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Which of these movies are you most excited for?

Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day and Other things


First off happy memorial day everyone
hope today went well.
So today was the first big storm of the summer! :D
This made me happy....way too happy.
I have some weird thing about storms. Even when my parents are like "Geno...it's thundering now...get inside." I stay out taking pictures, hoping to get my first picture of lightning. Or "Geno...it's raining...alot...get inside." Then I simply go to the porch and watch it.
Watching storms is awesome. Its super real life HD 3D
So, I took pictures of it but still do not have a card reader. (which i will hopefully get for my birthday in 4 days)
The storm was really cool, the temperature dropped ten degrees in only 10 minutes.






The next bit is all about the a water purification system I was hoping to get for our pool...unforunately the liner tore and we have to replace it. D:

Now then...onto saline pool systems
the following info was taken from http://www.salinepoolsystems.com/learn_more.htm#1a

What is a Saline System?

A Saline (salt-water) purification system provides on-site production of the sanitizer necessary to maintain water in a safe, healthy and algae-free condition.

Sanitizer is produced automatically, within the water itself, and involves no handling, storage or adding of chemicals to the water.

A Saline Purification System, properly sized for its application, will eliminate the need to purchase sanitizing chemicals such as – ‘pool chlorine’, algaecides and ‘shock’ chemicals. back to top

How it Works

When salt is dissolved into water and the water is then subjected to a simple process of electrolysis, a very effective water sanitizer is produced.

In fresh-water applications, such as swimming pools, spa pools, therapy pools (and many more – see ‘Where a Saline System can be used’, below), salt is added to the water to produce a very mild saline solution, approximately 1/3rd the salinity of human tears (or approx 1/12th as salty as ocean water). The salt used is common, every-day salt, or sodium chloride – the same pure salt found in sea water and used at the dining table.

When the water (and dissolved salt) is passed through the ‘cell’ portion of the Saline System equipment, chlorine gas is automatically produced (from the dissolved salt). This chlorine gas dissolves instantaneously into the water (so is never a hazard), and produces high levels of sanitizer/oxidizer which firstly prevent the formation of ‘chloramines’ and other ‘chlorine compounds’ and secondly provides a safe and measurable residual of sanitizer in the main water body.

The elimination of ‘chloramines’ and other ‘chlorine compounds’ means the elimination of all of the obnoxious side-effects commonly associated with the manual use of ‘pool chlorine’ and leaves the water looking, feeling like the most pure, fresh and chemical-free water possible.

The dissolved salt is not consumed in the Saline System process so after the initial start-up salt is added, only top-up salt is required periodically (an average home pool will require as little as $10-$20 worth of salt per year).



The sanitizer produced by the Saline System can be measured using the same common Test Kits used for testing chlorine levels in pools, and the chlorine residual (or FAC, Free and Available Chlorine level) can be maintained at required levels by simple adjustment of the Saline System Output, or production rate (thereby satisfying health authority by-laws). back to top

Advantages of the Saline System

Eliminates the need to add ‘pool-chlorine’ chemicals, algaecides and ‘shock’ chemicals to the water.

You will no longer need to purchase, handle or suffer the effects of packaged sanitizing/oxidizing pool chemicals and the problems and risks associated with their use.

No RED EYES, No GREEN HAIR, No ALGAE !!!

Significant costs savings can be achieved by owners of commercial swimming pools and spas, water-park pools, water-features and other such applications which consume large quantities of chlorine. Home pool and spa owners realize less cost-savings due to the smaller quantities of chemicals required – and usually convert to the Saline System for reasons of personal and family health concerns, swimmer comfort, convenience and better water quality.

Healthy. A Saline Purification System will maintain perfectly healthy water, while eliminating the risks and problems associated with periods of very high or low chemical levels. FAC (Free and Available Chlorine) can be maintained at levels to comply with local Health Authority requirements.

