IAASP: Information & Articles About Saving our Planet

How is galvanized steel manufactured? What are some of the benefits of galvanized steel sheets? Are galvanized steel sheets bad for the environment?

When creating Galvanized steel sheets, the steel sheets go through a process that is intended to keep the steel from corrosion. It is generally beneficial to galvanize the steel in circumstances where it is needed to resist rust.

A very thin layer of zinc in coated upon the steel. When the zinc comes in contact with the iron elements of the steel beneath it, a chemical reaction transpires, in which the galvanized coating is created.

The coating can last as long as forty years. It does not remain indefinitely. In very cold or moist environments, galvanizing helps to protect the steel from the elements. Although the coating is not thick, the galvanizing is so protective of the steel sheets beneath it, that it can withstand small nicks and scratch to the zinc coating, while still protecting the steel underneath.

There are many things that can be done to galvanized steel, however, when welding, we must be careful. The zinc fumes created by the welding process can have a detrimental effect on ones health. Although there is no conclusive proof, there is reason to suspect it can be harmful to the environment as well.

Although steel sheets are formed at a temperature of almost 1200 degreed Celsius, the galvanizing process is done at a relatively lower temperature of 200 degrees Celsius. This is a little over 392 degrees Fahrenheit.

Galvanized steel can be a very cost effective way to protect steel from elements that can be harmful to the steel, as the process is extremely cost effective. It is easy to create and install, and can be left without the need of special care.

As mentioned earlier, the process does not protect the steel indefinitely. When rust and corrosion begins to spread, it will first begin corroding the zinc layer before the steel beneath it. For this reason, galvanized steel is no longer used in creating pipes on residential, as well as commercial buildings, as corrosion while transpire over time. This will require the pipes to be replaced. This can be very costly, and easily avoided by using material that does not run the risk of corrosion.

Many buildings are now being built with galvanized steel. These include office buildings, warehouses as well as newly built garages.

Galvanized steel sheets are an important, and highly used metal that help in many ways. It is specifically helpful in climates that have a high level of moisture in the environment.

Billy Kite is a researcher writing on behalf of premium steel sales Galvanized steel sheets.

Below is some advice for recycling different types of materials. Recycling can help the environment in many ways and it is essential that you don’t underestimate what you can do.

Carrier bags and twist ties. Carrier bags can be reused in the shops or as bin bags around the house. Paper bags make useful wrapping paper and twist ties can be used to secure loose items together, such as computer wires.

Envelopes By sticking labels over the address you can reuse envelopes. Alternatively, old envelopes can be used as scrap paper to make notes on.

Jars and pots. By cleaning glass jars and small pots, you can use them as small containers to store odds and ends.

Newspaper , cardboard and bubble wrap Make useful packing material when moving house or to store items.

Old clothes – can be made into other textile items such as cushion covers or teapot cosies.

Packaging Such as foil and egg cartons can be donated to schools and nurseries, where they can be use in art and craft projects.

Scrap paper Can be used to make notes and sketches. Don’t forget to recycle it when you no longer need it.

Tyres Old tyres can be given to your local petrol station where they will be recycled. Or you could make a tyre-swing by tying a strong rope around a tyre and attaching it to a tree.

Used wood Can be used in woodcrafts for making objects such as a spice rack or a bird table. Alternatively it could be used as firewood.

Useful Advice

Old Electrical Equipment Donate old electrical equipment to schools or community centers so that others can reuse them.

Donate Old Clothes and Books Other people can reuse your unwanted clothes and books when you donate them to charity shops.

Car-boot Sale Have a car-boot sale and get rid of some unwanted items. Other people may find a use for them, plus it gives you the opportunity to earn some extra cash.

Rechargeable Batteries Rechargeable batteries can be reused many times before they need throwing away, opposed to regular batteries that create unnecessary waste.

Build a Compost Bin You can reuse many waste items, such as eggshells and old tea bags, using a compost bin. This waste then degrades and turns into compost that can be used to help your garden grow.

