Blog

I would like to talk to you about options you have when purchasing a new vehicle. Of course, with gas prices on the rise, consumers are more interested in fuel economy for their car, suv, and truck. Fortunately car manufacturers have caught on to this, they have been focusing more of their research and development on building fuel efficient vehicles, which is great for the economy and your wallet.

I want to start off by thanking everyone for your support on Power4Home 2.0. We had a great run, and we appreciate all the blog visits, and the great comments you are posting.

We are currently planning for Power4Home 3.0 and want to hear your thoughts on what you would like to see for our next project.

I have shared many energy saving projects here at Power4Home.com but, we know there are a lot more great ideas out there. We also know, there is no one better to ask for project ideas and tips than you, our viewers.

Have you come across any great DIY project?

Have you found a cool way to reuse something that was going out to the trash?

What about updating your home to make it more energy efficient?

Have you seen or done any project that will help others save money and the environment?

We want you to share it with us!

I’m going to show you how to test your produce to see how nutritious it is. To do this, we’re going to use a Brix meter. By testing a bit of juice, a brix meter identifies the nutrient levels that are present in your fruit or vegetables.

Farmers have used these for years to produce great quality produce. You can find a brix meter on eBay for as little as $20, the one I have here is digital, so its bit more expensive, but they all work the same.

Sometimes it’s not enough just to eat well. Even if you think you practice a balanced diet, you could still be nutritionally starved. Yes, that’s right. Traditional or non-organic farming use petroleum-based fertilizers that are hard for plants to absorb. Generally, this means less nutritious foods. A brix meter can help you find out which farms or suppliers produce nutrient-rich foods.

In this video I’m going to focus on the dangers of pesticides and what you can do about them. First, I want to say that I’m a big fan of organic foods. Organic farming produces crops that have more nutrients, taste better and have minimal impact on the environment.

Commercial farming on the other hand produces tasteless fruits and vegetables that are covered in toxic pesticides that I feel are unsafe for you and your family.

But sometimes, the cost of organic produce is just too high. The other day I went to go buy some organic berries and they were $8 for a small package. So what can you do? One option is to clean the pesticides off the produce before you eat them. This can reduce the amount of pesticides you ingest by up to 90%!

Carbon monoxide is a deadly gas that can leak into your home through tiny cracks in your fireplace, furnace or gas stove. Since carbon monoxide has no colour, taste or smell, it’s pretty hard to detect. Protect your family and pets with a carbon monoxide detector.

There should be a carbon monoxide detector on each floor of your house. Remember, your carbon monoxide detector is not a replacement for your smoke detector. It’s important to have both in your home.

More and more people are using solar power to light up their walkways and backyards. Outdoor solar lights use free energy from the sun. They don’t run on electricity, which means they’re cost efficient and environmentally friendly.

Solar lights use a small PV (photovoltaic) cell to absorb sunlight and charge a battery. When it gets dark, a built-in sensor turns on the light. Outdoor solar lights will run anywhere from eight to 10 hours during the summer.

In houses with forced air systems, ducts are used to distribute hot and cool air throughout your house. Unfortunately, over time, they become less and less efficient and waste a lot of energy.

Over the years, dust and dirt accumulate in your ducts making your furnace and air conditioning work harder to send air through your house. This leads to increased utility bills. Plus, this dirt can trap fungus that starts to grow and create a health risk for you and your family. It’s best to have your ducts checked and cleaned every 10 years to ensure they’re free of debris.

Most ducts are unreachable, so you’ll have to hire a contractor that specializes in duct cleaning. Typically, they seal off your ducts and use a very powerful vacuum to clean them out.

I’m going to talk to you about the danger of using traditional, toxic paint in your home.

Traditional paints contain all sorts of chemicals or VOCs (volatile organic compounds). These chemicals can make you feel really sick—headache, sore throat, red eyes, nausea and even cancer are just some of the toxic effects from paint fumes.

Low VOC paint contains fewer chemicals. This is important because paint chemicals continue to dissolve in the air even after you’ve finished painting. In fact, you could be breathing in toxins for years!

Today I’m going to talk to you about replacing your disposable batteries with rechargeable ones. I’m sure every one of us, at one time or another has thrown away a dead alkaline battery. Or if you’re like me, you probably have a bucket full of dead alkaline batteries that just sit in your garage until you get the chance to take them to the hazardous waste drop off.

Compared to alkaline batteries, rechargeable batteries decrease the amount of toxic materials in landfills; therefore decreasing the toxins that can leak into groundwater, soil and other bodies of water.