Photovoltaic Systems

Looking for a simple, affordable, and eco-friendly way to furnish a home?  Check out Victory Vintage Home for vintage furniture and accessories.  One of the most environmentally friendly things that you can do is to re-use materials that already exist.  Even new, environmentally-friendly materials often have some negative impact on the environment.  For instance, furniture made from bamboo is called eco-friendly because bamboo is a rapidy renewable resource, but you then have to figure in the distance that bamboo usually travels to get to the United States.  You would also want to know how it was harvested and a variety of other environmentally important factors.

Vintage, antique, and just plain second-hand materials have none of
these implications. 

The only factor to consider is shipping distance. 
If you don’t have the time to devote to perusing yards sales, estate
sales, and flea markets, a shop like Victory Vintage Home, located in
Decatur, Georgia, may be just the thing for you.  Victory Vintage Home
offers a great selection of vintage furniture and accessories for the
home.  The majority of these are in the Mid-Century Modern style and
would look incredibly chic in a contemporary, modern home, or even an eclectic
home. 

Some of my favorite items are the lamps and the buffets, or
sideboards.  Prices are reasonable: small lamps start around $50, a
pair of 50s caned wood chairs are going for $185, and a neat 60s
buffet is on sale for $550.  New items are added on a regular basis and
there’s nothing as unique for you home as a piece that may be the only
one of its kind (as many pieces may have slight modifications from the
original such as a fresh new paint job). 

So, if you’re on the East
Coast, Victory Vintage Home may be the perfect place to shop when
furnishing your "green" home.  Even if you’re on the West Coast,
shipping may be more eco-friendly than for anything made outside the
country.  Visit Victory Vintage Home‘s website — it’s easy to navigate and has great photos of their current stock.

This article is Part 1 in a two part series on vintage furnishings.  Check in next week to read about another vintage furnishing
shop in a different part of the country.

This fridge has a fantastic retro appearance and could save you a lot of money on your utility bills.  Designed by SMEG, it’s a compact 9.22 cubic feet and uses only  305 kWh/year.  That makes it one of the most efficient it its class according to the government’s energy guide, which is used to rate all Energy Star appliances.  This stylish fridge isn’t big — it’s under 5 feet tall, but maybe it will encourage you to trade space for style and save energy as a result. 

Another bonus is the great range of colors — 10 total — including pink,
lime green, silver, and pastel blue.  The interior sports 3 adjustable
shelves, a bottle shelf, a fixed glass shelf, a fruit and vegetable
container and a dairy box plus lots more storage in the door. 

The SMEG fridge costs about $2000 making it quite pricey for its size, but
remember, its efficiency will save you some bucks if you’re paring down
from a larger, modern day model.  And, it’s really all about the
look — a beautiful retro reproduction in almost any color you like. 

[+] Visit SMEG’s website for more details.

This is a guest post provided by Maria Surma Manka direct from WINDPOWER 2008.  Maria writes about renewable energy policy, innovation, and private sector leadership at Maria Energia.

Greetings from Houston, site of the American Wind Energy Association’s WINDPOWER 2008 conference. I am a guest of AWEA and have spent the last few days meeting several of the 12,000 attendees and visiting many of the nearly 800 exhibitors.  Below are some of the interesting small wind turbine designs I found.

BROADSTAR WINDSYSTEMS
Dallas-based Broadstar Windsystems makes the AeroCam turbine that can
be used in urban areas and even to infill rural wind farms (in other
words, put these shorter, smaller turbines in between the big ones).
What’s more, Broadstar made the bold claim that this turbine could
achieve $1 per watt installed.

IR WINDPOWER
The three following photos are small turbines from IR Windpower.
They currently manufacture both large and small designs throughout
Asia, but they’re eying the European and U.S. markets next.

KR WINDPOWER
This turbine from KR Windpower stands only about 4-5 feet off the ground. The company is based in Korea, with offices in China and California:

BERGEY WINDPOWER
Small wind from Bergey Windpower:

PROVEN ENERGY
From Proven Energy:

HI ENERGY
This vertical turbine is from Hi Energy. The poster in the photo
shows examples of how the turbine can be used. I couldn’t find a
website for the company but this is a video of the turbine in action.