Feenix Gear, Wal-Mart new sustainable project

Hello folks, Alex Renaud here from Feenix Gear. I know much everyone always attacks Wal-Mart, well today i have decided to share with you some information that will hopefully make you think twice about Wal-Mart.

As we all can probably agree, Wal-Mart is one of the biggest companies in the world with an expanding global presence. But with this comes responsibility to set the bar for other smaller companies to follow. As we are finally realising just how important it is to be more sustainable it is just as important for Wal-Mart to set precedence. Wal-Mart has established a project where their long term goal is to become 100% supplied by renewable energy. Two things that they have done to put this plan to effect have been to launch a solar power pilot project and have made plans to purchase wind power.

What is involved in the solar pilot project:

• Wal-Mart signed a 10 year contract with SunEdison, PowerLight and BP solar all leading providers of large scale solar power systems.
• They are installing solar generating systems in 22 locations in Hawaii and California combined.
• Each solar power system can provide up to 30% of the power for the entire store.
• The total solar power production is estimated to produce 20 million KWn (KiloWatt-hours) per year. Top 10 largest solar power initiatives world wide.
• The solar power generators will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6,500-10,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

As you can see the Solar Pilot Project is far in its way to help Wal-Mart become more sustainable. Wal-Mart has also said that the results of the project will be used to explore additional ways to achieve its energy goal of 100% renewable and determine how to move forward with solar power.

Secondly Wal-Mart’s Wind power implementation:

• Wal-Mart has entered a 4 year power purchase with Duke energy and has agreed to purchase a wind farm in Notrees, Texas.
• The Wind farm will be able to produce 226 million KWn of renewable energy each year. This would be enough energy to power more than 20,000 average homes.
• This purchase represents one of the largest purchases of green power among retailers and could rank Wal-Mart third amongst retailers who are using green power.
• By producing this Wal-Mart will be avoiding producing more than 139,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
• This is equivalent to taking 25,000 cars off the road.

The amount of renewable energy Wal-Mart will be able to produce with this wind farm is incredible and is a great step into leading our business world into a more sustainable era.
Together, the solar power generators and wind farm will generate close to 250 million KWn per year and will avoid using close to 150,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Thank you to Wal-Mart stores for providing this information.

Alex Renaud
Feenix Gear

Feenix Gear, Renewable Energy

Alex Renaud here from Feenix Gear. Today I am bringing you a critical essay that talks about different types or renewable energy sources and how they could change the world we live in. Imagine if cars didn’t need petroleum to function, instead used electricity or natural gas. Now think about introducing wind energy to America. What would it do to our economy? Finally we will look into solar energy. Solar energy has been around for quite some time now but could it be that we have been using this method in an ineffective way? All of these are examples of renewable energy sources that with a little help from today’s corporation could make huge changes in the world we live in.

Our world has for thousands of years been the victim of being inhabited by the human race. I say victim because of how we have conducted our stay here on earth. Today, in the 21th century we a slowly starting to realize what type of environmental holes we are punching into our atmosphere, and just now are we trying to fix what problems we have already caused. The following are critical analysis of articles that talk about sustainable and renewable energy and how they can affect us. We will look into new ways of fuelling our vehicles. Is petroleum the best material to use or are there any other methods that are more sustainable and more cost effective? We will also look into wind power and how it can affect our economy, and how the ideas of one man can change the views of an entire nation. Finally we will look into solar energy, an already existing source of renewable energy but is it possible that we might be using it ineffectively? Our world is in need of change and so is our economy, could the switch to renewable energy be the first step to getting back on track?

