The 3 Rs of Plastic Bags

We here at Create-NRG love our fabric bags and bring them with us anytime we do groceries or run errands. However, some people prefer plastic bags, which is fine, as long as you stick to the 3 Rs!

Reduce
Make sure you really need a bag. Sometimes, you run to the store for just a thing or 2, that can easily be tossed into your purse or pocket or even just held in your hand until you get to your car. Other items that have handles (like jugs of milk or juice) or large bulk items (like packages of tissue paper or toilet paper) shouldn't be placed into bags since they can easily be carried without and there will most likely not be anymore room in the bag for anything else.

Reuse
Plastic bags take up very little space. This means you can throw a few in your car, your pocket, your purse, your stroller, your little basket on your bike, or your backpack so that you will always have some available when you make an unplanned stop at the store. Other ways to reuse plastic bags include:

They said humans would never fly, the Wright brothers proved them wrong. 
They said that flying would never be eco-friendly, a pair of Swiss explorers are proving them wrong. 
They said flying economy would never be comfortable, well.. we can't really help you there. 
But! If you haven't yet heard about this fuel-free flying that has been going on, you need to check this out! Bertrand Piccard had a dream and with the help of Andre Borschberg that dream is coming true. They have built and are flying a completely solar-powered airplane around the world. This aircraft, named the Solar Impulse, is a one-seater plane that runs off of solar power alone, it is made from carbon fiber and has a wingspan of 72 metres. It has 17,000 solar cells that supply the 4 electric motors and that charge the lithium batteries to allow for night time flying.

Reduce your electricity usage

Dreaming of going off-grid? The first thing you should think about is reducing your consumption of power. I have been told that for every dollar spent inside the house towards reducing power consumption you can decrease the value of the necessary solar system by 3 dollars. Did that make sense? Let's see if I can break that down a little bit; you have 10, 2$ incandescent light bulbs in your house and the solar guy quotes you a 10,000$ system to turn your house to off-grid. You decide to switch out your bulbs for 10$ LED bulbs and ask the solar guy for another quote. This time it comes in at 9,760$. That extra 80$ (100$ of LEDs – 20$ of incandescents) saves you 240$ on your system. And even if you don't plan on getting that solar system right away anything you do to make your house more efficient today will save you in power bills. 
Here are a few ways to make your house more efficient:

400 B.C.
Greeks were the first to build their houses in a way that would benefit from the sun's heat during winter.

1767
Horace-Benedict de Saussure a scientist from Switzerland created the first solar collector in 1767. It was a sort of insulated box that used three layers of glass to absorb heat energy. This box was able to reach temperatures of 230 degrees Fahrenheit or 110 degrees Celsius and became known as the first solar oven. This solar oven was later used by Sir John Herschel to cook food during his South Africa expedition in the 1830s.

1839
This is the year Edmond Becquerel, a French scientist, experiments with two electrodes placed in an electricity conducting solution and discovers the electricity increases when it is exposed to light. This is now called the photo-voltaic effect.

Jeremy is currently in school and wrote this essay for his english class. (He got a 98%!)
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!


 Energy, it is all around us. The planet offers us many different, renewable ways to produce energy, yet why do we still rely so heavily on fossil fuels that damage our planet and that are dangerous to our health? Many people worry about the economy. However, they are not pursuing the industry that has created thousands of jobs globally in the past few years. Likewise, many are concerned about large scale power outages, increasing energy prices, and even terrorist threats. These concerns can easily be replaced by peace of mind and independence. Renewable energy or green energy is the answer to many of our current and future problems. In fact, “our energy needs can be met by 95% renewable energy by 2050” (Juliette, 2011, para. 11). In order to create a healthier planet, create more jobs, and make us more independent, the future should be green energy and the future is now!

     People may believe that renewable energy is too expensive or not reliable. They may think that fossil fuels do not have a negative effect or not enough of an effect on the planet and our health to be worth a change. Some may be convinced that switching to renewable energy will mean a loss of jobs or industry (Murphy, 2008, para. 6). Although these are thoughts that one must consider, the benefits of green energy far outweigh any of these concerns. Once one begins to discover the advantages of green energy they will wonder why they waited so long to make the change. 

     We would like to send a great big thank you to everyone that came out and joined us at the Fort Frances and Rainy River trade shows. We had a great time meeting you and learning more about your thoughts, ideas, and concerns regarding renewable energy. We are especially grateful to everyone who took the time to fill out our short survey. These surveys allow us to see, as a whole, what you believe are the greatest concern and benefit. Here are those results: