The Windsave wind turbine system is roof or wall mounted and feeds electricity directly into the property on the consumer side of the meter, reducing the consumption of electricity purchased from the Grid. Windsave provides an environmentally-friendly, low-cost source of sustainable energy, providing an opportunity for every property, residential and commercial, in Britain to play a part in the Green Revolution.

The standard wind turbine will be available at B&Q stores in the UK from October at a price around ?1500.  Windsave suggest that payback can be in as little as 5 to 7 years depending on local wind speeds and availability of government grants.

Many human activities contribute to climate change. Flying, driving, heating and powering our homes and workplaces all burn fossil fuels and this releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.

There are now many companies that, for a small payment, will reduce an amount of CO2 equivalent to that which your activity releases.  This is known as ?carbon offsetting?.  Offsetting your ?carbon footprint? complements efforts to reduce it. It is a key tool for building carbon-responsibility into everyday life.

These CO2 offset companies don't  actually reduce the amount of greenhouse gas that you produce, only you can do that.  What they do is develop and run a huge range of projects that 'offsets' your emissions. 

These projects can be in:

• Renewable energy ? this replaces non-renewable fuel such as coal, oil or gas.
  
• Energy efficiency ? this reduces the amount of fuel needed.
• Forest restoration ? this absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere as the trees grow.

One UK based carbon offsetting company, Climate Care,  run projects that include restoring rain forests in Uganda.  Each hectare of rainforest that is restored is expected to absorb 400 tonnes of CO2. That?s equivalent to the annual emissions from 80 average sized UK homes.  Another project that they run is to introduce school stoves that run off a new renewable fuel source. Crop waste is being used to make biomass briquettes for the stoves, providing an extra income to farmers. This project is expected to save 11,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.  That?s equivalent to 7,000 fewer return trips from London to New York.

Projects that other offsetting companies like The Carbon Neutral Company  run include; switching boilers from oil to woodchip fuel in Scotland; installing solar lighting systems in India and Sri Lanka; and micro-hydro systems in Bulgaria. 

And you can probably guess the type of projects that UK based Grow a Forest offset your carbon emmissions against!

Most offset company websites include calculators to work out and offset emissions from people?s home energy use, driving and flights or from your business, meaning that you can easily see just how much CO2 release that you are responsible for, and therefore how much it will cost to offset your emissions.

If you don?t live in the UK, you can still offset your carbon dioxide emissions:

Renewable Choice  are a US based and run wind power offsets for private individuals and businesses.  TerraPass funds go directly to carbon-reducing energy projects across the US.

Offsets made easy:

The World Land Trust has set up a text message CO2 offset service, so now you can offset the carbon dioxide emissions that you are responsible for on the move, with your mobile phone.  Every  text will offset 140kgs of CO2 with the World Land Trust's Carbon Balanced Programme. 

NEW: Offset your visit to our website

• Create a user account to add your own green articles and ethical product news. It's fast, free and your personal information will not be shared. For every published article you send you'll offset a whopping 20kg of CO2!
  
• Submit your green, ethical or fairtrade website links to the Ecotivity Directory and offset 2kg of CO2. 
• Subscribe to the ecotivity newsletter and offset a full 1kg of CO2.

*Carbon offsets to be provided by Climate Care. All links and articles subject to approval by our editors. For verification of offsets , please contact us.

How to make a solar panel for a solar shower from junk in just ten easy steps....

Similar solar panels cost more than ?1000 and are between 90% and 95% efficient.  Ours will cost you nothing.   Its about 50% efficient, but that is still good enough to make piping hot water even in the UK. 

Just follow our simple step by step instructions and you could be the proud owner of  a solar panel that can make gallons of hot water per day for free!

Before any other country even thought of the idea - Brazil succeeded in mass-producing bio fuel for motor vehicles, deriving ethanol from its plentiful supplies of sugar-cane.  

Unlike petrol the carbon dioxide emissions that ethanol produces can be cancelled out by growing another sugar-cane plant. 

In the more temperate climates of Northern Europe and North America, growing sugar cane to ferment into ethanol fuel is not really an option.  Enter the humble mushroom....  It is now known that enzymes in certain varieties of mushrooms will dissolve wood waste, converting it into a high sugar mixture that can then be easily be fermented into the petroleum alternative.