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Click Here for tips on saving  just one  "Drop of Oil "at a time . http://www.DropOfOil.com/SaveThe/Planet1.html
 

contact information for this Website:
Brian Nelson
31 Gessner Rd. ,  Houston, TX 77024
713-467-3025  
Click: E-mail me

You can find this site again by typing in the Google search engine  the very unique word " 1liOfOporD  "  which is  " DropOfOil1 " backwards.

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Directory of Video Sites
Blue Box 1 Scan Below

Click Brian Nelson's www.PartyTentCity.com for party tents, canopies and awnings. Today's Sale 26'x40' Tarp.   Silver. Regular price is $104.00. With this ad it is on sale for only $88.00. Shipping is $15. No charge for shipping if tarp is picked up at  31 Gessner Rd.  in Houston, TX  77024  Use PayPal to Brian@NelsonIdeas.com or Call Brian 713-467-3025.  
 Blue Box 1 Contact Brian at 31 Gessner Rd. Houston, TX  77024 Tel. 713-467-3025 Cell 713-927-4479 Click: E-mail me 
 www.IamFightingCancer.com   Bookmark this page now!   Anything Internet   
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 Directory of Sites
 Blue Box 2  Brian Nelson

 Do you need a party tent of white or silver tarp? Go to www.PartyTentCity.com or to see all my links go to:  http://www.PartyTentCity.com/PTC/Websites.html

Today's  special sale: Business is slow. Call me right now while this include page is up and get a 23% discount off any www.PartyTentCity.com  order.  No charge for shipping if picked up at  31 Gessner Rd.  in Houston, TX  77024 Use PayPal to Brian@NelsonIdeas.com or Call Brian 713-467-3025. http://www.NelsonIdeas.com/Directory-All-Websites/Alphabetical.html
 Blue Box 2  Bookmark this page now!  
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You are at: http://www.DropOfOil.com    ud 08/26/2009 05:02 PM -0500  Bookmark this page now!

 
 Brian Nelson. Owner   31 Gessner Rd. ,  Houston, TX 77024   713-467-3025    Click: E-mail me
Misspelled words used to find this page 1 of 5.The important words found on this site include:
 You can find this site again by typing in the Google search engine  the very unique word " 1  "  which is  "  1 " backwards.      Article Word Count __________ MSW  _____   1 YouTube.com   2 Alt Tags , 3 MSW  4 Metas/Title, Keywords  Description 5 BB4/FormLetter  6 BB3/NIDAS,   7 BB1 & BB2  Follow Ups in NI.  8 URLChannelAdSense All Urls Completed. Delete 25. Old Low Ones
To Go To The Other Sites Simply Click on:
1. http://www.EndAddictionToOil.com
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2.http://www.EndAddictionToOil.com/Waste/Consumptivitis.html
3.http://www.EndAddictionToOil.com/Waste/Recycle.html
4 http://www.EndAddictionToOil.com/WebsiteMakeover/Recycle.com.html
5. http://www.ChangingIdeas.com/Global-Warming/It-Must-Be-Stopped.html

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 5-26-08  AP IMPACT: What makes up the price of gas?

Hi , I found this article well written about the Oil Situation. Remember you can only get  19.5 gallons of gasoline from a 42 gallon barrel of oil  At $135/ barrel that comes to $6.92 if you didn't use the rest of the oil for anything else.  Then you have refining costs,  Oil co. profit transportation, retailer seller profit . and state andl Federal taxes. If you get 20 miles per gallon in your car then every time you drive 390 miles you consume a barrel of oil.  Brian
 
What do you think?  
 Brian Nelson 713-467-3025.
 

AP IMPACT: What makes up the price of gas?

By JOHN PORRETTO and JOHN WILEN – 2 days ago

Consider the game of chicken that plays out every day across Pennsylvania State Highway 441. In Marietta, where the road hugs the Susquehanna River, a Rutter's Farm Store gas station stands on one side, a Sheetz gas station on the other.

Kelly Bosley, who manages Rutter's, doesn't even have to look across the highway to know when Sheetz changes its price for a gallon of gas. When Sheetz raises prices, her own pumps are busy. When Sheetz lowers prices, she has not a car in sight.

She calls Rutter's headquarters to report the competition's new price and wait for instructions.

"I call a lot of times and say, 'They went down, hurry up! Hurry up! Call me! Call me!' Or it could be where theirs goes up, and I'll say, 'Take your time! You know, I like being busy.' But I have no control over that."

You think you feel helpless at the pump?

Bosley makes a living selling gas — and even she has little control over what it costs.

So how exactly are gas prices set? What determines the hair-pulling figure you see displayed in large electronic or plastic numbers?

It all starts with oil.

The biggest factor in the skyrocketing price of gasoline is the historic ascent of crude oil, which has surged from $45 per barrel in 2004 to more than $135 this past week.

In the first quarter of this year, based on a retail price of gas that now seems like a steal — $3.11 a gallon — crude oil accounted for all but about a dollar, or 70 percent, of the cost, according to the federal government.

The rest is a complex mix of factors, from the cost of turning oil into gas to taxes to marketing costs to, sometimes, nothing more than the competitive whims of your local gas station owner.

Not that understanding the breakdown makes it any less cringe-inducing to fill 'er up.

The knee-jerk villains in all of this are the oil companies, fat with multibillion-dollar profits, frequent targets of populist anger. But wait: The oil companies don't set the price of oil or the cost of a gallon of gas.

Prices are a function of the open market, the result of futures contracts being traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, or Nymex, and other exchanges around the world.

Buying the current July crude oil futures contract means you're buying oil that will be delivered by the end of July. But most investors who trade futures have no intention of ever accepting the underlying oil: Like stock investors who frequently buy and sell their holdings, they're simply betting that prices will rise or fall.

Of late, on the Nymex, oil futures have been rising.

Why? Blame the falling dollar. Oil is priced in U.S. dollars, and the weaker the dollar gets, the more attractive dollar-denominated oil contracts are to foreign investors — or any investor looking for a safe haven in the turbulent stock market.

The rush of buyers keeps pushing oil futures to a series of new records, and the rest of the energy complex, including gasoline futures, has followed. That pushes up the price of gas that goes into your tank.

There is some evidence Americans are buying less gas as the price marches higher, and common sense suggests they would cut back even more if gas rose to $4.50 or $5 a gallon.

Lower demand should mean lower prices — but it takes time for that to happen, given the enormous scale of refining operations that produce gasoline.

"Once demand begins to slow, that needs to translate into inventories, then you get some price weakening," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill. "But it takes a while."

Oil and gasoline prices often move in the same direction, but they aren't linked directly. In fact, while oil prices have more than doubled in the past year, gasoline is only up about 19 percent during the same time.

Oil prices often fluctuate with production decisions from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies about 40 percent of the world's crude, or when conflict in the Middle East or Nigeria threatens supplies.

And the rise has only grown more dramatic. Oil sprinted higher this past week, rising more than $4 a barrel on Wednesday alone and past $135 on Thursday.

As for gasoline prices: They're closely tied to demand from U.S. drivers and how efficiently refineries are operating. Falling production or inventories often send prices skyrocketing.

Those prices can vary greatly depending on the region.

The Gulf Coast is the source of about half the gasoline produced in the United States, and areas farthest from there tend to have higher prices because of the cost of shipping gas via pipeline and tanker truck all over the country.

Add higher taxes in places like California and New York that push the price higher.

Oil companies insist their earnings, measured against revenue, are in line with other industries. On top of that, rising oil prices have sharply cut profit margins for refining, and that hits the major oil companies — which both pump oil and refine it for use as gasoline.

A giant like Exxon Mobil can handle the blow. Its refining and marketing profits for the first quarter were down 39 percent from a year ago, but Exxon still banked a nearly $11 billion profit because of the hefty prices earned on crude it pumped out of the ground.

Smaller refiners aren't so fortunate. Sunoco Inc.'s refining and supply business lost $123 million in the first quarter, hurt by lower margins. Tesoro Corp. lost $82 million for the same period.

