Thursday, 17 February 2011

♥ Home Solar Panels- The Importance

Would you like to reduce your expenses at home, particularly electric bills? Well, it would be a nice idea for you to invest in home solar panels. Decades ago, this has been introduced, but only few took their way into it. Not until economic crisis, people already deemed that home solar panels could be truly a great help to make their expenses a bit lesser than what they are used to.

Keep in mind, the thermal energy comes out for free and the sin is the only way to have it. So, why not make your own way to use it and help yourself minimize your expenses? Actually, various solar panels could be used in order to achieve home solar panels. These special panels are comprised of the semi-conductors that are working with the solar cells. There will be a huge area of P-N junction in diode created. Moreover, when the solar panels have the contact in the solar energy, it could now produce electrical energy. Using solar energy could get mixers, geysers, and heaters to work. As a result, you could find radical reduction into your monthly bill for electricity.

On the other hand, the economical do-it-yourself kits are always available and only involve a reasonable small investment. Such kit is capable of assembling the kit on its own and significantly reduces the investment. Panel repair is facilitated once you kept some essential tools at hand. Usually, these kits supply the entire items needed for the installation. These kits have all of the small items like poles, screws, bolts; solder gun, plywood, meters and the complete manual.

Installing home solar panels could surely reduce 90% of electric expenses. You could surely drop off the grid by simply installing different DIY solar panels. You will certainly notice the change right after the week you have installed it.





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♥ Environmental Management's Role

Environmental management involves the management of all components of the bio-physical environment, both living (biotic) and non-living (a biotic). The main role of environmental management is to manage the productive use of natural resources without reducing their efficiency and quality. It is a practice by which environmental resources and its health are regulated.

In order to utilize our natural resources properly without reducing the productivity and natural quality, we need to know what kind of damages have been done by human to the nature as well as the preventive measures for the upcoming disasters.

An undeniable truth is, even our billion years old earth is now failing to absorb the damages caused by human activities.

Many environmental issues have aroused drastically from the last decade such as green house effect, ozone layer depletion, melting of ice bergs, serious climatic changes etc which create a disastrous path to reduce our earth's life span. To avoid or prevent these sorts of natural issues, environmental studies play a major role in order to create an environmental awareness which helps to maintain the natural resources healthy and stable.

The environmental management studies or programs helps us to know well about the major and minor environmental issues on the earth, so that we can find the solution to fix it or we can prevent it well ahead, "Prevention is better than cure". In order to know about the environmental issues what made by humans, there are many public and private organizations have come up with environmental educational centers, environmental programs, ecological case studies etc, These studies will helps us to learn in depth knowledge about the ecological damage as well as sustainable environmental damage control in a better way.

Environmental studies which enable professionals to take steps and set up a system to have a positive effect on the environment would be the need of hour now.

Such environmental management certifications and training programs are offered by some reputable institutions to train professionals to engage in activities to make good impact on earth.

The important role of these qualified environmental managers in workplaces is to ensure that environmental auditing, hazardous materials management and environmental assessment have been set up as regular exercises.

However taking care of earth is the primary responsibility of every human in any kind of profession.

Let's start thinking and save our Environment!





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♥ Staying Compliant: Cawleys' Guide

Any operator running 24-7 needs to keep a close eye on drivers' hours, but Milton Keynes-based Cawleys goes that extra mile to prevent slip-ups.

Tachographs are analysed on the spot so traffic controllers have all the necessary information to debrief each driver at the end of every shift. The time lapse between starting the shift and driving off is also scrutinised to see if drivers had sufficient time to complete their daily walk around vehicle check.

Complete compliance

Transport manager Dave Buckingham (pictured above right) says: "We feel it's a very important part of the day to know exactly what the driver has been doing and has complied with everything we do."

Cawleys' fleet ranges from 7.5-tonners for collecting office waste through to liquid tankers that deal with chemical and toxic waste. It operates throughout London, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.

