To truly understand the benefits of green solar energy, you must first understand how solar energy is harnessed. There are two types of green solar energy – thermal and light. Thermal energy is considered passive solar. This type of green solar energy is harnessed through the design and materials used to construct a building. By integrating south facing windows and materials that retain heat, like brick and stone, you can lower your energy needs and build an energy efficient structure. The thermal energy produced by green solar energy is also used to heat water for solar hot water systems. The rays of the sun also produce light and radiation that can be captured by solar panels to create electricity.

The most popular use of green solar energy is for saving money. Although green solar energy systems can come with a large initial investment, they generally pay for themselves in a few years by providing either supplemental electricity or all of the electricity to your home or business. Building your own solar panels, participating in government refunds and net metering, in which you sell unused electricity back to the power company, can reduce the cost of implementing a green solar energy system. In addition, green solar energy systems require little to no maintenance after installation, as most have no moving parts.

The most important benefit of utilizing green solar energy is completely environmental. With polar ice caps dwindling away and climate changes creating tragic storms world wide, it is increasingly obvious that steps must be taken to decrease global warming and our dependence on fossil fuels. Green solar energy provides a clean energy alternative as it creates little pollution and does not contribute to global warming.

Green solar energy systems can be used by homes and businesses alike. If going solar cannot meet all of your energy needs, it can certainly reduce them. Utilizing solar energy can save you money, but it’s greatest benefit is to the environment and our future.

Changing wind patterns linked to global warming are altering the food chain in Antarctica causing speculation about further increases in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the Associated Press reported today.

Plankton, the most basic food source, is fast declining in the Antarctic peninsula. In Friday’s edition of the journal Science researchers say the trend is now reaching toward South America. This is an alarming development. “The faster the ocean turns over, the more deep water rises to the surface to release CO2,” said Robert Anderson, a geochemist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “It’s this rate of overturning that regulates CO2 in the atmosphere.”.

Independent sea levels are rising twice as fast as predicted because of melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, forcing UN scientists to issue a warning earlier this month. As reported in the New York Times and on the blogoshere, the Antarctic ice shelf already known to be melting at an alarming rate is now progressing at 20 times it’s former rate, as shown by new rock analysis and other independent data.

Global warming is now recognized as a very serious threat by most experts and the implications trouble most thinking people. Profound political will have to be exerted if the crisis is to be addressed effectively by all nations and the whole human race – a tall order.

On the other hand, the choice between traditional and alternative sources of energy is something most of us can choose and is within our power to do right now.

Solar energy is abundant and free. We can count the sun to rise tomorrow and the day after that. Oil and natural gases on the other hand are non renewable and once the sources eventually tap out, they will be gone forever.

The Sun is the engine the drives our world and maintains the earth’s ecological balance – it is the universal Anti-pollutant. Not so with oil. Oil, its derivatives and its byproducts are great pollutants. In fact, 22,000 pounds of carbon monoxide will need to be produced first for the oil to be processed and supply a home with electrical energy for a year.

Solar energy harnessing panels are silent operators. Except perhaps for the mechanical contraptions that are built into the panels to track the sun, from the collection of the suns rays to photo-voltaic conversion, they give neither a peep nor a squeak. It is a world of difference from the cacophony of giant drills and pumps that are used to extract oil form the ground.

Maintenance for the solar panels is very minimal. Except for the mechanical parts that are optional, almost no maintenance is needed. Once installed there is rarely cause for worry. The energy that is derived is free. With oil there is no telling what the next pump price would be and when. Oil, being a commodity, depends heavily on market forces to set prices. Of course when anything is a commodity, market forces can be manipulated to could cause volatility in pricing.

While solar energy is itself free, the cost of installation prevents many households investing in a system. As with any capital investment, brand new solar energy generating systems are expensive. Although it pays off over time, initial cash out can range into several thousands of dollars.

While solar energy technology has been around since the 1950′s it is only in recent years that its development was spurred. While costs of installation could also be subjective depending on the purchasing capacity of a customer, the benefits that can be derived is enormous in quantifiable terms.

It won’t be an easy task. For mass consumption, distribution lines are needed and this remains a big issue. Old antiquated distribution lines currently used to transfer electricity and other modes of fuel are not structured for the delivery of solar energy and other alternatives right now. Finding new ways to access and deliver other forms of energy into the houses of consumers will require a innovative approach.

Be that as it may, the benefits to be derived from from solar power far outweigh it’s disadvantages. It is an ideal source of energy that it may soon be the norm in power generation.

We may or may not be able to do something about the catastrophic effects of the melting polar environment by choosing to invest in solar technology. In the long run, we may well be making our best choices when we look ahead – and clearly see the consequences if we do not make the right ones.

Review of Master Your Mind (Adam Khoo)

We all wish wish we had more time, money, or other resources, right? If only we had all those things, we believe, you could make all your dreams come true. Alas, year after year, your dreams stay just that: dreams.

As I have said many times… it all starts in the mind. That’s where success begins.

In his book, Master Your Mind, Adam Khoo argues that all those perceived limitations are just illusions. The fact is, he writes, we all have everything we need to be successful. We just need to learn how to put it to use. And in this book, he teaches exactly how it’s done.

