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Monday, August 24, 2009

Trees are the bee's knees

Trees have many purposes. they provide us with oxygen, homes for wild life, shade on hot summer days, and add aesthetic pleasure to our surrounding. Sometimes trees can cause more problems then not. Trees can become sick and die creating an eyesore, they can disrupt the ground and push up any patio or structure the root may be under, they can they can block views and cause structural damage or they can interfere with electrical line or sewer lines creating disgusting and costly back ups in your home.

The life of a tree can very anywhere from 75 years to centuries old. If you are unsure if your tree is sick, there are a few signs that will help you determine your next step.fungus, disease or even old age can cause a tree to die. If your tree stops growing new leaves or if they are sporadic you should have your tree tested, other signs of a dying tree is brittle and pealing bark, loss of tree limbs or if the trunk is spongy. some diseases and fungi can be cured by an arborist.


if you need to remove a tree whether it is sick or just getting in the way, you should have a professional take it out. A tree needs to be taken out in sections so not to cause any structural damage to nearby homes, building or power lines. Advanced Restoration with any tree removal and have specialist that can repair any property damage as a result of a fallen tree.


If you want to get creative and add a unique quality to your garden, you can leave the stump and incorporate it as part of the landscape. Carve the remaining tree stump into a sculpture then treat it with a wood preservative. You can also have it hollowed out and use it as a planter. If you are into keeping a compost pile incorporate the stump, the pile will help the stump decompose faster.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Keeping it Solar

All we here about these days is how to be more “green”. What does that really mean? And how does it all work? There are several different types of alternative energy including solar, wind and water. We can harness and use these energy sources to our advantage.

Solar energy is the easiest of all the renewable energies; it’s something that you can use right at home. Solar energy has been used since the beginning of time by plants and animals. The sun is the fuel behind phenomenal events in nature such as the summer-plankton boom along the coast of British Columbia and Alaska turning a lackluster stretch of water into a vivacious feeding ground for herring, whales, sea lions, birds and many others. Humans have learned to use the sun to distil water and use glass to magnify it

Photovoltaic panels are the most commonly used technology to capture the sun’s energy. Photovoltaic cells cause photons from sunlight to knock electrons into a higher state of energy, creating electricity. Though solar energy is a great alternative and can surely be used to provide us enough power to light, heat and adjust the temperatures in our homes, you need the sun and that’s not always possible. Solar technologies are really only beneficial for areas that receive a lot of sun year round. Pollution, cloud cover and nighttime, all greatly alter the effectiveness of the solar panels.

Storing the power that the panels generate is another problem. The methods we have now are not efficient or cost-effective. There are methods of saving the heat that panels absorb in salt and releasing the heat later when the sun isn’t available to create power. But this thermal method is only used by larger solar farms and has not yet been available for everyday use in your home.

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