This is a guest post from The Energy Conservation Group. Take it away, guys:

How to power your home has become a really hot topic in the media. In the last few years, the debate about our carbon footprint and the damage we are doing to the earth has gained significant column inches.

So, people have been turning to the oldest and most powerful source of energy our world has ever seen; our sun. However, there is a lot of confusion about solar panels and the benefits they can bring you.

Here is why you should invest in solar photovoltaic technology:

• It’s reliable. A lot of people think that if you don’t live in a hot country, you won’t benefit from solar PV. The latest solar PV technology enables you to use energy from the sun even on a cloudy day!
• It could make you some serious money. The UK government introduced the Feed-In tariff in 2010. It means that when you generate energy from a renewable energy source, your energy supplier will pay you for every KW you produce. They will also pay you to sell your surplus energy back to the National Grid. What’s more, you’ll also save money on your bills.
• You’ll be doing your bit. Each KW of solar power you produce means that you don’t produce electricity from a non-renewable source. As our earth’s resources are finite and the sun’s energy is not, installing solar PV makes perfect sense.

The Energy Conservation Group has been a leading installer of solar PV for over twenty years, has successfully fitted many quality solar panels and has a vast list of happy customers.

The Energy Conservation Group guarantees you excellent customer service care before, during and after your installation. All of their engineers are MCS registered and adhere to the REAL code of conduct. They also only ever use the very best quality components. Their vast experience and passion for their customers and the environment makes them the ideal installer of your solar panels. Go to http://www.tecg.co.uk and see for yourself.

This is a guest post by Lisa Shoreland. Thanks for contributing, Lisa.

Commercially made shampoos and skin-care products are full of chemicals that are bad for both the environment and your body. You can buy products that use organic ingredients and are free of phthalates, parabens and other harmful chemicals, but the best way to be sure that your products are free of any suspicious ingredients is to make them yourself.

Fortunately, shampoos and skin treatments can be made with many ingredients you may already have around your house. Here are a few easy recipes to try:

Hair Care

To make shampoo at home, you will need castile soap to use as a base. You can find castile soap at a health-food store or from an online vendor. You can purchase scented varieties or unscented. To make a basic soap, simply mix two parts castile soap with one part water and one part vegetable oil. The basic recipe can then be altered to include other scents and herbs depending on your needs – moisturizing, repair, lightening, etc. The basic recipe will not be as thick as commercial brands, which contain sudsing agents, but it will clean your hair and will not leave a chemical residue.

To add scents to the basic recipe, steep herbs in 1 cup boiling water for 30 minutes. Allow them to cool completely in the water. Strain the herbs, and add the water to your basic recipe.

Some herbs and oils and their properties:

• Aloe Vera, moisturizing
• Chamomile, soothing
• Lemon, lightening and refreshing
• Lavender, nourishing (for dryness)
• Peppermint, cleansing (for oily hair)
• Coconut, moisturizing
• Avocado, moisturizing

Experiment with different herbs and oils to find a mix that works for your hair.

Conditioner

Creating a deep-moisturizing conditioner is quite simple. Mix 2 cups of mayonnaise with ½ avocado, apply to hair, and let it sit for 20 to 25 minutes. You can wrap your hair in plastic wrap or a shower cap to prevent a mess. Simple rinse your hair and let it air dry.

Skin Care

A simple toner can be made by mixing one part water with one part Bragg’s apple cider vinegar. Simply dip a cotton ball in the mixture and swab it over your face to remove excess dirt, oil, and residue.

For a healthy scrub, mix two parts cold-pressed olive oil with one part sea salt. Combine the ingredients and massage over skin to cleanse and exfoliate.

For deep moisturizing, mix one part lemon juice, honey, turmeric powder and milk powder into a paste. Apply to your face, let it dry, then rinse with warm water.

Oatmeal, milk, honey, and salt are common ingredients for homemade skin care products. Try mixing ingredients and experimenting until you find what works for your skin type.

Lisa Shoreland is currently a resident blogger at Go College where she’s been researching attending private universities as well as admissions application tips. In her spare time, she enjoys creative writing, practicing martial arts, and taking weekend trips.

This is a guest post by Krista Peterson. Take it away, Krista.

Photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbines are great ways to go green… for those that can afford them. Unfortunately, the cost of many alternative electricity generating systems remains prohibitive for many of us.  The good news, though, is that by using the energy that we do need efficiently, we can reduce the burden on our earth and on our bank accounts.  There are also benefits to our health, helping us to avoid pollution-related illnesses like sick building syndrome and mesothelioma.

By far, the largest chunk of most inhabited buildings’ electricity bill goes toward heating and cooling. However, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that only 20% of homes built before 1980 contain proper insulation.  The heat resistance of insulation is measured in R-values – the higher the R-value, the thicker and better the insulation, but also generally the more expensive.  The DoE recommends different R-values for different climactic regions of the country, and even provides an R-value calculator to determine the most appropriate type of insulation for homes in your zip code.

However, use caution when checking or replacing your insulation, since older homes are more likely to contain insulating materials with asbestos in them.  When the insulation is intact, it poses little danger and should be left alone.  However, when insulation becomes damaged or worn, it can release tiny asbestos fibers into the air where they can be breathed into the lungs.  In some cases, over time, this can lead to mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the chest and abdomen.  Early mesothelioma symptoms can mimic those of other, less serious lung problems, meaning that the disease often goes undiagnosed until it is in its later stages.  If you believe you have asbestos-containing insulation that is in poor condition, contact a professional abatement team to remove and dispose of it for you.

However, even the thickest, safest insulation will do little if there are cracks and gaps around your home where heated or cooled air can escape.  The frames around doors and windows are particularly notorious culprits.  If you believe you have an air leak, wait until a windy day, light a stick of incense or other (safe) portable source of smoke, and hold it near the suspected leak.  If the smoke blows horizontally instead of vertically, there is a gap that needs to be sealed.  Luckily, you can often do this yourself using caulk or weatherstripping.

There is a flip side to having a tightly sealed home, however – it can seal in air pollutants.  Chemicals like VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and radon gas can build up in the air, contributing to what is sometimes called “sick building syndrome.”  Symptoms can be as mild as headache and nasal irritation or as severe as asthma and tissue damage from chronic exposure.  Most people already have spot ventilation systems in their bathrooms and kitchens in the form of exhaust fans, but whole-house systems can be implemented, as well.  Not only will these systems protect your health, but they will also protect your home from expensive damage due to trapped moisture.

Relatively minor adjustments to your home’s insulation and ventilation can reduce your carbon footprint as well as your energy bill.  Unfortunately, asbestos abatement can be a more costly process, but mesothelioma life expectancy is so poor that it is worth the expense many times over.  Generally, however, being more energy efficient is an economical way to protect your health and go green.

Krista Peterson is a health and safety advocate with a passion for the wellness of others and the environment. Krista uses her writing to spread awareness of such issues to help encourage others to live the healthiest and most eco-friendly life possible. Contact her at krista.peterson925@gmail.com.

This is a guest post by Les Roberts. Have at it, Les.

Now that spring has sprung it’s time to get rid of the rubbish, de-clutter the den and freshen-up the family home, but don’t let this year’s spring clean come at great cost to both you and the environment.

Follow these three simple steps to make your spring clean frugal and green.

Turn trash into treasure

An effective spring clean requires a certain degree of ruthlessness and there’s no room for sentiment when deciding what is treasure and what is trash.

But adopting a ruthless approach doesn’t mean that you can’t also adopt a considered approach. So instead of simply throwing away anything you consider to be clutter try to think of ways to re-use or recycle it. You may even find that you can make money by selling some of your unwanted items!

Once you’ve identified the items you want to get rid of, categorize them into those that can be sold on or given away, those that can be recycled, and those that simply have to be trashed.

If you have any items that can be sold, then it may be a good idea to have a yard sale or utilize an online auction site. Or, if you’re planning to give anything away, then sites such as Freecycle can also be useful. Alternatively, you could do a good deed and give any unwanted items to a local charity store.

If you’re looking to recycle any items, remember that even things such as old cell phones and magazines can be recycled and such items can simply be taken to the appropriate recycling depots.

Go for a green clean

Once you have cleared the clutter it’s time to start cleaning, but to keep things frugally green, you should try to utilize existing household items instead of buying expensive and environmentally unfriendly cleaning products.

