Great pacific garbage patch

Hi all, quick question, have you ever heard of the great pacific garbage patch ?
Well i didn't until recently, all these years ive been researching climate change, global warming, and all things human destruction related, and I've never come across the great pacific garbage patch before. For those of you who dont know what im talking about its a huge pile of floating garbage in the middle of the pacific ocean, so huge that it is hard to estimate just how huge it is. Some say its the size of Texas, some say collectively the rubbish floating around in the oceans of the world is potentially the size of the united states. No one really knows because it is not always visable from the top of the water, because a lot of the garbage floats just bellow the surface making it hard to see from above, but sure enough take your boat out there and you will be moving through a mine field of trash from plastic bottles to baby nappies and all things that will float for long enough to be caught by the tides, inevitably ending up in one of many whirlpools the ocean has to offer. Im not going to go into any major details about this it is pretty self explanatory but for those who wish to learn more as always i will post some links for you to get more info. You have to see this video link before you go The majestic plastic bag thanks for reading.
http://motleynews.net/2012/02/09/a-journey-to-the-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

Aquaponics

Hi guys this post is a personal favorite because i am a big fan of fish keeping, I've had fish in my house as long as i can remember, hence the reason why this is a personal favorite. The idea behind aquaponics is simple, if you think about what makes some of the best compost the natural world has to offer, its poo... animal waste has been know to be one of the best foods for plants since the dawn of time, a cow lays one in the middle of a field somewhere and the grass thinks it Christmas time. Well the concept is the same with fish waste only now its dissolved in water, perfect, exactly what the plant needs, food and water all rolled into nutrient rich soup called fish water. So the idea behind aquaponics is to continually feed your plants with this nutrient rich water by having it constantly flow of over your plants roots, so you don't plant the plants in soil where they would normally get their nutrients because the nutrients in soil runs out, you now plant them in some sort of medium, some people use ceramic balls some use silica like the stuff you use in pool filters some even use small stones like the ones you use in the bottom of your fish tank, they all seem to work fine. I suppose it's down to what your going to grow and personal preference really, just so long as the water can flow freely over the roots of your plants and back into the tank or pond you keep your fish in. You feed your fish, they make waste, your plants get fed and in an ideal setup the water never gets dirty to a point where the fish will become sick or uncomfortable because the plants will use the waste as fast as the fish can produce it. The only cost to the owner of an aquaponics setup is running the pump to move the water over the plants, which can be done with solar panels and batteries if you really want to, and obviously the daily feeding of the fish. If you have the space for a decent size aquaponics setup you could potentially feed yourself fish and veggies till your hearts content or should i say till your stomachs  content. oh and for interest sakes a lot of the guys doing this are using a fish called talapia they are edible like all fresh water fish and they taste great, I've tried it and it kinda tastes like hake, plus you can pick them up as juveniles for around R2 to R5 each then you add them to your aquaponics setup and grow them till they are braai size, nothing like a good fish braai with a good home made and home grown salad, all for the price of fish food.

heres a little test for you to do get yourself a gold fish or if you already have a tank great, now get yourself 2 pot plants. The average is that you should change one third of the tanks water once a week for a healthy fish tank, this also depends on how much live stock you have but a third once a week should do it. Take the water that you remove from the tank and use it for your potplant, only water one with the fish water and the other with normal tap water and see the magic that is fish poo.

if you have a aquaponics system setup please post your pics and links and if you do the pot plant test post your pics thanks

here are some links to check out wikipedia.Aquaponics, backyardaquaponics

Geyser energy savers

Hi all so since the last post on home power usage i have done a bit of research on geyser blankets and efficient shower heads and other geyser power saving gadgets.
The question is do any of these things make that much difference and if so what is it going to cost me the consumer. Well the fact is that this stuff really does work and it really does make a big difference in your geysers power consumption. As far as cost goes well its really not that bad, turns out the cheaper gadgets can save you just as much sometimes more than the expensive stuff does. lets start with the geyser blanket  it makes your geyser look like something out of star wars but does it really work, well yes it really does this thing can save you around 20% of the cost of running a geyser. On average the geyser in your family home amounts to around 30% to 40% of your monthly power bill. A geyser blanket can cost you anywhere from R200 to R1000 depending on quality and thickness, the thicker the better.

Add an efficient shower head to the mix for around the same price and you could save yourself water and electricity costs bringing down your water heating costs by about another 20%. I read somewhere that these two things save you so much that you can pay them off in under a year with the amount of cash you save on water and electricity, that's pretty good by my books.

