What it means to be green

[Cass]

Kermit the Frog may have coined the phrase, “It’s not easy being green.” However, it’s much easier than most people may think.
What does it mean to be green? Being green isn't just a fad or a way to sell things. It is a way of living. Living green means that one chooses to live while keeping the environment in mind. Living green means to know where our resources originate, especially access to clean water, food and other resources for survival.
Living green to me means to be conscious of all the things I do on a daily basis. Whether we like it or not our actions affect all other life on Earth, including other human beings. It’s important to think before we act.
First and foremost in being green one must have an understanding of where resources/consumer goods originate. Where were the products made? What materials are contained in these products? Are these products harmful to our families and community? Were people or other life displaced to make this product? How many natural resources were used to make this product? Will this action create more pollution or less? Is this action or product harming the U.S. economy?
While this may sound overwhelming, all it takes is education. Read the labels, ask questions, look up information from reliable sources, and most of all keep an open mind.
One of the easiest first steps in living green is.... (http://www.examiner.com/x-5397-Denver-Green-Initiative-Examiner%7Ey2009m3d21-What-it-means-to-be-green)

[bklauba]

Besides mass market / common energy uses, such as HVAC and transportation, one of the other great opportunity areas to seek green applications is heavy industry. Industry consumes vast amounts of energy in production. Of course, it is always worthwhile to ask if the output of a particular industry fulfills a proper role on a greener earth, but that is not my immediate focus, but rather to start and encourage the process of having green technologies embraced and put into practice within heavy industry.

My firm designs and markets equipment and technology that is an alternative to a form of heat treating called thermal stress relief (TSR). Another name for TSR is Post Weld Heat Treating (PWHT). In a nutshell, PWHT raises the temperature of a metal component to ~ 1200 F (600 C), holds the temp for a time period (proportional to thickest wall of the component) and gently cools it.

No big if the component fits in your hand, or even it can be barely be picked up by the average human, but what if is the size of a 2 or 3 story apartment and weighs 40 tons? Then the amount of natural gas (most common energy source for PWHT) can be huge. One such operation would consume enough NG to heat several average US homes for a year.

An alternative is a process called vibratory stress relief (VSR), which uses tightly controlled mechanical vibration to produce the same results as PWHT, dimensional stability and enhanced load-carrying capacity, and only uses a modest amount of elec power.

Rather than post our commercial website, I instead have posted a link to the VSR On-Line Research Library, which is the best one-stop collection of independent scientific work on this topic.

Besides conservation and alternative fuels, alternative PROCESSES that reduce carbon footprints, energy consumption and pollution, represent efficient paths to a greener earth.

More info: VSR Technical Library (http://www.vsrtechnology.net/resources/library-articles/)

[Judge]

Great post, BK...Keep up the good work!

[USGreenLiving]

Hey,

If someone such as myself who is blind can embrace green living than anyone can. Being green doesnt just mean going out and building a solar home or installing solar panes on your home which can cost a lot, it can mean making small changes in your daily habits from turning the water off while you brush your teel to replacing standard night lights with LCD version and replacing incadescent bulbs with florescents, running appliances such as dishwashers or washer/dryers at off peak hours.

It's really not hard to be green