Energy Conservation Tips at School

Glen Luckman Energy Saving Measures By Brent Crouch

Considering the fact that schools are used at least 40 hours per week, they can produce a significant energy draw. With the large rooms, high ceilings and big buildings, there are huge energy bills for every school around the country.

By implementing energy saving measures, a school can reduce their energy costs by thousands of dollars each year. It can help a school district meet its budget requirements and save money for other school related needs. Here are some ways that students, teachers and the administration can help a school save energy.

1. Appoint an energy manager
The school’s staff can appoint an energy manager who will help identify areas of energy waste and develop a plan for fixing those energy problems. Energy managers can familiarize themselves with recent policies on energy savings and help suggest energy management solutions. Appointing an energy manager can help a school, or an entire school district, develop a cohesive plan for energy savings.

2. Turn off lights and computers when they aren’t in use.
Just like in a home, lights and computers can be real energy wasters at school. A school can monitor energy usage by launching a school-wide effort to keep lights and computers off when not in use. If there is room in the district budget, light control systems can be installed in all rooms which will automatically turn off the lights if no one is there.

3. Replace the light bulbs.
Parents can ask the school administration about the type of light bulbs that are being used at the school. Regular 40 WATT light bulbs can use a lot of energy each year. By switching to LED bulbs or CFL bulbs, a school can save thousands of dollars each year. This is an easy switch that can be made in light fixtures all around the school. Although most school rooms use fluorescent lights, there are a lot of light bulbs around a school campus that can be replaced – like those used in “exit” signs.

4. Monitor the heating and cooling system
Thermostat settings can make a big difference in how a school uses energy. Setting the thermostats at 78 during warm months and 68 during cooler months will drastically reduce the heating and air conditioning use, which will help with overall energy usage. Teachers should also watch for airflow around the vents. Books and furniture blocking the vents will prevent the warm or cool air from entering the room.

5. Start a school wide “Energy Patrol” program
One of the best things about undertaking an energy saving program in schools is that it can help educate young people about energy savings. They can take this knowledge and apply it at home. Teachers can let children know about the benefits of saving energy and ways they can help the school save energy (like turning lights off and keeping doors closed). With students keeping watch, energy saving changes will be made more easily.

The Need For a Conservation Fact Check

Glen Luckman Conservation Fact Check By Daniel P. Martin

In the day and age of today, there is a nominally large need for conservation. All around the world are natural resources are being depleted every day. And not only that, but by the consumption of large amounts of certain resources we are not only hurting the environment we live in but in the long run we are hurting ourselves.

The resources that we live off of are not infinite but rather limited. The human race has a tendency to consume more than we replenish. With that mentality as a race, we are heading for trouble. We need to start realizing the human effect on the environment is very massive and in many cases destructive.

The Dominant Human

The humans are the most dominant species on the planet. We have dominated the animal kingdom and the world around us. Our cities spring up spitting pollution into the air and stretching our domain even further into the ecosystem. This is because we as a people are increasing in numbers rapidly and need more space to live. Therefore, the animals and the habitats must suffer for this.

Suffering Wildlife

If one group of animals is affected it will undoubtedly affect the others as well. The danger of this is that not just one group of animals will soon face extinction but a number of them. This can happen from lumber companies cutting down numerous forests for the demand of lumber. This will cause the wildlife in that forest to be unbalanced and is very harmful to all wildlife there.

Forests Disappearing

Chopping down thousands upon thousands of trees a day and demolishing entire forests does not just affect animals and plants it will affect us. Trees are a large producer of oxygen and that is something we desperately need. When oxygen levels in our ecosystem go down it is never good. Nevertheless, when oxygen levels go up everybody including animal and plant life will thrive.

This is why we must conserve our forests and our wildlife.

Fossil Fumes

Our planet is in enough trouble we do not need to start decreasing our oxygen levels anymore. With the rate that lumber companies are depleting our forests it will not be long until things start going haywire just like our ozone.

Our ozone is under constant attack from harmful gasses and general pollution.