In my critical reading of “Gassing up for less” the author discus’s many different options for fuelling up your vehicle. Today vehicles mostly fill up with petroleum but this is not the only option we have as drivers. Other fuelling alternatives include diesel, electric and natural gas. If you were in the market for buying a new car which would you buy? A petroleum fuelled car or would you explore into new possibilities. Take a Land Rover for example, it is what we refer to as a gas guzzler because it averages about 13 mpg. (Keep in mind that the price for petroleum is sitting at around $4 a gallon) Now compare that type of fuel consumption with the one of a Toyota Prius, the Prius averages about 46 mpg and is a petrol-electric hybrid. With that said which would you be me prompt to buy for your daily driver? Diesel fuel is another option to look at and with low-sulphur diesel now available in America and a new line of cars coming from Europe that can average up to 50 mpg, diesel might be your answer. Diesel cars are becoming more and more popular certainly overseas, where 60% of cars are run on diesel, but don’t forget that it costs 10 -20% more then petroleum. We now look into using such alternatives as natural gas. Natural gas can be used in two forms: liquid and gas, you might be asking yourself “why liquefy a gas instead of leaving it a vapour? Because it dramatically reduces the volume for storing it.” ( Economist, 2008A). The problem is that it is very expensive to make and many different measures need to be accounted for. Ie: the storing tanks must be kept at very low temperatures (-160 degrees) and must not let vapours escape. Sensibly people have decided to go with compressed natural gas (CNG). A CNG car gets about the same mpg as a petroleum car but emits 80% less smog-forming nitrogen oxides. CNG also has a very attractive price tag which sites about 40% less than petroleum. Finally there is a new Canadian company called “FuelMaker” that offers a home-fuelling station which can give you a 1000$ tax credit. With all of these new renewable fueling methods , it wont be long befor you start seeing more and more of these cars on the road. One disadvantage is that currently there is only one CNG car available in America, a Honda civic GX. This makes choosing your vehicle very easy. Now that you have been introduced to new fuelling methods which method will you choose when picking your new work commuter? Has the author of this article been able to convince you to become green friendly and go with an electric or low-sulphur diesel car or will you choose to fill up at home with CNG.

A second way to start making better energy decisions is to make the switch to wind power. In the article “Turbine time” we are introduced to a republican oilman who has a brand new vision for producing energy in America. Each year Americans spend over 700 billion dollars in oil, which is purchased from foreign countries. Mr T. Bones Pickens plans to make a few changes and is even willing spend $58 million of his own money to make his case. Does the fate of wind power rest all on one man’s shoulders? It was reported that America could build enough wind farms to provide 20% of the nation’s electricity by 2030. Is this really worth our time and money? We are talking about $1 trillion to build these farms and $200 billion to connect them, all to only save 20% of our $700 billion oil expense. What would you do? Before you make your decision think outside the box for a moment. Think about how many jobs it would create in order to build these farms and then to operate them afterwards. The economy would probably benefit from something like this, the author and Mr. Pickens seem to think so. Lets look at a small town called Sweetwater in Texas, “Ten years ago it was just one more struggling speck on the prairie…then the wind industry started to take hold… the economic impact on Nolan county which encompasses Sweetwater, will be a $315 million this year. Wind has brought more than 1 000 new jobs to town”(Economist, 2008C) One other thing to take into account is that currently natural gas generates 22% of the countries electricity, what if we could replace that by wind power. The natural gas could then be used as fuel for motor vehicles. Still think Mr. Pickens and our author should be alone on this venture. With wind farms we could create more jobs, generate more money and do all of this using sustainable energy sources. Why use up all of our planets natural resources to create electricity when we can just produce it ourselves and by doing so improve our economy. I believe that business owners if given the choice would rather know that their organization is helping our economy grow, by choosing sustainable energy sources. This is really a win win situation.

All Around the world every day we are blessed with magnificent sunsets, eclipses and many other fascinating sites due to the sun. In the article ‘’Tubular sunshine’’ the author talks about yet another fascination that our sun produces; solar power is what I am referring to. But in this article we look at the efficiency of our current solar technology and we introduce a better way of turning sunlight into electricity. Solar power is a very simple process and should be pretty cheap when talking about producing electricity. But is it really? And are we really as efficient as we can be? Today to outfit a household with solar power it would cost almost $40 000 for both parts and installation. Also with the current technology, you must place your solar panels facing the sun in specific ways in order to retrieve the maximum amount of electricity. So why haven’t more people made the switch to a solar alternative? Maybe it is because of the low efficiency levels and high cost associated to this technology. Fortunately a company out of California has launched a new type of solar panel. ‘‘Using different materials …the approach is to coat glass tubes in copper indium gallium selenide and encase them in another glass tube with sealed ends… forty of these tubes are assembled into a single panel… Using tubes instead of flat panels makes it possible to capture sunlight… from any direction.’’(Economist 2008B) This new technology makes solar energy more affordable and more efficient and the cost of installation should be about half of the traditional solar panels. So why wouldn’t companies change to solar energy? It is cheap, simple and sustainable. This could be a terrific way that organizations could produce their own electricity and cut down on cost, meaning more money to spend on other important aspect of a organization. Solar Power will create more opportunity in the future for business’s, helping them to lower overall costs.

