Green Living | Green living tips and advice

The Expert answers:

An Electrical engineering or Mechanical engineering degree would be key, since renewable energy is about electrical generation and about structural integrity.

But I doubt that more specialized engineering is required, other than experience.

The Expert answers:

Well whatever it is they don’t have a clue !? Seeing as the sun has 4000 billion years of energy available before it starts to fade, which could easily be used if every building had some form of solar panels, to provide free electricity globally. And despite the fact that the earth is 70% water and that is two parts Hydrogen they can’t get to grips with electrolysis (lol i can’t spell it) which the ancient egyptians may have discovered due to findings of lead in clay pots similar to car batteries which produce hydrogen from water; as a clean burning fuel !? Sheeez they can’t even find enough land to
plant Bio Fuel nor places to park wind turbines formerly known as windmills or water wheels in the sea . Who on Earth would want Free energy when they can pay for fossil fuels at extortianate prices !?

The Expert answers:

Almost all industry has the power to create jobs. Most of the jobs created by what is called American industry are in other countries. Small Business probably creates more good jobs than big business and we need to support them and help them grow by buying their products instead of foreign made whenever possible.

The Expert answers:

Have you tried to do an on line job search?
That might turn up something for you.

Best of luck

The Expert answers:

Using less coal will mean fewer coal miners.

Using less petroleum will mean fewer guys working on those deep ocean well drilling rigs.

Using more Wind will mean more money for the farmers that have windmills on their land. And Studying the effects of killing birds from the blades.

Using more solar will mean lots more folks trained on how to install solar panels.

All this also means changes in College courses to prepare for degrees in these areas.

Less petroleum imported will mean a better balance of payments for Commerce.

Less petroleum means less reliance on Air transport and a shift to higher speed trains.

Airplanes are one of the least efficient users of petroleum. Soon Air travel will be only for the very important, rich or for a very infrequent trip.

People will live closer to work unless public transit is available.

If we go to food based crops for energy it will mean we starve people and start wars over food. (BAD idea)

conservation will be very IN due to the higher cost per watt from renewable sources.

The Expert answers:

This is a very old literature. However, the “new classic” book is “The Spatial Economy” by Fujita, Krugman, and Venables. There is some mathematics in the book, but the basic principles can be understood, I think, if you ignore the math.

The Expert answers:

What do you think you ll build a new house every quarter???
If yes then there is no need for design of a sustainable, if not to live there for years you have to design properly…

The Expert answers:

I think sustainable development enduring high standard of living and increase productivity easily apply and feasible to rich resources country, like Canada. For instance, they can log the whole mountain of woods and replant it. Many years later, the whole mountain goes green again. Salmon hacting by manual spawning can increase its productivity is common in Canada. They grow wheats and mustard a lot there, too. People can buy cheaper draft beer and more hotdogs go with mustard. In contrary, Hong Kong is not a viable city to provide sustainable development for its six million plus citizens because it’s not a natural resources base city, and government personnel has taken too much money out of the system and spend lavishingly too much for themselves. I think a city or country must have good leaders to provide sustainable development endure high standard of living and increase productivity. Hong Kong is just a city become the people don’t give a damn to each other. The inflation goes up rapidly and the government just by selling the lands at extra high prices and investing the monies into the foreign currency exchanges and stock markets. Hong Kong is notoriously known as top five most expensive and polluted city in this world. Hong Kong has the highest poor and rich gap in this world with gini coefficient of 0.5333 and 0.3 is the norm. How to remove the poverty in Hong Kong, for instance, Hong Kong government should cut the overpaid civil servants salaries, lower the property values, keep the Heng Seng index down to less than 10000 point. Then Hong Kong will become a cheaper city to live. Educational subsidary has provided free education up to grade 9 now. In most countries, free education is up to grade 12 or completion of secondary school .

The Expert answers:

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat—which are renewable (naturally replenished)Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources.

Each of these sources has unique characteristics which influence how and where they are used.

Sustainable energy sources are most often regarded as including all renewable sources, such as biofuels, solar power, wind power, wave power, geothermal power and tidal power. It usually also includes technologies that improve energy efficiency

The Expert answers:

A big rise in oil prices and a decentralization and decorporatization of agriculture.