In any case, huge profits at big oil companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron aren't because of high prices at the pump. Their massive profits are tied to their exploration and production arms, which are benefiting from record crude prices.

Higher crude costs also have squeezed profits at the refining arms of companies like ConocoPhillips, which don't produce enough crude themselves to refine at full capacity without buying more oil from other producers.

Other costs are a factor — though they've remained relatively stable.

For example, federal and state taxes added 40 cents to a gallon of gas in the first three months of this year, roughly the same amount as they added four years ago.

California's 63.9 cents of tax is the nation's highest, Alaska's 26.4 cents the lowest. How the money is used varies from state to state, though the federal take helps to build and maintain highways and bridges.

Marketing and distribution costs — the tab for delivering gasoline from refiner to retailer — were 27 cents to start the year, only 6 cents above the cost four years ago.

The cost of refining added 27 cents to a gallon in the first quarter of this year, a nickel less than what it added in 2004, according to the Energy Information Administration.

That refining occurs at sprawling industrial complexes across the U.S., with most of the biggest along the Gulf Coast. Barrels of crude arrive each day by pipeline, ship and barge. The refineries, by heating, treating and blending the raw oil, turn out products like diesel and lubricating oil. And, of course, gasoline.

What happens when that gasoline makes its way to your neighborhood gas station?

Major oil companies own fewer than 5 percent of gas stations. Most are owned by small retailers — and many of them say they're struggling these days to turn a profit on gas. That's because wholesale gasoline prices have risen sharply in recent months — again, blame it on crude — but station owners have been unable to raise pump prices fast enough to keep pace.

And you can't keep jacking up the price when drivers are buying less.

Gas station owners face a balancing act: They must try to maintain a price that allows them to afford the next shipment of gasoline but not give the competition an edge.

Stations pay tens of thousands of dollars for each gas shipment before they see a cent in the register. Eventually, many make only a few cents on a gallon of gasoline, a margin that can disappear altogether when credit card fees are added in.

In the Philadelphia suburb of Havertown, Pa., earlier in the week, Sunoco station operator Steve Kehler received a load of gasoline — 9,000 gallons — which, at a wholesale price of $3.729 a gallon, cost him 4 cents more than the previous load.

That left him in a sticky situation: Should he raise prices right away to recoup some of his higher gasoline expenses, or should he hold off for a couple of days in hopes his competitors will also have to raise their prices?

"I'm surrounded by $3.89's, and I'm already at $3.91," said Kehler, referring to his prices and those of some nearby competitors. "I'm going to play a little waiting game right now."

The $33,600 Kehler must pay for his overnight gasoline delivery won't be debited from his bank account for a few days. That gives him a little breathing room, time to hold prices steady. Hiking prices too quickly will hurt sales.

"I'll probably change it tomorrow night, at closing," Kehler said. "I'll go up 4 cents."

That will put Kehler at a gross margin of about 20 cents a gallon. After paying credit card fees, labor and rent, Kehler will be lucky to break even on his gasoline sales; many times, he loses money on gas, relying entirely upon his car repair business for income.

Most gasoline retailers long ago got past any illusion they can make money by selling gas. They rely on gas sales to drive traffic to their shops, where they hope auto repairs or food and drink sales will help them turn a profit.

Thank goodness for beef jerky and sodas.

AP Business Writer Adrian Sainz in Miami contributed to this story.

 

Click Here for tips on saving  just one  "Drop of Oil "at a time . http://www.DropOfOil.com/SaveThe/Planet1.html

1 Oil is not the addiction, it's .
 

Addicted to oil..what a ridiculous statement
Brians  Comment to this Video
Kimowan McLain
Thanks. Putting this video on websites www.DropOfOil.com  and  www.EndAddictionToOil.com       You  are right on. I like your style, Excellent delivery. Help me campaign ending the addiction a thousand things which is that causing us to buy 50% too much oil. We are going into depression anyway. We have to channel the use or our spending better. Our culture has to change. We can do it by Stop consumptivitis . We have to have the mind set to save one drop of oil at a time. Everything we do takes  at least  one drop of oil. They all add up. I will have many videos about this. You can help me.  I loved your video. It is so sincere and so valid.

Call me 713-467-3025 Cell 713-927-4479 or Click: E-mail me your phone no. I will call you Brian Nelson Houston TX Youtube user name BrianNelson123

  
http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=VTiJEedicPo

5-11-08 34 views   2 comments.
 
86 percent  

8 out of 10 plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or end up in a landfill. (Container Recycling Institute)
40 percent  

The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes. But refilling your water bottle from the tap requires no expenditure of energy, and zero waste of resources. (PBS Point of View 2004)
40 percent  

Making all of the bottles for the US requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually. That's enough to fuel 100,000 cars. (Earth Policy Institute)
 

1 Oil's Slippery Slope: My Advice -- Stop Wasting It!

A recent AP story about oil change intervals has again confirmed what many automotive experts have known for years: Too many people change their oil too often. That statement likely goes against the "common wisdom" of dedicated automotive enthusiasts. After all, the image of the average American car owner is one of a mindless dolt who has never even cracked the owner's manual. This person certainly doesn't know (let alone follow) his car's service schedule. And while there has always been the mindless dolt minority that is forever oblivious to proper car care the majority of American car owners do try to maintain their vehicle. And, at least when it comes to oil change intervals, most of them are actually trying too hard.
To put it simply (and go against all those Jiffy Lube commercials), if you are changing your oil more than once a year or more than every 5,000 miles you are likely wasting time, money and a limited natual resource. I find it somewhat ironic that in a hyper-fuel-saving-awareness era few people consider the level of waste involved with unnecessary oil changes. Let's not forget the raw material that gasoline comes from, right? But as this article states, oil ain't what it used to be -- it's much better! Whether you want to talk thermal breakdown or water contamination modern lubricants are simply much better at resisting it.

Yes, under extreme conditions like high temperature driving, long-distance towing or short trips with stop-and-go conditions oil can break down quicker, but it's those conditions that call for 5,000-mile intervals -- and even that's borderline wasteful in my opinion. If you aren't subjecting your vehicle to the above conditions then 7,500 miles is certainly no problem. Unless you use a synthetic motor oil, in which case you're probably wasting money if you use each batch for less than 10,000 miles. Remember, while Ford just upped their oil change interval from 5,000 miles to 7,500 miles other companies use sensors to track oil life, and many of those systems don't suggest an oil change until between 12,000 and 15,000 miles!
Obviously the fallback position is to simply follow your car's service schedule, and if you're driving an older car it's going to specify an oil change between 3,000 and 5,000 miles or every 6 months. As a practical legal disclaimer I must officially defer to your owner's manual. Unofficially, I change the oil in my vehicles (which range from a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T to a 2005 Ford GT) once a year or every 7,500 miles. And because my Ford GT uses synthetic oil, I'm probably still wasting oil with that schedule (call me kooky for wanting to keep a $150,000 exotic under warranty....). Bottom line, changing a vehicle's oil every three months or 3,000 miles is almost certainly wasteful. I'm not sure what kind of "extreme" driving conditions would warrant this frequency, but I've yet to hear them described to me.

Of course you'll probably get a different opinion from your local service station if you ask them. Hmmm...I wonder why... 

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2  Time's wasting: 4 ways to cut oil consumption now

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Ingredients are in place; all that's needed is the will

By now, the only thing as predictable as rising gas prices is the short-term political solutions that come along with them. It seems like every year, as soon as headlines start announcing "Pain at the pump" and Americans start emptying their wallets to fill up their tanks, politicians revert to their Rolodex of responses, from tax rebates and tax holidays to investigations into p
rice gouging by oil companies.

None of these proposals would do any harm, and many will provide Americans some temporary relief at the pump. But in the long term, we can't rely solely on quick fixes designed to placate an anxious public.

We need solutions designed to lessen our dependence on foreign oil and bring down prices for good. Washington understands this, but so far our leadership has been unwilling to take the hard steps necessary to confront one of the most pressing economic and national security challenges of the 21st century.

