Tag: Heat

Perhaps growing palms from seeds is not entirely unique a process, but as I know little about growing much else from seed, I present this article, and the follow up one, for those who have little experience with palm seeds, germination and care.

Last week, delegates in Copenhagen were concerned that the leaking of an unfair climate-mitigation proposal would cause a rift between rich and poor countries and derail talks. Today increased tension brought negotiations even closer to the brink.

With the end of the conference just two days away, thousands of activists and credentialed advocates turned up the heat, storming Copenhagen's Bella Center, the venue hosting the talks, to protest the lack of a foreseeable agreement between top emitters by the week's end. Conference organizers went into scramble mode, cracking down with something resembling martial law.

Housed in stainless steel with brushed chrome accents, this six-slice convection toaster oven broiler offers not only an attractive addition to the kitchen countertop, but it also provides an array of convenient features.
Its spacious 0.6-cubic-foot capacity allows for baking a whole chicken, broiling fish for the family, or toasting six slices of bread at one time. It will even accommodate a 12-inch pizza. The multifunctional countertop unit supplies state-of-the-art electronic touchpad controls and four versatile cooking options--pizza/bake, broil, toast, and convection.
Combining sophisticated technology with simple operation, it includes a four- to six-slice toasting button with bagel, reheat, and defrost buttons, plus clock and oven timers. more...

ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2009) In everything from computer processor chips to car engines to electric powerplants, the need to get rid of excess heat creates a major source of inefficiency. But new research points the way to a technology that might make it possible to harvest much of that wasted heat and turn it into usable electricity.

That kind of waste-energy harvesting might, for example, lead to cellphones with double the talk time, laptop computers that can operate twice as long before needing to be plugged in, or power plants that put out more electricity for a given amount of fuel, says Peter Hagelstein, co-author of a paper on the new concept appearing in November in the Journal of Applied Physics.

A trip to San Antonio Texas taught me a lot of Southwest history, but it left me one burning question - how can anything actually thrive and bloom in this South Texas heat? Here's a show and tell about several heat loving, bright-blooming plants that I saw during my visit. Any one is worth trying in your hot zone 8-plus yard or your less-than- zone 8 pots or hanging baskets.

Due to the increased consumer interest in wood heat due to the energy crunch, the chimney and venting experts at the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) are urging people with wood burning fireplaces, as well as wood stoves, to follow safe wood burning habits this winter. This includes having chimneys inspected by a chimney sweep.

Have you ever felt the warmth of an electric fireplace? There are times when all of your senses are telling you to stay at home, get cozy and spend time reading a good book. This is when a crackling fire would be nice. That's when an electric fireplace comes to mind. No logs, no smoke, no ashes to tote. An electric fireplace is clean, inexpensive and easy to use. At the flick of a switch, you can feel the warmth throughout the room in a matter of a few minutes.

 more...

Do not manually set back a heat pump's thermostat at night. Without a thermostat specifically designed for heat pump set-back, the electric resistance backup heat will engage when the thermostat is raised in the morning, resulting in much higher energy consumption.