http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog en support@NeutralExistence.com Copyright 2008 2008-05-12T04:09:00-06:00 http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog/new-carbon-capture-breakthrough-makes-baking-soda/ http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog/new-carbon-capture-breakthrough-makes-baking-soda/#When:00:03:00Z As mentioned in a recent article from Michael Kanellos on Cnet News, there is a new revolutionary carbon scrubbing technique which is turning the pollution from smoke stacks into food grade baking soda. A company called Skyonic is responsible for this new process referred to as Skymining, in which sodium hydroxide is added to the carbon dioxide emissions from the smoke stacks to form sodium bicarbonate, otherwise known as baking soda. This baking soda is cleaner than food grade backing soda, according to Skyonic’s owner and considering that baking soda is currently mined, this new process can virtually eliminate all mining related to backing soda because we have enough smoke stacks in the US alone to produce the world’s supply of baking soda. Not only that, but this process also removes 97% of other heavy metals, sulfur and nitrogen compounds. The Skymine process does create a few other byproducts such as hydrogen and chlorine which can be resold with the backing soda to bring in additional profits to the company. The entire process is also energy negative because it uses the excess heat from the smoke stacks to run the entire process. This process in my opinion is one of the most significant breakthroughs which could ultimately make the most significant difference in the fight to curb toxic emissions. The fact is big industry is all about profits and unless it is profitable, you can bet that big industry will not use carbon sequestration technologies unless required to do so by law.Skyonic has addressed this issue by making their process of carbon sequestration a profitable green addition to a dirty industrial process. Everybody wins, big industry profits, the environment benefits and environmentalists are happy. Please see the original article for more detailed information. Product Reviews 2007-12-19T00:03:00-06:00 http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog/the-future-of-compact-florescent-lights/ http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog/the-future-of-compact-florescent-lights/#When:23:35:00Z I think everyone knows by now that compact florescent bulbs are the future of main stream lighting (until LED’s come down in price) because they are more cost efficient, energy efficient and longer lasting (less waste) than traditional incandescent light bulbs. However, up until now there has been a real lack of any type of diversity in design of these compact fluorescent lights (CFL). With CFL bulbs quickly becoming the norm for home lighting, there are many different manufacturers, but only three basic designs. As you can see from the image above, these three basic designs have not been elaborated on since the conception of CFL bulbs. Until now… A company called Hulger has recently begun designing a new line of CFL’s under the name Plumen.  These new designs challenge everything we think we know about light bulbs and have actually brought the light bulb into an entire new category. Before, the light fixture was the ornament of design that would hold and hide the light bulb, but now, the light bulb is not only the light giving element, but it is the design element as well. Product Reviews 2007-12-10T23:35:00-06:00 http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog/sustainable-biodegradable-cutlery-and-tableware/ http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog/sustainable-biodegradable-cutlery-and-tableware/#When:04:01:00Z Vegware, a new environmentally sustainable company has come out with a line of products that is tackling a major area of pollution and waste in a very creative an innovative way. I can’t tell you how impressed I am with this company and their products. As we all know, humans are getting lazier and lazier and one of the worst inventions of the twentieth century has been the disposable cutlery and tableware. Basically, people are too lazy to wash allot of dishes after a party (I’m even guilty of it myself… Yes I admit it) or small get together, so they go out and buy a bunch of disposable plates, cups, forks, knives and napkins. This really does make it easier for the host, especially after a long night of eating and drinking. Unfortunately almost all of those disposable products were made from petroleum with a few added poisonous chemicals and a very dirty production process. Not only that, but when they get thrown away, they either fill up a landfill somewhere or get incinerated thereby releasing all of those nasty chemicals back into air we breath. Until now, there were no clean, biodegradable, sustainable options other than washing a lot of dishes. This is where Vegware have come to our rescue, now we can still be lazy hosts but not hurt the environment in the process. Vegware makes a variety of tableware and cutlery products all made from sustainable eco-friendly substances. For instance, their forks, knives and spoons are made from corn and potato starch, while their plates, bowls and cups are made from cassava starch. They have a whole slew of other eco-friendly products, but you will just have to go see for yourself, but over all this company has a very innovative and supper creative idea and I really hope it catches on here in the states. Two thumbs up for Vegware’s eco-friendly, sustainable tableware! Product Reviews 2007-12-06T04:01:00-06:00 http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog/scotts-green-manual-reel-lawnmower-review/ http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog/scotts-green-manual-reel-lawnmower-review/#When:01:39:00Z After moving into a new home, and realizing that I now had to cut a lawn again, I decided to test out a green alternative to a typical gasoline lawn mower. I researched a few different types of lawnmowers, electric and reel push mowers and I decided that I didn’t want a chord to run over, so I went with a reel manual push mower. Now I know what many of you are thinking, because I heard it a lot from anyone and everyone who had ever mowed with an “old school” push mower. Everyone said “those