Best Eco Products
The word 'Eco' comes from the Greek word 'oikos' meaning 'house'; or the Latin 'oeco' meaning 'household'. The term 'Eco' is mostly used as a prefix and is added to an existing word to create another word with new meaning, to suggest that a product is less damaging to the environment. The way we live our lives affects our environment. So, simply put, being an environmental or eco-friendly means not wasting precious resources and choosing goods and products considered to have a lower impact on the environment.
What is the need for protecting the environment?
Not only are fossil fuel supply decreasing, but the by-products and emissions from burning fossil fuels are harmful to the environment, and have been associated with global warming theory. Lately, the effects of climate change have affected us, with warmer winters and hotter summers. And if we are not careful it will get even worse. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the main culprits that causes climate change. Lots of energy we use at home, everyday emit CO2. By reducing our personal CO2 emissions, we can all play an important part in helping to prevent climate change. Although car emissions are a huge problem, the fact is that more CO2 comes from the energy we use at home - that's changing our climate and damaging the environment.
There a number of ways to reduce consumption of energy generated from fossil fuels, and to help protect the environment as the modern humanity undergoes the transition from non-renewable to renewable energy. Let's have a look at some of the eco products we can use to reduce our CO2 emission at home-
Solar Panels:
The utilisation of solar panels is a great way to generate clean and renewable electricity at home. Solar panels provide clean, renewable energy from the sun while generating electricity from sunlight, and produce virtually no pollution as opposed to burning fossil fuels releasing large quantities of toxic gases into the atmosphere. Solar Panels work by using arrays of solar photovoltaic cells to convert photons into usable electricity.
Ground Source Heat-pumps: Ground Source Heat Pumps(GSHP) go by many names. From a geo-thermal heat pump to geo-exchange, earth-coupled, earth energy or water-source heat pumps. Whatever the name, Ground source heat pump is a heating system that uses solar energy naturally stored in soil, bedrock and groundwater as a heat source. It uses the earth as a heat source (in the winter) or a heat sink (in the summer). They do require electricity to operate, but typically produce 3 to 4 times as much heat energy for every unit of electricity they use. And the benefits of ground source heat pumps are lots - since no fuel deliveries are required, it means carbon footprint can be reduced, needs little maintenance and can lower fuel bills.
Wind Turbines:The use of wind turbines is another great way of providing a source of clean and renewable energy for the home. Wind turbines work by utilising the power of the wind to generate electricity. Unlike fossil fuels, wind power is a renewable energy resource that never runs out. If the wind system is connected to the National Grid, one can make money by selling any generated electricity to an electricity supply company. However, if the turbine is not connected to the electricity grid, the unused electricity can be stored in a battery for use when there is no wind. The advantages of wind turbines are many, least of all the rising energy costs today. Not only does wind turbines cut fuel bills, it also help in reducing the harmful CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change.
