Energy Resources Journal

Using PV Power in Homes

Jim Scott — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:01:23 +0000

Considering the growing monthly energy expenses, we should reevaluate on ways to cut costs. Even if we have presently, changed our way of life a bit to follow approved ideas on conserving electric in our house, the rates for the electricity and fuel needs multiply constantly. Due to this fact we have to pay attention to the cutting-edge advancement of bringing electricity by means of solar energy for homes. Solar power is essentially making the free power of the sun to create electrical power. You can find two standard techniques to produce electrical energy from the light and heat of sunlight.

First one is by using photovoltaic cells (PV) which would utilize the light of the sun and straight away tweak it into electricity. The next is with concentration solar power (CSP) which later on switches the heat from the sun to electricity. CSP needs the refocusing of the heat of the solar rays into a specific spot which can boil water. The resulting steam could finally be exploited to drive the turbines that would eventually generate electric current. The CSP solution was chosen by green nations and bigger enterprises to create electricity to do the necessary job.

They use solar farms, lines of curved mirrors that chase the location of the sunlight, to reflect all the rays onto a particular location. This approach is rather simple and had proved to be the best. Needless to say, it has a main issue, given that it’s too risky to exploit it for domestic use. Energy conscious households have taken the installation of photovoltaics in their residential properties. This solution, whilst not to date the best, is the fresh concept to become self-reliant in electrical energy. The term photovoltaic is based on 2 different words, “Photo” denoting light and “voltaic” which denotes electrical power.

Solar power rebate could be designed by setting positive and negative silicon between 2 non-reflective glasses amongst which one of the sheets is treated with boron and the second with phosphorous that cranks out a negative and a positive charge. Once the solar panels are illuminated by sunlight, electric current is created. Solar energy panels are linked to electrical devices which work with DC current and retain electrical energy in storage kind lead acid power packs that run the household electrical gadgets because the sunlight won’t be constantly available to provide light for the photovoltaic panels. For the reason that, ordinary home machines works with alternating current (AC), you should install an electronic device called inverter, that converts the Direct Current to ordinary AC Current.

Learn more about solar power, stop by Jim Scott’s site and for further information on solar power quotes and make an informed choice.

How Solar Thermal Works In Your Home

Carole Ashley — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:55:24 +0000

Given energy concerns these days, most homes are now designed to take advantage of passive solar heating concepts. Solar thermal is a big part of this process.

You can really save a lot on your electricity bills if you could somehow get some heating free of charge. Passive solar heating is the methodology used to achieve this goal. The reason why it is called as such is because it doesn’t use solar panels – rather, a home is renovated in order for it to absorb as much sunlight as it could and store it. To effectively use solar energy for heating, thermal mass is a subject you need to understand.

Thermal mass simply refers to any material that absorbs and stores heat. When relating to passive solar heating, thermal mass would be any material that attracts the sunlight and is able to store it and dispense it when the sun has set or during the winter. You may not realize it, but your home already has thermal mass producing heat. Even basic items like furniture, or your living room floor could act as thermal mass once hit by the sun. But for these everyday examples, the amount of heat stored and attracted isn’t much.

There is such a thing as a passive solar home, which contains materials known as intentional thermal mass, and is specifically set up to absorb and release heat when needed. This is another concept that is deceptively simple. Everyday building materials like bricks, tiles and masonry can serve as strategic thermal mass. Adobe and clay materials also function well in certain situations.

In a passive solar home, you need the thermal mass in the interior of the home. Strategically placing tile and brick in areas below windows that receive significant sun during the day will often do the trick. The amount of thermal mass to be used depends on where you live. A home located in New Mexico or Arizona, for instance, wouldn’t need a lot of thermal mass, while you’ll need it in bulk if you live in Alaska.

The color that the thermal materials should come in is sometimes a point of contention. There are plenty of solar thermal home owners who buy their thermal materials in dark colors, so as to absorb more heat. This does not apply, though, with passive solar heating. It is the material, not the color, that makes the difference. Bricks can be just about any light color, but not white. This could play a large part in beautifying your house’s interior and avoiding a gloomy, sullen look to it.

