The Power of Alternative Thinking: Photos of alternative energy products, projects or processes that are helping to minimize the carbon footprint in their area.
Show Off Your Ride: Photos of modified, tricked-out and supped up rides including: cars, motorcycles, trucks, watercraft, unique vehicles and more.
Just a very quick note to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas this beautiful December 25th! Thank you for being such great, loyal and entertaining readers, thank you for going green whenever you can, and thank you for visiting our blog!
Take today to have a wonderful and Merry Christmas with your families, loved ones, friends and pets! In Short, from all of us at Northern Tool, to all of you…
Wow, it is already Christmas Eve. Not going to lie, I have no idea how we got from August to Christmas Eve without me having really any idea. Time truly flies, whether you’re having fun or not! That said, today is officially the LAST shopping day before the big C-Day, so I’d advise you leave wherever you’re working and get your final gift purchases locked up!
One favor, call it my gift this year, make sure those last-minute gifts are all good and green, can you? It’s not as hard as you think it would be, I promise! I just found a great post that had some seriously awesome gift ideas that are both green, and last-minute worthy! Without further ado, here, according to the Discovery Channel, are some great green gift ideas:
“At Gaiam, today’s the last day for a free upgrade to FedEx 2-Day shipping-plus 15% off orders of more than $75. Keep your friends and family warm and cozy with organic cotton blankets, fleece robes, and vegan slippers, or shop the rest of the site for gifts for men, women, baby, and home.”
“Satisfy the pet lover in your life with gifts from Olive, like Pawz dog boots, polka-dotted collars, cotton pet sweaters, and whimsical cat bowls. The site offers two-day shipping and-for the truly last-minute-electronic gift cards delivered right to your recipient.”
“Go the Fair Trade route with a gift certificate to Global Exchange. It arrives electronically just a few minutes after you order it (so it’s perfect for giving to unexpected Christmas Day guests); recipients can choose from a wide variety of Fair Trade items, including hand-beaded bangle bracelets, glass bead necklaces, and woven earrings.”
If none of those work, I actually have the PERFECT gift…Northern Tool is having an amazing Last Chance Christmas Sale with some items up to 50% off. 50% off, I’m sure you could find quite a few things worth snagging, now couldn’t you!
Just yesterday I talked at length about how 33% of consumers in this fine country want greener electronics. Not only do they Want them, they plan on buying them within the next 2 years. This is great news, but I found something today that is even better…you don’t have to Wait 2 years to buy some awesome Green Christmas gifts, you can start now, with these 8 awesome products I just found.
That’s right, the article I just read has 8 great ideas for any and all gadget lovers in your life. The best part of all, not only will THEY love them, the Earth will too. Can’t ask for much more than that, now can you? Without further ado, and as usual check out the full article for more, here are the 8 best Green Christmas Gadget Gifts this year:
“The Voltaic Backpack - A backpack covered in solar panels that will charge your gear with the energy saved from the sun. Rad.
The Kill-A-Watt - Power strip that actually measures the energy you’re using and shows just how much you save by unplugging.
EasyBloom Plant Sensor - A Device that measures how your plants are doing, when they need water and if they are sick or not. Think of it as a green thumb for you.
There you have it. If you can’t find something on that list to fill up your tree or stocking with gifts, I don’t know what to tell you. Me, I want all of them…er…I’ll be buying them for other people! Not a gadget fan but still want to go green this Christmas, head over to Northern Tool and look at all of our amazing alternative energy products. There is something there for EVERYONE that wants to start helping the Earth AND their pocketbooks!
Hello and here’s hoping that you’re belly is ready to be stuffed, your pillow is ready to support your head, and your friends and family are ready to laze around, probably watch football, basketball or some early Christmas special on television. That’s right, it’s the time of year once again to give thanks, and so from all of us at Northern Tool, we’re thankful for all of YOU!
That’s right, Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Northern Tool! It’s been great writing for you, speaking to you, and hearing what you all have to say about this crazy and exciting world of alternative energy products, solutions, ideas, tips, hints and suggestions! We love doing it, we love hearing from you and we’re thankful for all of your time!
So, Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Northern Tool! Have a great Holiday, and try to avoid those shopping lines tomorrow!
Happy Wednesday, we’re almost there! If you’ve ever read this blog you know, we ADORE solar power. Solar powered cars, houses, heck, anything that uses the power of the sun to run makes us happy and its why we at Northern Tool are trying hard to supply all of YOU with solar powered products. When we find great news about solar power, therefore, it makes our whole week. It’s only Wednesday, but consider our week made.
Why? Simple, the world’s LARGEST solar panel manufacturing plant is about to be built. Granted, it’s being built in Dubai, which is unfortunate as it then requires a great deal of energy to actually transport all of those beautiful solar panels, but nevertheless, it is being built. The fact that it’s being built means there is quite obviously a demand. According to reports, “Construction is to start in November, and is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2010. The roughly 93 000 square meter manufacturing plant, Solar Technologies FZE, will be able to produce solar panels of up to 5.7 square meters.” Yes!
