means that consumers have a real choice and the power to change their energy use on a revolutionary scale.

The average American produces about 40,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. Together, we use nearly a million dollars worth of energy every minute, night and day, every day of the year. By exercising even a few of the following steps, you can cut your annual emissions by thousands of pounds and your energy bills by a significant amount!

Home improvements

Consider some of these energy-saving investments. They save money in the long run, and their CO2 savings can often be measured in tons per year. Energy savings usually have the best payback when made at the same time you are making other major home improvements.

  • Insulate your walls and ceilings. This can save 20 to 30 percent of home heating bills and reduce CO2 emissions by 140 to 2100 pounds per year. If you live in a colder climate, consider superinsulating. That can save 5.5 tons of CO2 per year for gas-heated homes, 8.8 tons per year for oil heat, or 23 tons per year for electric heat. (If you have electric heat, you might also consider switching to more efficient gas or oil.)
  • Modernize your windows. Replacing all your ordinary windows with argon filled, double-glazed windows saves 2.4 tons of CO2 per year for homes with gas heat, 3.9 tons of oil heat, and 9.8 tons for electric heat.
  • Plant shade trees and paint your house a light color if you live in a warm climate, or a dark color if you live in a cold climate. Reductions in energy use resulting from shade trees and appropriate painting can save up to 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. (Each tree also directly absorbs about 25 pounds of CO2 from the air annually.)
  • Weatherize your home or apartment, using caulk and weather stripping to plug air leaks around doors and windows. Caulking costs less than $1 per window, and weather stripping is under $10 per door. These steps can save up to 1100 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home. Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. This service may be provided free or at low cost. Make sure it includes a check of your furnace and air conditioning.

    • :}

    There are many more tips at that site. Please go there and read more. Get going today. More tomorrow.

    :}

    Anyone Who Does Not Compost Is Part Of The Problem

    Posted on by
    1

    No one and I repeat NO ONE should be throwing out food. Everyone can compost. If you can’t use the resulting dirt (everyone should have house plants if they value their health) then you can just throw it outside. It doesn’t matter if you live in an apartment in a urban center or a house in the country, the message is stop throwing food in the garbage. The problem starts at the store though. Please stop overbuying food…especially meat.

    :}

    http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/07/opinion/la-oe-bloom-food-waste-20101107

    Help the planet: Stop wasting food

    Producing it and then getting rid of leftovers require a lot of fossil fuel. Just taking a few simple steps can ease the problem.

    Op-Ed

    November 07, 2010|By Jonathan Bloom

    Let me guess: You’re concerned about the environment. You recycle, buy the right light bulbs, drink from a reusable water bottle (preferably one made of metal) and wish you could afford a hybrid. You try to remember your reusable shopping bags when you go to the market and feel guilty when you don’t.

    But there’s something you could be doing that would make a much bigger difference, and it’s not one of those really hard things like carpooling to work or installing solar panels on your roof.

    All you need to do is minimize your food waste. If you buy it and bring it home, eat it. That alone is one of the easiest ways to aid the environment.

    About 40% of the food produced in the United States isn’t consumed. Every day Americans waste enough food to fill the Rose Bowl. And our national food waste habit is on the upswing: We waste 50% more food today than we did in 1974.

    Squandering so much of what we grow doesn’t just waste food; it also wastes the fossil fuel that went into growing, processing, transporting and refrigerating it. A recent study estimated conservatively that 2% of all U.S. energy consumption went to producing food that was never eaten. To give you a sense of perspective, every year, through uneaten food, we waste 70 times the amount of oil that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico during the three months of the Deepwater Horizon spill.

    That waste of resources continues after we throw away food. There is the energy required to haul the discarded food to the landfill. And once there, food decomposes and creates methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent a heat trapper than carbon dioxide. Landfills are the second-largest human-related source of methane emissions, and rotting food causes the majority of methane there. It’s climate change coming directly from your kitchen.

    :}

    America should be ashamed. More tomorrow.

