Paul Brown Friendswood Conservation

Petroleum Conservation

Paul Brown Friendswood Petroleum Conservation By Shekhoo Raja.

Endless desert if lies ahead and a blazingly hot sun, glares atop one’s head, then a man lost amidst the dunes should and really must value each drop contained in his bottle. For if the last drop ends before the desert does, the man will be in serious trouble.

However irrelevant the above paragraph may seem, its accurately relevant to the scenario that our world faces today. Replace the water with petroleum, the bottle with our oil wells, the man with the global economy and the desert with its sole dependence on petroleum as source of energy and voila, we will have the seriousness of the situation perfectly laid out. Wells of oil and gas are ceaselessly churning out greater amounts of petroleum from under the ground every year. WAIT!

Greater amounts every year? But why?

That’s a simple question with an even simpler answer. The amount of petroleum being sucked out of earth is getting bigger because we are demanding for it. Its getting bigger because, I buy my son a bike to ride to school on, because my wife needs a car to go to the neighborhood grocery store and because I need a 3000 cc SUV to go to my office which happens to be 3 km from my home. And also because I won’t turn off my SUV’s engine at crossings as I am rich enough to find it ‘uncool’.

And so as ‘I’, who can easily afford to buy fuel have taken it for granted and am using it in the most inefficient manner, am demanding for more of it. This ‘I’ isn’t just me or us. ‘I’ stands for every person around the globe who has got used to living with fuel and burning it to get energy. But its high time that ‘I’ must realize that the water in my bottle will not last long enough, if its not valued with the seriousness that it deserves. And ‘I’ who has learnt to live with fuel must learn to live with its conservation too.

But this doesn’t mean that we stop using petroleum products all together. Our economy is dependent on it so much, that it is impossible to do that. And thus comes to light the importance of ways of using this fuel ‘Efficiently’. This word efficiently means that we do the maximum amount of work, using the least amount of energy. Leading organization around the world have put their best brains to the task of bring efficiency into all phases of their work. Manufacturers of automobiles, computers, kitchen appliances, industrial equipments and every other product that uses fuel or power, are looking at making their products more energy efficient. And so as citizens of the world, even we must contribute.

So, apart from I selling my SUV to buy a 600 cc fuel efficient car, my wife walking to the grocery store and my son using the public transport, there are several other ways by which we can conserve petroleum. We should make our selves aware of them and make them a way of life.

A study sponsored by PCRA itself shows that vehicles at halt on traffic lights, waste as much as Rs.994 crore worth or petroleum products every year. Even if your vehicle is poorly maintained, you are contributing to the loss of fuel worth in excess of Rs. 5000 crore all over the country, including both commercial and non-commercial users. Approximately 75% of the total LPG used in the country is used for domestic purposes. Studies suggest that if we use LPG at our homes with care, we can save upto 8-10%. For instance, cooking in utensils with lid closed, using gas on simmer mode for cooking(which uses only 3/4th amount of gas as compared to high mode) etc. In addition to LPG, other fuels like kerosene are also used at home, for which standard equipments should be used. Use of below-standard equipments, results in high consumption.

And why only petroleum, even electricity which is supplied at our homes is generated from fuels like gas, diesel and coal. A study in UK suggests that if every house uses 3 CFLs, it saves enough electricity to power streetlights of their country for 1 year. Apart from CFLs, air-conditioners, microwave-ovens, heaters, geysers etc should be purchased, keeping their power ratings in mind. TV consumes 25% of its power required, when on stand by and so do many other appliances, which should be switched off when not in use. A unit of electricity saved is roughly equal to 3 units of electricity produced. Moreover, 1 unit of electricity produced, leads to 943 gm of carbon emission.

Industries are major users of petroleum, using approximately 40% of the total commercial energy used in the country. Thus conservation initiatives by the industries, aided and enforced by the government save energy on a large scale. Especially small and medium scale industries, which use out dated machinery, have high energy consumption as compared to their production. Commercial buildings like Malls and offices, use around 33 billion units of energy per annum. Proper power management and use of higher efficiency equipments can save up to 5% of this energy.

