3 Types of Roof Gardens

Aesthetically pleasing, roof gardens are functional as well. In addition to growing food, roof gardens can also provide temperature control, hydrological benefits and architectural enhancements. In some instances they can even be wildlife habitats. There are a number of advantages when you plant a roof garden. On a hot day, for instance, the garden can cool the room beneath it. In the winter it can provide insulation from the cold. Water is retained from evaporating in Germany because roof gardens are required there. It will prevent flash floods from occurring. Three basic types of roof gardens exist. The primary differences are related to the depth of the soil, the type of plants the roof will support, and the required maintenance.

Extensive Roof Garden

Due to the shallow soil, this type of roof garden is easiest to maintain. Because they are lightweight, extensive roof gardens work wonderfully on top of garages, sheds and other small home extensions. Although it’s easy to maintain this type of roof garden, it has the least aesthetic value, and the number of plants that can grow on it is quite limited. Lichens and mosses are prime examples of plants that thrive in an extensive roof garden. Surfaces like metal, glass and plastic are ideal places for lichens, which are symbiotic organisms, to colonize. Mosses, which are small small green plants, do not depend on large amounts of nutrients for survival. Known for clinging to stones and walls, these plants can live off of nothing more than rainwater.

Semi-Extensive Roof Garden

These roof gardens, which have deeper soil, are capable of supporting a greater variety of plants. These types, therefore, are more easily decorated than extensive roof gardens. Stronger structures are needed to support semi-extensive roof gardens due to their having heavier soil. A good plant choice for this type of garden is sedums, which can store water in their tissues. That means you won’t need to go out and water them every day – but during times of drought, they could die and turn patchy if not properly cared for. Wildflowers that don’t need any maintenance are also ideal for semi-extensive roof gardens.

Intensive Roof Garden

This type of roof garden can support trees and elaborate arrangements. Intensive roof gardens require large, strong structures to support them. Concrete buildings and on top of roof decks are the most common places for intensive roof gardens to be installed since most single-home dwellings prove unsuitable for such projects. Assuming the structure of the building can support the weight, there is no limit to what you can plant in an intensive roof garden.

About the author: Megan Barlow helps others learn to live more eco-friendly lives. Find out more about green living at her blog on Green and Environmentally Friendly Gadgets.

This article was originally posted at Three Roof Garden Variations.

Reasons To Consider Recycling

The art of recycling tends to concern the processing reuseable products as this denotes that they are all set to use to produce something else. Recycling is becoming much more widespread and responsible waste management is something that is very widely acknowledged as part of everyday life by a lot of people. The extended amount of people recycling has meant that there is not as much need for skip hire.

Recycling is in truth viewed by many people as a fast fix solution that’s able to inhibit the considerably uncontrollable rate at which waste is accumulated, as this waste is corrupting to the ecological equity. The waste that is gathered for recycling is classified as this is one of the powerful ways in which to decrease the amount of waste that is inflicted on the environment.

It is possible to commence the recycling of many different objects examples being: textiles, metal, glass, paper, glass and electronic products to name a few items. There’s a wide range amount of techniques that strong measures against the hazard of global warming can be approached. Some of the approaches compise things such as recycling paper and recycling what’s known as e-waste to mention a few notions.

Paper recycling is an art and can be categorised under recycling paper or eco recycling. This type of recycling incorporates recycling goods that are made from paper as this lets them be utilised for other products. This kind of recycling often helps to reduce on the number of plants and trees that are being cut down.

The proficiency of e-waste recycling basically concerns the recycling of items that are non-biodegradable. This brand of recycling takes into account the recycling of stuff such as mobile phones, computers, laptops, calculators and other comparable products.

A great deal of the e-waste sort of goods tend to lie around in junkyards and within people’s homes until ultimately they finish up in landfills. The recycling of non-biodegradable items can really aid a great deal to reduce the degree of pollution while at the same time also helping to salvage a variety of raw materials.

A different process of recycling is mineral recycling, which is one more excellent tactic to salvage natural resources such as gold, lead and aluminium to mention a few. Recycling materialsTo recycle materials, it involves the melting of items in order to acquire the natural resources that can then be reused in other products.

It is desirable to use these different methods such as recycling as every time things are reused it plays a part in contributing to the environment. There are a lot of skip hire companies that are encouraging people to reuse things. There are numerous recycling systems that can be drawn on to make a huge change to the world and the environment that all of us live. The many means help to decrease the carbon emissions that are produced.

 

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Wind Turbine Blade Designs

One of the oldest existing methods of power generation is the use of wind turbines. Since they were first introduced, designs for wind generators have steadily improved, particularly when it comes to how the blades that are responsible for turning the turbines’ rotors have been built. The basic benefit of modern blade design is that it gives wind turbines the ability to generate power more efficiently now than ever before, which in turn makes it possible to use smaller and quieter turbines.

Mats made out of reeds were used as the blades for the initial wind turbines. This style of turbine blade, for all its usefulness, wasn’t very durable. The short lifespan of this type of blade led inventors to seek out other options.

The next stage in the evolution of wind turbine blades was the cloth sail. This type of blade was combined with a vertical axis design to create some of the early windmills, which used wind power in order to perform grain processing functions.

The next major kind of blade to be introduced was the wood blade, which was usually combined with a horizontal axis configuration. The inispiration for the new style of turbine was the design of airplane blades, which had recently made important breakthroughs. Although much lighter, wooden blades were nevertheless able to provide much more power than previous turbine blades.

Electricity was produced for the first time from wind turbines thanks to these designs. Large scale turbines were soon introduced to take advantage of these improvements, generating energy in commercial settings.

From this period on, the development of wind turbine blades diverged into two distinct paths: horizontal axis blades, and vertical axis blades. In terms of horizontal axis blade design, most of the changes would manifest themselves as adjustments in blade shape and pitch, materials, and the number of blades used per rotor.

3-blade designs have become the standard for horizontal axis wind turbines, as they generally provide a good balance of stability and rotor speed. In many current turbines, composite blades are used, which are extremely strong and flexible as well as being lightweight, making them perfect for both residential and industrial uses. Unlike previous turbines, these new turbines can both spin faster and pick up winds of lower velocity.

Some of the most interesting and effective designs available today can be found on vertical axis wind turbines. The rotation for these units is generally provided by aspects that take advantage of wind drag or wind lift.

Vertical axis turbines are able to harness the power of the wind regardless of its direction. Horizontal axis turbines don’t provide quite the same consistency of power generation. Residential users will find vertical axis turbines particularly attractive, as they usually don’t require a tower or an open landscape in order to work their best.

To know about the pros and cons of solar energy, check out Advantages and Disadvantages of Wind Power.

For the best guide to building your own wind turbines, visit Best DIY Solar and Wind Guides.

Here’s another guide to building your own wind turbine Homemade Wind Turbine.

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Some Awsome Green Car Facts

A decade ago, buying a hybrid was a lonely business. At the start there were actually only two types of these cars you could even buy and both of these really didnt seem to attract too much attention.

Although a hybrid does emmit less C02 than a normal car it is a long way off from emitting no C02 altogether which is why it is only at its first stage.

Altough a lot of these cars include hyrdrogen powered fuel cells and battery powered motors they all face some serious upgrading before they get close to the normal cars.

Something that has turned out to be better is the electric car. Like a fuel-cell vehicle it produces no tailpipe emissions and little noise, and the distribution network for its energy source largely exists – taking electricity the final few metres to a charging post is nothing compared to establishing a hydrogen infrastructure.

The major problem when it comes to electric car is the distance of which they can travel, it is only around 100 miles whereas the normal car is around 300 plus.

100 miles is more than enough for most small journeys which is why these cars are great if you live within a city but if you do not then bad luck. Which is why General Motors’ “range-extending” Vauxhall Ampera (aka the Chevrolet Volt) offers a promising compromise when it goes on sale in 2012.

For the first 40 miles of your journey the car will actually run on pure electricty which of course means that for any normal city dweller you will not need any fuel at all.

The ease of recharging it, and pure electric cars, is likely to be improved by policies intended to encourage electric car ownership. The present Government talks of incentives of up to £5,000, while London mayor Boris Johnson aims to make the capital a lead city in the adoption of the electric car.

However until such a green car comes out that is actually worth going after something a bit less greener so why not look into the new Audi or of course a Audi R8

Failing this you could even look into getting Used Cars however it is really up to you on what you do on this but I would say the best thing to do is just wait and see if things are actually going to get worse before you do anything.

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Should We All be Using Bamboo in the Future?

Ok, so Bamboo PC’s were just gimmicks. The laptop launched at the Hanover computer fair last March, with a laminated bamboo casing around a pretty conventional computer won’t make a dent in the rising tide of plastics sold around the world.

Even though these bamboo PCs won’t save the environment, they did prove how versatile bamboo really is.