Prevents algae growth. The constant ‘shocking’ of the water as it passes through the Saline System ‘cell’ together with consistently maintained sanitizer levels in the main water body will prevent the growth of all common algae.

Environmentally and Ecologically Positive. The Saline System eliminates the need to manufacture, transport and store ‘pool-chlorine’ type chemicals and instead uses only pure natural salt from the ocean – and then re-cycles that salt indefinitely. Re-cycling a natural product – what a concept!

Comfortable swimming environment. Users of swimming pools and spa pools enjoy the natural therapeutic and health benefits of the mild salt water - with none of the obnoxious effects usually suffered with manually-chlorinated water. Swimmers who suffer so-called ‘chlorine allergies’ will find relief from those symptoms in a saline pool. Other advantages for swimmers include NO RED EYES, NO IRRITATED SKIN, NO DAMAGED HAIR OR BATHING SUITS.

So as you can see, using a saline pool system makes both environmental and economical sense. Hopefully next year we'll be able to buy. The start up for them is rather steep. They can cost anywhere from $200 - $900 however the long term savings of not having to buy and buy chlorine far outweighs the start-up cost.









Saturday, May 29, 2010

This is just for fun

This doesn't really have a 'green' theme to it, but its fun.

The video is Lady Gaga's Bad Romance set to different clips from gLee

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I love that show

Oh and I am now officially done with High School!!!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Just some pictures


A fiery sunset taken from my backyard


Another sunset from my backyard. Taken from my trampoline


Storm front moving in over Kure Beach, NC. (pronounced cur-ee)


Taken from a ferry near P.I.B. My favorite shot ever


Perry memorial in P.I.B.


Swirling storm clouds in my back yard.


Cool light rays


A really cool orange tinted cloud. Taken from outside of where I work


One of the most beautiful sun rises I have ever seen. The 'river' of lights in the dark portion is a highway. Taken from atop the Hoban Hill


Taken before the swirling storm clouds. This was just too perfect to pass up

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Listen to this...



cool huh?


oh here is a cool picture I found deep in my hard drive

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Video etc

So here is a video better explaining the Solar Updraft Tower

Oh and today I went to the river front in Cuyahoga Falls with one of my friends. I had the intent to go to Metropolis Popcorn, but it was closed today :P So instead we walked and mindlessly talked along the boardwalk. And as it turns out the river doesn't smell all that bad, relatively speaking. Here is the website for Metropolis Popcorn.
http://www.popohio.com/

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Oh Happy Day!

this is from http://www.hummerguy.net/hummer-news/last-hummer-h3-rolls-off-shreveport-assembly-line

Around 9AM Tuesday, the last HUMMERs rolled of the line in Shreveport, Louisiana – the site that has produced all HUMMER H3s and H3Ts cruising around the United States today. The final trucks were part of the special fleet order that brought the plant back online to produce an additional 850 units.
We still haven’t heard anything from the “Save the HUMMER” summit or the folks that were organizing it, so for all intensive purposes, we expect the HUMMER brand to be shutdown for good.
Some of the brand employees say that they would “never say never” about bringing the brand back online, but their first reaction always indicated that it was highly unlikely.
GM will retain all the rights associated with the brand, and how they use them will unfold over the next 5-10 years. We’re guessing that HUMMER brand licensing will continue to be profitable for some time – such as lending the truck’s image and name to toy manufacturers.
We will continue to keep you posted on anything to do with HUMMER – after all, they didn’t take our trucks away – they took our ability to buy new ones. There will still be a need for aftermarket parts for HUMMERs as they become less expensive and even more people start taking them offroad. Owners and the forums and clubs will still be active as long as HUMMERs are on the road – and we’ll be here with them.

