Don’t forget Powertune Energy Saver, will you? 

The first thing I noticed was the lack of special offers on instant coffee.  There were no more wars than usual in the coffee growing regions, so it must be disease  or climate to blame.  Most coffee growing regions have no problem finding workers.  It’s unlikey that disease would strike in all areas at the same time.  This leaves us with - you’ve guessed climate change problems.

Then I saw a report from Columbia saying how bad the coffee harvest is.

My advise is, if you are a coffee drinker, either ‘real’ or instant, buy now and stock up for a siege.  Coffee prices will not be falling and are already rising!

Don’t forget you can save money on household bills by installing a Powertune plug-in Energy saver.

This extract from France24  just about sums up the European view of the US psyche.  Never mind, 50 people have been killed in the Carribean but our oil and petrol production will be OK.  What price a human life compared to a barrel of oil?

When we bought this house we didn’t realise that we had not bought the garden! That belongs to a little black cat called Halley.  We were all concerned when Halley stayed in the garden even getting soaked by heavy rain.  She is a very nervous cat.  Runs away when you put food down. As soon as the back door shuts she is back like greased lightning. (We only give her snack-sized portions as she has a home to go to).

Asking around we found out more.  The family she lives with have two children and Halley is a loner.  So much so that getting soaked to the skin is preferable to going home!

I couldn’t bare to see an animal like this and could not afford a pet house.  We have a branch of ‘In Store’ ( Pricecutter type shop) near us so I visited looking for something that would do the job.  Ah ha!  a stubby kitchen bin shaped like a pet carrier.  Price £5, worth it for my peace of mind.

Instructions- Adults only please.

Cut the swing-lid in half across the middle.

Replace the larger half of the lid on the lugs the lid should swing on.

Use duck(duct) tape to secure the lid in place.  This will be at an angle from the top which will deflect rain. Hey Presto, one cat shelter.

To finish, I put a piece of artificial grass in the shelter (this is her favourite outdoor bedding)

Halley must be the first cat in history to use a house that has been put there for it.  She seems to like it so much that she was in there at 0600 this morning.  Sometime I’ll take a photo and show you this masterpiece, that’s if it ever stops raining!  I suppose Iwill be the one to get wet giving the cat breakfast in bed.

Nine in Ten admit they lie about their lifestyles. (TheTimes)

The article goes on to claim that flaunting your green credentials has taken over from buying a bigger car or installing the latest electronic gadget as the preferred means of getting one over on the neighbours.

Here is a list of Brownie Points to be given for 19 actions. (Half points for honest excuses eg broken leg, bad back, live in one room on the top floor)

• Walk, cycle or take Public transport.
• Grow your own vegetables and flowers.
• Time the families showers.
• Put a brick in the cistern.(A plastic bottle is safer, no gritty bits)
• Insulate your home.
• Collect rainwater in barrels in the garden.
• Compost food waste.
• Recycle other waste.
• Use renewable energy.
• Install solar panels or wind turbines ( No excuses, we built our first solar panel in 1975).
• Refuse to holiday abroad
• Use a manual lawnmower (Anyone know where to buy one?)
• Use only long-life bulbs.
• By locally produced food to cut food miles.(No strawberries in the winter)
• Turn off appliances instead of standby
• Use only wood products from sustainable forests
• Ditch using plastic bags. - Then you would have to buy bin liners or use newspaper!
• Turn the heating down.
• Be buried in a wood with a tree planted on top.

My score is 15. Whats yours? Any more ways we can save Energy & Money painlessly?

There is a competitor for Powertune in the Energy Saving Market at last.

Am I concerned? Not really.  Powertune is designed for the UK market and plugs safely into a 13 Amp socket with ease.  The US product is a black box with a wire from it that you then plug in.  Surely neither you or I want something plugged into the mains loose on the floor for obvious reasons.

Another feature that could be dangerous with the competing product is that the outer casing is an ugly METAL box.  Powertune’s  neutral coloured outer casing is made of insulating material.

Powertune is also a surge protector capable of protection against lightning.  The competitor cannot do this, by it’s design.

Being priced in £’s you know what you are paying and know you have a cast iron guarantee. The competitor wants you to pay in $US and pay more than you would for Powertune anyway.

Powertune was designed by the person who manufactures it and sends it directly to you via DHL.  What’s more, delivery is FREE as well as quick.  The competitor’s product is designed by one person, made by another, packed by another and then dispatched. OH! and each of these people is in different countries.  What a recipe for disaster!

You can have full confidence in Powertune. My colleague has met CK Phun my Malaysian supplier and we have both been invited to his factory. If you want to know more about me, The Energy Lady, take a look at the ‘About Me’ on this blog.

• Some County in Minnesota is going to disband it’s Police Force to save money!?!?
• Poland that has been invaded more than any other European Country because it is flat and slap bang in the middle of the continent so trouble comes from all sides.  So how are they going to fight the credit crunch?  By cutting their defence budget, of course!
• Orlando, Florida.  39 bus routes are to to face cuts.  So, how will people have to travel?  Use cars more or walk.  In a land built for a minimum of four wheels each, you could die of starvation walking to a shop.  I know, I tried walking there, but gave up and hired a car.
• Next to save costs Mr Bush is cutting the Science budget, presumably so he can have his country continue fighting everyone else’s war.  Not the defence side of this budget, but the area that did atmospheric research to try to find ways of helping the world’s poorest nations fight climate change.
• China has had to take cars off the road to fight pollution because of the Olympic Games.  This means that the people who were  disposessed and given no compensation because their homes were in the way of the stadium,  can sleep in the open and actually see the stars for the first time in years.
• David and Goliath have taken up arms and Israel is coming in on David’s side.  Doesn’t Israel have enough trouble at home without mixing it on Georgia’s side against mighty Russia. 
• And who is just round the corner?  Poland who is cutting its defense budget! 