Although controllers spend around five minutes debriefing each of Cawley's 120 drivers, Buckingham feels it is time well spent. "If the driver did not do the daily checks, for instance, and went out with a bald tyre which caused an accident, the costs would not come into it."

The personal touch is also applied when communicating new legislation. "The biggest change for us was the drivers' hours revision three years ago," recalls Buckingham. "We had to review our drivers' working week because they were all working five-and-a-half days and could no longer work every Saturday."

Daily debriefs were extended to around 20 minutes so the changes could be fully explained on a one-to-one basis. This was backed up with a booklet, but Buckingham is wary of relying solely on printed information to communicate legal changes to drivers. "It could go into the next bin they walk past or into a drawer at home."

New legislation is also covered during toolbox talks delivered by the company's in-house driver trainer Rob Jones. Buckingham describes him as an important contact point for drivers who feel uncertain about any point of law. "I don't know why but, even in our culture, some drivers don't like asking the office. Rob is a former driver himself and is at the right comfort level for them to ask him questions."

Rewarding good drivers

Cawleys has no formal incentive scheme to raise driver productivity for fear of compromising its stance on compliance.

Buckingham says that with skip lorries in particular, some drivers are invariably quicker at completing jobs than others. As a result, they end up doing more work.

He feels that offering a clearly defined reward for this could result in some areas of compliance, such as keeping within speed limits, being ignored.

Instead, depot managers reward drivers on an ad hoc basis. "He will obviously see what work the driver has done on a daily basis and also what the vehicle has earned for that week. We don't put a figure on it. Drivers are aware of it, but they're not chasing it."

Cawley's top tips

Show employees what their responsibilities are and the thinking behind them by using clear, effective communication methods.

Ensure systems and procedures are realistic and workable and review them frequently.

Keep records up-to-date and publicise ones such as accident rates to help to raise awareness.

Persevere with any changes because the benefits will not always be realised immediately.

Prepare drivers for new assignments by warning them of potential hazards before they go out on the road.

For more compliance advice and fleet management best practice, go to our Compliance page and sign up for our monthly bulletin, in association with Tachodisc and TomTom Business Solutions.





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Monday, 14 February 2011

♥ Money Saving Ideas for Saving Your Home Energy

Many factors to save are facing us on a daily basis. Save money, save our planet, save the environment, save energy to name but a few.

But how many of us really take notice of these cries for saving. Many of us try to save money from our salaries, but with the low interest rates, how helpful is this?

In today’s slow economical world, there is one sure fire way you can save money on your household heating bills, along with helping the environment. C’mon, we all have to do out bit don’t we?

I work in the UK as an Energy Assessor covering Hampshire. During the past 3 years, I have seen firsthand how a great deal of money can be saved by making a few simple and cost affective changes to your home and in the way that you live on a day to day basis.

The first thing we all need to do is to increase the loft insulation (if you have one) to at least 270mm. This is really cheap to do, is very quick to facilitate and will stop your precious heat from escaping through the roof. If you feel inclined to, you can also insulate between the rafters for added protection. Just remember to leave gaps near the soffits to allow for air circulation as you could cause condensation if you don’t.

Next, if you have cavity walls, look at having these filled professionally to stop any heat being lost through them. If you have solid walls, you could look at having internal or external insulation applied, subject to any listing consents. From 1983 onwards, the building regulations stated that all properties built thereafter should have cavity wall insulation. From experience, this isn’t always the case and some builders have neglected this! Double check beforehand.

If you have an open fireplace which isn’t often used, consider using a chimney balloon. These are very cheap to buy, come in various sizes and can be inserted into the chimney to stop and down draughts or losing heat up through the fire place.

Another worthwhile exercise is to change all of your lights / light bulbs to low energy bulbs. The laws have recently changed and you can now only buy low energy bulbs. However, all too many homes are still clinging on to their old bulbs because they are brighter. They’re not! Today’s low energy bulbs are very bright and as time goes on they will get better and better. Much money can be saved using these bulbs not only through the electricity used, but they also last 10 times longer than our ‘old’ ones.