    :}

    Wind Power From Lake Michgan – We want it…No we don’t

    Posted on by
    1

    Why would wind energy generation on or in Lake Michigan be controversial? Well first there is the “Chicago Attack”. This will just benefit large cities. Then there is the “pristine view” attack. It will block my beautiful view of this beautiful lake on a beautiful day. Finally there is the, “sure it will create jobs….but not ones I will be qualified for”.

    http://domesticfuel.com/2009/12/23/scandia-proposes-1000-mw-lake-michigan-wind-farm/

    Scandia Proposes 1,000-mw Lake Michigan Wind Farm

    28 Comments Posted by John Davis – December 23rd, 2009

    A Minnesota company is proposing to build a massive wind farm in Lake Michigan, but some of the residents of Michigan, which has some of the highest unemployment rates in the country, still aren’t pleased about the project that would bring green energy and jobs to the economically distressed region.

    The Detroit Free Press says that Scandia Wind, a Minnesota firm partnering with a Norwegian wind developer, wants to put up a 1,000-megawatt wind farm just offshore from the communities of Pentwater and Ludington:

    Several companies have been sniffing out offshore wind farm possibilities in Michigan, but Scandia was the first to jump in and publicly announce its plans. The turbines would be visible all along the shore, which takes in Silver Lake and Mears state beaches, Little Sable Lighthouse and Pentwater Harbor.

    The firm wants to build foundations on the lake bottom, which is owned by the citizens of Michigan, and place 100 to 200 turbines — 5 to 10 megawatts each — on top.

    The total size would make the wind farm bigger than any proposed new coal plant in Michigan and nearly as large as the Fermi 2 nuclear plant.

    Local residents say the wind turbines would ruin the view off their beaches and hurt tourism. Scandia officials point out that the $3 billion project would put people to work to the tune of at least 2 million man-hours.

    COMMENTS

    LakeShoreOwner

    I attended the meeting in Ludington. Dirdal (Scandia Rep) said after the project was completed, only about 100-150 jobs would remain, and that national bidding for these positions wouldn’t guarantee they would be local. The skills for these jobs are not your garden variety skill sets.

    I believe this project will only help those who need the energy and are willing to pay for it (Detroit and Chicago). Locally, aesthetically, and economically the Oceana and Mason residents will pay for it in lost property values and tax bases.

    Julie Burdick

    Wind turbines in Lake Michigan would lower property values and lower the tax base because the reason property values are high in this area is because of the access to the natural resources. This includes sailing, boating and fishing on the great lake and admiring the views from the beaches. This may work in Denmark etc. but it is not the reason people live and visit Pentwater and surrounding areas. Why should Pentwater bear the brunt of creating “green energy” for the surrounding metropolitan areas??

    :}

    OH then there is the coal, oil and gas push back – they are unreliable and costly.

    Dustin

    I thought this was interesting…..”Despite their being cited as the shining example of what can be accomplished with wind power, the Danish government has cancelled plans for three offshore wind farms planned for 2008 and has scheduled the withdrawal of subsidies from existing sites. Development of onshore wind plants in Denmark has effectively stopped. Because Danish companies dominate the wind industry, however, the government is under pressure to continue their support. Spain began withdrawing subsidies in 2002. Germany reduced the tax breaks to wind power, and domestic construction drastically slowed in 2004. Switzerland also is cutting subsidies as too expensive for the lack of significant benefit. The Netherlands decommissioned 90 turbines in 2004. Many Japanese utilities severely limit the amount of wind-generated power they buy, because of the instability they cause. For the same reason, Ireland in December 2003 halted all new wind-power connections to the national grid. In early 2005, they were considering ending state support. In 2005, Spanish utilities began refusing new wind power connections. In 2006, the Spanish government ended — by emergency decree — its subsidies and price supports for big wind. In 2004, Australia reduced the level of renewable energy that utilities are required to buy, dramatically slowing wind-project applications. On August 31, 2004, Bloomberg News reported that “the unstable flow of wind power in their networks” has forced German utilities to buy more expensive energy, requiring them to raise prices for the consumer.”

    :}

    Bunch of crap if you ask me. More tomorrow.