Understanding the concept of thermal mass as it relates to passive solar heating is key to properly using this unique form of energy. Everything else should follow afterwards.

It’s very important you choose the right mentor to help you get the most out of start home staging business.

The Oil Crunch And Solar Power

Karl Wyn Garden — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:24:48 +0000

It’s shocking exactly how much it costs to fill a car’s tank today. Raised fuel expense is having an influence on nearly every aspect of life. Food item costs and other physical product costs are inflated due to increases in transportation and shipping. For those people that drive, a lot of Americans, disposable earnings are decreased. It is hard to discover a silver lining in all of that.

However, there certainly is one positive side effect. Comparable to the gas crunch of the 1980s, the substantial price of fuel has turned the Public’s eyes back toward renewable power and sustainable energy. In other words, the agony of fuel price levels has exceeded the complacency. There is now a heightened fascination with fossil fuel alternatives.

Alternative energy is most often described as being able to generate energy in the present without compromising that ability of our children and grandchildren to generate power. It generally denotes using natural energy sources which replenish themselves. Unlike oil, that will finally be consumed entirely, other sources, like sunlight, wind, rain, and tides will last so long as our world will.

Solar panel technology involves harnessing sunlight to either yield electrical power or heat water. The effectiveness of solar technology can vary depending on climatic conditions and location. Nonetheless, the issue can be overcome by feeding the national electric utility grid from locations with suited characteristics. For individual property owners, a key downside of solar is definitely the initial, installation costs that can be quite high, although the long-term savings and tax breaks can fully offset the initial expenditure during the lifetime of the solar energy system.

Because of the recent launch of electrical automobiles and vehicles with gas support generators, solar power now carries the opportunity to replace the majority of petrol use in non-commercial motor vehicles. The current iteration of such motor vehicles will run eighty to 100 miles per charge. The typical American drives under 40 miles daily with work commuting.

Employing wind turbines to produce electrical energy is really a further development of a 1000 year old technology that uses windmills to pump water. It has different but similar topographical limitations to solar panels. Having said that, windmill farms in mountain traverses can create power for the nation’s power grid much like desert solar farms.

In so far as water goes, technologies have made great strides since the hydro-electric dam. It is still an exceptionally legitimate technology that has been around for quite some time. These days, research is under way to utilize the tidal action of the ocean to produce power with a buoy system.

The clear theme here is that alternative energy technology has been in use for quite a while. Nevertheless, only the recent pain of high fuel prices have prompted consumers to change away from the rather more convenient fossil fuels. Pretty much all growth goes along with some distress.

Check out our Solar Energy Pros and Cons report, or our Blog.

Geothermal As A Renewable Energy Source

Sarah Green — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:23:22 +0000

We have the technology to do plenty of things and one of those is to tap the earth’s energy. This is exactly what we do when we choose to use geothermal which happens to be a green energy source.

Geothermal energy is energy obtained by drumming heat from the earth itself. This comes from magma and the radioactive decay of uranium, thorium, and potassium.

The downside to geothermal energy is the fact that it is dear to build. From the other perspective, as the earth’s crust continuously rots replenishing the heat, it still is a renewable power source.

There are 3 sorts of geothermal plants around. These are namely dry steam, flash, and binary.

Dry steam plants take steam out of fractures in the ground and use it to immediately drive a turbine that spins a generator.

Flash plants take on water at temperatures over 200C, out of the ground, and allows it to boil as it rises to the surface then separates the steam phase in steam/water separators which runs the steam thru a turbine to generate electrical power.

Last, you have binary plants. Here, hot water flows through heat exchangers and that boiling organic fluid is what spins the turbine.

Once power is generated, the condensed steam and remaining geothermal liquid from all 3 types of plants are injected into the hot rock to pick up more heat.

Geothermal plants are used operational in different parts of the globe. These are often found in geologically unstable parts of the planet. You can see some in Chile, Iceland, New Zealand, United States, the Philippines and Italy. At home, 2 most outstanding areas for this are in the Yellowstone basin and in northern California.

Apart from digging deep into the earth, there are some who believe we will generate power from hot dry rocks. You’ve got to dig 3 kilometers deep are drilled into the earth first to find these hot underground radiogenic granite rocks. Right now, some Australia companies are exploring this technology.