Fossil fuels among other things are the ones causing the damage. Fossil fuels are not inherently bad but constantly consuming them and releasing their fumes into the ozone at the numbers that we do as a planet is causing some serious damage like global warming. Fossil fuels will eventually be gone if we do not conserve them and limit their usage.

Saving Lives

We need to conserve them also so that future generations of people can make use of them as well. Why be greedy and selfish with our natural resources? If we run out now what will they or we use later? Before finding out that answer the hard way, we should do some preventative planning to conserve our natural resources.

Simple But Effective Ways of Energy Conservation

Glen Luckman Effective Ways of Energy Conservation By Erika Ayala

Sometimes, when people hear the words energy conservation, they think that it takes a rocket scientist or some super hero to make it happen. What most of us don’t realize is that energy conservation is well within our reach and capability, and when done on a bigger scale and participated by more people, we can do so much positive effect to the environment and actually make it a better place for the future generation.

Energy conservation means that you are cutting back on your energy consumption and using energy-efficient products and appliances. It also means that the energy you are using is coming from other alternative energy resources that are not harmful to the environment, as opposed to the traditional sources of energy like coal and fossil fuels which are already limited.

There are a lot of simple ways in energy conservation without even spending money. These include unplugging any appliance in your home when not in use. There are people who don’t realize that when only turning an appliance off, it still consumes energy, and if left all night, it can add up immensely on your electrical bill. Not only does this mean bigger expenses for you, but also a more adverse effect to the environment. But unplugging the appliances, you are completely stopping to use the energy. You can also simply switch to more energy-efficient light bulbs. By doing this you can instantly cut down your electricity consumption up to 30%. Energy-efficient light bulbs are more durable, not to mention less harmful to the environment.

We should be active with our efforts to save the environment, especially now that a lot of people worldwide are beginning to really experience the negative effects of global warming. All it takes is the first step forward and everything will else will be easy.

Petroleum Conservation

Glen Luckman Petroleum Conservation By Shekhoo Raja

Endless desert if lies ahead and a blazingly hot sun, glares atop one’s head, then a man lost amidst the dunes should and really must value each drop contained in his bottle. For if the last drop ends before the desert does, the man will be in serious trouble.

However irrelevant the above paragraph may seem, its accurately relevant to the scenario that our world faces today. Replace the water with petroleum, the bottle with our oil wells, the man with the global economy and the desert with its sole dependence on petroleum as source of energy and voila, we will have the seriousness of the situation perfectly laid out. Wells of oil and gas are ceaselessly churning out greater amounts of petroleum from under the ground every year. WAIT!

Greater amounts every year? But why?

That’s a simple question with an even simpler answer. The amount of petroleum being sucked out of earth is getting bigger because we are demanding for it. Its getting bigger because, I buy my son a bike to ride to school on, because my wife needs a car to go to the neighborhood grocery store and because I need a 3000 cc SUV to go to my office which happens to be 3 km from my home. And also because I won’t turn off my SUV’s engine at crossings as I am rich enough to find it ‘uncool’.

And so as ‘I’, who can easily afford to buy fuel have taken it for granted and am using it in the most inefficient manner, am demanding for more of it. This ‘I’ isn’t just me or us. ‘I’ stands for every person around the globe who has got used to living with fuel and burning it to get energy. But its high time that ‘I’ must realize that the water in my bottle will not last long enough, if its not valued with the seriousness that it deserves. And ‘I’ who has learnt to live with fuel must learn to live with its conservation too.

But this doesn’t mean that we stop using petroleum products all together. Our economy is dependent on it so much, that it is impossible to do that. And thus comes to light the importance of ways of using this fuel ‘Efficiently’. This word efficiently means that we do the maximum amount of work, using the least amount of energy. Leading organization around the world have put their best brains to the task of bring efficiency into all phases of their work. Manufacturers of automobiles, computers, kitchen appliances, industrial equipments and every other product that uses fuel or power, are looking at making their products more energy efficient. And so as citizens of the world, even we must contribute.

So, apart from I selling my SUV to buy a 600 cc fuel efficient car, my wife walking to the grocery store and my son using the public transport, there are several other ways by which we can conserve petroleum. We should make our selves aware of them and make them a way of life.