The time for excuses is over. Now is not the moment to be afraid of what might seem politically difficult or controversial. Now is the moment to call for innovation and sacrifice from those who can truly make a difference in solving our energy crisis: the auto industry, the oil industry, and the federal government.

We must start by producing cars that use less oil. The auto industry has not been asked to raise fuel economy standards in 17 years, and lately both Republicans and Democrats have stopped asking.

Today, we have no choice. Starting in 2008, we should raise coporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, standards a modest 3 percent a year over the next 12 years, so that by 2020, passenger vehicles average 40.5 mpg and light trucks average 32.6 mpg.

This is by no means a dramatic increase: Five years ago, the National Academy of Sciences concluded that raising CAFE to 33 mpg for passenger cars could easily be done without compromising passenger safety.

But auto executives are right when they say that transitioning to more fuel-efficient automobiles would be costly at a time of sagging profits and stiff competition, and that's precisely why the federal government shouldn't let the industry face these costs on their own.

We should strike a grand bargain with the Big Three automakers whereby the government picks up part of the tab for retiree health care costs -- a tab that ran almost $6.7 billion just last year -- in exchange for the car companies using that savings to invest in more fuel-efficient cars.

Beyond raising CAFE, however, it's time we replace oil altogether as America's fuel of choice. This doesn't just mean singing the praises of ethanol and hoping that it finds its way into our fuel supply on its own. It means taking major steps now to put a national biofuel infrastructure in place.

Already, some cars on the road have the flexible-fuel tanks necessary for them to run on E85, a cheaper, cleaner blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. But millions upon millions of cars still don't have these tanks.

It's time for automakers to install those tanks in every single car they make, and it's time for the government to cover this small cost, which currently runs at just $100 per car.

It's also a time to start making E85 fueling stations more available to the public. Currently, only 681 out of 170,000 fueling stations in America offer E85 pumps. This is not acceptable. Every American should have the choice to fill up their car with E85 at any fueling station. And oil companies should stop standing in the way and join us in making this happen. If the big oil companies would devote just 1 percent of their first quarter profits this year to install E85 pumps, more than 7,000 service stations would be able to serve E85 to hungry motorists.

Finally, we should reduce the risk of investing in renewable fuels by providing loan guarantees and venture capital to those entrepreneurs with the best plans to develop and sell biofuels. And we should create a market for renewable fuels by ramping up the renewable fuel standard and creating an alternative diesel standard in this country that together would blend 65 billion gallons of renewable fuels into the petroleum supply each year.

If we had taken all these steps decades ago, when the call for energy independence was first issued in this country, today we would be immune to the whims of oil-rich dictators and surging gas prices. And if we don't take these steps now, we will someday look back on today's $3 per gallon gasoline as the good ol' days. At that point, there won't be a tax rebate big enough, or a tax holiday long enough, to solve our problems.

The American people should not have to wait for this day to come. When it comes to reducing our dependence on oil, the resources are there. The technology is there. The demand is there. Now we just need the will to get the job done.

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3  Waste Energy!

It's available. Use it, or lose it.

The above exclamation is not an imperative command, it is simply an exclamation to describe my excitement over the possibility of using wastes to create energy.

All over the world today organic waste material is being utilized to generate energy via the creation of methane gas.

In this short tutorial of the online class Energy Resources: GEOL 411 , I will address the following :

How do we get energy from waste?

What types of waste create methane gas?

  • Landfill waste
  • Food processing by products
  • Animal Manure

Case Study:

Getting Energy from waste:

When organic waste decomposes, methane and other gases are produced. These gases can either escape to the atmosphere and add to the "greenhouse" effect, or they can be captured and used as an energy resource. Methane, or "biogas", can be used much like natural gas for energy. It can be burned for steam-generated electricity, used as a fuel for internal combustion engines, or harnessed through other means to be used as an energy resource.

"Useful" Waste

Landfill Waste

The decomposition of organic material in solid waste deposited at land fills results as landfill gas or biogas. The gas is made up of carbon dioxide, methane, and small amounts of other gases. If the concentration of methane is high (above 50%), there is a possibility for recovering the gas for energy use. The rate of gas production is most dependent on refuse composition, oxygen concentration, moisture content, refuse age, and temperature.

Typically, waste must sit for about 30 years before gas can be produced from a landfill site. The gas is collected by a series of wells and then transported to a central processing facility.

There are a few options for how to use landfill methane gas for energy. The most common use is for the production of electricity. Also, the gas can be used for boiler fuel, it can be used to produce compressed natural gas for vehicle fuel, and it can be upgraded to be useful as pipeline quality gas. The EPA has a Landfill Methane Outreach Program to help landfills learn how to take advantage of these opportunities.

Can the decomposition process, and therefore the generation of the gas, be speeded up? Yes, currently a variety of methods are being tried to speed up the generation of biogas. Most invlove the use of a digestor. The conventional completely mixed digestor for the anaerobic digestion of solid waste requires 10 tons of water for 1 ton of waste. There is also a 2-step digestor, and dry digestion, which can occur spontaneously and last 20-50 years before complete recovery, or in semi-continuous digestors where biogas can be recovered in 3 weeks.

Food Processing By-products

This is a very new technology that uses thermochemical methods to generate biogas from waste derived through food processing. To learn more about it, see the recent research done on the Thermochemical Environmental Energy System and searching for that very name.

Animal Manure

I use the term "animal", but that could also refer to the biological waste from humans as well as lower life forms. For example, a sewage treatment plant can double as a power plant by generating methane for energy production. Such a plant exists in Hercules, California. (This plant, by the way, also acts as a fish hatchery and a fertilizer production plant.)

Typically, however, cow manure is most commonly used to generate methane. Getting rid of manure and the dangerous methane gases is a national concern, receiving attention from the U.S. EPA AgSTAR program. This program encourages farmers and ranchers to utilize their manure as an energy resource.

Manure is turned into methane by much the same technology previously described in using digestors for decomposing solid waste at landfills. Click here to return to the discussion on digestors.

There is a creative campaign in the rural areas of Ghana to use both animal and human waste to generate electricity using these methods. Please click here and search for "Using gas to save forests" for a complete description.

Other information

People all over the world are using the internet to find out more about how to use waste to generate energy. If you would like to see or respond to other people's inquiries in this area, please click here to do that.

Case Study: The I-95 Sanitary Landfill, Fairfax County, VA

The 1-95 landfill has been receiving waste since 1971. Under a unique arrangement, a developer owns and operates the energy recovery facility, but the County retains control of the gas extraction wells. The agreement was structured this way because of the County's concerns about migration and odor control.. The 1-95 energy recovery facility collects 3.3 mmcfd of landfill gas and uses 8 internal combustion engines to produce 6 MW of electricity for sale to Virginia Power.

Can the experience in Fairfax be extrapolated elsewhere? In other words, can this situation be repeated elsewhere and thus have a significant impact on the potential of using waste as an energy resource?

Yes. This scenario is already being played out at several different landfills throughout the world. However, there will never (hopefully) be enough waste to generate enough biogas for the world's energy needs.

4  Thursday, June 21, 2007

America's Hedonistic Energy WASTE !

 
PLEASE READ the following brief regarding the ONLY SOLUTION to the pandemic ENERGY CRISIS.

AMERICAN ENERGY WASTE is EVERYWHERE !

Energy waste in America is horrendous and FIXABLE !
(1) We over heat and over cool our homes, businesses, offices, schools, churches, etc...
(2) 10's of millions of outdoor lights burn during the day.
(3) Most Americans do not minimize their driving.
(4) Over packaging is the norm. Recycling is inadequate . Our landfills are busier than ever.
(5) Road construction in America is the ultimate contradiction.

The ONLY way to reduce energy waste and over demand is by using the economics of taxing energy, in lieu of Federal Income Tax. UNTIL the price of gas is $6 to $8 per gallon, hedonistic America will not significantly reduce its over consumption and energy waste. Federal Gas Tax should be $4 to $6 per gallon and 'offset' by making Federal Income Tax begin at $60k.
ONLY with a tangible/dollar reward will America care to conserve.

