Environmentally friendly
What is Environmentally friendly?
Environmentally friendly (eco-friendly and nature
friendly) are synonyms used to refer to goods and services considered to
inflict minimal or no harm on the environment. To make consumers aware,
environmentally friendly goods and services often are marked with eco-labels.
But because there is no single international standard for this concept, the
International Organization for Standardization considers such labels too vague
to be meaningful.
Renewable clean power
Renewable energy is energy generated from natural
resources—such as sunlight,wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat—which are renewable
(naturally replenished). There are several environmentally friendly, relatively
non-polluting means of generating electricity; namely geothermal power, hydro
power, wind power, solar power, tidal power and wave power. However, whether or
not one of these causes significant pollution, there are other considerations
that need to be taken into account when deciding if a generation source is environmentally
friendly. Among these are: How much water does a given method use and take out
of the fresh water resources of (a nation, a region, etc.)? How much land,
especially agricultural land, is compromised or used up in this method? How
much wildlife habitat is compromised or used up? Are traditional uses affected
for local indigenous peoples? What is the footprint of the generating plant?
What is the footprint of the distribution/transmission method?
In 2006, about 18% of global final energy consumption came from renewables,
with 13% coming from traditional biomass, such as wood-burning.
Hydroelectricity was the next largest renewable source, providing 3% (15% of
global electricity generation),followed by solar hot water/heating, which
contributed 1.3%. Modern technologies, such as geothermal energy, wind power,
solar power, and ocean energy together provided some 0.8% of final energy
consumption.
Climate change concerns coupled with high oil prices, peak oil and increasing
government support are driving increasing renewable energy legislation,
incentives and commercialization. Investment capital flowing into renewable
energy climbed from $80 billion in 2005 to a record $100 billion in 2006.
.
Eco Friendly Lables
Green cleaning
Green cleaning is a term that has been coined to
describe a growing trend in favor of using environmentally-friendly ingredients
and chemicals for household, manufacturing and industrial cleaning. Green
cleaning techniques and products avoid the use of chemically-reactive and toxic
cleaning products which contain various toxic chemicals, some of which emit
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) causing respiratory and dermatological
problems among other adverse effects.[citation needed] Green cleaning can also
describe the way residential and industrial cleaning products are manufactured,
packaged and distributed. If the manufacturing process is
environmentally-friendly and the products are biodegradable, then the term
"green" or "eco-friendly" may apply.
Many of the chemicals inside our domestic and commercial cleaning products we
use each day can harm the environment, our children and ourselves. Green
cleaning is better for the environment, ourselves and can help consumers save
money.
Pest
control
Integrated pest management is regarded as a more
environmentally friendly form of pest control than traditional pesticides,as
its goal is to reduce pesticide use to a minimum by using a variety of less
impactive means, with pesticides only as the last resort. Biological pest
control is another form of control considered by many experts to be
environmentally friendly.
In agriculture, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a pest control strategy
that uses an variety of complementary strategies including: mechanical devices,
physical devices, genetic, biological, cultural management, and chemical
management. These methods are done in three stages: prevention, observation,
and intervention. It is an ecological approach with a main goal of
significantly reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides while at the same
time managing pest populations at an acceptable level.
Waste management
Recycling and composting are viewed as more
environmentally friendly forms of waste management than traditional burying or
burning practices.The Edmonton Composting Facility in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada, in the largest composting facility in the world; representing 35% of
Canada's centralized composting capacity.The $100-million co-composter results in
Edmonton recycling 65% of its residential waste.
Recycling involves processing used materials into new
products in order to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the
consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution
(from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need
for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions
as compared to virgin production. Recycling is a key component of modern waste
management and is the third component of the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" waste hierarchy.
Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastic,
textiles, and electronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other
reuse of biodegradable waste – such as food or garden waste – is not typically
considered recycling.Materials to be recycled are either brought to a
collection center or picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and
reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing.
Recycling
Composting is the aerobic decomposition of biodegradable
organic matter. The decomposition is performed primarily by facultative and
obligate aerobic bacteria, yeasts and fungi, helped in the cooler initial and
ending phases by a number of larger organisms, such as springtails, ants,
nematodes and oligochaete worms.
Composting can be divided into home composting and industrial composting.
Essentially the same biological processes are involved in both scales of composting, however techniques and different factors must be
taken into account.
Composting