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Monthly Archives: March, 2013

How to Choose the Right Air Conditioner Brand

How to Choose the Right Air Conditioner BrandNow that the temperatures are starting to rise in most parts of the world, including America. It may be time to go shopping for a new air conditioner to keep you comfortably cool indoors. Whether getting an AC for a new place or replacing an old unit, you can benefit from these tips by Merle Huerta of Livestrong.com.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Consumer Search recommends using price as your guide when shopping for a new or replacement central air conditioner. In terms of equipment, buy only what you need to cool your home’s interior and choose one with a SEER or EnergyStar efficiency rating.
COMMON PITFALLS
Avoid air conditioners that use freon as a refrigerant, producing hydrocarbons in the environment. Choose air conditioners that use Puron, known as R-410 refrigerant. EnergyStar recommends that if you’re replacing an older air conditioner with one having a higher efficiency rating.
WHERE TO BUY
Bryant, Carrier and Trane are highly rated in terms of equipment quality and efficiency, but they do not sell directly to consumers. If you wish to save money on the equipment, you will have to ask individual dealers. Each manufacturer has a list of suppliers and trained contractors they refer sales to.
COST
Most central air conditioner manufacturers don’t advertise price on their websites. However, Furnace Compare, a website that compiles comprehensive buying guidelines and reviews on HVAC equipment, provides a report examining more than 300 central air conditioners.
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Lord Smith Calls for Urgent Action

Lord Chris Smith, chairman of the Environment Agency of the United Kingdom, has stated that the country would have to show better resilience against flooding and drought. Figures released by the agency were quite alarming, in 2012 flooding was experienced in one in five days, while drought was seen in one in four days.

According to Lord Smith, it is important to “prepare and adapt”. He added that, “We need to get better at coping with extremes”.

According to a farmer who hails from North Yorkshire, Mike Wilkinson, “My yield was down by a quarter, which financially has had a huge impact on my business. “

The fear that experts have is that an increase in cases of extreme weather could be at hand due to the rise in global temperature.

To read the original article, go here.… Continue Reading

Extreme Weather Not Expected During Winter Storm

Extreme Weather Not Expected During Winter StormExtreme weather is not being expected during the course of the winter storm that comes from the coast and is approaching Kern County. The storm is actually proceeding very slowly and Bakersfield is only expected to experience a few rain showers as well as a few inches of snow that’s going to fall in the mountains over the weekend.

Bakersfield should not expect any rain, this is what Jim Andersen, who is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Harford, has to stay.

According to Andersen, “This storm coming in from the Morro Bay area is only going to bring about a quarter of an inch of rain to Bakersfield, so no heavy rain is expected.”

The Kern Mountain’s east side is going to be affected by the moisture that’s originating from the south, particularly because the storm is traveling quite slowly.

Read the original article here.… Continue Reading

When the Abnormal Becomes the New Normal Regarding Extreme Weather

Abnormal Becomes the New Normal Regarding Extreme WeatherPeople ought to get used to weird, abnormal weather that leans on the extreme side. That’s because the abnormal is probably the new normal when we talk about extreme weather.

If you have seen some evergreens that have been damaged by long and unexpected droughts and then when you hear experts saying that we should expect more of it in the future then you know something’s amiss.

Think about the weird weather that has been unleashed in the middle of the country the past two years, and you can see the weirdness and even the contradictions when it comes to the weather.

Surprisingly sudden and extended dryness followed the floods that were unleashed in record fashion into the Missouri River basin back in the early part of 2011.

To read the full article, go here.… Continue Reading

Lowering CO2 Emissions Will Help Reduce Extreme Weather Events

Lowering CO2 Emissions Will Help Reduce Extreme Weather Among the conclusions that came out of the 2009 US Global Change Research Program’s study, there are several that are worth noting. Among those are:

“Humans have adapted to changing climatic conditions in the past, but in the future, adaptations will be particularly challenging because society won’t be adapting to a new steady state but rather to a rapidly moving target. Climate will be continually changing, moving at a relatively rapid rate, outside the range to which society has adapted in the past. The precise amounts and timing of these changes will not be known with certainty.”