If you were to compare the quantity of energy collected from geothermal to solar, you still get more from the sun. Notwithstanding that, people should still use it since solar electricity cannot be harnessed when the clouds block the sun’s rays from reaching the solar panels.

Geothermal energy is a green energy source just like wind, hydropower and biofuel because it’s replaceable. By maximizing its potential, we don’t have to fret about the price of oil in the world market when it hit more than $110 a barrel and is now under $40 in the world market.

But that is not the one thing we ought to be concerned about. We also should do our best to offer protection to the environment given that coal fired and nuclear energy generation stations produce dangerous gases and radioactive waste that will cause to folk and the near by areas.

Everyone knows that our world has changed due to planetary warming. We learned our lessons from Chernobyl and 3 Mile Island but this does not necessarily mean it might not occur again.

For us to do our share to protect the environment now and for generations to come, we’ve got to promote alternative energy and geothermal as a green energy source is one of many that is now available.

Sarah Green is an environmental campaigner, activist, and strong believer in being energy self-sufficient. In her free time, she reports on DIY alternative energy plans and kits, such as the ben ford homemade energy download.

Finding An Electric Motor Repair Company

Maria Sandstone — Wed, 02 May 2012 08:51:06 +0000

I am a proud and active small business owner. It had long been my dream to open up a restaurant of my own and, over ten years ago now, I finally made that dream a reality. It’s hard work, and a lot of it, but I really do love having something I’m passionate about be what makes me my living. Of course, I am constantly learning more about the restaurant business as well as small business ownership in general. A year ago, my industry mixer busted and I was left frantically searching for electric motor repair in time to still serve my customers.

It is certainly not uncommon for small business owners to be reliant upon motors and other machines to keep them afloat. If you want to be protected when disaster strikes, take a lesson from my own experience and find a repair company before something breaks down rather than after. I chose a local, knowledgeable and professional company to keep me up and running.

Preventative maintenance from the repair company of my choice has been another lifesaver. I haven’t always been like this, but nowadays I call my repair folks as soon as one of my machines starts acting or sounding funny. Rather than waiting for it to fully break down, I get the problem solved right then. Usually, all the fix requires is a tightened bolt here or there.

However, when the problem turns out to be more serious, my repair folks will remove and repair the motor for me and get it running right. This lets me decide when to get equipment repaired rather than waiting for when something breaks down, often at the least opportune moment possible. Once, I was getting ready for the Saturday breakfast rush and my mixer stopped working.

I was panicked! Customers would be arriving as soon as I opened and yet I didn’t have the baked goods they came for. I simply can’t do by hand the work my industry sized mixer does. I was short on most menu items that morning.

Because of the experience, I’ve taken to making preventative maintenance on essential equipment a rule of business. If something needs a check up, I can wait until there’s a lull in business to send it off rather than having it breakdown right when I need it most. This makes it super easy to plan alternative techniques and menus to make do without the mixer.

When choosing what repair company I wanted to use for my small business machinery, I did quite a bit of research. First, I looked through the phone book and on the internet just to get an idea of what is out there. Because I’d never worked with motor repair companies before, I was surprised to see how many established companies existed even in my rural area.

I also asked other small business owners who they turn to when they need electric motor repair. With the recommendations I received, I looked deeper to check for technicians with certifications and an up to date knowledge of their field.

I’m an electrical engineer specializing in electric motor repair. To learn more about circuit breaker repair, please visit my website.

Power Grid History

Maria Sandstone — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 11:10:51 +0000

Despite being an important part of most everyone’s daily activities, the origins of electricity often seem like magic to most of us. There is in actually a vast complex network of grids which conducts power to our lights, our computers, and most everywhere else that needs electricity. Do you know what a fuse is? What about a switchgear or a generator? Let’s learn a bit more about how something as simple as turning a light on is possible thanks to power plants and countless other components.

The very first power system the world saw was created in England by two experimenting electricians. It was 1881 and their very primitive set up included two waterwheels producing enough alternative current, or AC power, to keep several dozen light bulbs illuminated at once.