After having taken you through different types of sustainable energy alternatives you can now see that our world is slowly trying to plug up the holes that we have punched in our atmosphere. ‘‘Gassing up for less’’ looked at all sorts of new alternative ways of fueling up our vehicles. It told us about petroleum, which today is what America uses the most but it also spoke about other sustainable sources like electricity and natural gas. These two types of energy could not only reduce cost but could also help us with becoming more environmentally friendly. Which means a more enjoyable world for our kids and our kids kids. The same thing can be said about creating new wind farms. Remember how many jobs it created in Sweetwater, Texas. Think of how many jobs that would create and how much our economy could benefit from something like that. Finally we spoke about solar energy and how we have created more efficient ways to produce solar power using glass tubes instead of flat panels. Imagine if every organization and every community decided they wanted to become more sustainable. Think of how much less we would pollute and how much money organizations could save. We are working to becoming more sustainable because we have noticed that changes must be made. Our world has been giving to us for thousands of years and we have just taken advantage. It is now time that we start making an effort in using renewable energy and make our world a better place.


Thank you to economist for providing these articles.

Eco-friendly, Feenix Gear - How it all began

Hey guys, Alex Renaud from Feenix Gear bringing you something a little different this week.

When i First started this company, I did not have much knowledge about owning my own business. But with the Help of the Summer Company Program I was able to apply for a Government grant that would provide me with the opportunity to start my very own company for the summer. Summer company was the key for such a smooth start up, the staff at the Peterborough advisory center really help and also cared about me and my business. They provided me with several opportunities that I would not have been able to set-up myself.

Here is my very first news article that appeared in the newspaper a few weeks after beginning the summer company program.

From the ashes of despair rises the Feenix

Alex Renaud had been playing lacrosse for 11 years when he was involved in a terrible house fire that ended his career. From this tragedy Feenix Gear was born.

The phoenix is a mythical bird that is reborn from ashes. Similarly, Feenix Gear was born out of the ashes of Alex’s lacrosse dreams. No longer able to participate, Alex found a new way to be a part of the sports that he loved.

Alex knew that there was very little Canadian lacrosse merchandise readily available. He researched new materials like bamboo and old favorites like cotton from which to make his own line of quality lacrosse gear.

Through networking Alex learned about the “My Summer Company Program”. Alex applied online and was soon introduced to the wonderful staff of the Peterborough business advisory centre that were instrumental in securing the grant necessary to begin production.

Feenix Gear offers all green-friendly sports apparels. Our t-shirts are an all natural alternative, and they can come custom ordered with your team logo.

Get your team into Feenix Gear today.


Now that I have finished the summer company program I would recommended it to anyone who is thinking about starting there own business.

I can only push that if you have an idea to go for it. I can remember when i first thought of starting my own business and now to think about everything that has been accomplished since then is an incredible feeling. Do yourself a favor and follow your dreams because they can always come tru.


Alex Renaud

www.feenixgear.com

Eco-friendly, Feenix Gear - Greenhouse Gas effect

Hey guys, Alex Renaud from Feenix Gear here bringing you some more cool points on some environmental facts. Today I have decided to blog about "the Green House effect". This to some people means nothing, hopefully after reading this you'll be a little more cautious.

The Greenhouse gas's effect of our planet, they are something that we should be aware of and also should be trying to do something to prevent it from getting any worse. If you are completely unaware of what the "Green House effect" is, its basically our atmosphere trapping in the heat energy from the sun that then heats up our atmosphere.

If you want to make things a little easier. Picture a Green House, the ones with glass panels forming its walls and roof. These small houses work because they trap the heat from the sun inside. The glass panels let in the sun light while also keeping the warmth inside, this allows the greenhouse to heat up much like a black car parked under the sun, the heat allows us to grow plants, especially in the winter time.