Grass Cycling After mowing your lawn, instead of throwing the grass cuttings away, leave them in your garden. The nutrients from the cuttings go back into the soil and act as a fertilise.

Recycling Website explores the issue of recycling and the environment so that you can find out more information about what you can recycle and the effect it has on your life. For more information please visit http://www.recyclingwebsite.co.uk

Did you know your traditional office fax machine often consumes the most energy of all your equipment? According to EnergyStar, the joint EPA and DOE energy conservation initiative, the average fax machine consumes between 30 and 350 watts per hour. Part of the reason why it consumes more energy is also the fact that most office fax machines are kept on 24 hours a day.

Additionally there’s the fax machine paper usage. Did you know that:

- 210 billion sheets of paper are consumed by faxing in US based companies every year.
- 10,000 sheets of paper per year are used by a single employee
- 12,500 sheets of paper can be made from 1 tree
- 95% of the paper will eventually be thrown away, not recycled.
- 4 trees per year are cut down to meet the fax requirements of an average company in the US.
- 17 million trees per year are cut down to supply fax paper for the US as a whole

So what’s the solution?

Email to fax service.

An online fax service makes it easy to send a fax to email as well as receive a fax by email. You can send a fax online using online fax software, print any document from your computer directly to a fax or send a fax by email, attaching it in any number of document file types including MS Word, PDF, Excel and many others.

Online fax service is available from many vendors. You can compare the costs, features and benefits of email fax services online to see which fax to email solution makes the most sense for your situation.

In addition to the cost and energy savings of using a fax to email service is the convenience of receiving all your fax documents by email. If you travel or aren’t at the office, you can still get your fax by email at any computer with an internet connection.

By using online fax software, you not only save energy, but you also save paper by handling all the communication electronically. With most fax to email software, you can modify or annotate the incoming faxes you receive on your computer and send them right out again without needing to print, scan and fax again. Most services send your faxes in PDF format as attachments, and can be stored efficiently on your hard drive or backed up on CD/DVD’s if you require archives. No paper needed!

And there’s the time savings. No more running back and forth from the fax machine, waiting for paper jams or other faxes to be received, waiting in line and then waiting for faxes to be delivered to your desk. How much time to do you waste with the office fax machine?

I liberated myself from my traditional fax machine over 6 years ago and have found using an email to fax service easy, convenient, cost and energy efficient and just plain cool. To find a place to recycle your old fax machines, visit the EPA web site for organizations in your area.

Here’s to turning your office green!

Mark Idzik is passionate about finding ways to ‘go green’ and preserve our natural resources. He reviews online fax services where you can compare the features, costs and additional information on email fax services by visiting his site: Email Fax Services Compared

Ink cartridges have practically revolutionised printing techniques in the last 20 years. From the days of fiddling about swapping messy ink soaked ribbons and wearing more of the product than you would ever use, to what we have now. The little plastic box that pops out when empty and slots in, all fully filled and ready to go makes office life so much simpler.

Ink has come a long way from the days of quill and squid ink. Now containing chemicals and additives, the days of smeared and faded documents are long gone.

However, with the discovery of global warming, every aspect of life and business has come under scrutiny and it is now the moral thing to do, to ensure the products you use are environmentally friendly.

This is where the advent of soy ink, or vinegar ink, comes in. This is an alternative to petroleum based inks and aids the recycling of printed material as well as plastics. The cultivation of soy beans uses very little energy in comparison to standard inks. Although not 100% bio-degradable, soy ink is much more environmentally friendly, which is essential given where so much of it ends up.

Paper and plastic have been the biggest contributors to recycling since the government has been campaigning to encourage us all this way. Plastic recycling is quite an expensive process. Due to this fact, much of the recyclable plastics are shipped from the US and UK to Asian countries, such as China and Vietnam, where the cheap labour and lax environmental laws keep the cost down.

Surely, this is counter-productive. What we save for the environment here, pollutes it elsewhere – we are only one planet after all. Of the 90 million kilograms of waste plastic collected from the UK, three quarters of this was shipped to China for recycling.

