Solar Shingles - A New Breakthrough to Harness Solar Energy

Within the past few years, many breakthroughs have been made in the solar energy market. One of these recent breakthroughs happens to be the emergence of solar shingles. They are made to look like regular shingles. However, they actually have very thin film photovoltaic cells in them, helping to harness the power from the sun. Not only do the amorphous silicon shingles look great, but they also are quite powerful. With all the engineering that has gone into the design of solar shingles, they are a lot more effective than traditional solar panels. They are durable, allowing them to make great shingles, but they also absorb a lot more light than many of the other solar materials available today. These new solar shingles definitely make a great addition to the roof of any home.

Ventilated plywood is usually used as an under-decking for these solar shingles. This is done because of the huge amount of heat that is absorbed by the shingles. When installed, they are actually installed just like regular shingles are installed. They are overlapped and they offer the protection that traditional shingles offer from rain and other weather. The shingles have wiring that goes through the roof deck and the wiring comes to an area where a solar inverter is kept to be connected to the wiring from all the roof shingles.

A special EVA compound that is heat activated is what actually holds these solar shingles in place. This is used to make sure that the shingles do not move or shift around if high winds occur. Quite a bit of energy is required to make these shingles, but it only takes about 2-12 months to produce the same amount of energy that it took to create them. After they are installed on a roof, they definitely will pay for themselves. They have a lifespan of about 20 years, which definitely gives them plenty of time to pay for themselves and more.

Many people really like the solar shingles because they actually blend in well. They look just like other types of roofing materials. This means that you can barely tell that they are solar panels, which offers aesthetic benefits over going with the traditional roof solar panels that are so often seen on top of roofs today. With the incredible power generation that they offer, they definitely are a cutting edge technology available in the solar energy field today. Even though they look just like regular shingles, they have much to offer in the way of solar energy. If you don't like the way that solar panels look on top of a roof, then this is a great option for you. You'll get the quality shingles that you need on your roof and you'll also benefit from all the solar energy that these solar shingles provide as well.

Heating Air Conditioning System

Article by: The Gas Furnace

Air conditioners are mostly in use at homes, offices, commercial complexes and shopping malls and even in movie theatres. These days there is no place where you can see no air conditioners but these have become most common every where.

There are many benefits with heating air conditioners as they offer lot of comfort and cool effects to home or office. People can concentrate on their jobs and can work pleasantly otherwise, with sweat and odor, they cannot even go to another desk or touch their computer, because they feel very hard and uncomfortable without air conditioner.

Air conditioners also bring fresh air and keeps the entire room cool and nice and working in offices for long hours with air conditioners working in your room, is quite common. Some times, employees say, my AC is not working and I cannot concentrate on my work and this has become a genre for senior level management.

This does not mean that without AC functioning one cannot work, but AC helps and contributes to the efficiency of employees to work with more concentration and with high energy levels. This also signifies the fact that air conditioners are a lot of importance in several places and one of these are homes. Hot summer, most of us are awake either by pouring cold water in our coolers or by switching our ceiling and table fans. But our problems of lack of sleep in hot summer are solved when we have AC fixed in our homes.

Lot of comfort and good sleep are most wanted on a tiresome day, when we return home after working hours. Therefore, purchasing an AC within your budget with suitable working features and that has good warranty are some of the important points to ensure before making a purchasing of Ac either from on line or directly from the dealer.

Air conditioners do require a good investment and for this, you may have to set a portion of your savings in order to purchase a good air conditioner. Invest your money wisely and choose an air conditioner which gives you at least a service of ten years and since it is a one time investment, select the best model which has long life. Further, ensure that you have good working knowledge and technical assistance from the dealer so that you can contact whenever you are need of assistance for the functioning of air conditioner.

N. Korea: Clinton 'funny lady, by no means intelligent'

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- North Korea launched a scathing personal attack on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday after she likened the leadership in Pyongyang to "small children and unruly teenagers and people who are demanding attention."

At a meeting of southeast Asian nations in Phuket, Thailand, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman blasted Clinton for what he called a "spate of vulgar remarks unbecoming for her position everywhere she went since she was sworn in," according to the state-run KCNA news agency.

The spokesman called Clinton "by no means intelligent" and a "funny lady."

"Sometimes she looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping," the statement said. Read other colorful insults by N. Korea

The verbal tussle between the two countries culminated with the reclusive communist state making it clear that six-party nuclear talks, stalled for over a year, were effectively finished.

Clinton had earlier warned that North Korea's refusal to discuss its nuclear program could escalate tensions and provoke an arms race in northeast Asia. Watch as North Korea insults Clinton »

"I was gratified by how many countries from throughout the region spoke up and expressed directly to the North Korea delegation their concerns over the provocative behavior we have seen over the last few months," Clinton said at a meeting of southeast Asian nations in Phuket, Thailand.