In the mean time, the USA continues to 'give away' its economic and political wealth to the Islamic Middle East via OPEC, so we can continue our energy waste. Know that the Islamic dominated OPEC cartel is glad to allow supply and demand market forces to drive energy prices to $8/gallon. The Islamics, who want to annihilate us, will likely succeed; using our American 'gas money' to buy the weapons needed to do so.

China, India, and other 'developing countries' are just beginning to compete for the world's remaining energy supply. Geopolitical unrest is directly related to global competition for energy and natural resources. If global demand for energy is not dramatically reduced, World war is inevitable.

Ford and General Motors are headed for bankruptcy, which will leave 100,000,000 Americans unemployed, ruin our economy, and lead to anarchy. America can no longer continue to 'do business as usual'. Ford and GM need to transition to the lucrative business of building solar and wind 'energy producers' for the world's 6.7 BILLION people reason$. The world cannot continue to support all the automakers. We are running out of petroleum. Wake up !
Mass transit must reward those who reduce their driving and thereby become FREE, SAFE, CLEAN, and CONVENIENT. Only then, will significant numbers of people use it.
The ONLY workable means by which America can implement intelligent sustainable energy conservation, is by using the economic incentive of TAXING ENERGY - NOT INCOME!

Click Here for tips on saving  just one  "Drop of Oil "at a time . http://www.DropOfOil.com/SaveThe/Planet1.html

5  How do we deal with waste today?

Despite our increasing efforts, there is no completely safe way to get rid of our garbage. All methods of disposal come with high environmental price tags. The best solution to our garbage problem is to make less stuff and then find the most appropriate way to manage what's left:

REDUCE  -  REUSE  -  RECYCLE  -  COMPOST  -  BURN  -  BURY

Reduce

Activity Idea

Litterless Lunch

Launch a litterless lunch campaign and award prizes to the winning class.

Reducing what we create, buy and use, and what we throw out is the most important step in saving our natural resources, energy, green space and in reducing pollution. Many things end up in the garbage that don't need to be there in the first place.

Some things could have been designed better. Some things could have been repaired or used by someone else. Some things could have been recycled or composted. Some things could have been avoided altogether with wiser purchases.

What we choose to buy and how it is packaged has a lot to do with how much garbage we throw out. We need to change our consumer habits and think twice before we buy so that we don't create more garbage.

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Reuse

Activity Idea

Rainbow Crayons

Reuse broken crayon pieces by creating new rainbow crayons. Here's How:

Remove any paper from the crayons and sort them by colour. Place the pieces, one colour at a time, in clean empty tin cans. Set the tin cans in a pot of very hot or boiling water until the crayons have melted.

Pour a small amount into empty plastic film canisters (or mini muffin trays). When the wax hardens, add a second colour in the same way. Keep adding colours until you run out of room. When you're done, you will have big, colourful, rainbow crayons.

Most materials are made from natural resources. Natural resources are things made from nature, such as trees, minerals, oil, gas and metals. The waste we create is really a resource that is thrown away sometimes after a single use. Reusing and then recycling these materials helps limit resource use, keeps valuable materials out of landfills, and prevents pollution. When we reuse things, fewer materials are wasted and non-renewable resources are conserved.

The time has come for us to change our way of thinking; to place more value on the basic requirements for all life on Earth-clean air, soil and water-and reduce our waste to help protect them. We need to start taking action and change the way we feel about and deal with waste.

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Recycle

Did you know?

Over 70 percent less energy is needed to produce aluminium from recycled cans than from raw materials.

As much as 80 percent of everyday waste materials can be recycled and given new life when broken down and used again and again. Recycling still uses energy and resources, but it's much better than making things from scratch.

Don't have a recycling program in your community? Take your recyclables to the closest depot and write letters to your mayor, councillor and local newspaper in support of setting up a program.

Did you know?

Every tonne of newspapers recycled saves approximately 17 to 19 trees.

Activity Idea

Make Your Own Recycled Paper!

Every day we use something that is made from trees. One of these things is paper. Help save trees by making your own recycled paper.

Compost

Did you know?

Since Toronto's Keele Valley landfill site closed in 2002, the city's waste has been trucked to Michigan. As a result, waste disposal costs have increased more than 300%-from $12/tonne to $52/tonne!

Organic materials (food scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, yard waste, etc.) make up about 30 percent of the garbage going to landfill. Instead of wasting this valuable material by throwing it in the garbage, it can be composted. It is a natural, biological process that recycles organics into a useable resource: nutrient-rich, soil conditioner for farms, parks and gardens.

Composting is a bit like cooking: you combine a number of ingredients (organic material, soil organisms, moisture and air), stir them around and leave them to simmer for a while. It is a natural, biological process that recycles organics into a useable resource: nutrient-rich, soil conditioner for farms, parks and gardens.

Composting waste has two key benefits: it reduces the amount of waste going to landfills and it produces a free natural fertilizer that helps build healthy soil and plants, achieving a healthier environment.

There are many different kinds of composters; some are designed for backyards and some for apartment balconies, such as vermi-composters, which use worms to accelerate the breakdown of food scraps into soil.

Activity Idea

Nature At Work

Composting is the oldest form of recycling. Learn more about it by building a model compost pile in your classroom.

You can buy a composter (contact your local Public Works Department, they usually sell them at reduced rates) or you can make one. Organizations like the Composting Council of Canada offer good instructions on building your own composter.

Burn

The practice of burning garbage has been around since the early 1900s. Burning can reduce the volume of trash by 80 to 90 percent. Many people have different opinions on whether burning garbage is a good alternative to burying it.

Activity Idea

The Burning Question

Is incineration a good way to deal with our trash? Organize a trip to a local incineration facility to evaluate the pros and cons of burning garbage.

Some say that incineration is harmful to our health because of the toxic chemicals that are released during the combustion process. Others say that the current technology of incineration is better and more environmentally friendly than what existed in the past so it has become a practical option. What do you think? Take part in the suggested activity and find out for yourself.

Bury

Did you know?

There are well over 10,000 landfill sites in Canada. Visit a local landfill site and see the impacts of our wasteful society.

When you throw out your garbage, chances are it ends up buried in a landfill. That's where the majority of our trash goes. Unlike a dump - which is an open hole in the ground where trash is buried and foul odours and animals abound - a landfill is a carefully built structure designed to keep garbage away from nearby water, soil, air, wildlife and people.

Isolation from the environment occurs with a bottom liner of one or more layers of clay (natural) and/or plastic (synthetic) and a daily covering of soil. Garbage is collected, trucked in, dumped, spread out, crushed, covered with soil and compacted with heavy equipment.

Structure of a Landfill

Structure of a Landfill: Ground Water, Clay, Plastic Liner, Leachate Collection Pipe, Gravel, Drainage Layer, Soil Layer, Old Garbage Cells, New Garbage Cells, Leachate Pond

Waste brought in stays for a very, very long time. Because there is very little oxygen and moisture inside a landfill, trash doesn't break down very fast. So basically, our waste is stored in the ground and becomes a permanent part of the landscape.

Rainwater that trickles through a landfill combines with harmful chemicals and other particles from the rotting waste, creating a liquid called "leachate." If a landfill isn't protected with a liner (most old landfills aren't), or the liner cracks, leachate may seep through layers of garbage and eventually enter the surrounding area polluting ground water, wetlands, rivers and lakes.

Today's landfills are built with pipes that collect leachate that is treated in a sewage treatment facility. When a landfill closes, the surrounding environment, especially the ground water, must be inspected, monitored and maintained-for up to 30 years in some places.

Activity Idea

Where Does Your Garbage Go?
Research and chart the steps your garbage and recycling goes through.

The slow decay of garbage in landfills also produces greenhouse gases-mostly methane and carbon dioxide-that contribute to global warming. New landfills have gas collection pipes to capture the gases and potentially use them for industrial purposes.