Farming will have to go from feeding the world to feeding regions. We will need a lot of 500 acre diversified farms, instead of CFO and mono cropping over millions of acres.We will also need urban growing and people growing at least 15% of their own food.

It will likely take not just petroleum getting too expensive to use for farming but also massive famines over the world, rioting and millions dying before anything really changes.

The Expert answers:

Get a used TOyota Prius, it is good on gas

The Expert answers:

Toyota Hybrid Prius. It runs half on batteries and half on gas. So it pollutes a lot less. I think it’s great that your trying to help our environment. It’s very hard to find caring people now, and this is partly the cause of global warming.
Hope I helped! =]

The Expert answers:

It depends upon how you measure “success.” Every available electric vehicle is sold and demand exceeds supply by about 2500 to 1 (10 Nissan Leaf available to 25,000 presently on waiting list.) There is no market for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Only about 500 are available for lease in California. Hybrids are popular but old news.

Alternatively you could say that such alternative fuel vehicles represent only a handful of total sales.

The Expert answers:

1 Honda is one of the most responsible companies of the industries and is having some vibrant features of eco friendly attitude to deal with the global climate changes. The company has decided fixed strategy to cop up with the most dangerous issue in front of the world and has added these features in all upcoming models of company.

1 Improving fuel efficiencies

Honda is the highest fleet-averaged fuel efficient cars of US since last Fifteen years. Also they have applied these efficiencies in all the new models as well.

2 Emission Reductions

New Honda cars are equipped with some of the best gasoline powered engines, clear and smoother valve and below the emission standard rates.

3 Energy productions

New Honda care are enriched with the new fuel cell technology in which the refuelling of energy infrastructure is developed and also the Solar and Natural Gas is being produced to make the best ever production unit.

These are the fields where the new Honda cars have improved to the higher side and have made greater improvement.

The Expert answers:

I’m sorry, most of these answers appear to be mostly wrong, I’ll get straight to the point.

The SmartVille Production Plant: No CFCs and the only pollutant is the overspray from the powdercoating, and that’s only 2% of the powdercoating ends up as unsusable. Even then, that 2% is water soluable so really the plant has 0 pollutants or emissions.

The car itself is 98% recyclable. And that remaining 2% is made into more smart cars so that basically makes the car 100% recyclable. The car’s battery is even 100% recyclable.

The vehicle’s emissions are very close to that of a Prius at about 0.22 tons.
The diesel smart’s emissions are even lower than the Prius emissions.
All smarts use synthetic oil which is 100% recyclable.
All smarts are classifyed as an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV)

The body panels are molded in color and are also 100% recyclable.
The steel parts are rust protected and powdercoated (machine sprays a sort of powder-like paint at the car, powdercoating is much greener than traditional painting).

Now to purchase price and what smarts you could buy (if you live in the US)

There are 4 US trims available, all current model 451 smart fortwo…

The pure – $11,990 – all the essentials, nothing else, not even AC

The passion coupe – $13,990 – the smart in its luxury form, options go on from a premium sound system with tweeters, mid-range, and a subwoofer to the comfort package with leather seating, seat heating, power steering, and fog lamps, panorama roof designed by Bayer Material Sciences is included.

The passion cabriolet – $16,990 – this smart comes with everything that the passion coupe can have but with a cabriolet roof. One touch and the roof will open like a sun roof. Another touch and it’ll move into a full convertible position. This can be done at any speed. To add on, you could remove the upper Tridion Cell bars to full the effect.

The BRABUS coupe and cabriolet – $17,990-$20,990 – BRABUS is just one of Mercedes Benz’s most famous modifiers. The US versions come with an upgraded exhaust system and suspension upgrades along with the BRABUS styling and body kits.

There are more models one could obtain in the USA by the “grey market” These are:

The smart city coupe – this is the original smart fortwo, made for Europe and is imported to the USA by G&K. These come in very limited numbers and are actually shorter than the USA model.