 But, what I am certain of is that spending a little on a Powertune energy saver will save a lot of money and energy.  At least something is reliable and makes sense in the world. today.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=power_mgt.pr_power_mgt_ez_wiz

http://co2saver.snap.com/

http://desktop.google.com/plugins/i/energysaver.html

Don’t forget you can save even more energy and money with Powertune Energy Saver.

ecoanne, The Energy LadyUK

Today I came across this excellent piece of software.  What’s more it’s FREE!

The best estimates reckon you will get a saving of about £20 per year.  That can’t be bad for nothing!

Put this saving with the saving you get from your POWERTUNE and you can start giving two fingers to the power supply industry.

http://www.verdiem.com/edison/  Be my guest!

ecoanne, The Energy Lady UK.

  The World Today - Friday, 8 August , 2008  12:29:00

Reporter: Simon Lauder

ELEANOR HALL: It’s a proposal which has the potential to substantially reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.

But one of the scientists who’s advocating it has already received hate mail.

The controversial scientific study published in the journal, Conservation Letters, is proposing that Australia reduce its stock of sheep and cattle by 30 per cent and instead farm kangaroos in an effort to fight climate change.

The study found that this could reduce Australia’s carbon emissions by three per cent and save hundreds of millions of dollars.

Simon Lauder has our report.

SIMON LAUDER: Australia’s love of a good steak is contributing substantially to climate change. Emission by emission, cattle and sheep are responsible for an estimated 11 per cent of Australia’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Dr George Wilson says the kangaroo could change that.

GEORGE WILSON: Sheep and cattle have got a large room and it is a fermentation vat. In the process they produce methane. Now kangaroos have got a completely different system, well not completely different but it’s … the rate of passage through their system is much higher and as a result they don’t produce methane.

SIMON LAUDER: Kangaroo meat is already marketed as a greener alternative because paws don’t have as much impact on the landscape as hoofs do. Dr Wilson and his team at Australian Wildlife Services have now calculated the role kangaroos could play in an emissions trading scheme.

GEORGE WILSON: We focused on the rangelands in western Queensland and western New South Wales where landholders really don’t have many options. We could reduce our greenhouse gas liability by three per cent.

Now there really aren’t many other options. I’ve not heard of any that can do that relatively quickly.

SIMON LAUDER: And to do that you’re proposing a reduction in sheep and cattle numbers on the rangelands by 30 per cent?

GEORGE WILSON: Yeah, in those areas, yeah by 30 per cent. This will, as I say, save Australia 16 megatonnes of methane and methane is a particularly dangerous greenhouse gas.

It is 21 times more damaging than CO2, but fortunately it has a shorter time in the atmosphere, so if you are to do things to get rid of that methane then you can have a profound effect on our greenhouse gas liability and this is one way to go about it.

SIMON LAUDER: So 30 per cent of our cattle and sheep are really responsible for three per cent of our entire emissions?

GEORGE WILSON: That is exactly right, yeah.

SIMON LAUDER: To replace that number of sheep and cattle, how much would you have to increase Australia’s kangaroo numbers by?

GEORGE WILSON: If you were to reduce the livestock populations you would create enough pasture, enough opportunity to increase the kangaroo population to 175-million.

SIMON LAUDER: That’s a lot of kangaroos. The current estimated population is 30-million.

In the meat production industry, kangaroo meat is worth relatively little. But it could prove a lucrative option for farmers who now see kangaroos as a pest. If farmers are eventually to be made liable for their animals’ emissions under a trading scheme, Dr Wilson says they’ll have a lot to gain by doing the switcheroo.

GEORGE WILSON: If you were to save 16 megatonnes of greenhouse gases, this has got a market value at the moment of about $650-million.

SIMON LAUDER: Dr Wilson says wildlife numbers and habitats have benefited from the managed harvesting of springbok in South Africa, red deer in Scotland and bison in the USA.

He says the same thing could happen with kangaroos although there are some complex cultural obstacles when it comes to eating national icons.

(Theme song from ‘Skippy’)

GEORGE WILSON: We’ve had some hate emails and fairly well contained and constrained but I can understand how people have those views.

SIMON LAUDER: It’s on our coat of arms, isn’t it?

GEORGE WILSON: Yeah but springboks are on the South African coat of arms, well not the coat of arms but it is certainly a similar national icon and that these sort of changes in Southern Africa over the last few years have led to substantial increase and security of the national iconic species in Southern Africa.

SIMON LAUDER: You talked about how much you like the kangaroo. How do you like your kangaroo?

GEORGE WILSON: Quick grilled is the way to go. Absolutely delicious.

ELEANOR HALL: That was scientist Dr George Wilson and that report compiled by Simon Lauder.
 

THE END