He starts with the premise that we all have basically the same neurological make-up. We all have roughly the same 1,000 billion neurons in our brains. It’s what we make of them that makes the difference.

Design Your Destiny

So how is it that some people are able to accomplish so much with their 1,000 billion nerve cells, and others accomplish zilch? Adam argues that the key to those differences lies in the behaviors and habits that get installed while we grow up. The majority of people are not exactly brought up with a winning mindset. And unfortunately, most of those people never question or change their habits. It probably never occurs to them that they could. But of course we CAN change habits, behaviors and beliefs by stimulating our brains in the right way.

The technology Adam uses to reprogram the mind is NLP, i.e., Neurolinguistic Programming, which has proven to be highly effective at that task. And after carefully reading it, I found that Master Your Mind is not just another book on NLP, useful as that may be, but it actually goes far beyond that.

First of all, Adam’s Master Your Mind offers a comprehensive, thorough, and easy-to-follow description of the actual techniques that are necessary to accomplish that goal. But it doesn’t stop there. It’s also an extensive workbook that helps the reader to put all those techniques to use right away. Thirdly, it offers a wealth of inspiring examples.

Adam Khoo himself is a case in point. Starting out as an academically weak student at the very bottom of the pile, he used some of those very strategies he teaches here to reprogram himself and turn himself into a top student. Moreover, unlike his fellow students who were satisfied with a normal career path and income come graduation, he set himself the goal to become a millionaire by age 26 – and achieved it.

He started his first business while still in high school, and several more while in college, and he even became a best-selling author with his book on how to become an excellent student. He developed a program called Patterns of Excellence that he used to teach others to repattern their mind to achieve success as well.

From the outset, Adam urges us to have the right mindset: And one of the key parts of that mindset is planning for success by setting specific goals, developing strategies to achieve those goals, and putting them into action.

Of course, if you do enough challenging things, some of them won’t work out as planned, which is something most people call “failure” and try to avoid at all cost. Adam, however, argues that there’s no such thing really. What may seem like failure is just feedback, and that attitude is essential for achieving any goal because paying attention to feedback helps us stay or get back on the right track and accomplish our goals.

He also introduces two more essential ingredients: an empowering belief system, and the right kinds of values. He doesn’t leave it at that, but provides plenty of specifics and work sheets that help his readers to establish those for themselves.

Among the key aspects of Adam’s mind mastery program are beliefs and how to take control of them and turn them into the kind that will get results. He calls them the “tap to our personal potential” and provides evidence that they can even change our biochemistry.

All in all, this is a very comprehensive program on mastering one’s mind, and anyone who does all the exercises can hardly help but feeling profoundly changed.

Any drawbacks? Master Your Mind, with its 364 pages, is really long for an ebook, and it’s been a bit of a pain to read on the small screen of my ibook, what with having to scroll up and down all the time. But it was so worth it that I didn’t mind anymore once I got into it. Besides, if you have a bigger screen, that shouldn’t be an issue anyway. And, of course, you can always print it out.

Master Your Mind

Well you did it… However you arrived here, you now have in your possession an amazing collection of potent online and off-line resources that have hunted down by one person. That’s me, your host – Jim Thorpe.

I’ve been online for eight years with my primary website and have built and hosted several more. As a Signage Expert, I consult every day with business owners looking for ways to catch the eyes of the passing parade, to draw them into their place – and turn them into customers.

I am more convinced than ever before – especially in these tough times – that the Web can be a cash-producing asset for anyone who is willing to learn how to show the world what YOU do.

For those of you that know me, you know that I can write and post and chat… I wouldn’t call myself natural-born writer but that has never stopped me from writing or doing anything I’ve been inspired to do… and I’ve done a lot of things. If you stick around here long enough, you’re going to hear what sounds like some mighty tall tales, but you’ll see…

Am I the best writer? Hardly, but I did take college level English. I wrote my fair share of papers as a minor in Art History in college. I wrote my thesis for my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design. I’ve tackled grant writing, creative writing, copy writing, poetry, songs and a variety of literary things over the years. Yes.

Yes, I’ve always enjoyed writing…

You know what? I also enjoy teaching… coaching… and helping people.

What you have in your possession is born out of that desire. The desire I have to help those in need and to provide direction to those that are lost or need an answer desperately. I’ve been there and I know a little help and advice can go a long way.

I’ve been successful online – meaning the pursuit has actually brought money in as it has for many, many others. It seems to me I can help a lot more people if I share what I’ve learned and not keep it to myself. I have earned a honest buck mastering the tools of the internet trade. I want you to have your own brand of success.

Now, there is A LOT of information here and it isn’t all arranged… yet. This will be organized more for later versions, but the challenge today is to put some of the essential tools in your hands ASAP!

You are going to find my personality, my experience and my knowledge here. Some of the knowledge is from years in business and sales offline combined with online experience… Some of it is knowledge I have picked up from many of the people that I have interacted with and learned from over the years…

The main goal here is inspiration, advice and tips to make yourself and your business fly!