    :}

    Cap And Trade Rises From The Ashes – It made it into the Senate

    Posted on by
    Reply

    It’s Jam Band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ16hEpB_Sk

    Conventional post election wisdom has the Cap and Trade legislation being declared dead. But, it is sitting in a Senate that the Democrats control. Will they bust it lose during the end of the year session. Who knows, but I think the issue will not go away so sooner or later something will have to be done. I mean Russia caught on fire. How much more does it take than that.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/4/clean-coal-is-as-dead-as-cap-and-trade/

    MILLOY: Clean coal is as dead as ‘cap-and-trade’

    Mitch McConnell had better study up on the election results

    By Steve Milloy-The Washington Times

    While we shouldn’t expect our left-wing elitist president to understand Tuesday’s electoral rejection of his “progressive” prescriptions for America, we should expect Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, to get it.

    But Mr. McConnell seems to have missed the message, at least when it comes to “cap-and-trade” – odd for a coal-state politician. The day after the election, Mr. McConnell said, “The president says he’s for nuclear power. Most of my members are for nuclear power. The president says he’s for clean coal technology. Most of my members are for clean coal technology. There are areas that we can make progress on for the country.”

    Aside from the canard of President Obama sincerely supporting nuclear power and the fact that Republicans ought to avoid the loaded and already co-opted-by-the-left word “progress,” so-called “clean coal” is a form of Obama-think – a discredited cap-and-trade concept that was more trap than sincere policy.

    Some in the coal industry and some coal-burning electric utilities had been talked into supporting cap-and-trade, provided that taxpayers and ratepayers forked over billions (if not trillions) of dollars for so-called “carbon capture and sequestration” (CCS) – that is, burying utility carbon-dioxide emissions deep underground and hoping they stay there safely.

    But to the extent that any so-called environmentalists paid any lip service to clean coal and CCS, it was only to lure coal and utility suckers into cap-and-trade. Does anyone really believe, after all, that the greens would allow utilities to inject underground billions of tons of highly pressurized carbon dioxide all over the nation? They fought tooth-and-nail, after all, to prevent the storage of sealed casks of spent nuclear fuel one mile underground in the Nevada desert.

    :}

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm-pFqdqcZY&feature=related

    Which would they prefer, a tax on carbon? This guys lists all the reasons for cap and trade mechanisms to be set up by the Federal Government and heavily policed by the Federal Government. Nonetheless he likes carbon taxes because they supply more stability. But his belief that it won’t be passed on to the customer is asinine.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSJdjb6K5i4&feature=fvw

    :}

    http://www.greenchipstocks.com/articles/cap-and-trade-legislation/810

    Cap and Trade Legislation is Fatally Flawed

    My First Ever Mea Culpa

    By Nick Hodge
    Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

    We may never see cap and trade in this country.

    Those are words I never thought I’d write.

    In fact, I’ve been touting the benefits of a cap and trade market since 2007. But new ideas, unraveling facts, and recent events have changed my thinking.

    So today, I’m publishing my first ever mea culpa.

    Cap and Trade Legislation is Fatally Flawed

    My First Ever Mea Culpa

    By Nick Hodge
    Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

    We may never see cap and trade in this country.

    Those are words I never thought I’d write.

    In fact, I’ve been touting the benefits of a cap and trade market since 2007. But new ideas, unraveling facts, and recent events have changed my thinking.

    So today, I’m publishing my first ever mea culpa.

    Carbon Should Still be Priced

    To be clear, I’m not saying that carbon shouldn’t have a price. By all means, it should.

    What I’m saying is that cap and trade isn’t the way to implement it.

    At the end of the day, carbon dioxide is a harmful waste product that needs to be handled. Companies don’t get free passes for treating and disposing of other waste streams their businesses generate. Why should carbon be any different?

    Not charging companies for emitting carbon is giving them free reign over something they cannot and will not ever own: the atmosphere.

    We don’t let companies freely dump waste into rivers or lakes… We don’t allow companies to dump waste in forests… So why, then, are we still letting companies dump a known pollutant into the atmosphere unchecked?

    This is why everyone speaks of how cheap coal is. It’s not really that cheap, we just don’t include the price of carbon in its costs.