The downside to this very simple design was that the alternate current wasn’t reliable enough to keep power to the lamps on a continual basis. The important thing was that the world could now see just what electrical power could accomplish. The bar was now set as both the United States and Europe began seriously devoting time to the concept.

In New York City at this time the inventor Thomas Edison devised a power station driven by steam. Truly the world’s first dependable power supply, this station would mark the beginning of the Edison Electric Light Company, and the increasing interest in electric lighting. Unlike the earlier water wheel power system, Edison’s power was generated by steam into a direct current, or DC.

It’s quaint to realize that electricity technology was so new back then that Edison could only provide to customers within a half mile range! Any farther than this and the power loss during transportation would make it impossible or unreasonable. Today, it is normal for people to live hundreds of miles away from the power plants that supply and regulate their electricity.

If we fast forward to the end of the 1800s, we find electricity being widely hailed as a healthy, growing field. More and more electrical companies were starting to spring into existence through Europe and the United States. Germany became the next country to begin development of electrical power. The existence of any sort of power grid or network arose as more of an afterthought than a plan.

Before this, remember, lighting was provided by the sun, candles and gas lamps only. The concept of electricity was new, unfamiliar and very exciting. No more gas fumes from lamps. No more candles dripping wax. The benefits were numerous and the public was excited about how the new technology could improve their lives.

Today, of course, few waterwheels are used in the grand scheme of powering the United States. Our power plants are complex and highly advanced combinations of fuses, circuit breakers and switchgear technology combined by engineers. Let all this knew information give you a moment of gratefulness the next time you switch on a light.

I’m an electrical engineer specializing in generator repair. Click here for more information.

Marvelous Solar Battery Packs Deliver Zero Cost Electrical Power for Your Hand-held Equipment

Craigor Stevendex — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:56:44 +0000

Solar battery packs can help power an individual’s cordless equipment with basic sun energy. They do this by using a bendable solar power panel to charge an internal battery pack in the device you can use later on when desired. You can get lots of models of these solar batteries, which makes it easy to find the perfect solution for your requirements.

Scaled-down versions of the solar battery packs are widely-used to produce electricity for cellular phones or lap tops and can add hours of use to these products when totally charged. Many have common connectors that enable you to very easily hook up your device to the unit for electrical power.

Many of these solar chargers additionally contain a standard battery holder, which permits you to charge a set of standard NiCad batteries that may be taken out when charged and utilized in any appliance they fit. This way you can snap a set of dead batteries in to the battery charger and sit the unit out under the sun to charge them for later use.

There are larger styles of these solar batteries that you can use on mobile homes and boats. These systems contain a bit bigger solar panels which can be installed on a flat surface of those RV’s to get the sun exposure they require. This solar panel is attached to a bank of deep cycle batteries which are recharged whenever the sun is shining and can be used later to power electronics or lights in the boat or RV.

Solar batteries also create a great portable electrical power supply for camping out or use in a rural vacation cabin. This type of system usually contains a transportable solar panel that is attached to a controller unit. The controller unit includes the batteries and trickle charges them with the power from the solar panels. When they are fully recharged, the controller could be disconnected from the solar panels and taken with you to provide power where you need it. These systems include controllers that will supply both 12VDC power in addition to standard residential 120VAC power.

They normally have a pair of conventional connectors built into them where you are able to plug in the lighting and appliances you wish to power with the system. When you return home from your trip, you can simply plug the controller into the solar panel to recharge the electric batteries so they are ready when you will need them next or you can take your solar panel with you to keep your controller fully charged. To power your house you may need a slightly different set up. You will need solar power panels installed in an array to supply your home with sufficient electrical power. In addition to storing the electricity you will need a bank of deep cycle solar batteries so you will have power when the sun is not shimmering.

With solar powered batteries, you may be able to power a laptop, which is why you might be interested in this http://www.macbookairreview.net/ 2012. If you’re unsure of what to buy, you’re probably wondering about Macbook Air vs tablet PC.

Environmentally Friendly Ways of Reusing and Recycling Paper, Books and Magazines

Darren White — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:44:13 +0000

The loss of more older trees is the outcome of rising consumption of paper including books and papers. It is frustrating to imagine how long it could take to see them replaced. This means that reusing and recycling paper has become even more crucial nowadays than it ever was.