Something to think about

Landfill blues
It is almost impossible to go through a day without using disposable products and packaging. Every day we bury valuable resources in our landfills that had a useful life of only a few minutes.

6  Is Recycling A Waste Of Time, Money And Energy?

is recycling worth all the hassle and time. Recycling costs money.

Is Recycling A Waste Of Time, Money And Energy?
Enlarge Image

Most of us feel guilty if we do not take the trouble to wash and sort all those reusable plastics, papers and tins. We do this to avoid throwing them in the bin which then ends up in the landfill sites around the country. But how useful is recycling and can it really solve the waste crisis?

UK households generate a staggering thirty million tonnes of rubbish a year, of which sixty per cent comes from packaging. There has been a lot of publicity recently about waste that has been put out for recycling ending up in landfill sites. It is also clear that an increasing amount is being shipped to other countries to dispose of. It can be cheaper to transport it to other countries than to recycle it or fill up the landfill sites in the UK.

The European Union (EU) has recently ordered the citizens of the United Kingdom to roughly double their recycling rates by 2008. Governments across the European Union and America have announced plans to require more recycling. Unless the UK hits these targets, local council tax bills across the UK will soar unless local authorities hit their recycling targets to enable the UK to hit their targets set by the EU. The UK government already charges tax for dumping waste in landfill sites to encourage us to recycle more and this tax is due to increase.

This will punish local councils which continue to use landfills and council tax payers will pay the price for poor performance by not recycling themselves or by not having the facilities to do this. It’s therefore cheaper to recycle then to dump in the landfill sites. The UK currently recycles 22 per cent of its household waste while some other EU countries recycle more than half. The UK proposes cutting the amount of waste put into landfill sites from 72 per cent today to 25 per cent by 2020.
Some Thing to Think About -The Future?

- Why do we use all that energy recycling paper to save the trees? There is the argument that paper should be recycled so that we save trees and forests but we now grow trees just to produce newsprint and other items. Is it a sustainable resource already?

- New landfills are constructed in the USA and this should happen in the UK on a large scale which would enable the UK to pipe the methane gas that they produce to local power plants supplying homes in a green and eco way.

- We need to ensure that any recycling programmes that are run are delivered effectively. That means tracing waste down the chain to its ultimate destination. Transparency should inform the whole waste management industry.
- If a study in undertaken and it concludes that it costs more to recycle than to bury the used and manufacture the new from scratch, then we could start landfills just for plastic, one for glass etc. then if we do run out of them we can dig them all up in one go for recycling. For example, if the throwing away of plastic continues and continuing oil shortages mean that it is more cost effective we can recycle them all at once by mining the landfills and it would be cheaper and easier then continuous recycling.
- At present, only an estimated fifteen per cent of UK households have access to kerbside collections, if they these collections do not cover glass, paper, plastic etc. then how far do you have to drive to the nearest recycling centre and how much do you have to collect at home to ensure that you are not making more damage by driving then the amount of energy you are saving by recycling? What about the financial cost to collect the recycling or to take it to the recycling centre? What about the energy taken to recycle it? Is oil really running out? How much landfill is available?

7 Primary Sources: The President's Proposed Energy Policy
Jimmy Carter delivered this televised speech on April 18, 1977.

Tonight I want to have an unpleasant talk with you about a problem unprecedented in our history. With the exception of preventing war, this is the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetimes. The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will if we do not act quickly.

It is a problem we will not solve in the next few years, and it is likely to get progressively worse through the rest of this century.

We must not be selfish or timid if we hope to have a decent world for our children and grandchildren.

We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now, we can control our future instead of letting the future control us.

Two days from now, I will present my energy proposals to the Congress. Its members will be my partners and they have already given me a great deal of valuable advice. Many of these proposals will be unpopular. Some will cause you to put up with inconveniences and to make sacrifices.

The most important thing about these proposals is that the alternative may be a national catastrophe. Further delay can affect our strength and our power as a nation.

Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern. This difficult effort will be the "moral equivalent of war" -- except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy.

I know that some of you may doubt that we face real energy shortages. The 1973 gasoline lines are gone, and our homes are warm again. But our energy problem is worse tonight than it was in 1973 or a few weeks ago in the dead of winter. It is worse because more waste has occurred, and more time has passed by without our planning for the future. And it will get worse every day until we act.

The oil and natural gas we rely on for 75 percent of our energy are running out. In spite of increased effort, domestic production has been dropping steadily at about six percent a year. Imports have doubled in the last five years. Our nation's independence of economic and political action is becoming increasingly constrained. Unless profound changes are made to lower oil consumption, we now believe that early in the 1980s the world will be demanding more oil that it can produce.

The world now uses about 60 million barrels of oil a day and demand increases each year about 5 percent. This means that just to stay even we need the production of a new Texas every year, an Alaskan North Slope every nine months, or a new Saudi Arabia every three years. Obviously, this cannot continue.

We must look back in history to understand our energy problem. Twice in the last several hundred years there has been a transition in the way people use energy.

The first was about 200 years ago, away from wood -- which had provided about 90 percent of all fuel -- to coal, which was more efficient. This change became the basis of the Industrial Revolution.

The second change took place in this century, with the growing use of oil and natural gas. They were more convenient and cheaper than coal, and the supply seemed to be almost without limit. They made possible the age of automobile and airplane travel. Nearly everyone who is alive today grew up during this age and we have never known anything different.

Because we are now running out of gas and oil, we must prepare quickly for a third change, to strict conservation and to the use of coal and permanent renewable energy sources, like solar power.

The world has not prepared for the future. During the 1950s, people used twice as much oil as during the 1940s. During the 1960s, we used twice as much as during the 1950s. And in each of those decades, more oil was consumed than in all of mankind's previous history.

World consumption of oil is still going up. If it were possible to keep it rising during the 1970s and 1980s by 5 percent a year as it has in the past, we could use up all the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade.

I know that many of you have suspected that some supplies of oil and gas are being withheld. You may be right, but suspicions about oil companies cannot change the fact that we are running out of petroleum.

All of us have heard about the large oil fields on Alaska's North Slope. In a few years when the North Slope is producing fully, its total output will be just about equal to two years' increase in our nation's energy demand.

Each new inventory of world oil reserves has been more disturbing than the last. World oil production can probably keep going up for another six or eight years. But some time in the 1980s it can't go up much more. Demand will overtake production. We have no choice about that.

But we do have a choice about how we will spend the next few years. Each American uses the energy equivalent of 60 barrels of oil per person each year. Ours is the most wasteful nation on earth. We waste more energy than we import. With about the same standard of living, we use twice as much energy per person as do other countries like Germany, Japan and Sweden.

One choice is to continue doing what we have been doing before. We can drift along for a few more years.

Our consumption of oil would keep going up every year. Our cars would continue to be too large and inefficient. Three-quarters of them would continue to carry only one person -- the driver -- while our public transportation system continues to decline. We can delay insulating our houses, and they will continue to lose about 50 percent of their heat in waste.

We can continue using scarce oil and natural to generate electricity, and continue wasting two-thirds of their fuel value in the process.

If we do not act, then by 1985 we will be using 33 percent more energy than we do today.

We can't substantially increase our domestic production, so we would need to import twice as much oil as we do now. Supplies will be uncertain. The cost will keep going up. Six years ago, we paid $3.7 billion for imported oil. Last year we spent $37 billion -- nearly ten times as much -- and this year we may spend over $45 billion.

Unless we act, we will spend more than $550 billion for imported oil by 1985 -- more than $2,500 a year for every man, woman, and child in America. Along with that money we will continue losing American jobs and becoming increasingly vulnerable to supply interruptions.

Now we have a choice. But if we wait, we will live in fear of embargoes. We could endanger our freedom as a sovereign nation to act in foreign affairs. Within ten years we would not be able to import enough oil -- from any country, at any acceptable price.

If we wait, and do not act, then our factories will not be able to keep our people on the job with reduced supplies of fuel. Too few of our utilities will have switched to coal, our most abundant energy source.