A study sponsored by PCRA itself shows that vehicles at halt on traffic lights, waste as much as Rs.994 crore worth or petroleum products every year. Even if your vehicle is poorly maintained, you are contributing to the loss of fuel worth in excess of Rs. 5000 crore all over the country, including both commercial and non-commercial users. Approximately 75% of the total LPG used in the country is used for domestic purposes. Studies suggest that if we use LPG at our homes with care, we can save upto 8-10%. For instance, cooking in utensils with lid closed, using gas on simmer mode for cooking(which uses only 3/4th amount of gas as compared to high mode) etc. In addition to LPG, other fuels like kerosene are also used at home, for which standard equipments should be used. Use of below-standard equipments, results in high consumption.

And why only petroleum, even electricity which is supplied at our homes is generated from fuels like gas, diesel and coal. A study in UK suggests that if every house uses 3 CFLs, it saves enough electricity to power streetlights of their country for 1 year. Apart from CFLs, air-conditioners, microwave-ovens, heaters, geysers etc should be purchased, keeping their power ratings in mind. TV consumes 25% of its power required, when on stand by and so do many other appliances, which should be switched off when not in use. A unit of electricity saved is roughly equal to 3 units of electricity produced. Moreover, 1 unit of electricity produced, leads to 943 gm of carbon emission.

Industries are major users of petroleum, using approximately 40% of the total commercial energy used in the country. Thus conservation initiatives by the industries, aided and enforced by the government save energy on a large scale. Especially small and medium scale industries, which use out dated machinery, have high energy consumption as compared to their production. Commercial buildings like Malls and offices, use around 33 billion units of energy per annum. Proper power management and use of higher efficiency equipments can save up to 5% of this energy.

But this is only one side of the story. As I said earlier, we are lost in a desert, the desert being our sole dependence on petroleum as a source of energy. So it is impertinent to find a way out.

Solar water heaters, as promoted by administration of Banglore or small scale water turbine based power stations as promoted by Uttaranchal government, or compost gas power units as promoted in sunderban region by W Bengal Government, or solar lamps as promoted in rural areas of Rajasthan, all are steps in the right direction. Further renewable sources like wind power and solar, which are still not used up to their potential must not be ignored by the government. In today’s scenario, where power generation is increasingly becoming a profitable business for private companies, government must enforce and encourage conditions for production from alternate sources of energy by these private players.

The Essential Activities of Wildlife Conservation

Glen Luckman Wildlife Conservation By Mark Bottell

Wildlife conservation is a delicate and complicated process, with dedicated teams trying to rebuild complex ecosystems, manage large wildlife populations, and protect these areas from harm. Many of the world’s most magnificent areas of natural beauty are under threat from humans, and conservationists work hard to preserve these places for future generations, and to restore damaged areas back to their former glory.

There’s been an increase in recent years in volunteer wildlife conservation, where people on gap years or career breaks volunteer to help work as conservationists for weeks, months, or even a whole year. Conservation practices vary from country to country and from habitat to habitat, but these are a few of the things you are could get involved in as a volunteer conservationist…

Tracking and Monitoring

Animal monitoring is one of the most important elements of wildlife conservation. Whether it is by electronic tracking or by human observation, animal numbers must be monitored so that their populations can be controlled. If the numbers of a particular species grow too large they could threaten other animals, and if they fall too low steps need to be taken to protect them. Following the movement and migration of animals also provides the chance to research their behaviour. Of course, for volunteers, the chance to observe animals like lions and elephants in their natural habitat can be an unforgettable experience!

Habitat and Reserve Maintenance

There are all kinds of efforts that must be made to maintain the habitats in a wildlife reserve. Rock erosion needs be monitored and countered, and any alien plants and animals which could be a threat to the reserve must be found and removed from the reserve. Many reserves rely on perimeter fences to prevent animals from moving out of the reserve (and to prevent unwanted visitors!), and these need to be checked on and repaired if they are damaged. This kind of work may not be the most exciting side of wildlife conservation, but it is just as essential as any other element.