The smart roadster – this is the fastest smart to come off the production line. These had a limited production of only 5,000 models. These were never imported to the USA and got here by other means (military, etc.). These are extremely rare to find in the states and as the numbers aren’t solid, there’s probably less than 50 of these roadsters in the USA, making it a very rare find. They don’t have an electronic limiter so they’re top speed is whatever your red line is in 6th gear. Stock red line is at 125mph.

Now to the reasons you should buy a smart.

– To start off the smart has some of the lowest insurance costs in all of the USA.

As for safety the smart has received the highest ratings of all subcompacts. And the smart has received the IIHS highest rating of “GOOD” overall.

In roof crush tests the smart beat the competition by a mile because roof crush is over 9,000 pounds. It earned “GOOD” in this test as well.

‘The smart brand (spelled in lowercase by the manufacturer) is a combination of Swatch, Mercedes and ART. The Swatch company had the idea for removable body panels, but is no longer involved with the smart’. The smart brand continued this idea of low cost, high quality removable body panels to this day.

And because of this, the smart was the only car to pass the IIHS’ 2.5 mph bumper test. The damage caused to the vehicle would have to cost less than $500.The smart’s body panel totaled around $190. All others had failed because of their poorly designed and expensive bumpers.
The smart has received the overall ratings in these categories:

Roof: “GOOD”
Front: “GOOD”
Side: “GOOD”
Rear: “ACCEPTABLE”
Overall: “GOOD”

Some smart owners have already gotten into a crash with their smart and have shared their amazing stories which add to the smart’s credibility. That site is here: www.safeandsmart.com

There’s a video that had surfaced on the internet recently about how small cars fail at safety. In the video they had tested a Yaris, a Fit, and a smart. The Yaris and the Fit’s passenger compartment had buckled under the force of their heavier counterparts and the Yaris driver’s head even hit the other Toyota’s hood. Indicating serious head injury. The results of both cars indicated serious if not fatal injury to the driver.

In the smart’s test the smart crumpled to the passenger compartment, rebounded, and spun off into the corner. Results indicated high possibiliy of broken legs and a possibility of head injury. The smart still scored higher than the competition and the driver would still most likely live, and the legs would heal.

There’s another video from Fifth Gear and they smash a smart into a wall at 70mph. And then they test a four door compact at the same speed. Both cars did exceedingly well at keeping their shape.

Without even considering that the smart did about the same as a car larger than it is, people stuck to the conclusion that the car is a deathtrap.

Another is that the shear force of an accident would kill you in a smart because such car with little crumple zones would mean a higher deceleration rate. The smart compensates with this by not only dissipating force through the wheels but with seatbelt tensioners that act with just enough force to not dig into your neck.

Fifth Gear described all of the smart’s safety systems that reduce those forces on your body. Crash testing reveals that the seatbelts limit the force on the body and makes it feel as if the car didn’t stop as rapidly. Some other conventional cars don’t do that.

And about injuries? Quote on quote from that video: “The cars may have stood up to the severity of the crash surprisingly well but the humans inside, wouldn’t”.

Here’s the video.

Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU…

So yes, the smart is just as safe as some larger cars. No it is not a deathtrap and you cannot use a 70mph crash as an excuse because the car’s opponent did just as bad.

The smart plant in Hambach, France opened its doors in 1998 rolling the first city coupe off the line. But smart’s roots go all the way back to around 1996 when ideas were rolling and the first “smarts” were on the road.

Additionally, according to Gizmag, the smart brand is the 5th “most reliable” car brand available in the USA. And this is just after only 11 years after smart opened its doors.
Here’s how the smart compares to other fuel sippers:

Through long term testing, the little smart has proven to cost less in the long run than any other full petrol powered vehicle.

Here are my equations for how much I’m saving with a smart compared to a Yaris and a Prius:

smart fortwo: 41mpg after break in (EPA estimate for highway) equates to a 357mi range on one 8.7 gallon tank. At current local gas prices ($2.70 Premium) the smart gets that 357mi with only $23. Not bad, weekly lunch costs more than that.

Okay now to a Prius, estimating 48mpg (EPA estimate for highway) after break in and with an 11.9 gallon tank this equates to a range of 571mi. And with gas ($2.50 Unleaded) it would cost $30. Not bad either, for ten more bucks you could go 200 more miles.