If you have a hot water cylinder with a jacket with your heating system, upgrade the jacket to at least 100mm to increase the insulation. Turn down the thermostat a little to save some energy. If you haven’t got a thermostat on your cylinder - then get one!

Whilst on the subject of heating. Ensure all of your radiators have Thermostatic Radiator Valves and turn them down or off if the room is unused. Ensure you have a room thermostat and again keep this low and finally, if you have a non condensing boiler, consider upgrading it to a condensing boiler.

In order to keep this article short, there are so many other ways to save money around the home. I will leave you with the thought of switching off electrical appliance at the mains when not in use. Items on standby, including the phone charger can use quite a bit of power.

Now, stop wasting money and protect our planet for the next generation.





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♥ Non Woven Bags China Made

Non woven bags China are one of the countries that supply these bags. Several of the Asian countries produce the non woven bags because their manufacturing process is fast, cheap and quickly shipped. Non woven bags China produces them by the hundreds of thousands. When non woven bags China ships the finished product it will most likely be shipped from a seaport in China to any number of major shipping seaports in the countries that have ordered and use the non woven bag.

These non woven bags are made form a polyethylene, a polypropylene, recycled plastic bottles or other recycled materials. When you see the material talked about you will generally see the first letters used such as PP, or PE or OPP film laminate. You may also see PET/rPET which is either polyethylene terephthalate or r for recycled PET. When the bag is made from PE it is a co-poly merged with ethylene. In reality PE is not biodegradable because it will not disintegrate in landfills for years. But the material is a very sturdy fabric that can be re-used multiple times over many years. Also the PE is often recycled and reused again to make more material. So in this sense it is eco friendly.

When a retailer or supplier orders these bags they can get them in many different forms such as beverage cooler bags or even made into aprons. The bags can have a zipper closure or a fold over flap with a snap. They can be open with a slit cut out for a handle. Since they are not a woven material it will not ravel. Often they are ordered with a webbing handle so it can be carried. Sometimes the handles are longer so it can be carried from the shoulder. The buyer can chose many designs for these bags when they order them. The bags can be ordered as high volume orders or even a low volume order. The bags can come with an optional binding material which makes them look more expensive. If they have the OPP film laminate they may have brilliant and colorful pictures or advertising on them. This is due to the fact that the material takes color very easily.

There are other forms that these non woven bags come in such as a higher and classier looking bag that has a metallic laminate over the material. This bright shiny metallic laminate gives the bags a wonderful shine and makes them look quite expensive. The metallic laminate coats the non woven material and then they can be printed on also.

Medical companies use this type of non woven bag made with a liner that when filled with a frozen ice pack can keep diabetic or other medicines cool on the patient’s way home. They are used for advertising that particular brand of medicine and often have an advertisement laminated under clear plastic so the medicine can be re-ordered easily. These bags are used for promotions, as gift bags, for shopping and for advertising also.





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Sunday, 13 February 2011

♥ History Of Recycling

Pre-Industrial wastes consisted of bones, ash and vegetable matter, easily recycled into compost. Disposal sites were used to get rid of broken pottery and broken tools. With localised small populations, many materials were recycled and re-used, rather than simply being disposed of. It wasn't until the Industrial revolution that centralisation of industry allowed for more formal recycling methods to be developed.

The collection of waste and it's recycling was heavily driven by industry during the 19th century. The collection of ash from coal fires in Cities throughout the UK was commonplace, with the material being used in the production of bricks. At the end of the 19th century, waste paper and board collections were implemented, allowing for the mass production of more competitively priced newspapers. Daily collections of waste from households became a commonplace event throughout the UK during the latter part of the 19th century, allowing for sorting, recovery and resale of many different materials.