All paper, including books and mags, are virtually wholly biodegradable, meaning they don’t choke landfills for many years and will just degrade into nothing. The fact that there is a need for more paper makes it seem stupid not to reuse as much as we possibly can. That is why we must reuse and recycle.

The conventional method of reusing paper is by using recycling facilities. Cities and towns have numerous centers for recycling and you will likewise discover these at the large supermarkets. You may find that your local community provides various bins so you can sort your paper for recycling. So that the paper can be usable once again, the paper recycling process must be put in place. This will help forestall the loss of many trees. If there are staples in mags or book pages to keep them together, this can create troubles for the recycling procedure. Some recycling businesses are finding ways to sort the metal by utilizing magnets and more techniques are being constantly developed.

Mags and books can be recycled, it is simply a matter of using our imaginativeness. Mags and books particularly hold a lot of info and knowledge that can be passed down to the next generations, so you can pass down books and mags to your kids or grandchildren, or even other folks. An old book will be usable to another person and it is easy for us discard of it in this manner.

If you own a lot of books that you don’t want then think about donating them to a library or to a charity shop. Books and magazines that are still in good condition will oftentimes be welcomed by your library. The library and the public will be happy as they will have more reading options. So, remember your library before you toss your next book.

If you prefer to sell your books, you have a lot of alternatives, including selling them on the Internet or at car boot sales. There are sites like Amazon and eBay where you will be able to sell old books and make money from them in the process.

There are less trees as a consequence of how much paper is used. We need trees for the Earth’s health and the creatures that depend on them. There are good deal of alternatives for us to recycle paper and to see to it that books and mags are reused instead of discarded.

Scuttle away with more data about living green and diff. forms of recycling, like television recycling at AllElectronicsRecycling.com, glimpse how simple we make it for television recycling.

The Ultimate Green Lumber Comes from Recycled Plastic

Regina Butler — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:10:26 +0000

Unless you are involved in the construction industry, you likely have never heard of the ultimate green lumber. Decks and deck furniture are typical uses of this product, which any environmentally conscious man or women will support wholeheartedly. The ultimate green lumber is also know by the following names: envirowood, plastic lumber, poly-wood, permo-wood, and eco-lumber. This revolutionary material that has transformed the patio furniture industry is both economically viable and environmentally friendly.

The end product seems like a piece of lumber, but the impressive thing is that there is no wood in it, only milk jugs and other recycled plastic containers. This green product doesn’t simply look like lumber, it also has the same feel and can be tooled, cut and sawed like any typical piece of lumber. The ultimate green lumber has found many applications aside from decking, such as patio furniture, outdoor tables and benches and playground equipment. Plastic is being recycled on a progressive scale, and a product application like the ultimate green lumber is a great way to utilize it. Ten years ago, 234 million pounds of plastic materials were recycled, and that number has now increased to 1.5 billion pounds.

Hardwood lumber does have a couple of downsides, such as the chemical treatment it requires to protect it against insects. Wood does start to rot when exposed and demands regular re-finishing; left untreated it will eventually rot. Plastic lumber will not leak and contaminate the soil because it contains no dangerous chemicals. The only care it needs is to, now and then, clean it off with a hose. It doesn’t matter where you dwell, the plastic lumber has been built to withstand tropical sun, hard winters, and coastal weather that is salty and windy.

This eco-wood should not be mistaken for some thin, plastic product that has been made into chairs, like you see on many decks. The ultimate green lumber is a heavy material, and can be purchased in 2×4 and 2×6 thicknesses. The ultimate green lumber could be sawed and cut just as you would normal hardwood, and screwed down. Popular uses of the ultimate green lumber were for deck and poolside applications, but new uses are daily presenting themselves. Plastic created into lumber is something you can use as opposed to regular hardwood which you will also find economical. Plastic lumber does not rot, it does not splinter, bugs don’t care for it and it can be used in numerous ways.