Now to the Yaris, estimating 36mpg after break in (EPA estimate for highway) and with its 11.1 gallon tank it has a range of 399mi but it requires extra gallons to reach that and with the gas ($2.50 Unleaded) it will take $28 to fill up a Yaris.

Here are the standings:

Prius – $30 – 571mi – 48mpg
Yaris – $28 – 399mi – 36mpg
smart – $23 – 357mi – 41mpg

Now let’s consider buying price and later purchases (batteries):

Base models:

smart fortwo pure – (automated manual transmission) $11,990 – no A/C – no power accessories (excluding locking), no radio. Side airbags included

Yaris – (manual transmission) $12,205 – CD player standard, A/C, side airbags NOT included but are “optional” (receives “POOR” for side impact safety without it (08’ models only))

Prius – (automatic) $22,000 – CD player standard, Eco A/C, side airbags included

Fully Loaded:

smart fortwo cabriolet (convertible) – (automated manual) $20,000 – Navigation with Bluetooth and iPod control, leather seating/heating, fog lamps, security system with immobilizer, power steering. Etc…

Yaris (2 dr coupe) – (automatic) $22,157 – iPod compatible stereo, power upgrades, style upgrades, safety upgrades, security system.

Prius – (automatic) $35,173 – eco friendly materials, navigation, remote start, solar panel cooling.

Prius battery change – every 100,000-200,000 miles/ 8 years at a price of $2,500.

Yearly costs (if driven 1,000mi a month):

Prius – $612 @ 1.7 fill ups a month @ $30 a fill up @ $2.50gal
smart – $773 @ 2.8 fill ups a month @ $23 a fill up @ 2.70gal
Yaris – $843 @ 2.51 fill ups a month @ $28 a fill up @ $2.50gal

With those $194 gas savings it’ll take a Prius 94 years to offset the cost of a smart. And that does not include the 100,000-200,000mi/ 8 year battery change.

Parts cost of the smart: (these high strength body panels awarded the smart “GOOD” for bumper crush resistance tests)(this is if your insurance company does not pay, out of pocket etc.):

$190 for single body part
$1,000 for whole new body replacement (including installation)

Parts cost on “traditional” cars (Prius, Yaris, F-150):

The Expert answers:

Http://dmoz.org/Science/Environment/News_and_Media/

or

http://directory.google.com/Top/Science/Environment/News_and_Media/

The Expert answers:

Check out this website
http://www.floridaoceanographic.org/

Locally here in Martin County, Florida we have to deal with the water discharges from Lake O. That are damaging our St. Lucie River and it’s ecosystems.

The Expert answers:

Http://www.thepaperboy.com/

The Expert answers:

Sometimes ‘environment’ seems like a luxury to developing countries. But stories such as desertification in north-western China (affecting not only farmers but also the dust-storms in Beijing) and city pollution in India shows it ain’t.

Chile has I believe been pretty good at laws to protect miners and the land from excessive pollution from copper mining.

Environment protection can be done and it is usually the poor who benefit most when it is done.

The Expert answers:

I wish i had the internet when i was at school i would be asking people to do this all the time:)

The Expert answers:

I suspect the door-to-door option, it seems like what a “community organizer” would do and everyone always goes back to their roots when it comes to solving complex problems.

The Expert answers:

This probably isn’t a good answer but…I’m going to state my opinion anyway.

If you’re going into that field you will probably have to take a lot of chemistry and math classes..and have a good back ground with chemistry. So, in the long run..if you can’t be a petroleum engineer, I think you’d be able to get a job in chemical engineering. Think about it, if the need isn’t in petroleum, it’ll be in another field of chemicals.

The Expert answers:

Yes. Whatever you think about the Clintons, you can’t deny the fact that they created 25 million new jobs.

The Expert answers:

Sure, all energy companies have varying demand for developers to suport internal systems and develop applications. Not knowing where you are located it is tough to give much help. I would look at websites for energy companies you know about and see if they have a job listing page. A lot of companies post jobs on their websites these days.