We will not be ready to keep our transportation system running with smaller, more efficient cars and a better network of buses, trains and public transportation.

We will feel mounting pressure to plunder the environment. We will have a crash program to build more nuclear plants, strip-mine and burn more coal, and drill more offshore wells than we will need if we begin to conserve now. Inflation will soar, production will go down, people will lose their jobs. Intense competition will build up among nations and among the different regions within our own country.

If we fail to act soon, we will face an economic, social and political crisis that will threaten our free institutions.

But we still have another choice. We can begin to prepare right now. We can decide to act while there is time.

That is the concept of the energy policy we will present on Wednesday. Our national energy plan is based on ten fundamental principles.

The first principle is that we can have an effective and comprehensive energy policy only if the government takes responsibility for it and if the people understand the seriousness of the challenge and are willing to make sacrifices.

The second principle is that healthy economic growth must continue. Only by saving energy can we maintain our standard of living and keep our people at work. An effective conservation program will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

The third principle is that we must protect the environment. Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problems -- wasteful use of resources. Conservation helps us solve both at once.

The fourth principle is that we must reduce our vulnerability to potentially devastating embargoes. We can protect ourselves from uncertain supplies by reducing our demand for oil, making the most of our abundant resources such as coal, and developing a strategic petroleum reserve.

The fifth principle is that we must be fair. Our solutions must ask equal sacrifices from every region, every class of people, every interest group. Industry will have to do its part to conserve, just as the consumers will. The energy producers deserve fair treatment, but we will not let the oil companies profiteer.

The sixth principle, and the cornerstone of our policy, is to reduce the demand through conservation. Our emphasis on conservation is a clear difference between this plan and others which merely encouraged crash production efforts. Conservation is the quickest, cheapest, most practical source of energy. Conservation is the only way we can buy a barrel of oil for a few dollars. It costs about $13 to waste it.

The seventh principle is that prices should generally reflect the true replacement costs of energy. We are only cheating ourselves if we make energy artificially cheap and use more than we can really afford.

The eighth principle is that government policies must be predictable and certain. Both consumers and producers need policies they can count on so they can plan ahead. This is one reason I am working with the Congress to create a new Department of Energy, to replace more than 50 different agencies that now have some control over energy.

The ninth principle is that we must conserve the fuels that are scarcest and make the most of those that are more plentiful. We can't continue to use oil and gas for 75 percent of our consumption when they make up seven percent of our domestic reserves. We need to shift to plentiful coal while taking care to protect the environment, and to apply stricter safety standards to nuclear energy.

The tenth principle is that we must start now to develop the new, unconventional sources of energy we will rely on in the next century.

These ten principles have guided the development of the policy I would describe to you and the Congress on Wednesday.

Our energy plan will also include a number of specific goals, to measure our progress toward a stable energy system.

These are the goals we set for 1985:

--Reduce the annual growth rate in our energy demand to less than two percent.

--Reduce gasoline consumption by ten percent below its current level.

--Cut in half the portion of United States oil which is imported, from a potential level of 16 million barrels to six million barrels a day.

--Establish a strategic petroleum reserve of one billion barrels, more than six months' supply.

--Increase our coal production by about two thirds to more than 1 billion tons a year.

--Insulate 90 percent of American homes and all new buildings.

--Use solar energy in more than two and one-half million houses.

We will monitor our progress toward these goals year by year. Our plan will call for stricter conservation measures if we fall behind.

I cant tell you that these measures will be easy, nor will they be popular. But I think most of you realize that a policy which does not ask for changes or sacrifices would not be an effective policy.

This plan is essential to protect our jobs, our environment, our standard of living, and our future.

Whether this plan truly makes a difference will be decided not here in Washington, but in every town and every factory, in every home an don every highway and every farm.

I believe this can be a positive challenge. There is something especially American in the kinds of changes we have to make. We have been proud, through our history of being efficient people.

We have been proud of our leadership in the world. Now we have a chance again to give the world a positive example.

And we have been proud of our vision of the future. We have always wanted to give our children and grandchildren a world richer in possibilities than we've had. They are the ones we must provide for now. They are the ones who will suffer most if we don't act.

I've given you some of the principles of the plan.

I am sure each of you will find something you don't like about the specifics of our proposal. It will demand that we make sacrifices and changes in our lives. To some degree, the sacrifices will be painful -- but so is any meaningful sacrifice. It will lead to some higher costs, and to some greater inconveniences for everyone.

But the sacrifices will be gradual, realistic and necessary. Above all, they will be fair. No one will gain an unfair advantage through this plan. No one will be asked to bear an unfair burden. We will monitor the accuracy of data from the oil and natural gas companies, so that we will know their true production, supplies, reserves, and profits.

The citizens who insist on driving large, unnecessarily powerful cars must expect to pay more for that luxury.

We can be sure that all the special interest groups in the country will attack the part of this plan that affects them directly. They will say that sacrifice is fine, as long as other people do it, but that their sacrifice is unreasonable, or unfair, or harmful to the country. If they succeed, then the burden on the ordinary citizen, who is not organized into an interest group, would be crushing.

There should be only one test for this program: whether it will help our country.

Other generation of Americans have faced and mastered great challenges. I have faith that meeting this challenge will make our own lives even richer. If you will join me so that we can work together with patriotism and courage, we will again prove that our great nation can lead the world into an age of peace, independence and freedom.

8  Aluminum, Steel, and Other Metals

 

OLD cans to new CANS
After you have done your part by taking your old aluminum cans to a recycling center or putting them in the recycling bin at the curb for pick-up, what happens next?

The old aluminum cans are taken to an aluminum reclamation plant. The cans are shredded into potato chip sized pieces and fed into a melting furnace. The molten aluminum is gradually hardened into rectangular slabs, called ingots, and then formed into thin sheets of aluminum.

The metal from recycled aluminum cans is usually made into new aluminum cans. This is called closed-loop recycling because the old cans are turned into the same thing again. Aluminum beverage containers can be recycled into new cans and put back onto store shelves within 60 days!

Aluminum also can be recycled over and over again.
It does not lose its quality, and recycling it saves energy every time.

The most common metals we need to consider when discussing recycling are aluminum and steel. Some other metals–like gold, silver, brass, and copper–are so valuable that they are rarely thrown away. They do not create a waste disposal problem. 

Aluminum and steel do. Americans use 100 million steel cans and 200 million aluminum beverage cans every day. What should we do with this metal waste? Should we burn it in waste-to-energy plants? Should we landfill it? Or should we recycle it?

After source reduction (using less aluminum to make a can, for example), recycling is the most efficient way to reduce aluminum and steel waste. 

Unlike paper and plastics,burning metal trash in waste-to-energy plants creates no energy. Instead, aluminum melts and steel just gets very hot. Magnets can be used to collect steel scrap at waste-to-energy plants, though, and then the scrap can be shipped to steel plants for recycling.

Landfilling is usually not a good alternative either. Aluminum, in particular, is so valuable as a scrap material that it simply does not make sense to bury it.

RECYCLING ALUMINUM

ALUMINUM cycle

 

1. You enjoy your favorite beverage in an aluminum can


 

2. You are a good "sort." You put the aluminum can in a bag for recycling.

 

 


 

3. Recycling company takes the cans to a recycling plant. The aluminium is shredded and melted.
 

 

4. The molten aluminum is gradually hardened into ingot form.


 

5. Ingots are made into aluminum sheets or other desired forms.


 

6. The aluminum is made into new cans, and the cycle begins again.

Like most metals, aluminum is an ore. An ore is a mineral that is mined for a valuable material contained within it. Bauxite, a reddish clay-like ore, is rich in aluminum compounds.

The tricky thing about aluminum—unlike copper, iron, and other common metals—is that it only exists in combination with other elements, usually oxygen. Combined with oxygen, aluminum forms an extremely hard material known as alumina. To free the aluminum, the alumina must be stripped or reduced of its oxygen. This process is done at a reduction plant, or smelter. The alumina is put into large pots at the reduction plant. First, it is dissolved in a molten (or liquid) salt. 