However, the recycling of textiles and leather, which was commonplace pre-industrial revolution, virtually disappeared during the late 20th century, where the introduction of intensive farming, globalisation and mass production resulted in new goods costing less than the labour assoicated with recycling them. In addition, Landfill, a concept first introduced by the ancient Greeks became a cost effective alternative to recycling for our growing populations during the 20th Century, where mass production resulted in extremely low cost goods entering the market. This was further hampered by the development of containerised shipping, labour costing less in developing countries than the Western World and the cost of raw materials no longer being a significant factor to industry.

Changes to the UK's waste management industry did not start until the second half of the 20th century. These changes did not reflect recycling methods, but rather aimed to target waste itself and became a driving factor in the use of and construction of Landfill sites. Such legislation resulted in what we currently see to be weekly bin collections or waste collections, which are sent direct to landfill. The rag and bone man, who traditionally collected many types of waste to recycle it was in effect cut out of the loop.

Having been a factor in the original waste problem during the latter half of the 20th century, the UK's government set about reducing waste and improving recycling. Landfill tax levies, combined with easier licencing laws aimed to divert waste away from landfill and develop localised small recycling companies, which could deal with specific forms of waste, turning it back into a raw resource.


Many types of recycling companies now exist, from paper shredding and recycling companies to car dismatling companies and IT disposal companies. However, none of these businesses would be viable if it wasn't for the industry that needs these recycled materials. From Aluminium to Gold, Steel and copper, small recycling companies extract these raw products from the wastes, with the aim to selling them back onto industry. Many of these small businesses are extremely labour intensive, such as the IT disposal companies, which have to extract virtually every component in order to recover costs. Similarly, car disposal companies need to recover costs assoicated with transportation and overheads through the removal and recovery of platinum bearing catalytic convertors, lead/acid batteries and cast aluminium gearboxes.

As the recycling industry continues, once again to grow, so do the methods used by larger companies in the recovery of materials. From the point of disposal, where larger consumer goods are seperated, to shredding, shearing and floatation tanks, the aim is to recover as many valuable materials as possible. Again, the IT disposal industry highlights the novel techniques used in recovery from wastes. Many larger companies are using smelting followed by electo-plating techniques to remove the various metals from circuit boards. This is made viable by commodity prices, which have remained at such high prices as to allow for significant financial investment. However, by contrast is the concern in the investment made on the back of high commodity prices.





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Monday, 7 February 2011

♥ Don’t Let An Organic Eggs Fool You

We all know about the egg industry’s appalling record in terms of environmental and animal welfare management. Now, let’s not kid ourselves: overcooking eggs does not address the risk of salmonella infections. Neither does buying “organic” eggs. Salmonella is but the tip of the iceberg. Our responsibility, as consumers, is to pay close attention to the origin of the eggs we buy and to educate ourselves about the producer’s operations.

First off, don’t let an organic egg fool you: “organic” refers to the quality of the feed given to the hens but says nothing about their condition of living.

Which leads us to the second essential point: a battery-cage egg is not a cage-free egg is not a free-range egg is not a pasture-raised egg. These classifications have real implications for our health and the environment. To find out why, check out Rodale.com editor Leah Zerbe’s cue cards.

The great news is that the consumer is not alone anymore when having to choose between egg crates with various cryptic labels and statements: after a year of research, the Cornucopia Institute published its Organic Egg Report and Scorecard in the wake of last summer’s egg recall. Close to 70 brands are listed and ranked.

Another good news for the consumer: the new egg safety rule implemented by the FDA last July “requires the egg industry to take specific preventive measures to keep eggs safe during their production, storage and transport. Egg producers will also be required to register with FDA and to maintain a prevention plan and records to show they are following the regulation.”

The rule does not apply to egg producers who manage a flock of fewer than 3,000 hens or who sell their eggs directly to consumers.

This is good news long-term, one hopes, AND it should not give us an excuse to forfeit our responsibility in the kind of egg industry we choose to support with our money. Our health is at stake, as is the health of our planet. And not just our physical health, by the way: I would assert that supporting corporations that exploit workers and animals has a subtle, yet real impact on our overall well-being.

