Do You Want to Be More Energy Efficient?

Want to save money with money saving tips? It’s easy to save money in these tough economic times. Do you want to learn more on how to accomplish that?

Maybe you already have started with a few ideas and you’re looking for some more to do your part in making a better more Energy Efficient world. At the same time reducing your “footprint” on the environment and put money back into your pocket. It seems lately all we hear about is how we all should be going Green. Lets take a look at a few ways to accomplish this and at the same time putting some of that hard earned cash back into your pocket instead of throwing it out the window.

Lately, more and more products are being made Energy Efficient. Lets start off with a few easy ones such as our light bulbs, household appliances, building materials and a big one right now with skyrocketing fuel prices; our cars!

You’ve already heard about how we should be replacing those old incandescent light bulbs with the newer alternative Compact Fluorescent Lamps. For now the Compact Fluorescent is better on your pocket book and a good Energy Efficient alternative. What they don’t tell you is how to dispose of those Compact Fluorescent Lamps or any Fluorescent lamp for that matter. Do you just throw it in the trash? Heck no! You should not throw them in your trash. It’s bad for our environment. Have you ever replaced a lamp only to break it in the process? A Compact Fluorescent Lamp poses a problem, there is mercury vapor in it. You need to be careful with replacement and disposal. This is why we are starting to see the dawn of the LED lamp. LED is quite a bit more expensive right now but we should start to see the price drop as more people become educated on the dangers that are present with Compact Fluorescents. The LED does have a longer life and you don’t have to worry about harming the environment or yourself by inhaling the mercury vapor, should you happen to break a lamp. Contact your local department of sanitation office for a fluorescent disposal location.

Our household appliances are catching on as well. We are already able to purchase better Energy Efficient refrigerators, washers, dryers, freezers, toasters, blenders and the list goes on and on. There are a number of ways to reduce your consumption of energy with these newer products. What about your air conditioner, your water heater and your furnace? These are huge energy users and there are easy ways to reduce their energy consumption as well.

The materials we use in building our homes have caught on too. Have you checked your windows? We lose almost half of our heat through our windows and doors. There are things you can do to stop this loss; the first being to replace them for better built ones and you will receive a tax credit for doing just that. There is more you can do here to save yourself some of your cash.

Even with our cars there is a need to reduce fuel consumption and with the new Hybrids coming out we are accomplishing this. There are new ways out right now that will make even the Hybrids more efficient.

There are also products being made that can and will make more homes less dependent on the power grid. Such as Wind Turbines and making a come back in a huge way is Solar Energy.

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Classic Car Insurance – A Beginners Guide For New Classic Owners

If you’ve just bought your first classic car you will need to consider not just where, but also how you are going to insure it.

As a classic car owner it matters not if you drive a perfect condition Ford Capri 3 litre from 1970, a beat up old Morris Minor from the Sixties or a sleek E-type Jaguar in British racing green, it is essential that you find the best classic car insurance cover for your cherished motor, that covers your individual risks at prices that won’t break the bank!

If you have not owned a classic car before it is important to realise that there are basic differences between what is known as a standard car insurance policy and the cover offered under one defined as classic, from a specialist car insurer.

The first thing to establish is whether your car is eligible for cover under a classic policy. One way you could do this is ask the previous owner whether it was covered under a classic car insurance policy and with which insurance company.

Different car insurance companies have different definitions of the age and type of vehicles that can be covered under this type of cover.

What might be easily covered with one provider may be excluded by another. Fortunately most online classic car cover providers provide this information on the first page of their websites, so it is fairly easy to surf around and check your eligibility with different insurance companies.

You should check that both the eligibility of the age of the car in question and also whether there are policy restrictions for your individual driving circumstances, such as your age that would prevent you from applying for cover.

The major variation between a standard policy and those offered by the classic car specialists is in the way that you use your classic vehicle, and in particular, how much you drive it. The large mainstream insurers and price comparison sites will offer cover for older cars but will charge an additional premium because of its age. They will also load the premium if replacement parts for the vehicle type are known to be expensive.

More importantly you will only be offered the current market value replacement if the car is covered under a mainstream policy and is deemed to be a write-off when you claim.

With a standard car insurance policy on a replacement like for like basis, the value of the car is often set by the market value at the time of a claim, typically taken from one of the car price magazines such as the UK’s Glasses Guide. The amount you will be probably receive for a write-off will be at the current market value of your car which is an annual depreciating amount. Inevitably, if you own a classic car and insure it under a standard policy contract, this leads to under valuation and under insurance of the true value of the car. You will also probably not be offered the salvage and a repairable classic car may often be deemed a write-off because the cost of repair is uneconomic to the Insurer.

If you purchase a specialist classic car policy you will be offered a choice of either an agreed valuation of the classic cars worth or a policy based on market value.

An agreed valuation amount is the amount that the insurance company will pay out in the event of a claim that results in a write off. This is a major benefit of insuring classics under specialist policies because it ensures that you are not just properly covered but will also receive the specialist repair services that your classic will require should you claim. It should be noted that even agreed valuation polices can change and you should ensure that the value is guaranteed for a certain period of time to avoid fluctuations in market values.

Classic Car insurance polices are therefore tailored to the needs of cars considered to be collectable and effectively the valuation is a rating factor for the condition of the car.

The other major difference between standard and classic policies is in the way that you are allowed to use your car under the terms of the agreement. Originally this type of vehicle insurance was designed for drivers who do not use their classic cars much.

All classic car policies have a limited mileage clause which only covers the vehicle for an agreed amount of miles per year. Depending upon which specialist car insurance company you use, there will be a limit to how far you can drive your classic. Some providers will only cover a couple of thousand miles per year under the policy, but many specialist providers are now offering cover up to ten thousand miles per year. These policies reflect the fact that many drivers now use modern day classic cars as their main form of transport.

As with all car insurance it is important to compare both covers and prices when shopping around. There are many specialist classic insurance providers available online today and many specialist schemes that are targeted at particular classic owners. Compare the premiums offered by these with those from the price comparison sites, but if you want to avoid disappointment if you need to make a claim, be sure to understand the difference in policy covers.

The Internet has made it very easy to compare Classic Car Insurance

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