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[April 13, 2008]

Is Passive Solar A Viable Home Heating Option In Cold Areas?

Filed under: Online Home Improvement — @ 10:09 pm

Passive solar is a method of using the energy from the sun to heat a home. It is extremely popular because the process is free once a passive solar home is created.

Passive solar can be used to heat a home in colder areas, but you have to go into it with reasonable expectations. While the cold climate is a hurdle, the real issue is going to be the length of time the sun beats down upon your property. If your home receives only four or five hours of direct sunlight a day, forget it. You will never produce enough energy to keep the home warm for sufficient periods of time.

Passive solar design is very popular in warm to mild climates because it is more or less a free method for warming a home. The manipulation of the position of the home and placement of large windows in the south facing wall is typical strategies for dealing with the issue. Obviously, large windows in a cold climate are going to result in significant heat loss regardless of the quality with which they are built. So, what can you do?

There are two primary approaches to creating a passive solar design that works in the winter. One is the use of a large Trombe Wall and the other is the greenhouse approach. Let’s take a look.

Trombe Walls are popular in passive solar designs because they effectively convert sunlight to heat and are interesting from an aesthetic view point. Typically, a Trombe Wall is 8 to 12 feet in length on the south facing wall of a home. In significantly colder areas, the wall is going to need to be much larger, perhaps the full length of the home depending upon energy analysis and the cold weather expected. An energy audit of the home is the only to arrive at a definitive answer.

You are also going to have to incorporate a flip strategy for the heat. As the sun enters the glass plate and heats up the masonry of the wall, you risk losing vast amounts of it through the glass surface. This means you need to create an air circulation method whereby you draw the hot air into a secondary space behind the wall. This can simply be a closed off room or a space intended for the purpose. The circulation should be done on a timer similar to the solar thermostats used on solar hot water panels. The point is to keep the built up heat from escaping back into the environment.

The greenhouse approach simplifies matters. The essential idea is to build an insulated greenhouse to collect and store the heat of the sun during the day. Often called a sunspace, the greenhouse is similar to those used for plants. Even in cold climates, the sun will produce a magnificent amount of heat. Again, the problem is keeping the heat from escaping once it has built up. Since the sun has to come in through a transparent surface, you inevitably have the problem of the heat escaping through the same. The best option is to use a controlled timer to blow the air through to the house once certain temperatures are reached. It is not very efficient, but you have little choice.

An alternative to passive solar heating in very cold areas is biomass. Corn burning furnaces are popular. They are a much cheaper solution as are the corn kernels. This biomass energy is also much more reliable and, personally, it is the way I would go.

Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com, a directory of solar energy companies. Visit us to read more articles on solar power.

Backing the Bookmakers as a Sports Betting Affiliate

Filed under: Commerce Compass — @ 6:02 pm

It may seem hard to believe but there are ways to earn money through sports betting sites without having to wager a penny. The online sports betting affiliate program is different to most of the others available to potential affiliates for a number of reasons. Of course it shares the one fundamental basics of the program, which involves the free exchange of advertising material in exchange for space on an affiliate website. Then when an affiliate attracts a new player to the external sports betting site, they receive their reward usually in the form of a percentage of the money generated or on some occasions an up front cash payment.

However the sports betting affiliate program does hold some integral differences to the others available to Internet users. Because new affiliates have the option to claim a percentage of a player’s money lost to the site, the affiliate becomes a toned down version of the bookmaker. For as long as a player is a member of the site and utilises it, the affiliate will be earning cash. Whilst some may raise the question of ethics involved in hoping or even aiding a player to lose money, the fact remains that gambling occurs day in day out with thousands of people wagering millions of dollars. Ordinarily online sports betting site will take 100% of the profits, so in effect the affiliate is taking some of that away from the already bulging pockets of the online bookmaker.

In addition to this the affiliate is also not liable to the same strict rulings or the same risks. Most affiliate programs will offer their members a safety net, which does not allow them to make a loss, in says a monthly paycheck. Because gambling has it’s ups and downs, sometimes players will win and sometimes they will lose, whilst the sports betting site must pay out if they win, this does not mean that the affiliate does as well. Therefore being a sports betting affiliate is almost exactly the same as actually owning a bookmaking site. But it is without any of the risks, without all the overheads and without any of the necessary customer relations. The affiliate is simply a portal to the other site but has the opportunity to earn money without actually having to do all that much. Of course for the business minded affiliate will be well aware of the need to attract the maximum number of players in order to increase their own monthly income.

Therefore advertising your own affiliate site becomes tantamount in generating extra traffic. In turn extra traffic means a higher chance of a few people clicking on the links and subsequently the important issue of generating extra revenue.

Blake Stevenson - EzineArticles Expert Author

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Managing Your Bulk Email Server the Easy Way

Filed under: Web Of Marketing — @ 5:56 pm

There is a difference between bulk email and spam. However, when it comes to you bulk email server, you need to make sure that you not only know the difference, but also that you understand managing your bulk email server the easy way. If you do, you will avoid legal and ethical problems while still effectively marketing your product, service, or website.

Managing your bulk email server the easy way means doing it the right way. What does that mean? It means understanding what works with bulk email, what is ethical, and how to avoid problems with those not wanting to receive your messages.

First of all, when managing your bulk email server the easy way, you want to always make sure you are sending out a message that is worth the time of the person who will read it, and that you are sending the message to someone who wants to, or at least opts to, receive your email messages. Part of your management scheme should include getting your email lists either from an opt-in form on a company website or through a reputable email list seller.

Secondly, managing your bulk email server the easy way means avoiding returned messages. Make sure your email list, no matter where it has come from, has been thoroughly “scrubbed.” That is, make sure the email addresses are real addresses and that there are no duplicates in the list. If you send your message to someone twice, it looks unprofessional and will give you no hope of having that person take your messages seriously.

Thirdly, you should definitely consider that managing your bulk email server the easy way means setting up an easy opt-out option for those receiving your message. In fact, if you want to avoid the label of “spammer,” you must have a way for recipients of the messages to get themselves taken off your mailing list. Once you have been labeled a spammer, you will lose all credibility as well as any hope of an effective bulk email campaign. Not to mention the legal ramifications of the spam issue. So it is best to make sure you read up on and understand how you should manage your bulk email server to comply with government and local bulk email regulations.

Finally, managing your bulk email server the easy way means setting it up with reports and auto-functions. Most of the best bulk emails servers will allow you to run reports after you send each message. It can tell you which email addresses got returned, which can help you continue the scrubbing process with your lists. Also, you should be able to automatically remove addresses from which you get an opt-out, as well as add messages from opt-ins. Doing things the easy way means getting it set up so that your computer does as much of it as possible.

Keep in mind that managing your bulk email server the easy way means a couple of things. First of all, it means doing things the right way to prevent working double the amount. Secondly, it means that you set up the computer and server to do as much work alone as possible. You will soon find that managing the easy way sure beats managing the hard way.

Stu Pearson has an interest in Business & Technology related topics. To access more information on bulk email server or on email list server, please click on the links.


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