Finally, I don’t mean to ignore the fact that the most wholesome, nutritious, delicious eggs available command a steep price premium. My personal choice is to eat eggs only occasionally as a treat, and to favor healthy, protein-rich alternatives like sprouted lentils and quinoa.

These are among hundreds of tips you can adopt to “green” your lifestyle and contribute to a healthier planet. Take your free assessment on GoingGreenToday and receive your customized plan of action tailored to your household, with tips, links and easy access to a wealth of resources.





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Sunday, 6 February 2011

♥ Hydroponics Is A Revolution

Gardening and growing have been around as long as people have been around. I mean of course plants have been on the earth longer than human beings but as soon as human beings did arrive they realized that they could grow all of the plants for themselves. If it wasn’t for vegetative life on this earth then the human species would not be here. We rely on plants so much. In fact if there were no plants on this earth it’s said there would be no oxygen for us to breath and we would all suffocate.

It’s crazy to think how plants give us oxygen and it’s a never ending cycle of animal breathing and plants breathing back and forth between and into each other. This should make you think and realize just how important and beneficially plants are to humans.

In just the last 10 years there has been a revolution in hydroponic growing. This is growing without soil. Growing like this actually puts the plants in its ideal state for optimal growth. Hydroponic growing is now being used in grow rooms all across the country as a way to provide your own fruits and vegetables.

What if one day we couldn’t just go to the store and buy whatever food we wanted. What if we actually had to produce all the food that we eat for ourselves? Would you be able to handle that? Do you know how to grow anything, or would you like to know how to grow? Well the internet holds never ending resources on growing tips tricks and techniques. Think about this the next time you’re in the grocery store fruit and vegetable section. You could be growing most of the produce you buy. I suggest you learn how to grow hydroponics so you will know you can provide for yourself and your family forever.




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♥ Do You Really Need Wind Generators?

Wind generators, or wind turbines as they are also called, are actually homemade electric generators that can help a lot to cut cost with your electricity bill. You might not have seen the real essence of this energy generating equipment but a lot of household and some industrial firms are already enjoying the benefits of investing to it.

Because of their popularity as more and more households are using them, you can now easily find wind generators for sale. Hence, it is no longer a hard task to look for this equipment should you decide to have one for home use. If you wish to have your own design you can also make one yourself. You only need to buy the materials needed to build it your own.

You need not be an expert to build your own home wind generator. You can now find complete kit with comprehensive instructions. You simply have to follow them correctly to come up with your own customized wind-powered generator.

There are basically two kinds of wind generators. These are the horizontal and vertical wind turbines. Here are some of their specifications and how they differ from each other:

• Horizontal axis turbine - this is actually one of the most popular and widely used among the different kinds of generators powered by nature, particularly the wind. It is often installed on tower as high as a hundred feet purposely to maximize the strong winds in that height. This type of turbine uses the lift and drag force through its propeller which resembles that of an airplane but on smaller scale.

The lift and drag force will be the one to cause the shaft to spin the generator for it to produce electricity for home consumption. In this scheme, the stronger the wind with less turbulence the better the electric generation will be.

• Vertical axis turbine - this is one of the kinds of wind generators having two types namely the Savonius or drag design and the Darrieus type. Both types are actually widely used in many households.

The drag type is slower than the Darrieus type. Because of its rather slow rotation, it is not perfect for electricity generation. This type of generation is good for pumping water and other light energy-generating purposes. This is also easy to build creating an S shape. This is perfect for smaller transmission that needs speeding up of its rotation.

These are basically the different types of wind generators that you can opt to use if you desire to adapt to this system of generating energy for either household or industrial purposes.

This system of generating energy is now gaining more and more popularity because it works well even when you are asleep in the middle of the night. Unlike the solar-powered generators, this system works well any time of the day as long as there is enough wind for it to generate energy. This is one of the many advantages noted and somehow enticed a lot of users of wind generators.