You will help in the effort to kill fewer trees by choosing to use furniture constructed from plastic lumber. Preserving trees and forests is at the top of the list of conservationists. This has added to the impetus for discovering more ways to use lumber from recycled plastic, not just from an environmental position but from an economic one also. Plastic lumber doesn’t involve any upkeep and it helps the environment.

Race off with more pointers about recycling and other types of recycling like e waste recycling at www.AllElectronicsRecycling.com. Explore how easy we made it for e waste recycling.

New Recycled Office Supplies To Help Our Environment Now

Stephan R. Vonn — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:01:32 +0000

Recycled office supplies in many paper categories have been around since the late 1980′s. Recycled copy paper, hanging folders, classification folders and notebooks all have been on the market for a couple of decades, and have gone a long way in helping to “reuse” the paper and corrugated items that people are actually recycling. Recently many new items, particularly plastic based office products, have come on the scene offering consumers green office supply choices that are kinder to our planet.

It’s great that more and more people are recycling today. As we continue to recycle, we need to remember that to allow the recycling process to come full circle we need to frequently purchase recycled products so that we can recycle the goods we use as often as possible. Luckily, contributing to the recycling triangle is made easier by the great number of current office supplies on the market manufactured from recycled material. Let’s look at some quality green office product alternatives you may be unfamiliar with that will help you help the planet.

You know that there are a multitude of recycled paper alternatives, but did you know there are many choices when it comes to recycled pens to write on that recycled paper? The Paper Mate FlexGrip recycled ball point pen is my preferred recycled pen. It comes with a rubberized grip to allow for superior comfort and precision and as a whole is made from 70% recycled content. The PAP1749943 is a red ink medium ballpoint pen from Paper Mate and makes for great writing!

With bottled water sales soaring worldwide, think about all of the plastic bottles that get recycled. The raw material PET is used to make these plastics to reuse recyclable materials and reduce the amount of waste that may find its way to landfills. When you’re shopping for a chair mat for your business or home office in the future think about the Floortex mat called the RevolutionMat, produced from 100% recycled PET. Check out item FLRECO4851EP. It’s a large 48 x 51 inch chair mat that has a smooth backing type to protect hard floors and, of course, it’s a green office product that is good for the environment.

You can also reuse PET by purchasing many common, every day products such as drink cups. Eco-Products are reputable for making high quality recycled plastic products. Their cold cups, which may also be bought for home or office needs, are made from 50% post-consumer PET and come in many different individual and pack sizes. The item ECOEPCR9PK is a smaller, 9-ounce pack of 50 cold cups.

Most traditional binders like view binders are not green office products because the vinyl used to make them is not made of recycled material. A new office supply company called ReBinder offers recycled binders that are themselves 100% recyclable.

ReBinder’s Zero Waste Binders come from 70% recycled materials. The metals in the product can actually be removed to be recycled in a metal recycling storage area and the binder itself in the corrugate recycling area when you’re finished using the binder. ReBinder has binder sizes available in 0.5″ rings to 4″ rings that are more durable than you might think. The 3″ ring binder from ReBinder (item REBRBCRD30EA) comes in brown to exemplify your environmental awareness.

The products discussed are just some of the numerous recycled and recyclable office products and janitorial supplies out there today that make a positive effect on the environment. Although these items do generally cost a little more than non-recycled products on the market, the often extra expense helps our planet with every recycled product we buy. Do good work by shopping for recycled office supplies as frequently as you can!

Stephan R Vonn writes helpful tips for products like recycled View Binders for your office. He’s an expert on all green Office Supplies and recommends ZumaOffice.com for their Conscious Capitalism, great prices and they Do Good Work in the community. Shop Zuma today!

Energy Resources Journal

Using PV Power in Homes

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How Solar Thermal Works In Your Home

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The Oil Crunch And Solar Power

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Geothermal As A Renewable Energy Source

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Finding An Electric Motor Repair Company

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Power Grid History

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Marvelous Solar Battery Packs Deliver Zero Cost Electrical Power for Your Hand-held Equipment

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Environmentally Friendly Ways of Reusing and Recycling Paper, Books and Magazines

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The Ultimate Green Lumber Comes from Recycled Plastic

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New Recycled Office Supplies To Help Our Environment Now

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