The Expert answers:

YES! ABSOLUTELY!!! The application of physics is what inventors practice on a daily basis. As for the type of job, that would mainly be design engineer. One thing that you can do is think out of the box. You should delve into the practice critical thinking. You can do is apply the use of neodyme magnets for turning a generator, ask yourself questions such as “what would this do in a vacuum environment”? Will it increase the energy output? What natural kinetic energies can be used to turn a generator? What size unit would power a home? Is there any electronic pollution and if there is can I convert that pollution into etheric energy?

The Expert answers:

Renewable sources:
solar
wind
tide
wave
geothermal, while not renewable, is often classed in this area as it is inexhaustable.

Depends on the household and where it is located. Windy area, use wind power. Lots of sun, use solar power.

Solar array would be on the roof. Wind generator would be on a tower.
You will need a large array of batteries to supply power when the sun/wind is not available. Alternatively, sell power back to the electric utility company and use power from them during periods of no sun or wind.

If this is an isolated house with no access to the power grid, I’d have a diesel generator for backup.

The Expert answers:

Yup, Solar Electric Company Inc. Www.solarelectric.com.ph. This is for personal use–I do not know about selling back excess energy. Renewable energy is not very popular/common yet, I would assume namely due to the initial layout for the panels, etc.

There is also a Solarhart distributor here but I misplaced the business card.

The Expert answers:

To answer your primary question, it just needs to be less expensive than fossil fuels…oil in particular.

1. Very few “direct” renewable sources are available non-stop. A few would be tidal power, geothermal power and hydroelectric power. There are many “indirect” sources, such as biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel, methane) which are the process of extracting energy from materials.

2. Nothing is really practical (at this point) to compete. Oil is still too cheap.

3. Storage either in liquid fuel form or conversion to electricity offers the two easiest ways to move large amounts of energy.

4. There’s many viable technologies available today, but they are under continuous refinement to make them better, more efficient, less costy, and ultimately, more competitive

5. This one is always fun. Wind and hydroelectric don’t pollute, but one is blamed for killing migratory birds and the other is hated for destroying habitats surrounding rivers. Both offer the most promise as the next best source of energy compared to fossil fuels.

6. Well, this depends on whether the consumer is in an energy rich or energy poor area. If you live in an area where there’s ample sun, good wind, and/or rivers you can dam up, then you’re living close to where you can produce it. If you can’t produce enough energy from the sources immediately available to you, then you will either need to conserve more or import it.

7. Politicians are likely only going to back solutions that prove to be overwhelmingly beneficial to their constituents. You will get corn belt pols that back ethanol for the obvious positive economic impact that it will have on their areas. Likewise, wind in areas that it could prove beneficial.

There is no one magic bullet for every energy need, that needs to be understood. Some sources will win over others, based on the application and its availability. But until oil gets more expensive (like over $100 per barrel) then most alternative sources just simply can’t economically compete with today’s renewable harnessing technology.

The Expert answers:

Look up T. Boone Pickens. He is a former oil man and corporate raider who has a ton of money and wants to do wind farms all over the place.

He became famous in the 1980’s be acquiring big oil companies then selling them off (in whole or in part) and made a ton of money.

The Expert answers:

Go to http://www.monster.com

The Expert answers:

Economist will view it as a long term goal that we should deal with once we fix financial industry, home markets, and general economic growth.

Sociologist will view it as yet another fad

Ecologists do view it as a religion.

The Expert answers:

Perhaps this link will give you some information

www.usda.gov/oce/sustainable/index.htm

The Expert answers:

I would use a decent law system.

Private property is essential for any country to rise above poverty.

Perhaps even land reform if the land is already controlled by a handful of elite. Of course, you raise the chance of aggrevating that handful.

I would invest my debt into infrastructure like roads, electricity, and working, clean water. In order to attract foreign investment, it’s best to have something that allows them to make their products and transport them.

A sound banking system would also be necessary.

The Expert answers:

Well for that you should see http://biznuss.net
i hope that resolve your problem keep using answers.yahoo.com

The Expert answers:

I imagine she was referring to any barriers (obstacles) to sustainable development. Reasons why such development might not be possible, or might have some kind of detrimental knock on effect on the environment or community.