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Friday, 4 February 2011

♥ NSW Government Sells Electricity Assets

The New South Wales government sold a large portion of NSW electricity assets for $5.3 billion. In an agreement worth $3.25 billion, Origin Energy will buy the retail assets of Integral Energy and Country Energy. TRU Energy confirmed that it will purchase Energy Australia’s retail business for over $2 billion.

Origin will enter into GenTrader agreements with Eraring Energy and Country Energy even though Eraring Energy directors have protested about the sale price. This deal means that with over 4.6 million clients, Origin Energy will become Australia’s largest energy retailer.

Energy retailer AGL didn’t win any assets, which dropped its shares to 4.7 percent in a flat broader market. AGL stated they could not justify a higher bid and will face costs of $13 million related to the failed bid process.

TRUenergy will acquire Energy Australia as well as the Delta Western GenTrader bundle for the Mount Piper and Wallerawang power stations, and three more development sites of power station for $2.035 billion.

The deal is planned to be finalised on March 1, 2011. What does this mean for NSW consumers?

Experts say that this is an excellent outcome and will put NSW in a stronger position financially and strengthens the state’s balance sheet. However, some experts are not expecting a great outcome for clients saying the sale will lock in inefficiencies, hold back competition and result in power prices becoming higher than other states for decades to come. However, the Government has reinforced the fact that prices will keep on rising with or without the sale of these assets.





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♥ Cut Down Economic Cost of Solid Waste Pollution in Palau through Dumpster Rental

Palau is the Island nation in the Pacific Ocean, known for its natural environment. The natural environment of the island entitles it to support fishing and tourism industry. Sustainability of natural environment is very important for the island to sustain its economy. With the intention to sustain quality of the natural environment of the island, government is spending huge amount on solid waste management issues, a major reason for solid waste generation in Palau.

Solid waste is nothing but the unwanted junk that is emitted from the industries and junk piled up on the completion of major projects like construction, home renovation; yard cleanup and commercial clean up. Improper disposal of trash on completion of the project will contaminate all biospheres of the earth like air, water and land. When the piled up trash is left to open air trash piled up for long period of time emit toxic substance into the air polluting the atmosphere. Most of industries choose to dispose the waste by piping them into the lakes and streams which contaminate the drinking water of the island as well.

The government with the intention to protect the quality of the natural environment is spending a huge amount almost US$2 million annually. The huge sum of money is freed hare and the island could withstand in good economic conditions if these funds are invested elsewhere.

The effects of pollution on the island of Palau are many. The pollution prevailed in the island resulted in loss in the damage of bio diversity, loss of recreational amenities, loss of landscape and aesthetic scenery, damage to natural man made assets, and non financial human health impacts. Diseases that are affecting residents of Palau are dengue fever, scrub yyphus, lepotospirosis, gastroenteritis, and respiratory infections.

The island is experiencing high economic costs in solid waste management due to the following reasons,

• Huge tons waste that is being disposed into the landfills without being recycled is increasing the disposal cost of residents and recyclable material is losing its potential.

• The trash piled up for long period of time without being disposed is getting accumulated with leachate run off which is causing damage to near marine inhabitants

• Inappropriate waste disposal is contaminating water and food resources of the island.

• Burning of waste sites is increasing respiratory problems in the residents of the island

• Piping the sediments fertilizers into the water is affecting the survival of fish in the water and causing a great loss to the fishing industry in the island.

The one and one solution to all these problems of pollution that is affecting the island of Palau is recycling. It is that responsibility of the government to enlighten its residents about the importance of recycling the waste in environmental friendly manner and the benefits attached to it.

Recycling the trash is though task no more. There are number of dumpster rental companies in Palau who can help you in this regard. Different sizes of dumpsters available with dumpster rental companies will fit your customized requirements making your garbage bin hire very affordable. They not only get your trash recycled in environmental friendly manner at affordable cost but also ensure that all your trash is disposed at the earliest leaving no additional effort on you. On the whole dumpster rental Palau will be of great help in cutting down the solid waste management cost of Palau.