For example, a simple solution made up of one part water and one part white vinegar makes an excellent window cleaning fluid and disinfectant. And, instead of using rags to wipe down surfaces, use old newspapers as they wont leave any lint behind and are less likely to streak. If you prefer to use a cloth to wipe down surfaces, then avoid buying new cloths and keep the cost down by using cut offs from unwanted cloths instead.

For a more robust – and better smelling – cleaning solution, add a couple of drops of tea tree oil and some baking soda to the solution. The tea tree oil is an excellent disinfectant that will also add a more pleasant smell to the mixture whilst baking soda acts as a light abrasive and also has deodorizing qualities.

For more home made cleaning solutions read this great article by Bailey Harris.

Frugal freshen up

Once the clutter and the cleaning have been taken care of, the next step is to freshen up and, once again, you can avoid expensive air fresheners by utilizing some natural remedies.

Possibly the easiest and least expensive way to freshen the home is to simply open the windows and get the smell of the great outdoors indoors. Even if you live in the city you’ll feel the benefit of letting the stale air out and the fresh air in.

Then you can freshen things up further by buying an air purifying plant (with the money you made from selling your clutter) such as an Areca Palm or a Boston Fern and also placing some scented flowers around the house.

Or, as an alternative to plants, you could burn some scented beeswax candles or essential oils to finish off your green spring clean.

This article written by Les Roberts, journalist at Moneysupermarket.com, the UK’s leading finance price comparison website where you can compare a range of financial products from credit cards to cash ISAs.

This is a guest post by Casey K., who currently holds a phlebotomy degree, but is interested in returning to school for a forensic science education. She’s a strong proponent of leading a green, sustainable lifestyle.

There have been countless bacterial outbreaks in large food processing plants, essentially since the advent of large food processing plants. Tainted meat, dairy, and vegetables have led to large numbers of people contracting E.coli, hepatitis A, salmonella, and other diseases.

In the last several months, there have been quite a few of note: The US Food and Drug Administration has announced that Cal-Maine Foods Inc. released 288,000 eggs subject to recall after one of their suppliers, Ohio Fresh Eggs, LLC, tested positive for Salmonella Enteritidis, then saw distribution to eight states. While there are no consumer deaths confirmed yet, many in other environments aren’t as lucky.

Four people died across ten cases as a consequence of listeria and listeriosis infection after eating celery from a processing plant called SanGar Fresh Cut Produce based out of San Antonio, Texas, leading to an FDA investigation and concerns over cross contamination with other chopped vegetable products made at the plant (where inspectors also discovered issues with condensation, dirt, and hand-washing, among other problems).

Another listeria infection happened as a consequence of contamination at a smoked salmon plant in Fairbanks, Alaska, prompting a recall despite there being no confirmed deaths yet. In Canada, pet food sold in British Columbia and made by Surrey Meat Packers was tied to E. coli contamination.

All of this, then, points to the fact that food processing facilities regularly suffer from contamination issues simply as a consequence of the large volume of their operation. Furthermore, food processing also ensures that food takes longer to reach you, making it less fresh unless loaded down with preservatives and other chemicals intended to make sure it reaches its destination in an edible state.

No matter how you look at it, it’s hard to say good things beyond the inherent cost efficiency about the mass processing industry first demonized in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and now read about almost monthly in our newspapers, where we hear about recalls with alarming frequency.

While it’s bad for them, it’s a good reason to support smaller local organizations producing lower quantities of better food, especially when dealing with meat and dairy, where the risk of bacterial contamination is highest. Local purveyors often provide superior-tasting products made from animals not pumped full of hormones to ensure rapid growth or additional milk production. They also make dairy products with distinct flavor profiles and in significantly smaller batches, meaning that the reduced sample size helps to bring down the risk of introducing bacteria that ruins the entire group.

By choosing to support local food producers, you virtually guarantee yourself a more flavorful alternative to a bagged, several-week-old packaged products made with thousands of others exactly like it from all over the country, smashed into a homogeneous, flavorless, potentially toxic mass. You also support people who are working to change this system. Better yet, you can even begin to grow your own produce or keep your own animals where possible, allowing you to see exactly what came from where and just how safe it is.