Got Evidence- Man Made Chemicles?

In this series of Got Evidence we are going to look into the question "Are Chemicals good for your Body". One thing I have notice is the push for folks to buy Organic. Why is this are the Preservatives/ chemicals used in the others bad for our bodies?

I noticed that a skin problem I had a while back has returned. This got me thinking what is the cause. Thought I new what it was. Then I noticed that a product I had been using for a while had changed their ingredients to a Chemical produced sweetener. The Old one did not have it. If the Companies are changing ingredients from Natural to Man Made Chemicals, we should be looking into the Health of it.

I have stopped using the product and the skin problem is receding. Now in fairness of the companies I will not be mentioning names, only the chemicals themselves. The main question I am going to explore is, Are the Chemicals good for our Bodies. So, for the next few weeks in October I will be doing the research to find that out. Check back on Thursdays to see what I learned.

Now I have a question for you. Do you think the Man made chemicals are healthy for you? If you have a question on a certain chemical please leave it in the comments and I will certainly explore it.

Preparing for the Winter Months.

We have decided to postpone the thermal solar project. Looking into adding to our solar panels, that might be a better option. The newer ones can be easier added and no inside work needs to be done. Right Now funds are tight, and with the problem with the government funding we need to be more cautious with ours.

We are still doing well with the solar. Saving about 1/2 of Utilities expenses. Still working on our indoor lighting and electrical uses. With the winter approaching we will need to work on the heating options. We use a pellet stove for most of our heating. It is a cleaner alternative for the environment. I will be making room for the winter pellets. Pellet stoves also help in not allowing the auxiliary heat of the furnace come on. Which causes the utility cost to soar. We are expecting a colder Winter this year.

With all the wet weather there has been a higher chance of mold and mildew. Therefore we had our air ducts and furnace cleaned. This is something that should be done at least every 3 to 5 years. Found that they were pretty nasty. Had them done about 3 years ago. However this year they were in bad condition. Were told with all the weather conditions, Hurricane and heavy rain the water basin table is high. That causes the humidity in the basement to be higher. So , we have a dehumidifier going to help with the extra moisture. If you have never had your ducts and furnace clean , you should look into it. There are many specials going on now.It is important to maintain a healthier indoor airflow.

We also had a Ultraviolet light installed to kill the viruses and mold growth. We are replacing the filter regularly as well as using a good 3M one.

Looking into an alternate Green power.

Going Green takes some research, I love thinking Green Acres on a green scene.

We have been looking into a whole house gas generator. Have have several folks out for quotes. I have to say it is very costly. Not sure our outages warrants one.

So, we had a solar load assessment done to see about a solar backup. It turn out that a solar backup would not be a good choice either. The running time would a short and the cost is about the same as the gas generator. We might be looking at adding to our solar panels and a gas generator. Combining the two on a contract. that way we take take advantage of the incentives.

However, we will have to look into a few more things.

Our solar power is doing us very well. Saving money and making us look into some newer green options.

Will keep you all informed on our decisions. Still looking to do Thermal solar for our water heater. The date has been push back for that.

Going Green Update.

Here we are another record month. We received our Energy bill and it was 107.00. that is so good, Normally it is over 200.00 for this month. For two years it has been 107! We have had the Solar since November 2009. Our savings have been great. The energy bills have been cut in almost half. We are now getting ready to have a thermal solar system put in. That will start sometime in the Fall. We are looking forward to even more saving.

With the Solar comes REC's. (Renewable Energy Credits). We have a company who we sell our REC's to. With the Check amount it turn out that we really pay very little on our energy. We had a yearly cost of 2850.89 for energy consumption with the solar. Minus the REC's received from the company we ended up for the years' energy, paying 610.89. Not bad. divide that into 12 months and that ends up costing about 51.00 per month.

Our prior Energy bill before solar was 5103.97 yearly! With a pre-solar cost of 425.33 per month. that is an 88 percent savings. Now how great is that! On top of reduce the carbon imprint. So as you can see it was well worth it. Now with the addition of the Thermal Solar we will be able to save even more. On top of that, Maryland has passed the bill to allow selling of the Thermal REC's. Our company will also buy them.

We are still doing well with our bags and recycling. Have notice only one garbage can to be picked up and that isn't even filled.

Still looking for ways to conserve energy in the summer months. I will be blogging about those later on.

So, How are you doing?