Tango-Group-Homebrewpower-Partnership

HomeBrewPower are pleased to announce a Review partnership between ourselves and Tango Group.

We will now be able to offer complete Renewable Energy Device reviews / product evaluations for all the popular brands as set out below:

Sprig
Power Plus
Eco Savers
Reestore
Aladdin
Battech
Science Time
Pure
UniRoss
Eco Button
H2O Power
HYMini
Radiator Booster
Efergy
Moppel
Trevor Baylis Brands
Tefal
Eton
Solar Technology International
Solio
AirFree
Horizon
Eco Zone
PowerMonkey
Free Loader

Every review will be categorised for easy access via our sidebar links. Please do tell your friends as there will be exclusive discounts on all the products I review from Tango Group via my website.

The first 2 reviews will be hopefully live in the next couple of days!

Off-Grid-Home-Building-Money-Saving-Tips

TIP 1: If you buy building materials in small quantity you will pay full retail price. Instead figure out exactly what materials you will need. Include everything from screws to appliances. Make your material list look professional and take it to any large construction supplier like B&Q or Wickes. Do not talk to a clerk but go straight to the contractor desk or speak to a manager and tell them you are building your own home and would like the contractor discount for buying all the materials from them.Most building supply stores will give you anywhere from 5% to 15% discount if you buy all material at one time. They may even throw in free delivery if you live within a certain mileage.If you have to buy in small quantities go to the mom and pop building suppliers with your list and ask the manager for a discount if you buy all your materials from them over time. You will still usually get a discount and be supporting your local dealers.

TIP 2: If you are using solar (I hope) try to buy your panels in bulk for a big discount. Most panel suppliers will give 30% or more for bulk sales of ten panels or more and a smaller discount if you buy more than one. Talk to the owner if possible as salesman rarely have power to discount. Get your power controller and necessary wiring and even batteries from the dealer and get an even bigger discount!

TIP 3: Recycle whenever possible. Good used Doors and windows can be had for free or cheap from most window installers. Get double pane and insulated doors for exterior. They may need painting and might be different sizes but the savings is worth a little extra work.Good used appliances can be had for free or cheap. Check out your local freecycle website, garage sale, city dump, or look for homes being remodelled and make an offer. Sinks, toilets, cabinets, tubs, showers are always being thrown away so do some scrounging and don't waste money on new ones.New propane appliances can be expensive but if you have or can buy an old RV cheap salvage all your propane appliances to outfit your home.

TIP 4: Design your home for efficiency. Consider how big of a home you really need. Smaller homes are cheaper to build, cheaper to heat and cool, easier to clean and lower in property taxes. Because people are looking for smaller efficient homes they also raise in property value faster than big inefficient homes.

TIP 5: Use the sun and passive energy. Situate you house to take advantage of the sun for winter heating and solar panels. Plant trees for natural summer cooling. Use overhangs to block summer sun and porches for cool resting spots. Passive air turbines instead of expensive air conditioning.

TIP 6: Go solar! There is a fed rebate of 30% for any size solar electric system installed by a professional installer. You can get this rebate even if you do the work yourself if you will contact an installer and ask them to design your system and oversee your work. get them to sign off on the work as being installed professionally and you can get the rebate. Many installers will do this and I do it all the time for clients. If you buy your equipment from them they can get you a bigger discount and they will give you valuable advice for designing the right size system for your needs. It may be worth a few hundred dollars to have their professional experience and you will save a lot in the rebate and having a correctly designed system.

TIP 7: Do the work yourself! Even if you have no building experience you can save a lot by having a knowledgeable builder use you for labor on your own home. Take a construction class or volunteer with a habitats for humanity project or your neighbors construction to learn the skill you need. Home construction is not difficult and most people that have basic construction knowledge can do it themselves or with a little guidance from a knowledgeable builder.

LED-Lighting-Energy-Efficient-Lighting

LED (Light Emitting Diode) Lighting are a fast emerging high efficient light source. The primary benefits of LED lighting is low maintenance, long life and pure vibrant colors they produce.

LED technology is now been used in Floodlighting, LED floor panels, LED Up lights, LED Wall Panels, LED Strip lights and LED Spot Lights.

Philips lighting are one of the worlds leaders in LED technology and have just released the LUXEON Rebel ES which boasts in excess of 100 Lumen's per watt.

See THIS LINK for more on the Philips LumiLEDS
Philips Luxeon Rebel ES Power LED

HERE is a very informative article posted on the N Y Times website about the latest emerging LED Lighting technology. I suggest readers read it and learn about the latest LED Technology

How-To-Make-Biodiesel-Bio-Diesel

Learn more about how to make Biodiesel.

I have hand picked some information on the processes and techniques of producing your own 'Green Diesel Biodiesel'


Make Biodiesel At Home Article

How to make Biodiesel at Home

Before we go into the details of producing small amounts of Biodiesel at
home we must first stress the importance of safety. The chemicals used
in the process of making Biodiesel are dangerous and if used without
taking the correct measures to protect yourself can cause serious injury
or even death. Please, please be careful and make sure you are in a well
ventilated area with access to running clean water.

MATERIALS REQUIRED

1 litre of Vegetable Oil- new (SVO) or used (WVO)

NaOH (lye / caustic soda), at least 6g. This is often used as a drain
cleaner and can often be found in your local supermarket.

Methanol (at least 250ml).Used as an Antifreeze, can often we found in
Motor supplie shops

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED

1 to 2 litre Plastic Bottle - I often use an empty Vegetable oil
container

A measuring cup

A scale

OR

A teaspoon

A container to mix the methanol and NaOH (methoxide) Not plastic. Heavy
duty glass is recommended

A Funnel

OIL PREPERATION

If you are using waste oil (WVO), take one litre and heat to at least
120 deg c to remove all water. If water is present the oil will spit and
pop, when the water is removed this will stop. Be careful - this can be
quite a violent process. Then Allow to cool

If you are using new vegetable oil it should not contain any water so
just heat to 55deg c when you are ready.