 I would love to give you these savings in rands to give you a better idea of what you would be saving but with eskoms tariff calculations you have to be a rocket scientist to get a figure because everyone pays a different tariff, what i can tell you is the less you use the less you pay. If you would like to try your hand at the rocket science that is eskoms tariff calculations here's a link that might help>>> http://www.eskom.co.za/content/IncliningblocktariffexplanationIssue32010.pdf
The next best thing to do is take your electricity bill find your electricity amount (that's not including all the other crap they charge you, only the electricity amount) divide that by how many units ( kwh ) you used and voila, you have your tariff.

Check out this site  http://www.eskomidm.co.za/ eskom has kindly given us a site to try to help us manage our energy while they empty our pockets. On this site you will find a "calculate your electricity costs""energy calculator" widget once you figure out your tariff costs you can "set your energy tariff" and calculate just how much your getting ripped and how much you can save.

If you live in Johannesburg and would like to have a geyser blanket and efficient shower head installed give us a shout at Half lit energy 078 821 2422 we would be happy to come out and do it for you thanks.

Wish to learn more about these technology's check out these links http://www.waterefficiencysa.co.za/files/Savingwaterusinghighefficiencyshowerheads.pdf

http://www.natpower.co.za/pdf/geyserblanket.pdf

Chicken tractors... awesome

Chicken tractor... your thinking a what, so was i the first time i heard about it but the concept is awesome. The idea here is exactly as the name describes a tractor for your gardens or fields that is powered by chicken. So the idea is simple, you build a movable chicken pen and put your chickens inside and move it around your garden or your fields and the chickens do the rest, they scratch at the soil eating all the unwanted pests weeds and whatever else they find on the way leaving behind a rich  fertilizer in the form of chicken poo, then you move the chicken tractor along and let them do the next bit. Its awesome the chickens are happy they get to do what they do best and that's to scratch around in the soil all the while safe in a movable chicken coop and you save on feed for the chickens as they get most of what they need from the ground and you get your area fertilised for free, its a win win situation and the thing with chicken from what I've read these guys will eat pretty much anything so kitchen scraps is actually a preferred feed for these guys just for a bit of extra nutrients in there diets. Check out this site for a more detailed description and some plans on how to build one http://plansforachickenhouse.org/chicken-tractors/

if you decide to build one or you have one already please post your pick for us thanks

Home power usage

Hi all so i have a question that i think will help everyone to understand how to bring down the electricity bill in your home, cause lets face it electricity isn't getting any cheaper, i don't care where in the world you live electricity is a big part of any family budget, and that's not to mention the environmental costs of using the stuff but lets be honest, as sad as it is there are more people in the world who would respond better to saving a penny than saving the planet, but in my mind they are one in the same. So my question is of all the stuff in your home that uses electricity, what uses the most electricity and what uses the least ? I think if we can see the percentages we can understand where to start trying to save cash and the planet which ever comes first for you.

Ok so i went and did some research on the topic and it seems everyone has a slightly different idea on where the money is being spent, for the most part everyone is around the same place but ill let you see it for yourself. I've taken a couple of pie charts from a couple of different sites all with percentages shown throughout the average home, check it out

                                                                   I found a cool site for you to check out lots of useful stuff , it is a U.S site so some things might not apply to everyone but it's still cool. I will add it to my cool links.        U.S dep of energy and here's a link to do calculations on your energy usage http://www.eskomidm.co.za/calculators

So my conclusion is, every home is different. I know in the U.S they are big on space heating and cooling, where in South Africa most of us are not but it is on the rise as these things get cheaper to buy even though they are not getting cheaper to run. It seems the easiest way to save money in the home is to concentrate on lighting and water heating, which i kinda guessed anyway but this is not the end of this discussion i will soon be putting up a link on this blog to figure out what is the best thing to do about what we have learnt, now that we know where to start...

Welcome

Hi and welcome to the Half Lit energy blog, this blog is to better the world and the people in it by changing the way we think, the idea is to teach people to change the world bit by bit with fun info, interesting facts, technological advances and practical solutions to some major problems that we as humans have not yet fully come to understand, hopefully with this blog we can start understanding and start making a difference. No one person can save the world on their own but with your help we can create an army that can, a "green" army if you will with fresh ideas on the way things should be. hope you check in now and then maybe we can really make a difference, only time will tell. Thanks Gary