The Expert answers:

Over a nuclear reactor

it’s in use so why not save some watts

The Expert answers:

Any razor that uses disposable cartridges. You could use a straight razor, but the learning curve is steep, and the skill level is high.

The Expert answers:

Very thin cloth ( like flour sacking ) with a water proof glue. The cloth can be printed with indelible ink ahead of time before gluing. The glue could be one of those watered based glues that becomes water proof after it dries.
What about using a rubber stamp with permanent ink, right on the bottles?

The Expert answers:

I do this for a job, and here’s the methodology.

First take into account the site. Every site is different, even if they’re the same size and next to each other. Every site will have it’s own strengths and weaknesses based on solar access, wind availability and prevailing direction, soil type, size and shape, views, transport access, surrounding structures and trees, etc.

Then design the home around those strengths and weaknesses. Just as each site is different so will each house. That design is also influenced by passive solar heating and passive airflow cooling principles.

That’s the main core of designing an eco friendly house, and so far there’s NO extra cost over a regular house. If you get these first two steps right, the rest is relatively easy.

Next decide what to build the house out of, and what to use as far as appliances, renewable energy, etc. The budget comes into play here, because the best materials and fittings usually are more expensive. But having said that any extra money spent now will pay for itself many times over during the lifespan of the house. So it’s worth doing as much as you can possibly afford.

Also take into account toxicities of materials. An Eco house should also be a healthy house, and many materials commonly used in building contain cancerigenes such as formaldehyde.

Then think outdoors, and design the landscaping around the house to be as productive and complimentary as possible. One of the best ways to eat is straight from your own garden, and with food miles to be taken into account this is even more so now.

And finally, the last but certainly not least step is to inform the occupiers how to live in the house efficiently. Behaviour can make or break even any environment, and an eco friendly house is no exception.

Hope that one minute nutshell helps, and I have a link to a self-reliant house I’m currently building if you’d like more info. Feel free to take any ideas from it.

The Expert answers:

Reduce
The amount of energy you consume and start using renewable energy sources, such as wind power and solar power. Sign up for Green Energy with your local power provider. If they don’t have it, then tell them to get it.
Reuse
By using products made with recycled materials. Make or buy a compost bin to use your organic waste as fertilizer for your trees, shrubs, and garden.
Recycle
All materials to your best ability in your local area.
There is a green movement in the country, it could be a case of too little too late, but at the least we are moving towards a nation that has a conscious about destroying the environment. The green movement has caught on with many groups and has become fashionable in some industries. The home building or home improvement industry is no exception. Many construction companies, home improvement centers and building products advertise some level of commitment towards “green” or environmentally friendly construction. Are these companies actually fulfilling their promises? That is a discussion for another day What we want to focus on is how a wood kitchen cabinet can help you become environmentally friendly. Everyone should want to reduce their “carbon footprint”. This carbon footprint is roughly defined as the amount of CO2 that you, as a living person, put into the environment each day. It can be everyday activities like driving a car, running an air conditioner, or building a house. Almost everything you do has a connection to the environment, be it direct or incidental. Taking products and using them is basically us being consumers and from this consumption we are taking from nature. This then creates pressure on the environment. So again, if I am building a house or renovating my kitchen, how do wood kitchen cabinets help lower my carbon footprint? The first thing is to define a “wood kitchen cabinet”. Unless you’re living in the nineteenth century, you’re probably not going to see a solid wood cabinet. It is not economical and it just does not make sense in the building industry.

What you are getting in wood kitchen cabinets is one of two things. Solid wood faced cabinets with paneled wood sides (these are the good cabinets) or the lesser quality cabinet that is a wood front and a particle board side (places like Home Depot and Lowe’s sell these inferior cabinets). Now that you have a definition of what really is a wood kitchen cabinet, you can then ask where I find these solid wood cabinets with paneled sides. The very best, easiest, and least expensive method to buying these cabinets is actually online. Yes, the internet cabinet websites easily beat any retail prices. (Mostly because of less over head). Finally, how am I saving the environment, if I am buying wood kitchen cabinets? The trick to saving money and the environment is the RTA kitchen cabinet. It is not a brand name, but rather a style of cabinet. RTA stands for “ready to assemble”. These cabinets are about thirty to forty percent less than an assembled cabinet and they are actually helping to cut down carbon emissions and save lumber. These all wood RTA kitchen cabinets use the entire tree, thus cutting waste. Furthermore, these cabinets save space on shipping. They are unassembled so they take up to fifty percent less space. This “space savings” contributes to less shipping; this produces less carbon dioxide. You may say that does not seem like much, but when you add up the number of shipments, this becomes a huge amount of carbon dioxide that is kept out of the atmosphere. So in the end, every little bit helps. Yes buying wood kitchen cabinets, especially RTA kitchen cabinets will help the environment. Now all we have to do is get everyone to do their own small part.

