* RodWarnock.com *

Hi,

         Drug companies have spent millions of dollars to try and come up with a drug that kills cancer cells. Whilst some new drugs have been developed, they are hugely expensive and therefore not available to everyone. They also have side effects.

Chemotherapy is the standard treatment for certain types of cancer, yet the results can be as low as 2 or 3% effective and are accompanied by side effects of nausea, wait loss and hair loss. Imagine a natural substance that kills the cancer cells but has no side effects.

Apparently the Amazon Indians have been using such a substance for many years and it is called Graviola. Can you see now why we must not continue to destroy the rain forrests. They say that there is nothing new under the sun and to an extent that is true. We cut down rain forrests to produce products like palm oil for cosmetics.

Is that not a bit sick that we cut down the very forrests that contain trees and plants that produce life saving substances, not to mention the rare animals that we destroy. The problem of course is that natural substances cannot be patented and so no drug company is going to research and market them. Natural health companies will hopefully continue to pursue  research and market these natural substances.   

Hi,

         It has just been announced that a large scale energy project will be sited off the coast of Scotland.  Apparently several different methods will be used to harness the power of the sea. One of the main ones is wave power where large metal pontoons are placed in the water and when the waves hit the different sections and move where they are joined turbines at the joints generate electricity.

One other method that will be used is giant propellers under the sea. The waves  push these propellers which generates electricity. There is already one of these propellers in northern Ireland. It is hoped that these wave power devices off the coast of Scotland will generate in time enough electricity to power 700,000 homes.

It is great to hear news of this sort of innovation especially at a time when gasoline and diesel prices are set to rise further.

Hi,

       following the UK Governments announcement of its clean energy loan scheme, the sales of solar panels are predicted to rise. The idea of the scheme is of course very sound, however I think we need to be aware of possible exaggerated claims for the benefits to be achieved.

Let us remember that if you go to a solar panel provider then you are likely to be charged from $12,000 (£8,000) to $20,000 (£14,000) for supply and installation. This of course does not have to be the case as you can build your own panels for a fraction of this cost as I mentioned in my previous post.

The benefits are real in that you can save from 50%, 80% on your electricity bill and even eliminate it altogether. Once you eliminate your bill you can than sell your surplus electicity back to the grid, and there are tarifs already in place to do this.  Caution is advised however as I have seen figures bandied about of earning $1,348 (£900) selling the surplus electricity back to the grid.

What should you do? Well the first thing to do is to look at your electricity bill over the last year to assess just how much electricity you consumed.  For example  typical systems are generally around 1.5-2kWp, which would be enough to provide almost half of the average family’s annual supply. This would require an array covering 10-15 square metres of roof area.

Therefore the second thing to assess is just how much roof space you have available on which to erect the panels.  Other important factors concern your location, is it exposed to the sun, are there any obstructions such as tall buildings or trees obstructing the sun. There are of course two types of solar panels, panels using photovoltaic cells to generate electricity and flat panel or avacuated tube panels to heat water.

If you are in an area which is exposed to wind then you may want to consider a small scale wind turbine. You can check the wind speed in your area through your local met office or wind association. In the UK it is said that a wind speed of 4 to 6 metres per second is required in order to make a wind turbine viable.

I trust that this has been helpful. There are great saving to be made on your electricity bills, just be careful and do your homework before deciding which is the best green energy scheme for you.

Hi,

         The UK Government announced yesterday that it hoped to introduce Green Loans to enable consumers to install insulation and solar panels in their homes without cost. The idea apparently is to fund the solar green energy with private sector funding. In other words consumers would pay for the green energy through their power bills. The saving they would make on their energy bills would be offset against loan payments to the energy company.

It has been stated that since it would take some time to pay off the £9,000 or so cost of solar panels, the loan will be attached to the house rather than the house owner. This would mean that if the owners sold the house the loan would remain with the house. Estate agents however think this might make houses more difficult to sell. Forgive me for being sceptical but in view of the forthcoming UK General election I wonder just how much of this is just election posturing.

Fear not however the answer is build your own solar panels. In this way you can have the benefit of a significantly reduced power bill but without having to pay off a loan. Furthermore if you do sell your house the value will be increased and will be more attractive to buyers since there is no loan to pay off.

Building your own solar panels will cost you just a fraction of the £9,000 or so mentioned above. You can obtain a detailed illustrated instruction manual online for less than £35 ($50) and you can obtain the components from your local hardware store for less than £140 ($200). This represents the sort of cost for building solar panels (using photovoltaic cells) to generate electricity. You can also build solar panels (Evacuated tubes or flat panel collectors) to heat your water, and this will cost even less, around £90 ($135).   

 One other factor that has not been mentioned is the huge investment in renewable energy resources by the government over the coming 10 -15 years. This has to be paid for some how and guess who will pay? All of us in rising energy bills.

Build your own solar panels to generate electricity
Build your own solar hot water system