Bamboo must be the only plant on the planet that is a source of food, works as building materials and woven fabrics. Even one of Edison’s original light bulbs had a bamboo filament. Due to bamboo being so strong and cheap, it has become a widely used product for scaffolding in parts of Asia. Fibres from bamboo poles are extremely strong, it both tension and compression terms. It’s compressive strength works out around twice that of concrete, bamboo also has the same tensile strength to weight ratio as steel. And now there’s a bamboo laptop!

Bamboo ticks lots of boxes for anyone buying eco-friendly home furnishings. For a start, it’s a highly sustainable raw material. Some bamboo species are able to grow more than one metre every day. The locals that live close to these fantastic plants are able top cut down as much bamboo as they need while still having the same sized forest at the end of the year as they did at the beginning. As for the global warming problem, because bamboo is a plant, all products made out of the sustainable material contains a large amount of atmospheric carbon. Any plastic equivalent has added to the atmosphere’s carbon level!

Another point would be, because bamboo is a natural material, there are huge variations between the plants, this makes it a very difficult material to be used in mass production. You can be pretty sure that a craftsman has produced any bamboo item you buy. If you buy from a reputable source of eco-friendly products, you’ll know that the craftsman that made the item was paid a fair wage for their time and skills. Finally you’ll be sure that the product you buy hasn’t accumulated air miles in its journey from craftsman to your home.

With eco credentials as strong as these, it’s amazing how beautiful bamboo products are. Just picture a hand crafted bamboo box, layered 15 times with natural shellac. All natural, and really lovely. Only the other day, I bought an amazingly crafted bamboo knife block and am now seriously considering investing in some other bamboo kitchen accessories such as salad bowls. Stylish and ethical. Win.

 

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Warming Facts – The Effects of Global Warming on Ski Weather & Snow Levels

This article does not address the environmental problems or global warming solutions; it concentrates on what changes, if any, will occur to snow levels and ski weather up to the end of the century.

I’m not interested here in discussing the approach of the apocalypse with the attendant earthquakes, typhoons and thunderstorms, but whether we like it or not (pun intended) the Earth’s climate is warming up at an alarming rate and faster than it has ever done. As someone who has skied all their life I’m interested in finding out about about global warming and how it will alter ski weather and snow levels. Last season had some of the biggest snowfalls ever – check this clip which demonstrates the current snow levels trend.

We are observing a staggering increase in the world’s temperature over the next ninety years of around 6.4°C. This is a projected estimate and roughly five times more than the increase of the past hundred years. A lot of people assume that the snow will melt away, like the glaciers are doing, all together, and rain will be predominant, or that there won’t be any rain at all, but this is most unlikely.

This is how the world’s climate works – it’s a bit simplistic but gives an insight into how the climate affects precipitation, otherwise known as snow and rain. Water vapour or hot wet air ascends from the equator, heated by the sun. This water vapour forms the vast circular weather systems in both hemispheres as it cools and descends, propelled by the earth’s rotational forces.

North of the equator, for example, the major weather systems trundle from west to east on account of the earth’s rotation and precipitation mainly occurs as these systems meet the land. And the landmass we are looking at here is the west of Europe (the Alps) and the west of North America (the Rockies). As we are aware, the air is pushed up over the Rockies and the Alps where it either snows or rains.

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With the climate warming up we are going to get more moisture in the weather systems moving up from equatorial regions, so the precipitation will be higher. But will it be rain or snow?. If the Earth’e temperature rises by 6.4°C this century it will mean that the rain snow location on a mountain will move higher. If for example the snow level on a mountainside is at 1000 metres, by the the end of this century it will have risen to 2000 metres as the temperature falls by roughly 6.5°C per 1000 metres. We are going to get increased preciptation and the altitude where rain turns to snow will be moving up the mountain by approximately ten metres every year.

So it looks like there are a few years left yet, and I’ll finish by throwing this little spanner into the algorithm. As the world gets warmer the Greenland icecap will melt even faster. It is not fully known what this will do to the Gulf Stream. Known as the Atlantic conveyor this life giving current brings warm water up from the tropics past the coast of Europe. Thirteen thousand years ago it stopped flowing. The reason? A huge lake of cold freshwater burst its banks on the east coast of Canada and dropped into the North Atlantic, disrupting the Gulf Stream almost straightaway. If the Greenland icecap carries on melting at its accelerating pace, then it could more than likely switch off the Gulf Stream as well. This could result in the European Alps having snowfalls higher than ever, while the Rockies, become well, just rockier…

For the full article and more visit Ski Jungle – Ski Weather

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