Then, a powerful electric current is run through the liquid to separate the aluminum from the oxygen. The molten aluminum sinks to the bottom of the pots. The reduction process requires a tremendous amount of electrical energy.

That is why recycling aluminum makes sense. It saves energy—a lot of energy. Today, aluminum can recycling saves about 11.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh)—enough electricity to light a city the size of Pittsburgh for six years.

As you probably know, energy is expensive!  Just take a look at your parents’ electric bill, or note the price of a gallon of gasoline the next time you see a gas station. Making a pound of aluminum from bauxite ore  (a pound is about how much 34 aluminum beverage cans weigh) takes 7.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Making aluminum from recycled aluminum scrap, on the other hand, takes only four percent of the energy—just one-third kWh. Recycling four aluminum cans saves as much energy as the energy in one cup of gasoline.

That is also why used aluminum items have a high scrap value. Aluminum manufacturers save energy and money by using recycled aluminum, so they will pay you for your old cans—about a penny for every can.

STEEL RECYCLING

 

Steel is the most recycled material in the United States. Steel dominates the recycling mix because every year the steel industry recycles huge amounts of steel scrap from cars, appliances, and torn-down buildings and bridges. Today, all steel products are made with some recycled steel.

SAVING energy by recycling STEEL

 
The average family in the United States uses 90 pounds of steel cans a year.
Recycling that steel would save:
  • 144 KWh of electricity
  • 63 lbs of coal
  • 112 lbs of iron
  • 5.4 lbs of limestone

    •  

    In 1998, the amount of steel that was recycled decreased for the first time in many years. Foreign countries were selling their steel so cheaply that the recycling industry suffered a decline. Today, it is increasing again.

    You can do your part at home by recycling steel cans. A steel can is the can your soup comes in, or your dog’s food, or your mom’s coffee, or the whip cream you squirt on top of an ice-cream sundae. In fact, most food containers are made of steel. 

    You have probably heard many people call a steel can a tin can. Steel cans are often called tin cans because they are usually coated with a thin layer of tin. Tin protects the food that is cooked in the can. 

    THE ABCs OF STEEL

    Steel and aluminum are both mined from ores, and are made in a similar way. The essential ingredient in steel making is iron ore. Iron ore is plentiful, but we cannot use it as it occurs in nature. Iron is usually combined with oxygen, or with other elements, like carbon and sulfur. We must smelt the iron ore—strip or reduce it of its oxygen—to get to the iron.

    It takes a great deal of energy to reduce iron oxides. An oxide is a compound with oxygen and some other element. The reduction takes place in a very hot blast furnace. A chemical reaction takes place in the blast furnace, and the iron is freed from the oxygen. This free iron (called pig iron by steel makers because it forms a pattern that looks like tiny piglets surrounding their mother) is used to make steel.

    Steel recycling saves a lot of energy. It is much more energy efficient to use steel scrap to make new steel than to mine the iron ore and then smelt it in a blast furnace. It takes about 60 percent less energy to make steel from recycled materials than it does from iron ore. That’s why today’s steel makers always use some steel scrap to make new steel products.

    Steel is probably the easiest material to separate from the rest of the solid waste stream. Steel is attracted to magnets, so special magnetic belts can be used to separate steel cans from other recyclables. This is a much more efficient method than the labor-intensive hand-sorting necessary with other recyclables, such as plastics.

    Recycling your used steel cans at home is easy, too. All you need to do is rinse the food from the cans. That’s it. Years ago, scrap dealers asked people to remove the paper labels and the tops and bottoms from cans. This is no longer necessary. 

    If you’re not sure which cans are steel and which are aluminum, use a magnet to separate them. Steel will stick to the magnet; aluminum will not. If you come across a can with a steel body and an aluminum top—called a bimetal can—put the can with the steel recyclables. Steel recyclers can accept all types of steel cans, even those containing aluminum. Aluminum recyclers can only accept 100 percent aluminum cans. 

    After steel scrap is collected from homes, recycling centers, or waste-to-energy plants, it is shipped to one of the companies that buy old steel—steel mills, iron and steel foundries, scrap dealers, and detinners. Detinners remove the layer of tin from old steel cans. This tin is valuable and can be sold.

    Steel can recycling follows almost the same process as aluminum can recycling. Steel cans, along with other steel scrap, are melted in a furnace and then poured into casters that continuously roll and flatten the steel into sheets. Recycled steel cans can be made into new cars, girders for buildings, or new food cans. In the U.S., steel cans and other steel products contain at least 25 percent recycled steel, with some containing nearly 100 percent recycled steel.

    Like aluminum, steel can also be recycled again and again. It does not lose any of its strength or quality in the recycling process. It can be a never-ending process that continues to save energy and resources. 
    9 Be the Change

    Change begins with the self and that is why the first point in the BURD action plan is to start at home. We Energy Guards have to ensure that not only do we become 'Energy wise' ourselves, but also that all members of our home become Energy wise. ‘Energy wise’

    We have to motivate all family members to be committed to energy conservation and live by the BURD motto of responsible, rational and restrained energy use. This means not only do we diligently save energy; we have to ensure that we do not waste energy by unhealthy energy habits. We can also Save Energy, Save Money and Save Environment by making rational energy choices. This means we need to curtail indiscriminate use of fossil fuels and switch to non-polluting renewable sources of energy wherever possible. When we shop for 'technology', we must learn to be energy-wise buyers- we must choose energy efficient devices in our home.

    The home energy audit is a preliminary and smart way to start our saving drive. The home energy audit is a simple energy accounting system. It will help us to intelligently transform our efforts into actual energy savings, because it will enable us to find exactly where the scope for saving energy is 'hiding'. If we design a smart energy conservation drive in our homes we are sure to make 'cool, calculated savings' that enable us to do more with less energy. The Urja Sim Sim: A Step-by-step-Plan Book  specially compiled for you, have charted a detailed methodical guideline on how you could conduct energy audit in your home and school. Read it.

    After receiving the BURD training many of our Urja Saarthis, Urja Sanchalaks and Agevans have already started auditing their homes. This has helped them to become conscious and vigilant energy users who know when energy is simply flowing down the drain. Many have invested in efficient energy saving lighting and solar appliances to cut down on energy costs. And now they are planning what they can do as the savings pile up month after month!

    But-

    Saving energy is not enough. If power thefts continue we will still be without energy or end up paying more. We must therefore impress upon our family, friends and neighbours that it is imperative to be honest electricity users who pay their bills regularly.
    10 SAVING ENERGY
     
    Professor Quester picture.

    I'm Professor Questor, inviting you to join me on an "Energy Quest." How many ways can you think of to save energy around your house?

    California's electricity problems taught us all to think about the energy we use everyday. There's never enough energy to waste!

    Many Californians learned to use their energy more efficiently. We also learned how to conserve energy - how to make thoughtful choices about ways we can use less. We learned how important it is to not waste energy, so there is enough for everyone.

    Californians "Flexed Their Power" by using energy at different times of the day, by turning lights and machines off when not being used.

    If you want to find out why California had its "Energy Crisis," the U.S. Department of Energy has a good background page at:
     

    www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/california/california.html

     

    Are YOU and your family having an energy crisis? You may be if you're wasting energy. How many of these ways to save energy around the house do YOU know?


     

    graphic of change a light campaign Change a Light, Change the World

    We really can "Change the World" with just one light bulb. The key is that the more people that take this step, the more we can change the world.


     

    Fight the Light!

    Don't leave lights on when no one is in the room. If you are going to be out of the room for more than five minutes, turn off the light.

    If you know of a light that everyone forgets to turn off, make a sticker or a sign to hang next to the switch that says "Lights Out!" or "Don't Forget!"

    Where possible, use compact fluorescent light bulbs. Those funny-looking bulbs produce the same amount of light by using 1/4 of the electricity. Plus, they last for years and years without burning out.