This plastic then has to go through a procedure to remove contaminants before it can be recycled. This process can take up to two litres of water per 500 grams of re-cycled materials, therefore plants cannot be built in areas where water is limited.

Contaminants from recycled plastic, such as inks, are washed into the local waterways causing pollution thus making the whole process pointless.

However, use natural ingredients to make ink, such as soy ink and you have a much more environmentally friendly product. Techniques are being developed in the Western world to develop a recycling process that will eliminate the need for so much water and is hoped will be cost effective enough to stop the need for exporting our rubbish.

The good news is that soy ink is now being used in 95% of daily papers in the US. A quarter of commercial printers in the United States now use soy ink. The only application this ink is not suitable for is the biro.

So now you know, when choosing your ink cartridge make the environmentally sound choice. Use soy based ink products and do your bit for the planet.

Environmental expert Catherine Harvey looks at the environmentally friendly ink cartridge to reduce pollution. To find out more please visit http://www.inksave.co.uk/

LED, or light emitting diode, technology is something consumers are hearing more and more about from television advertisements, magazine ads and news reports. However, very few people understand why this light source is such a powerful alternative to traditional lighting. The advantages of LED light sources over other technologies are numerous but can be simplified into two main categories: 1.) energy efficiency & longevity and 2.) power & versatility.

Benefits: Energy-Efficiency & Longevity
- LED light bulbs generate only trace amounts of heat, resulting in nearly all of the electrical energy consumed being used toward creating the light itself. Incandescent, halogen or fluorescent lights can use up to 90% of their energy consumption producing heat-carrying infrared light photons which do not produce visible light.
- LED light bulbs produce more light per watt of energy.
- Standard LED light bulb are estimated to burn for 35,000 to 50,000 hours at full capacity before requiring replacement (some high-quality LEDs even boast 100,000 hours). Incandescent burn for 1,000 to 2,000 hours.
- LED technology is perfect for applications that are frequently turned off and on, like flashlights. Fluorescent bulbs burn out more quickly when they are frequently switched on and off.
- LED light bulbs are solid state components, which are difficult to break, unlike incandescent, fluorescent and halogen bulbs which have internal filaments that can easily break.

Benefits: Power & Versatility
- When compared watt-for-watt to an incandescent bulb, LED light bulbs produce more light per watt than any other light bulb.
- A single LED bulb can produce twice as much light (as measured in lumens) as a traditional bulb.
- LED light bulbs light up quickly, providing full brightness in micro-seconds.
- LED light bulb are much smaller than regular bulbs making them perfect for a variety of applications
- LED light bulbs do not use any mercury.
- LED technology is designed to focus the light better for a more intense, bright light.
- LED light bulbs maintain their color when dimmed, unlike incandescent bulbs which turn yellow.
- LED light bulbs can be built to emit color without using costly colored filters, which drive up the cost of traditional colored lights.

With these benefits, LED light bulbs can be used in a countless number of applications. Hunting, fishing and camping enthusiasts can be confident that with a LED flashlight in their gear, they will have adequate, powerful light that will last for days on one set of batteries and years on one light bulb. They will also be pleased to find this technology built into a number of form factors, all specifically designed for specific activities – headlamps for cave hikers, flexlights for fishermen, lanterns for campers and torches for hunters.

Home owners will be able to see power consumption reduction and lower electric bills within one month by transitioning light bulbs in the kitchen, bathroom or living room to LED replacement bulbs.

Perhaps one of the best reasons to switch to LED light sources is to lessen your footprint on the environment. By switching to LED light bulbs, you are not only saving money by using less energy, you are also helping the environment by preserving our resources. In an environment that needs the earth’s inhabitants to use less and save more, LED technology lights the way.

~Ben Anton, 2008

Ben Anton lives in the Northwest.

Ben Anton invites you to read more about the cost benefits and power of LED flashlights at our Oregon outdoor lights and sports equipment website.