Rehab and Veterinary Care

Out in the wild, sick and injured animals soon become victims of predators, or simple starvation. However, on a wildlife reserve dealing with endangered species or low populations, the loss of even a single animal can be a terrible setback. Wounded, sick, and poisoned animals can be captured and brought back to a veterinary centre to be treated, rehabilitated, and then reintroduced back into the wild, and this is often an important part of any wildlife conservation program.

Reserve Patrol

Wildlife reserves are fragile areas that need to be protected from humans. Some times, people cause damage unintentionally – tourists feeding animals without knowing that it is forbidden, or attempting to take out rare plants as souvenirs. Some times, of course, it is a deliberate effort, poachers being the most well known human threat that conservationists have to battle against. Most wildlife reserves are diligently patrolled to ensure that tourists and the local population are treating the environment with the respect and care that it deserves.

A Home Facelift With an Ecological Conservation Twist to It

Glen Luckman Ecological Conservation  By Mark Gavalda

The effects of global warming are being highlighted every so often, and at one point, one feels the compulsion to join in the campaign of living a more eco-friendly life. You might not be able to trade your SUV for a hybrid, but you can remodel your home cheaply, and achieve the final result of environmental conservation that you are hoping for. It does not matter if you are planning to sell the house to eco-friendly buyers or simply doing it to save some money on the monthly bills.

The first has to do with electricity and more so the buying of electrical efficient systems. An approach that you can first take with this is the installation of solar panels which essentially convert all absorbed solar energy into electrical energy. Depending on the number, size and effectiveness of these panels, they can be a complete replacement of your power supply from the main supplier to your own during the seasons when the sun is high up in the sky. What this yields is a reduction of the amount of money that you have to pay for bills and you end up saving.

Water is often wasted especially with showers and toilets making conservation is not actually too hard of a task. All you need to do is have an effective water delivery system at all times, one that will save a few measly dollars everyday. The positive effects of this are felt in the long term when the bill will indicate half the amount that you are used to paying.

Natural grass is good, but when you want a lesser budget, artificial grass will do. The latter needs zero maintenance and once set up, needs no other dedicated farming commitments. You don’t need to trim or to tend to it anytime, meaning you save both in finance and in time.

Posted by: Glen Luckman

Author: nadia cherubin
How a positive spin is great on protecting the environment and experiencing life to the fullest while embracing the power of nature.

Centuries have passed while putting a positive spin on protecting the environment.

First and foremost, you’d want to prevent fires. especially forest fires by keeping it green from classic to elegant for industries that built our towns, communities and cities. Although, they say that coal, timbers, and glass all have played an important role into what we have begun and what we have to offer.
However, the beauty has evolved through towns and people have always sought new heights into protecting the environment to the highest point amidst the beauty by putting a positive spin on it. Meaning: high peaks and the highest point in the environment. So you’d want to make it a phenomenal view for nature watching in order to plan vacations and relax. first, you would have to keep everything right next to where you’d want to record everything happening in the environment to just keeping it fresh and clean.
You’d also want to multi-surface and multi-task. although, it’s a known fact that fresh plants make your environment gloomy and dreary and you wouldn’t want to leave the environment in perils. so, you’d definitely want to reshape the environment and just wouldn’t want to wait another minute for a bad look to come about.
However, putting a signature spin on protecting nature which changes a lot especially if someone else is trying to put negative spins on everything else around it because everyone knows that each winter blasts that we have, usually blankets the country and throughout the whole Tri-state area. Although, people have made too many priorities that weren’t kept when dealing with the environment.

for instance: Wintery precipitation is like this: how you pick your car, is like picking a crop and like paving away from what is reality and what’s not reality.

The cattle: Thinking of the cattle, farms, and crops you’ll need fresh crops with finishing touches on everything else around you in order to build the economy for consumer rights.

With tree recycling: You should remove all dead branches meaning you’ll need to landscape.

The mountains: Mountains make it an awesome place on the planet spectacular and want to explore the amazing outdoors and surroundings and you’d want to be able to enjoy the great outdoors in order to be able to have it where the animals and birds can breathe and run around.