It is certainly a good day

that and the fact that I had strawberry margarita sherbet from Handles today

Rest in Pieces Hummer :P

Solar Chimney


The Solar Chimney, also called a Solar Tower to avoid confusion with polluting industrial chimneys is coming to the forefront of green power. While not a new idea-it was first proposed in 1903 by Isidoro Cabanyes-it is just recently getting attention. Put simply the solar tower is a giant chimney like structure surrounded by a massive green house. Solar towers utilize the well known property to hot air, it rises. It uses this on a much larger scale. The green house surrounding the tower is warmed by the sun to well over 100 degrees. this hot air rises towards the center where the actual tower is. The temperature difference between the bottom of the tower and the top(which is over 1000 meters up) is enormous at this point. The hot air rises turning a turbine and electricity is generated with no burning of any fuel whatsoever.

The solar updraft tower is not meant to be placed everywhere. It is only most effective in areas of high solar potential as shown by the map.
As you can see the areas with the highest potential are also arid deserts. This is where the solar tower is a win-win situation for these areas. In addition to supplying power to surrounding towns and cities (one tower can provide power for around 250,000 homes)it can also act as a farm. The green house around the tower would provide the perfect environment to grow crops.
The tower would also provide tourism opportunities. When built it would be the tallest man-made structure on the planet.The only major drawback to the solar tower is its cost. A tower capable of providing clean electricity to 250,000 homes would cost upwards of 1 billion dollars. (thats $1,000,000,000)However, the positives are also quite great.
>It can provide clean and reliable power to 250,000 homes
>It also provides an area to raise crops in
>It presents tourism opportunities
>Given the last two statements, the presence of a tower would provide a boost to local economies

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well that's all I got on this subject for today
see you guys tomorrow

First Post!

Ok so this is mostly going to be a blog about the different 'green' stuff that I have done, or am going to do. It will also have random stuff in it that I think is interesting in some way or another.
Before I go any further I would like to take this time to thank the person who inspired this blog; my Environmental Science teacher and environmentalist extrodanaire Mrs. Judy Mohan!!! (whoooooo!) :D


moving on:
My house isn't necessarily the most enviro-friendly structure out there, but we're slowly moving towards it.
When we moved in we planted a garden from which we get tomoatoes, pea, carrots, and sometimes, corn, various herbs, melons, and the occasional pumpkin. However the soil is about as fertile as desert sand and it is very difficult to grow much there. So in the past we've used all sorts of chemical fertilizers to help it, they worked...kinda. then we started just throwing scraps of stuff right into the garden: carrot peels, egg shells, the works. My hope this summer( before I go off to college) is to start a compost pile. That way we will have access to a cheap and eco-friendly source of fertilizer.
Shortly after we moved into the house I now live in we had a pool installed in lieu of A/C. A trade-off I cannot complain about. However, the pool tended to be on the chilly side, especially after a storm. To solve this we bought a heater, a big, expensive gas heater. It worked amazingly for about two months...then it didn't. After we fixed it, it worked off and on (mostly off) for the next 5 years. Finally we dumped the gas heater, it was expensive to run and expensive to fix. For about a year we relied solely on a solar cover, however, with our back yard being a wind tunnel, the heat mostly evaporated. Then I started to research other heaters. I came across the solar heater when mindlessly flipping through a catalog. It was cheaper to buy than any other heater, easy to install, and free to run! Best of all it meant that we were not going to have a gas bill during the summer!!! :D My dad ordered it and we installed the day after it arrived. It works amazingly. Our pool is always the right temperature now thanks to that heater.
Below are some pics of me and my family enjoying our pool _the photos are a little outdated, but you can see we use it a lot)






As soon as I get an SD card reader I'm gonna upload some more recent pics of the pool along with a picture of the heater
The next thing I want to do with the pool is find an alternative to using Chlorine to sanitize it. I have read something about a way to use salt and will be looking into it further

oh, here is a diagram of how the heater works (basically the same as what we use minus the conventional heater


This summer I also hope to install a rain-water collection tank for my house. That way we can use that water on our garden instead of it flowing into the street.

So that's all for now and before I end this post here are some really cool landscape shots that I took that remind me why protecting the environment is important







More pics to come later