The company behind the operation hopes that a plant of this size will help not only produce more solar panels, but reduce the costs as well, hopefully getting the technology into a great deal more hands, a great deal sooner. The best news of all is, you don’t have to wait to dive head first into solar technology. Head over to Northern Tool and start doing some solar shopping!
Today my friends, is officially Solar Power’s day! I love when Wednesday gives me great news, and this, is some of the best. According to new reports, a concentrated solar company named SolFocus is preparing and prepping what will be, upon completion, the world’s largest concentrated solar deployment in the entire world!
The project, to be built in Spain for EMPE Solar, will be a multi-site installment that will end up costing an enormous $103 million dollars. Once finished, the site will be a 10 MW, multi-site intstallment that should generate and provide massive amounts of solar energy. What’s more, this site will be, as mentioned, a concentrated solar site, which basically means that, “SolFocus modules use mirrors and reflective optics to concentrate the sun’s rays 500 times onto a solar cell. As a result, the systems use 1/1000 the amount of photovoltaic material typically used in PV modules.” More power, less material. Not too bad!
The project will not be finished until an estimated 2010 launch date, but all of us stuck Stateside shouldn’t worry, the same company is planning a very massive California installation sometime in the very near future. Pretty soon, massive concentrated solar energy farms might be popping up everywhere! In the meantime, you can still do your part, head over to Northern Tool and start shopping all of our amazing solar energy products! The more we do, the more we help. Why not start right now?
Just yesterday, I talked a great deal about Passive Solar energy and how you could, with very little time, very little money and very little effort, heat your garage a whopping 10+ degrees this winter using nothing but passive solar energy. All this talk of it, but what IS it? What it is REALLY?
Thanks to YouTube, and Modern Technology, I found an extremely interesting, and extremely fact-filled video tutorial that explains the in’s, out’s and all around’s of Passive Solar Energy. I personally had no idea just how intense, how effective, and how, well, FREE passive solar energy is. Bottom line, if you’re looking for a DIY project that can literally change your life, this might be the place to start before you jump headfirst into solar panels, solar conversion kits and outfitting your home with the help of Northern Tool.
Check out the video, then enjoy your amazing weekend!
Hello my Earth Saving Friends. Happy Monday, hopefully your weekend was a great one and you’re ready to face another week. We’re kicking off today with a post that made me all sorts of excited. How about some new solar cells that are reportedly as easy to make as a boxed pizza?! Yeah, count me in.
That’s right, according to the article I just read, “An Australian scientist has developed a new method of manufacturing solar cells using nothing more than some nail polish remover, a pizza oven and a standard inkjet printer.” What?! You heard right, and some experts are hoping and believing that this new method, if perfected, could be a way to provide cheap and easy access to solar power to people all over the world.
What is even crazier, Nicole Kuepper, the brains behind this new operation, is only 23 years old and a Phd student at the University of New South Wales. The process she uses, while this description is vague, shows just how inventive, and Easy the method could be. Here’s the jist of what goes down:
“Firstly, she takes a standard silicon solar cell and sprays it with a substance similar to nail polish. Then, she inkjet prints something like nail polish remover onto the wafer in a set pattern in the same way that you’d print a normal photo. This enables the creation of high-resolution patterns on the cell at a very low cost. The cell is then metallized with an aluminum spray and baked at a very low temperature of around 550 fahrenheit in “something like a pizza oven.””
Wow. Head over and check it out the new iJet technology and then head over to Northern Tool and check out our extensive line of affordable Solar Powered products!
The back and forth debate about whether or not climate change really exists is about to get a whole lot easier. The “is it/isn’t it” should enter a new realm of cut and dry fact as a new satellite is about to be launched that has a very, very important task at hand…predict climate change and study the exact changes our planet is already undergoing.
Why is this so vital you might be asking? I was too until I read exactly what it will be doing. It turns out, the satellite will “provide precise measurements of the earth’s gravitational field, which will in turn provide exact measurements of ocean currents. So why is that important? Well, ocean currents transport heat around the planet— and that means that the currents have a huge impact on the earth’s climate.” Huh, is that all?
The amazingly expensive little satellite will map the Earth’s gravitational field once every 70 days for a full 18 months. This new idea, new technology could potentially act as an early warning system in the event of any changes that could be problematic to widely affected areas, and as a bonus, might be the final piece of evidence that there is in fact a change going on in our climate and that we do, in fact, need to do something about it!
Just yesterday I talked at length about how 33% of consumers in this fine country want greener electronics. Not only do they Want them, they plan on buying them within the next 2 years. This is great news, but I found something today that is even better…you don’t have to Wait 2 years to buy some awesome Green Christmas gifts, you can start now, with these 8 awesome products I just found.