Another one says that, “The climate effects of reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and other long-lived gases do not become apparent for at least several decades.”

The truth is that even if start reducing emissions right now, the effects would not be immediate or felt five years from now when it comes to extreme weather events. The eventual payoff would occur decades into the future.

Read more here.… Continue Reading

Insurance Isn’t Everything in Disaster Resilience, Experts Warn

Disaster ResilienceExperts have warned that disaster insurance should not be considered everything when it comes to resilience to disaster.

The experts who said that – includes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its report on risk management of disasters and extreme events that advance adaptation to climate change – were expressing caution about insurance as a sort of cure-all for extreme weather.

Farmers in developing countries are losing their livestock and crops due to record setting extreme weather events. And because of that, they have turned to mechanisms like insurance as a means of transferring the risks involved. It is a lesson that they have learned and have adopted from richer countries.

However, insurers are wary of providing coverage for natural hazards – and this is even in developed countries – due to the systematic nature of those hazards.

Read the original article here.… Continue Reading

Mornington Peninsula Residents Told to Cut Down AC Usage

Mornington Peninsula Residents Told to Cut Down AC UsageDespite weather forecasts of hot climate, residents of Mornington Peninsula are being asked to cut their use of air conditioners due to an electricity problem suppliers are trying to fix. United Energy, says technicians are working to fix the problem that cut power to around 1,500 homes at Sorrento, Portsea and Blairgowrie.
United Energy spokesman, Stuart Allott, says limiting electricity use will make more power cuts less likely. “We are proactively speaking with local businesses in the area to ask if they could potentially reduce any electricity use over the long weekend and into next week,” he said. “That means minimizing air conditioner use, which is a big gouger of electricity.”
Although cutting down on power usage, officials say that if people have any serious health conditions, they shouldn’t hesitate to use their ACs as the well-being of citizens is still a major concern.
For more on this story, click here.
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5 Space Heater Safety Tips

Space Heater Safety TipsSpace heaters provide comfort and warmth when the weather out is just to cold to handle. But that doesn’t mean that all you have to think about is the warm and cozy comfort it provides. It’s very important to check on your heating unit every once in a while and make sure that it is safe to use.

To make sure you and your family are safe and sound, aside from warm and snug, here are 5 space heater safety tips to keep in mind:
  1. Keep anything that can burn at least three feet away from heating equipment, like the furnace, fireplace, wood stove, or portable sapce heater.
  2. Have a three-foot “kid-free zone” around open fires and space heaters.
  3. Have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional.
  4. Remember to turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed.
  5. Always use the right kind of fuel, specified by the manufacturer, for fuel burning space heaters.
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Bushwalking Groups Safe after Facing Extreme Weather

Bushwalking Groups Safe after Facing Extreme Weather

Around 3:15 pm last Saturday, a man who was likely to be from the United States was able to activate a personal locator beacon while in the Grose Valley. Initially, his plan was to have a two day walk towards Victoria Falls, but he later called police from a carpark. He reported that he was swept downstream in the middle of a storm but he was able to escape from the river.

Another incident had six people activating a beacon after being trapped by floodwaters at around 5:30 pm. They were having a canyoning exercise at Whungee Wheengee Canyon near Mount Wilson.

Read the original article by clicking here.

To find the best heater repair austin texas, click here.… Continue Reading

Extreme Weather Causes Loss of Thousands of Turtle Eggs

xtreme Weather Causes Loss of Thousands of Turtle EggsThe recovery of the sea turtle population has just been struck a major blow by Mother Nature itself. Progress towards increasing the sea turtle population is already being made after years of depletion that was due to boat strikes, trawler nets, and the presence of plastic in coastal waters, that is, until this recent blow.

Thousands of eggs of endangered sea turtles were washed away because ex-tropical cyclone Oswald caused huge tides and caused the seas to rise.

Most of the eggs that were laid early were already about to hatch when the worst of the bad weather hit it. The season for turtle nesting starts from November and goes through April.

It is estimated that about 46,000 eggs and probably even hatchlings were lost because of the extreme weather in Mon Repos, which is one of the biggest turtle rookeries in Queensland.

For the original article, just click here.… Continue Reading