However, having a positive spin on protecting the environment is a spirit of adventure with a bold new attitude and determination with a spiritual eloquence almost like a land of enchantment with the whole palm springs look which brings modern ingenuity. however, its a place where people might want to have a positive look on protecting the environment to where you can grow and maintain fresh crops in order to eat great and make the environment a special place to discover.

Although, a changing environment will continue to affect people in many different parts of the world in unique ways and statistics on the environment provides an excellent way for us to determine whether the environment is improving or worsening. humans are treating the environment better or worse than they have done in the past.

Although, pollution, hazardous waste, and many other environmental problems usually creates a major health threat for people around the world which is an environmental health organization that works with agencies in the developing world to try to eradicate harmful diseases. we can also make significant strides to improve the planet that we share by doing this.
VIP: We should recycle
-eliminate the use of electrical appliances for things that you can easily do by hand.
-Use cold water in the washer whenever possible
-don’t ever leave water running needlessly
-flush the toilet less often
-recycle cans, bottles, paper bags and definitely, recycle your christmas tree.

And last, but not least: teaching children t respect nature and the environment.

If we don’t do these steps and teach our children to do those things involving the environment and our surroundings and then we wouldn’t have a positive spin and it would continue to leave a negative spin on the world.

Glen Luckman shares why recycling can help the environment.    

The Environment and Nature from Glen Luckman

PRESS RELEASE                                      Dymon Self Storage Corporation

March 1, 2007                                               380 Hunt Club Road,

                                                            Ottawa, ON  K1V 1C1

                                                                        Contact:  Stephen Creighton

                                                                        613-247-0888 (ext. 234)

                                                                        screighton@dymoncapital.com    

Ottawa, ON  - Senior Officials at Dymon Capital Corporation today announced the start of construction of their 4th Dymon Self Storage facility in Ottawa – a 150,000 sq. ft facility located at Innes at Lanthier in Orleans (beside Real Canadian Superstore), set to open in October 2007.   This facility is part of the Company’s $110 Million development program to build in excess of 1 Million sq. ft. of self storage in Ottawa.

Following the very successful July 2006 launch of the Company’s flagship location on Coventry Road (across from Lynx Stadium), two (2) additional facilities are currently under construction in Ottawa – a 105,000 sq. ft. facility at Prince of Wales at Hunt Club (Opening June 2007) and a 110,000 sq. ft. facility on Bank Street at South Keys (Opening August 2007).    Construction will commence this summer on Dymon’s planned facilities at Kanata Centrum (140,000 sq. ft.), Carling at the Queensway (200,000 sq. ft.), and Bells Corners (100,000 sq. ft.).  Planning continues for the Company’s additional sites in Walkley Road at Conroy (120,000 sq. ft.), Ottawa City Centre (150,000 sq. ft.), Barrhaven (105,000 sq. ft.), and Woodroffe at Baseline (105,000 sq. ft.).  Plans are also underway to launch facilities in Hull, Gatineau and Aylmer in 2008.

“Our Coventry Road facility enjoyed the fastest lease-up of any similar self storage facility anywhere in North America.  Our customers are extremely satisfied with the quality of our facility, the convenience and comfort of our drive-in bay, our free truck drop off and pick-up, and our relentless focus on customer service” said Glen Luckman, CEO of Dymon Capital Corporation.  “We did extensive research and have brought together a true “best of breed” product offering that we are building in exceptional locations across the City adjacent to high traffic retail nodes.”

In a very short time, Dymon has been able to gain a substantial position in the marketplace.

“We have been involved with the construction of thousands of self storage facilities in the US, Canada and Europe, and I can honestly say that Dymon’s self storage facilities are of the highest caliber we have encountered in any of today’s markets”, said Chip Cordes, Vice President of US Door.

“I have never seen anything like this before. People only need to walk in the front door and they’ll be sold.  The free transportation to the facility is like icing on the cake”, said Krista Nicholds, a Dymon Self Storage customer.