The Expert answers:

See your broker. Be aware: most of this stuff is garbage.

The Expert answers:

Alternative energy is the focus of a few ETFs : PBW, TAN,PZD,FAN,PBD,PUW…or you could look at CLNE ( using nat/gas as fuel)

The Expert answers:

Since you know penny stocks are bad, I will not preach to you

Checks out Stockwire http://www.stockwire.com/ on this site, you can discuss with other penny stock traders, they may even have Energy stocks broken out, but give it try there are some decent people on this site that will help you (tell them Nobody sent you)

Here are some other sites that you may find of interest
http://www.smallcapinvestor.com/
http://alphaking.com/
http://www.otcstockexchange.com/
http://www.mcapstocks.com/Default.asp
http://www.pinksheets.com/pink/quote/index.jsp
http://ragingbull.quote.com/cgi-bin/static.cgi/a=index.txt&d=mainpages
http://www.swingtrades.com/

The Expert answers:

CORN!
The price of corn has more than tripled since e85 started becoming wide spread… Corn is going the way of oil… So, I would imagine getting in on it now would be almost as worth while as getting into oil 4 years ago…

The Expert answers:

I have positions in over a dozen stock, most (but not all) or which are long.

I also have positions in over a dozen stock options, most (but not all) of which are parts of spreads.

My hot stock picks would be most likely to be financial companies that have been oversold.

The Expert answers:

On the one hand, your criticism is correct: the current economic model is simply not sustainable.

On the other hand, it is always much easier to criticize than to offer a reasonable alternative. What in the history of mankind leads you to believe that planned economies and socialist policies are in any way more effective over the long term? Russia’s command economy failed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_economy
and China gave up and initiated all sorts of free-market reforms once Mao died:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_reform_in_the_People’s_Republic_of_China

This isn’t to say that governments will not try planning. They already plan various parts of the economy in every country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixed_economy
and will be happy for an excuse to take more control, but there is no reason to believe they are going to be effective in any way:

1. Even the planning by non-command economies – such as Japan and South Korea – has not been seen as a great success.
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_International_Trade_and_Industry
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Japan.html

2. Governments are always close to the rich. Have you any reason to believe that will change? If so, have you any reason to believe they will work for the country as a whole?

In the U.S. The Republicans are closer to the rich than the Democrats, and the results show in the economic figures:
http://rodrik.typepad.com/dani_rodriks_weblog/2008/03/american-politi.html

The Expert answers:

It actually does work within the concept of PHI, the golden mean, also known as the divine balance. We must be stewards of our resources, and enhance that which advances the entirety of the society, and reject that which is deleterious to the society as a whole.

The Expert answers:

The three pillars or systems key to sustainable development are economic, social and environmental systems. It is said that satisfying any one of these three sustainability systems without also satisfying the others is deemed insufficient.

The Expert answers:

Sustainable development is the building of a community in a way that is environmentally friendly and uses renewable resources. Things to look for in sustainable development are:
-transportation: walking/biking/public transportation efficient
-energy: renewable energy source located close by
-city government: new bylaws encourage citizens to build individual homes in an environmentally friendly way

environmental awarness is needed for sustainability, but is more about individuals making green choices in their every day lives.

The Expert answers:

Include how our natural resources are being exploited. You can say about Groundwater resources… Or Crude Oil.

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development#Environmental_sustainability
That could also help.

You could also talk about pollution and the methods to control it.

You could also include topics like Wildlife, Soil, Oceans, Freshwater, etc

http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/esd/menu.html
This link will be very useful too.