Now move away from the greenhouses and think of our planet. Our air, soil, tree's everything around us. Greenhouse gas's are similar to the glass panels on the greenhouses. As sunlight enters our atmosphere it pass's through a blanket of greenhouse gas's, eventually it reaches the earths surface and is absorbed. Once absorbed the sunlight energy is pitched back into our atmosphere, some of the energy emits itself back into the universe but most of it remains trapped in our atmosphere because of the greenhouse gas blanket. It has become a great problem because now our planet is heating up bit by bit each day. Without these gas's the earth would be able to maintain its normal temperature of 60 degree's F.

This energy entrapment is a direct result of many of the things that are happening around the world today. Many of our glaciers up North are disappearing rapidly, along with many other global issues such as the massive amount of hurricane's in the United States. Greenhouse gas's are now an every day problem that still need a solution. Greenhouse gas's are real and we do need to watch how we treat our planet.

Take a look at the picture up top... those mountains used to be completely covered in snow.... take a good look at how much snow remains...

Alex Renaud

www.feenixgear.com

Lacrosse apparel, custom team or business orders. Feenix Gear also offers eco-friendly clothing.

BE PART OF OUR SOLUTION.

Green Friendly - Organic Cotton

Hello hello, Alex Renaud from Feenix Gear here bringing you some more interesting but yet educational facts about more exciting green-friendly materials. Today i am going to tell you a little about organic cotton and why it is just that much better!

Organic Cotton is one of the most popular green-friendly materials used in the textile (clothing) industry today. The thing that separates organic cotton from jersey fine cotton is primarly the way that it is produced. Organic cotton is grown using methods and materials that have a very low impact on our environment as opposed to conventional cotton, which actually is one of the most hazardous textile materials in our world today.

Organic cotton production replenishes and maintains soil fertility while also reducing the use of pesticides and other toxic fertilizers. Some benefits other then being green-friendly are that organic cotton offers a softer and higher quality textile that only organic cotton can offer. This is made possible because when conventional cotton is grown, it becomes compromised and weakened by the hazardous chemicals used in growing, processing and dying of the cotton. You might not think that’s these small facts matter, but they actually break down the cotton fiber and create a inferior cotton garment. That is why you get a stronger, softer cotton using organics

Conventional cotton crops are amongst the most heavily sprayed with pesticides and fertilizers in the world. Conventional cotton is sprayed approx 30-40 times per season. A little statistic that might catch your attention is that conventional cotton compromises only about 3% of the farmlands but consumes over 25% of the chemical pesticides and fertilizers used. Do you really want to me relaxing in this type of textile. To give you a ball park figure, each year about 600 thousand tons of hazardous pesticides and fertilizers are used for the production of conventional cotton.

The alternative, organic cotton. Organic cotton is grown in fields where the use of hazardous pesticides and fertilizers are strictly forbidden. Organic farming is a farming method that relies only on natural inputs.

To wrap this all up, organic cotton is not only significantly better for our planet but its alot softer and stronger. It has no hazardous chemicals that have been sprayed on the crops, which again means healthier for us because we don't have all those poisons on our shoulders at all hours of the day. I hope that this blog has at least opened your eyes to the hazardous world of conventional cotton and will influence you to buy organic the next time you go shopping.

Alex Renaud

www.feenixgear.com

Feenix Gear - Soy as a textile fiber?

Alex Renaud here again from Feenix. Today as promised I will be blogging a little about Soybeans and why they are described as a “miracle crop of many uses”. Since the introduction to Canada in 1893 soybeans have been used in a wide variety of ways not only in the food industry but also in the clothing industry. Other industries have taken advantage of this wonderful environmentally friendly product as well. You are able to find such items as soy crayons, building materials, household products, inks, adhesives and many many more.

Although today we are going to be talking about soy textile fibers. Soy is a very environmentally friendly product with many great advantages. The process to making soy textile is to liquefy the waist from soybeans and then shape it into long, continuous fibers that are then cut and weaved just like all of today’s textile materials. Soy is incredibly soft and has been deemed a “Vegetable Cashmere” because its feel resembles a lot to cashmere materials.