The Company also announced today the name change of its operations to Dymon Self Storage.  Previously operating under the Drive-In Self Storage banner, the Company made the name change in order to clearly align itself with the success and reputation of the Dymon Group.  The Dymon Group of Companies is locally owned and operated.  Having been in business for over a decade, Dymon has developed over 1.2 Million sq. ft. of commercial, industrial and retirement home properties in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.  Under its Dymon Healthcare banner, the Company also operates and is developing the City’s most preeminent retirement home addresses, including Governor’s Walk, Lord Lansdowne, and the Duke of Devonshire.

Glen Luckman Self Storage Press Release

Thanks to Glen Luckman

Recycle – Plastic Bottle Recycling Can Help the Environment

Glen Luckman on why recycling helps the environment.

By Bryan Burbank

Plastic bottles are everywhere and they make it much easier for us to get the products we want in lighter bottle than glass. It is important to the environment that we recycle so that we can keep the plastic bottles out of our land fields. You need to remember that plastic does not go away it will sit in a field and never decompose and this can cause a lot of problems. Greenhouse Gas Emissions can be greatly improved when you recycle and the best part is you will be helping to improve the world we live in.

You will also save in many other ways as well such as oil because it takes oil to make those plastic bottles that we use. If instead of throwing them away so they can sit in a land field then you can reuse them and you will use less oil. This is a positive thing because there is only so much oil available to us. We can also reduce green house gasses because it takes more energy to make new bottles from oil then to recycle old bottles. Make sure you have a place in your house that you designated as a bin that the recycled bottles go and this will make it easier for all of your family to get involved.

Remember that recycling is a crucial part of saving the world we live in and with making a few changes it is easy to start recycling. It is important to make it fun and get your whole family involved so that they will be making a difference.

Posted by Glen Luckman

Glen Luckman about Recycling

Environmental Pollution Still a Huge Concern – Drugs in Our Drinking Water

By William Lin
Posted by Glen Luckman

Concern about our environment is a relatively new concept. It really came to the forefront during 1970’s. In fact before the year 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency didn’t even exist. And while there may have been laws in place designed to protect us from hazardous toxic waste, and other forms of industrial pollution they were difficult to enforce. Headlines during that decade were really frightening. Headlines like: High Smog Levels in Industrialized Cities May be the Cause of Increased Lung Disease. Hazardous Waste Buried under Love Canal, NY Leads to Entire City Being Evacuated. Despite the best efforts of our local governments and the EPA we are still seeing scary headlines like: drugs in our drinking water.

One of the reasons that we are seeing drugs found in US drinking water in the headlines is because, as of yet, there are no specific laws regarding the dumping of drugs in our drinking water or no regulations regarding the acceptable levels of each particular drug in the water that we drink. There is not even a way to enforce such laws if they were enacted because it is not the large drug manufacturing companies that are responsible for this type of pollution, it is us. We are the culprits. It is us and all the hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, farmers and veterinarians that contribute to this problem. All of us dispose of the drugs in much the same way. We flush them down the toilet or rinse them down the drain and then they enter our water system.

The water that flows through the sewer lines travels to a water treatment plant where first it is filtered and then it is treated with chemicals and dumped back into our lakes, rivers and reservoirs. Then, at least 10% of it is recycled back into the water we drink. No wonder we have drugs in our drinking water.

As a parent, reading headlines that cry out drugs found in US drinking water really frightens me. I want more than anything else to protect my family. But, how can I when my local water company can’t? Drugs are still flowing through the tap water that my kids drink everyday?

After doing some research I found that the best answer, at least for now, is to install a water filtration system into my home. And while there are many types of such water filtration systems available the best type to combat drugs in our drinking water is a carbon-ion filtration system.

The carbon-ion system works in two ways. First, the thick carbon block traps most of the pollutants found in tap water and then the ion exchange makes the chemicals and drugs in our drinking water inert.

Now, even when I read headlines saying drugs found in US drinking water, I feel a little safer. I know that I am doing all I can to protect my family. May be one day we will find a better way to dispose of our pharmaceuticals.

Glen Luckman on why pollution is a problem to the environment. 

Glen Luckman – Drugs in our Water