    Carbon isn’t a business externality — meaning, companies that produce it can shift the cost to society — and it can no longer be treated as such.

    The Trouble with Cap and Trade

    :}

    You can go to the article for the rest. I personally support a carbon tax. But I have always said that Cap and Trade is what we get because high finance wants it that way. More Monday.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdAhR-c–20&feature=related

    :}

    Louisiana Environmental Action Network’s Fundraiser Tomorrow

    Posted on by
    Reply

    I hope everyone who can go will go…

    :}

    Please join us at a special screening of the film:

    SOLA Louisiana Water Stories
    with
    filmmaker Jon Bowermaster

    and a


    Louisiana Art Show
    featuring:

    Rhea Gary
    CC Lockwood
    Jeffrey Dubinsky
    Jerry Moran
    Kyle Jeffrey
    Natalie Clay

    Stefan Andermann

    …and more!


    First 50 people will receive a FREE DVD of a Jon Bowermaster film!

    and
    Live Louisiana Music
    too!

    at the
    Manship Theater


    September 24, 2010


    Gallery opens at 6:00 p.m. – Film starts at 7:00 p.m.

    SOLA, Louisiana Water Stories

    The event will take place on September 24, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. at the Manship Theater in Baton Rouge. For more information go to:

    SaveOurGulf.orgVisit SaveOurGulf.org to get more information about the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster from Waterkeeper organizations across the Gulf Coast and donate to Save Our Gulf!

    :}

    :}

    More Tomorrow

    :}

    President Obama And His Family Went To New Orleans – Here is what they saw

    Posted on by
    Reply

    Testing Results Returning With High Levels

    Report by: Wilma Subra

    Results of sampling  performed by the Lower Mississippi River Keeper in the Lower Atchafalaya Bay area on August 2, 2010

    Collecting oysters from Oyster Bayou
    Collecting oysters from Oyster Bayou
    The shore of the Gulf of Mexico east of Oyster Bayou, where the Atchafalaya Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico, contained visible oil on the vegetation along the shore line.  Soil in this location contained Carbon Disulfide, 378 mg/kg Hydrocarbons and six Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) (0.222 mg/kg). The oiled vegetation contained 2.3% Hydrocarbons and 31 PAHs (0.554 mg/kg) that  corresponded strongly to the PAHs in the Deepwater Horizon Crude Oil spill.  Samples of Blue Crab and Fiddler Crab contained 2,230 mg/kg hydrocarbons.
    Oysters sampled from a reef on Oyster Bayou in Atchafalaya Bay contained 8,815 mg/kg Hydrocarbons.

    Results of sampling performed by the Lower Mississippi River Keeper in the Mississippi River Delta on August 3, 2010

    Taking samples in the Mississippi River Delta
    Taking samples in the Mississippi River Delta
    At the mouth of Pass-a-Loutre, in the reed vegetation along the shore of an island, a sediment sample was collected.   The sediment contained 71 mg/kg Hydrocarbons and 14 PAHs (0.8713 mg/kg).  The PAHs in the sample weakly support that the contaminants in the sediment are associated with the crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon.  A muscle sample collected at this location contained 6,900 mg/kg Hydrocarbons and seven PAHs (0.386 mg/kg).
    A sample of oysters was collected from oysters growing on  an abandoned crab trap between Pass-a-Loutre and Redfish Bay.  The oysters contained  12,500 mg/kg (1.25%) Hydrocarbons and two PAHs (0.063 mg/kg).
    Along a beach area near Redfish Bay, samples were collected from a stained area along a sandy beach area and from a vegetated area behind the beach.  The beach area had clean-up waste materials and supplies left behind by cleanup crews.  A small water body adjacent to the beach had a boom in the water and a small boat used to place the poles that secured the boom was stained with oil.  The beach area contained a number of tar balls.
    The sandy soil sample contained  Carbon Disulfide, Hydrocarbons  (146 to 779 mg/kg),  and 29 to 38 PAHs (3.7259 to 3.934 mg/kg).  The PAHs support reasonable evidence that the sandy soil is contaminated with crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon.