Soy also has a positive effect on our human body. It possesses many different kinds of amino acids which gives it great health protection advantages. Other interesting facts about soybeans and soy textiles is that the content of each fiber contains close to 45% protein. Soy also contains 18 active materials that are necessary to the human body.

Now one thing that you must keep in mind is that not all soy products are organic, some are and other are not. The “organic fibers” are much greener then those traditionally grown, but all in all, all soy textile is better for the environment then all other non-organic products.

Soy once again deemed “vegetable cashmere” is extremely soft and smooth and has a wonderful silky luster. Soy products are becoming a #1 choice for the fashion minds that takes pride in sustainable clothing.


For some great soy products stay tuned to our inventory as this product will soon see our shelves and will be waiting for you. You can find out more at www.feenixgear.com

Thank you

Alex Renaud

Feenix Gear - eco-friendly bamboo

Hello Its Alex Renaud, the founder and president of Feenix Gear. To let you know a little about our business, we are a new student owned and operated company. We have many different eco-friendly alternative and everything can be custom ordered with your own team logo. You can find out more at www.feenixgear.com

Today i am going to discuss to you the benefit of using bamboo as a textile and why is it probably the coolest fiber to work with, its for sure the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Bamboo, where do we begin:

Bamboo clothing is a modern invention that originated as a desire for a greener planet. It is considered the ‘most sustainable natural fiber on earth with many extraordinary qualities. It is the fastest growing plant on earth, making it naturally highly renewable. In fact, bamboo grows to its maximum height in approximately 3 months.

The process to make bamboo fiber is simple; essentially stalks of bamboo are crushed and pulped to separate the natural fibers. The fibers are then mixed with the lowest impacted chemicals to convert the plant fiber into textile quality fiber.

It is not only extremely soft and 'luxuriously' comfortable, it absorbs and evaporates sweat quicker (3-4 times better than your average t-shirt), it has a thermo-control system that allows your body to breathe easier in hot weather and keeps you warmer in cold weather. It is an antistatic material, it also cuts down 98% of harmful UV rays that attack your skin.

Besides these advantages, bamboo clothing has a smooth and round texture, with little chemical treatments that may irritate skin.

Finally, Bamboo clothing is antibacterial and antifungal. Therefor , it resists the spread of bacteria on the skin. This makes it perfect for sensitive or allergy prone skin.

Now thank you for having taken the time to read my little blog, and tell me have I made a believer out of you or will you have to read about my next blog where i tell you the advantages of using Soy textiles that has been deemed a "vegetable cashmere".

Alex Renaud

www.feenixgear.com

From The Ashes Of Despair Rises The Feenix

Alex Renaud, a 22 year old Trent University student and Founder of Feenix Gear, had been playing lacrosse for 10 years. When at the age of 18 was involved in a terrible house fire that ended his career and hopes of ever making it to the pros.

From this tragedy Feenix Gear was born. The phoenix is a mythical bird that is reborn from ashes. Similarly, Feenix Gear was born out of the ashes of Alex’s lacrosse dreams. No longer able to participate, Alex found a new way to be a part of the sport that he loved.

Alex knew that there was very little Canadian lacrosse merchandise readily available. He researched new materials like bamboo and old favorites like cotton from which to make his own line of quality lacrosse gear.

Through networking Alex learned about the “My Summer Company Program”. Alex applied online and was soon introduced to the wonderful staff of the Peterborough business advisory centre that were instrumental in securing the grant necessary to begin production.

Feenix Gear offers an all green-friendly sports alternative. Our apparels are an all natural and anti-bacterial solution. They can even come custom ordered with your team logo.

Get your team into Feenix Gear today.

www.feenixgear.com

feenixgear@hotmail.com

Sr A playoffs are coming up, So who do you think is going to take it home this year?

As a Trent student i am going to cheer for peterborough, who do you think is going to win the big cheese this year?

let me know if your right you could win free clothing....

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FEENIX GEAR.

WE CAN DO ANYTHING FROM CUSTOM TEAM WEAR, TO CASUAL WEAR WITH AN OPTIONAL ECO-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVE.

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