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♥ Solar Panels Are The Best Alternative Energy Source On Earth


Earth day is all about saving the earth. It’s funny how after hundreds even thousands of years’ worth of human life and just now we are finally starting to care about our earth. I mean maybe it’s because we feel like we are getting crowded here on the earth. The truth is the earth will only get more populated and we do need to change both the way we live and our perspective on our world.

The world is more important than we can imagine we won’t be able to find another earth we can live on for thousands of years and that’s only if we can make it that long. The sources of energy that are here on the earth are starting to run low. One day their will have to be a change in everything I just hope that we can be more prepared for that day now.

Learning how to provide yourself with an alternative energy source could be the best thing for your life. Just think about all of the things that you need that rely on power and what would you do without them. The best source of alternative energy is the sun. The sun will always be here and will provide a great source of energy.

The best way to harness the awesome power of the sun is with a solar panel. You can actually build a solar panel yourself with just supplies from a hardware store. It can be a great project for friends, family or even the whole neighborhood to get involved with. It would be great to see a whole block all with solar panels on their rooftops with no need to pay the electric company every single month.

Just think about the freedom you could have with solar panel alternative energy it’s virtually a limitless energy source. We can and need to use solar panels as soon as  possible. ezSolarPanelPlan.com





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♥ Conservation Of White Clawed Crayfish Is Important For Ecology Status Of Water Bodies


White clawed crayfish (also called Austropotamobius pallipes or Atlantic stream crayfish) is the Britain’s only native fresh water species. The native cray fish is olive-brown in colour, they have large front claws of pale pink-white colored underneath, which they use for collecting food and display at the time of breeding. They are up to 15 cm in size and their food is larvae, snails, and plant leaves. White clawed crayfish are found largely in fresh oxygenated water in lakes, streams and rivers. They play a vital role in helping us understand ecological status of our rivers and water bodies.

In recent years the conservation status of White clawed crayfish has declined drastically and this mini-lobster lookalike species have been listed as “endangered” in the Red List of Threatened Species by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Due to its severe decrease in population the UK legislation have given this species protection under Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) and The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994. As per the law to kill, injure, sell or advertise to sell the white clawed crayfish is a legal offence and a person is guilty to pay £5000 as fine.

The major cause for such a huge decline in the population of white clawed crayfish is due to the increase in population of invasive American signal crayfish. These non native species of crayfish are very aggressive in nature and carry a plague that has devastating effects on our native white clawed crayfish and other aquatic living beings. The plague spread by the American signal crayfish contaminates the water, which resulted into the loss of almost 95% of white clawed crayfish population in recent years.

The Natural England has released biodiversity action plan to restrict the spread of signal crayfish plague and increase the breeding of white clawed crayfish. As per the last update in year 2008 from BBC news, says that “the captive breeding program for increasing the population of white-clawed crayfish has produced 300 young this year in the Yorkshire Dales”. The program was launch in year 2003 by taking steps such as ring fencing to protect the white clawed crayfish from American species plague. Such type of progress is an encouraging factor in to conserve white clawed crayfish.

White clawed crayfish survey and mitigation is adopted to save the native species. Only a Natural England licensed ecological consultancy can conduct white clawed crayfish survey and mitigation. Various techniques such as night time searches using torch are adopted for white clawed crayfish survey. Generally the survey is done between mid July and end of September and when the river flow is low. Any development near water bodies will require white clawed crayfish survey and mitigation.

The ecological consultancy helps in conducting white clawed crayfish mitigation. The mitigation techniques used are the relocation of white clawed crayfish, creating white clawed crayfish habitat through installing stone walls fencing, improving vegetation to provide food. For any development work near the area where white clawed crayfish is present, will require mitigation by moving the white clawed crayfish to a new habitat and then again re-colonize once the development work is over.







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