    Samples were also collected from the vegetated area (reed vegetation) behind the beach.  The vegetated area contained  oil sheens on the vegetation and on the water that collected in the sampling area.  The soil/sediment samples contained Carbon Disulfide, 2-Butanone (MEK), Toluene, 0.4 to 1.16 % Hydrocarbons, and 20 to 40 PAHs (49 to 189 mg/kg).  The PAHs in the soil/sediment strongly support that the soil/sediment is contaminated with crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon.

    SaveOurGulf.orgVisit SaveOurGulf.org to get more information about the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster from Waterkeeper organizations across the Gulf Coast and donate to Save Our Gulf!

    :}
    Just kidding – More Tomorrow
    :}

    I Wish Illinois Cared For Us As Much As California Does – Sniff

    Posted on by
    1

    It’s Jam Band Friday..Yippe…Yahoo – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EapcVSB7U4U

    :}

    http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/tips/index.html

    California Energy Commission Consumer Energy Center

    tips page graphic 1 tips page graphic 2 page title
    navigation spacer image
    two color top bar
    www.consumerenergycenter.org / tips

    CONSUMER TIPS to $AVE ENERGY AND MONEY

    Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency are two sides of the same coin. Most people think they mean the same thing, but they don’t.

    Energy conservation means reducing the level of energy use by turning down a thermostat, or turning off a light, or turning up the temperature of your refrigerator.

    Energy efficiency means getting the same job done while using less energy. Efficiency is usually done by replacing an older, less efficient appliance with a new one.

    In this section, you’ll find both energy conservation and efficiency tips for your home, office, school, car or truck, and other areas.

    You’ll learn how to get your home ready for summer or winter. You’ll learn how to be prepared in case the power goes out. And you’ll learn some interesting facts about energy.

    TIPS FOR YOUR SCHOOL

    Energy Tips for Schools
    TIPS FOR YOUR VEHICLE

    Energy Tips for Your Vehicle

    :}

    More next week.

    He is so good- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSZzvTQiy4w

    :}

    ECOBuild In Britain – These events are so cool

    Posted on by
    Reply

    In memoriam of Richie Hayward one founder of Little Feat It is Jam Band Friday…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FekVR_SC5M

    :}

    http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/2010-review.html

    Ecobuild 2010 was a huge success with more than 1,000 exhibitors, over 41,000 visitors, and dozens of new attractions, initiatives and special events. Here are just some of the highlights…..

    :}

    Milliband launches Pay As You Save initiative

    Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, Ed Milliband, chose the opening day of Ecobuild to launch the Government’s new Pay As You Save initiative.  After the announcement, the Minister went on to meet some of Ecobuild’s 1,000 exhibitors.

    Watch the announcement

    First stage of Saint-Gobain’s solar decathlon completed at Ecobuild

    The collaboration between Saint-Gobain and Nottingham University to design, build and operate Europe’s most attractive, effective and energy efficient zero carbon solar powered house came to fruition at Ecobuild with the debut of the Nottingham HOUSE (Home Optimising the Use of Solar Energy).  The structure now moves on to Madrid for the final of the Solar Decathlon Europe competition.

    Watch the Nottingham HOUSE video

    2010 BREEAM awards winners announced

    BRE Global announced the winners of the 2010 BREEAM awards at Ecobuild, each building representing exemplary sustainable design and construction.

    Click here for all the winners and case studies

    Hundreds of new products launched

    Ecobuild was the launch platform for hundreds of new sustainable construction products.

    ‘Ecobuild was extremely good, with near continuous traffic to the stand. With a good mix of customers and the right media present it was a great vehicle to launch our new products.’ Richard Hartley, Monier Ltd

    Click here to see more products launched at Ecobuild 2010

    Award for best innovative sustainable construction product

    Winner of the Green Shoots Best Innovative Sustainable Construction Product award, Thomas Lipinski of Green Structures, received a cheque for £5,000 from Green Shoots sponsor, Neil Morgan, Lead Technologist – Low Impact Buildings, Technology Strategy Board.

    :}

    More next week.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns9jGWiF8d0

    :}