    There's one light bulb that firefighters in Livermore, California, never turn off. It uses very little energy and has been burning for 101 years! Find out more about the Centennial Bulb,

    Don't Leave Things Turned On

    Turn off the TV when no one is watching it. The same goes for computers, radios and stereos - if no one using it, turn it off. Turn off all the appliances at the surge protector/control strip - that four- or six-plug extension chord that you plug all your computer things into. Some devices, like modems or other networking boxes are drawing small amounts of power all the time. Check with your folks first, but the best thing to do is turn them ALL off at the surge protector.

    It's a Matter of Degrees!

    In warm weather, the thermostat at home should be set at 78 degrees. (Don't do this, of course, if it will cause health problems for anyone in your family.) When no one is home, set the thermostat at 85 degrees. That way, you'll reduce the need for air conditioning and you will save energy. If you have ceiling fans or other fans, turn them on. The blowing air can make you feel 5 degrees cooler, without running the family's air conditioner. Fans use a lot less electricity than air conditioners!

    In cold weather, wear warm clothing and have your thermostat set to 68 degrees or lower during the day and evening, health permitting. When you go to sleep at night, set the thermostat back to either 55 degrees, or turn it off. When you leave home for an extended time, set the thermostat at 55 degrees or turn it off, too. That way, your family can save from 5 percent to 20 percent on your heating costs. (Don't do this, of course, if it will cause health problems for anyone in your family.)

    Don't Heat - or Cool - the Great Outdoors!

    Americans use twice as much energy as necessary to heat their homes. That accounts for a lot of wasted energy!

    If you have a fireplace, close the damper when you don't have a fire burning. An open fireplace damper can let 8 percent of heat from your furnace escape through the chimney! In the summer, an open fireplace damper can let cool air escape. It's like having a window open!

    Make a map of your home, and mark all the windows, heating vents, and outside doors. Take a ribbon and hold it up to the edges of the doors and windows. If the ribbon blows, you've found a leak! Ask Mom or Dad to seal the leak with caulk or weatherstripping.

    Think about your curtains. Keeping the curtains closed on cold, cloudy days helps block the cold outside air from getting inside. Also, keeping the curtains closed on very hot days keeps the hot air out!

    In the Bedroom

    Turn off your electric blanket when you aren't in bed.

    Don't leave on your computer, TVs, radios or games that use electricity when you're not using them.

    In the Bathroom

    Wasting water wastes electricity. Why? Because the biggest use of electricity in most cities is supplying water and cleaning it up after it's been used!

    About 75 percent of the water we use in our homes is used in the bathroom. Unless you have a low flush toilet, for example, you use about five gallons to seven gallons of water with every flush! A leaky toilet can waste more than 10,000 gallons of water a year. Wow!

    Drippy faucets are bad, too. A faucet that leaks enough water to fill a soda bottle every 30 minutes will waste 2,192 gallons of water a year.

    Another simple way to save water AND energy is to take shorter showers. You'll use less hot water - and water heaters account for nearly 1/4 of your home's energy use.

    In the Kitchen

    According to researchers who are paid to study such things, a load of dishes cleaned in a dishwasher uses 37 percent less water than washing dishes by hand! However, if you fill up one side of the sink with soapy water and the other side with rinse water - and if you don't let the faucet run - you'll use half as much water as a dishwasher does. Doing the dishes this way can save enough water for a five-minute shower!

    If you need to warm up or defrost small amounts of food, use a microwave instead of the stove to save energy. Microwave ovens use around 50 percent less energy than conventional ovens do. For large meals, however, the stove is usually more efficient. In the summer, using a microwave causes less heat in the kitchen, which saves money on air conditioning.

    Don't keep the refrigerator door open any longer than you need to. Close it to keep the cold air inside! Also, make sure the door closes securely. There is a rubber-like seal around the door that you can test. Just close the door on a dollar bill, and then see how easy it is to pull out. If the dollar slides out easily, the door is probably leaking cold air from inside.

    Is there an old refrigerator sitting in the garage or someplace else at home? Old refrigerators are real energy hogs! An old refrigerator could be costing your family as much as $120 a year to operate. Urge your parents to replace it if they don't need it, and remind them that one large refrigerator is cheaper to run than two smaller ones.

    Shocking News About Batteries

    Did you know that Americans use an average of about eight batteries a year per person? Wow!

    Batteries that are thrown away produce most of the heavy metals - dangerous substances like lead, arsenic, zinc, cadmium, copper, and mercury - that are found in household trash. These metals are toxic. They can be harmful to humans and wildlife. When discarded batteries from our trash wind up in landfills, these dangerous metals can seep into the ground water and eventually into the food chain. So, instead of throwing batteries in the trash, we should all take them to a toxic waste disposal area, if at all possible.

    Turn off the toys and games (like GameBoys TM) that use batteries when you are not playing with them. That makes the batteries last longer, and you won't need as many of them.

    Forty percent of all battery sales are made during the holiday season. Ask for holiday gifts that do not require batteries.

    Ask your parents to buy rechargeable batteries and a recharger.

    Outside the House

    Remember how saving water saves energy? Use a broom instead of a hose to clean off the driveway, patio or deck - this will save hundreds of gallons of water each year.

    If you only have a small lawn, consider getting a manual push mower. It doesn't use any energy except your own. Pushing the mower spins the rotating wheels, which spins the cutter. Consider it good exercise!

    Don't use an electric or gasoline leaf blower. Instead, use a rake.

    If you need to leave a security light on over night, change the incandescent bulb to a compact fluorescent. It will last months and maybe years and save you energy and money. Some compact fluorescent bulbs even come in yellow so they won't attract bugs.

    Think About What Your Family Buys

    If you buy things that can be used over and over instead of buying disposable items that are used once and then thrown away, you will save precious natural resources. You'll also save energy used to make them, and you'll reduce the amount of landfill space we need when they are thrown away.

    Those same savings happen you buy things that will last instead of breaking right away. Well-made items may cost a little more to begin with, but they are usually worth the money because they last for a long time, and you don't have to replace them.

    When your family goes shopping, think about taking bags with you. Only about 700 paper bags can be made from one 15-year-old tree. A large grocery store can use that many bags before lunch! Plastic bags start out as either oil or natural gas. Oil and natural gas are non-renewable resources. This means they can't be reused, and when they are all gone, they are gone forever. And throw-away bags add a lot of pollution to the environment. If plastic and paper bags are used once and go to landfills, they stay there for hundreds of years Some stores offer discounts for people who use their own bags. For every bag reused, they give money back - usually about five cents for each bag.

    With your parents, pick a spot in your house to store bags that you get from the grocery store. These bags can be used to carry things to friends' houses or for trash linings. After bags wear out, recycle them.

    Other Recycling Tips

    Make a scrap-paper pad. Gather pieces of used paper the same size with the blank side up. Find a piece of cardboard the same size as the paper and put it at the back. Staple the whole thing together, and use it as a place to write down grocery lists or things to do.

    If every American recycled his or her newspaper just one day a week, we would save about 36 million trees a year. You can save a tree for every four feet of paper you recycle. It takes half as much energy to make recycled newspaper as it takes to make fresh newsprint from trees.

    Recycle your newspapers. (Check to see if recycling centers want them tied together or in bags.) Anything that comes with the newspaper can also be recycled (except magazines, which must be recycled separately).

    * Recycle your old notebook paper. It is considered "white paper," and makes better recycled paper. "White paper" is writing paper, notebook paper, white envelopes, typing paper, index cards, computer paper, and white stationary.

    Cereal boxes, egg cartons, wrapping paper are called "mixed paper." All these things can be recycled. Mixed paper can be made into paperboard, the paper that is used on roofs.

    For something fun, download the Recycle Rex Recycling Facts, Games and Crafts Booklet (Acrobat PDF file, 26 pages, 1.9 megabytes)

     

    In Your School

    The energy-saving ideas you used at home can also be used in school. Consider creating a weekly "energy monitor" - someone who's job it is to make sure lights are out when there's no one in a room. He or she can also make sure that machines are turned off when not being used. Have your teacher or principal check with the California Energy Commission to see if you school can become a "Bright School."


     

    Links to Other Websites About Saving Energy

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