Tony Brewer

My brother Rick was telling me that the company that makes Timberland Boots is one of the large companies that tries to lower their impact on the environment, and to treat all of their employees with dignity and respect.  They have 290 factories in 35 countries.  They have a strong commitment to corporate social responsibility.  I’m always surprised when I hear good things about large companies because there is always so much publicity about corporate greed, and very little publicity about companies that are doing good things! Rick also told me that the copshoes.com website is now selling Timberland Boots, and they are offering a 10% discount on everything through July 6th - just use the promotion coupon code July-4-09 at checkout!

In our attempt to make our homes better, insulation is key to getting the job done right.  And in this day and age of paying for estimates and having to put down non-refundable deposits, it’s rare to find a company like Northern Scotland Joinery. They make and install extremely high quality doors, windows and conservatories for their customers. They offer FREE quotes, and do not demand deposits! In addition, they have a ten year insurance backed guarantee on their products. They use Pilkington glass in their windows which provides up to 90% energy loss reduction! That is amazing to have a glass window that is that well insulated!

I really like using ceiling fans in the summer. They significantly increase the comfort level, and add a touch of class to almost any room. A couple of months ago Teri and I put a few ceiling fans throughout the house; we think that the investment is a wise one because it will make the house more comfortable and lower our electric bill.

We put a couple of really great Casablanca ceiling fans on our patio. The fan we bought can be used in damp and/or wet locations, so it was perfect for our patio. That should make the patio a lot more comfortable for us while we socialize, eat dinner, or just relax out there.

And we put two nice looking Craftmade fans in the recreation room in the basement. It’s important to keep air moving in the basement, and the rec room sure needed it! I’ve added lights kit to add much needed lighting to the room as well.

We had heard that Hunter ceiling fans had the best reputation for being the quietest fans, so we put one of them in the living room. Now we can have quiet conversation or watch television without having to try to drown out the noise of a fan.

I was reading on the Reuters.com website that researchers are working on a new material that converts heat into electricity. The hope is that using this material will help cars get more miles to the gallon. According to the article, only about 25% of the energy produced by a typical gasoline powered engine is used to move the vehicle, and the rest escapes through the exhaust pipe. The researchers are hoping that this new material will enable the car to recycle some of that escaped heat into energy that will power the car. That would be awesome!