things are terrible, they are really hard to push… yada yada yada...” but I had heard nothing but good things about these new push mowers in the product reviews. Needless to say I decided to make the purchase and use this opportunity to really test out the product and give my readers the inside scoop on the new push reel mowers. I went over to Clean Air Gardening and got their Scotts Classic Reel Lawnmower package, complete with a rear clipping catcher and sharpening kit. Unfortunately the order got delayed for a few weeks because they ran out of stock, so when the mower finally came in my grass was really long (1 month overgrown). Out of the box, the mower was relatively easy to assemble, however the pictures in the directions for the clipping catcher assembly were rough hand drawings making them pretty hard to read. After assembling it, I took it outside for a small test run on some short grass and it was really easy to use, but the real test would be the next day when I would attempt to tackle the overgrown yard. The next day I went out and tried mowing my overgrown yard with the push mower and it was a colossal failure. The grass was entirely too high and the mower would simply bend the grass over and not cut it. Of course after a few minutes the tall grass would stand back up making it appear as if I hadn’t done anything even though the shorter grass blades were getting cut. Considering that my push mower wasn’t working, I went down the street to the local lawn cutting guy and hired him to do the initial cut on my law. Even though my first try was a failure, I didn’t give up, I decided to give the mower a second chance and waited about a week and tried again. This time the grass was at a very manageable height and to be honest the mowing went very smoothly and quickly. I did not find that the mower was that difficult to push (like everyone said), although I did make a mistake of swimming laps before mowing that time and my shoulders got a little fatigued. Now I didn’t want to write a review before using the mower a few more times to see how I really felt about it. That being said, I am now writing this review after three more successful mowing attempts with two weeks worth of growth in between each. I am convinced that these push mowers are very effective and easy to use and the sound that the mower makes is really cool and quite soothing. Also, because I know it’s better for the environment, it is very gratifying on many levels and I now actually enjoy mowing the lawn. My final rating is 4 out of 5 stars. The reason for the one star loss is mostly because of the limitations due to grass height. This limitation only really affects people who let their lawn go without being cut for over 3 weeks. However, if you have some fast growing weeds living amongst your St. Augustine grass, you may have to pluck them up every now and then if they grow too high between cuts, because the mower will lay them down and miss the cut. I also found that the actual cutting edge is a little further in from the wheels than a power mower so you can’t cut as close to objects and fences, forcing you to come back and use a weed eater in the corners. Considering that no matter what type of mower you use, you generally have to come back with a weed eater anyway, so this didn’t weigh as heavily on my rating as the height limitations. This mower is not for everyone, especially a lazy person because it is not easier than a powered gasoline or electric mower. I do recommend this product for anyone who appreciates the environment and will make small sacrifices for the betterment of it. With a battery operated weed eater/edger and a trusty Scotts reel mower, you can now maintain a yard without using any gasoline and only tiny amounts of electricity. Product Reviews 2007-10-04T01:39:00-06:00 http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog/are-led-light-bulbs-the-future/ http://www.neutralexistence.com/blog/are-led-light-bulbs-the-future/#When:00:28:00Z After hearing about LED light bulbs and their development, I decided that I wanted to do a little research on my own to see what these lights are all about. I took a look around at different places checking prices, colors and wattage and created the following chart to show the potential money and emission savings generated by one regular 120v LED light bulb for home use. The results are listed below: Comparison chart between LEDs, CFLs and Incandescents over one LED's life span of 50,000 hours: Description LED CFL Incandescent Life in Hours (hrs) 50,000 hrs. 10,000 hrs. 1,500 hrs. Number of Bulbs 1 5 33.5 Cost in US dollars ($) $67.95 (white) 5 x $4.00 = $20.00 33.5 x 32� = $11.22 Input in Watts (W) 9.5 W 13 W 60 W Electricity Used in Kilowatt hours (kwh) 475 kwh 650 kwh 3000 kwh Electricity Cost at 8¢ per kwh $38.00 $52.00 $240.00 Total Cost $105.95 $72.00 $251.22 Total Savings Over a Compact Florescent Light: $105.95 - $72.00 = -$33.95 -No Savings Total Savings Over an Incandescent Light: $251.22 - $28.00 = $145.27 As you can see from the results, looking only at costs, it is still more cost effective to use CFL's over LED's. However, both CFL's and LED's are much more cost effective than using regular incandescent light bulbs. Even though LED's are more expensive, one of the biggest selling points is their lack of Mercury, officially making them the "greenest" of all lighting technologies (except natural lighting of course). I should also mention that because of the way LED's or Light-emitting diodes work, they produce far less heat than incandescent and compact florescent lights. This reduction in heat is great for individuals in hot climates where the cost of conditioning air is over 50% of their utility cost. LED's work by using different semi-conducting materials to make electrons jump from one material to the other. This "electron jump" makes the electrons emit photons in the form of visible light, and the color of the light is dependent on the different materials used in the diode. This process uses much less electricity to create the light, however the intensity (lumens) are less than other forms of light. However, with more research and more people buying these household LED's, you can bet that the cost per lumen will continue to drop and we will soon have a superior product at very competitive prices. Product Reviews 2007-08-04T00:28:00-06:00