But this is only one side of the story. As I said earlier, we are lost in a desert, the desert being our sole dependence on petroleum as a source of energy. So it is impertinent to find a way out.

Energy Conservation – Some Simple Tips for a Comfortable, Affordable Winter

Some Simple Paul Brown Friendswood Tips By Hans Dekker.

The cold winter days and ice-storms are just around the corner. And we use about 50% of our energy to either heat or cool ourselves. Here are some simple tips to help you save some energy. Call it easy money or a donation to the environment. Either way, if you apply these tips both your pocket book and the environment will profit.

The cost of electricity and other energy is rising all the time. Fortunately, there are many things that can be done to cut down on your energy consumption. Saving energy is good for your pocketbook and also good for the environment.

Heating and cooling are the biggest energy costs in most households. If the house is poorly insulated, a lot of that warm and cool air will escape to the outside.

Heat rises, so most of the heat escapes through poorly insulated attics and ceilings. Similarly, cool air falls, so an uninsulated floor can waste a lot of energy. Poorly fitting doors and windows are also energy wasters.

Your best line of defense in keeping in warm and cool air is to insulate the walls, ceilings, and floors. This can be a major undertaking in an older house but many governments offer subsidies for this kind of renovation. And remember, the savings that you realize from insulating your house will increase with every hike in energy prices.

Of course, houses are not the only places where we waste energy. Cars and trucks are the number one consumers of gasoline and oil. Anything we can do to decrease our consumption of these fossil fuels will help.

For saving energy for transportation try joining a car pool to get to work or use public transportation. Many cities have special express lanes reserved for buses and cars with more than 3 passengers. Getting to work this way could be faster and more relaxing.

We often use our cars unnecessarily. Admit it, have you ever driven to the corner store when you could just have easily walked? Leave the car at home, walk or use a bicycle instead. It’s healthier and you will save money.

Why You Should Invest in Energy Conservation

Paul Brown Friendswood By Dan Bossenbroek.

A fluctuating stock market, depressed economy, and a myriad of investment options available make it difficult to determine the best financial investment strategy these days. Even the tried and true investment strategy of purchasing a new house is not a guarantee anymore. However, there is a way to invest in your current property that can ensure you a great return and help raise your position in the home resale market.

As energy prices continue to trend upwards, it makes more and more sense to do what you can to reduce your energy costs. A typical family in the United States spends between $2,000 and $3,000 on utilities each and every year and this does not include phone, cable or internet service. Energy costs in the United States have risen an average of about 5% per year over the past 8 years, and the rate was even higher until the recent sharp drop in prices. Furthermore, this trend is only expected to get worse. Thus, in ten years an average family can expect to pay somewhere in the range of $3,000 to $6,000 a year on utilities.

There is something that you can do to help minimize the impact of increasing energy costs, however, and that is to invest in energy conservation home improvement projects. Remember that the least expensive energy is the energy that you never use. For example, one strategy might be to take $2,000 and instead of investing it in mutual funds or the stock market, invest it in making your house more energy efficient. Some of the most cost effective steps that you can take like switching to LED nightlights, LED and CFL light bulbs and using watering timers and low flow showerheads don’t seem like investments, but they very quickly pay for themselves and continue to save you money year after year. This energy conservation investment could easily reduce your energy costs 15% to 25% or approximately $400 a year. You can even recapture your original investment by taking the money that you save each year and investing it just as you planned to invest the original $2000. In just five to eight years this investment strategy will likely out perform a typical mutual fund, and in just nine to fourteen years it should be worth twice as much.

An added benefit of this strategy is the increase in value or increased salability of your home. Some of the steps that you might take such as adding insulation, a whole house fan or even installing a solar air heater will add value to your home. Most home improvement projects immediately add 70% to 90% of the cost of the improvement to the value of your home. Furthermore, with these green home improvements your house will be much more attractive to a potential buyer, especially when you can show that your utility bills are significantly lower than those of other comparable houses.

Which ever way you look at it; increased investment value, reduced utility bills, increased comfort level, greater home value, or ease of resale, they all indicate that the wise investment is in energy conservation. You probably knew that saving energy saves you money but you may not have imagined that to GO GREEN that you have so many ways to GROW GREEN.