MAKING THE METHOXIDE

WARNING Making Methoxide is dangerous. Methoxide is highly toxic. For
this reason, the safety of the design of equipment and workspace should
be carefully considered before use, and protective clothing and a
respirator should be worn during handling. Only as much as is intended
to be used immediately should be created.

'YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED'

Take 250ml of Methanol and add 4g (about half a Teaspoon) NaOH.

If you are using Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) just use 6g- 7g NaOH (about 1
level teaspoon)

Methanol and NaOH do not easily mix. Start with the methanol at body
temp (not warm). NOTE that as you mix the two chemicals the temperature
will increase. Do not panic... is normal. You will need to ensure all
the NaOH is disolved in the Methanol, this could take over ten minutes.

After **ALL** the NaOH has disolved you may need to top up with fresh
methanol as the process may cause some evaporation

MAKING THE BIODIESEL... the final step

When the Oil's temperature has dropped to 60 deg c or less, using your
funnel, pour the litre of oil into you dry plastic container. Take your
methanol/NaOH (Methoxide) and add to the oil. Ensure the container is
sealed securely then shake vigerously for about 15 seconds.

Leave your Biodiesel to "set". You will notice that after about 10
minutes the glycerine or "soap" will settle from your mixture. It will
take a day or two for the Biodiesel to completely separate. You will see
two defined layers - the Biodiesel and the glycerine.Typically the
glycerine layer is about the same or a bit more than the amount of
methanol used.

Now remove the Biodiesel from the container leaving the glycerine and
you are ready for the washing...

WASHING YOUR BIODIESEL

Although the glycerine or "soap" and water has separated from your
Biodiesel - it will still need washing. Please do not violently shake
your unwashed Biodiesel as it will form an emulsion that may take days
or evn weeks to fully seperate. The gentle approach is whats needed.

Wash One:

Pour 1 litre biodiesel into a a clean and dry plaric bottle.

Gently pour in 500ml water (body temp).

Replace bottle top.

Now GENTLY rotate the bottle end for end for about 30 seconds.

After 30 seconds place bottle upright.

Only If you have been GENTLE the water and Biodiesel will seperate
immediatly.

You will notice the water is not clear.

Remove top and using your thumb as a stopper, turn bottle upsidedown and
drain the water using your thumb as a valve.

You have finished wash one.

Wash Two:

Pour in another 500ml water and repeat wash one, except rotate GENTLY
for about 1 minute.

Drain as in wash one.

You have finished wash 2.

Wash Three:

Again pour in another 500ml water and GENTLY GENTLY GENTLY shake bottle
for a minute or so.

When water and biodiesel seperate discard water in same fashion as
before.

Wash Four:

Another 500ml water and a bit more aggitation for about 1 min.

After seperation of water and biodiesel Drain as above.

Wash Five:

You should now be able shake fairly vigerously.

If the washing has been completed sucessfully the water should be almost
clear. Be aware that in your later washes you should be able to shake
mre violently although it will take considerably longer to seperate
because the water forms tiny bubles in the biodiesel that take time to
settle out.

Your washed biodiesel will be VERY CLOUDY and much lighter in colour
than the unwashed biodiesel a. After a day or 2 settling and drying it
will clear

Your Biodiesel is now ready for use!

Saving-Planet-Earth

Tips on saving our planet (Saving Planet Earth)

There are a number of things you may do for our planet. Let me try and give you some suitable answers to help you out a little.Fossil Fuels: You can 'Lower' your dependence on fossil fuels. I don't expect you to go run away and live in a cage or become a 'Tree Hugger' but you can, for example;

1. switch all your lights from incandescent filament lamps to high efficiency low energy compact fluorescent lamps.

2. Strip out the gas fire and install a wood burner (Wood is a carbon neutral source of heating fuel) They can come with a back boiler so you can feed the excess heat into the heating system to heat other rooms.

3. Cut back on the travel by (Car / Van / Bus / Train) and try cycling short routes. If your distances are large for commuting then why not set up a car sharing scheme with friends so you can all commute in the same vehicle and save burning excessive fossil fuels (Petrol and Diesel)

4. Buy your fresh vegetables from local farmers / farm stores, supermarkets fly / ship fruit and vegetables from all 4 corners of the globe and add to the excessive burning of fossil fuels. Why not support your local farmer and purchase his vegetables and fruit that were grown in the field next door and delivered by hand by the farmer himself?

5. Try educating others about turning lights off when they leave the room, why have the radiator in the lavatory on full when you are in there for 2 minutes 2 times a day? Try and see logic!

6. Swap your CRT (Cathode Ray Tube - The Big Glass fronted TV's) TV with a LCD flat screen one. They use much less Electricity (Which is mainly produced by burning fossil fuels Diesel & Gas)

7. Set your Laptop and or desktop PC to hibernate after a set amount of inactivity so it is not needlessly wasting Electricity.

8. When you go to bed for the night go around the house and switch off all non essential electrical equipment at the plug, putting TV's and Microwaves into standby does not shut them down but only puts them into a lower consuming mode.

9. Grow your own fruit and vegetables, it is so much fun and very satisfying, plus you get to know you are reducing your carbon footprint whilst getting free food!

10. Opt for as many bills as possible to be sent to you electronically, you save them printing them on paper, save the rain forests and save on the delivery van burning fossil fuels in the process!

Hope this helps you out a little.