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"Unfortunately, the North Korean delegation offered only an insistent refusal to recognize that North Korea has been on the wrong course," she said. "They expressed no willingness to pursue the path of denuclearization. In their presentation today, they evinced no willingness to pursue the path of denuclearization, and that was troubling not only to the United States, but to the region and the international community."

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Her remarks came after the North Koreans issued their blunt statement in response to Clinton's interview earlier in the week with ABC News.

Before Clinton's remarks in Phuket on Thursday, the North Korean delegation attempted to take the podium to speak to the media. But it was turned away by security guards.

North Korea tested a nuclear device in May and fired seven ballistic missiles earlier this month in defiance of a U.N. resolution.

At the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting, Clinton said she had unanimous support for U.N. Resolution 1874, passed by the Security Council in June. It tightened sanctions on North Korea, imposing an embargo on the shipment of arms from that nation.

The North protested the resolution by saying it would enrich uranium and weaponize plutonium, according to KCNA. When enriched to a high degree, uranium can be used as weapons-grade material. Plutonium can be used in atomic bombs.

Clinton said the United States will continue to push North Korea to come to the table. She said a "full normalization of relationships" was possible if North Korea agreed to a verifiable dismantling of its nuclear program.

"The United States and its allies and partners cannot accept a North Korea that tries to maintain nuclear weapons, to launch ballistic missiles or to proliferate nuclear materials," Clinton said. "We are committed to the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner."

The United States has also expressed concern that military cooperation between North Korea and Myanmar could destabilize the region.

Home Loan Modification Will Help Stop Foreclosure

Home Loan Modification Will Help Stop Foreclosure

Wikipedia defines foreclosure as the legal and professional proceeding in which a mortgagee, or other lienholder, usually a lender, obtains a court ordered termination of a mortgagor’s equitable right of redemption. Usually a lender obtains a security interest from a borrower who mortgages or pledges an asset like a house to secure the loan. If the borrower defaults and the lender tries to repossess the property, courts of equity can grant the borrower the equitable right of redemption if the borrower repays the debt. While this equitable right exists, the lender cannot be sure that it can successfully repossess the property, thus the lender seeks to foreclose the equitable right of redemption. Other lienholders can also foreclose the owner’s right of redemption for other debts, such as for overdue taxes, unpaid contractors’ bills or overdue HOA dues or assessments.

Unfortunately, the current housing crisis has greatly increased the number of foreclosures in many of the bubble states. California, Nevada, Las Vegas and Florida have all seen steady increases in the amount of foreclosures. When an individual or family cannot find a way to make their mortgage payment for several months, foreclosure is almost inevitable. I think we all have friends and family who have been through this troubling time and it is not a pretty sight.

Is there anything you can do to stop foreclosure? There are numerous resources on the internet to help stop foreclosure. Ultimately, the best thing anyone can do is educate themselves on what their options are. I have several close friends who would rather pay off credit card debt than make their mortgage payment. This is a VERY bad idea. If you default on your mortgage payment, it is going to be extremely hard to ever build your credit to a respectable level. If you cannot pay a credit card, your credit score will get hit but not nearly as much as with a foreclosure.

Therefore, your number one financial priority should be to make your mortgage payment each and every month. What if I don’t make enough money to make my mortgage payment? This is all to often the case with the amount of salary reductions and layoffs during the current recession. If you do not make enough money to pay for your mortgage you can look into the Making Home Affordable Plan and see what the government can do to help you out.

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No matter what you may think, the government wants to keep you in your home. The more homes that are foreclosed on the worse the economy is going to get. That is the exact reason that President Obama created the Making Home Affordable plan. He wants you to stay in your home, make your mortgage payments and live happily ever after. With that being said, you must find a way to budget your money to make your mortgage payments.

The Making Home Affordable Plan mandates that your mortgage is only 31% of your monthly salary. This is the case if your mortgage loan is backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Almost 70% of home loans in America are backed by these two companies. If only 31% of your monthly salary is going towards your home loan then you should definitely have enough money to pay for it. One of the hardest things you may have to do is to sit down and write out all the money you actually spend. I mean write down every single penny you spend for a month’s period. If you buy a $1.49 pack of chewing gum before work every Monday, you need to write it down. You do not realize how bad you get nickel and dimed until you actually write down every single purchase.

After you have figured out how much money you spend in a month, you are likely going to need to cut out some habits. Do you really need to buy three drinks every time you go out to eat. For that matter, do you need to go out to eat as much as you do? Is it mandatory that you get your nails done at the most luxurious spa? These are questions you need to ask yourself and be honest. There is a fine line between being happy and being wasteful. If something makes you extremely happy and you can afford it, by all means continue to do it. If you cannot pay for your mortgage, you might want to reconsider some of the things you feel makes you happy.

Another way to get through this troubling time is a home loan modification. This has been extremely important with stopping foreclosures. If you can find a way to get a lower mortgage rate then you are going to pay much less in a monthly mortgage payment. With this, you will also pay much less over the entire lifetime of your home loan. If you can save just $50 a month, that could lead a long way to stopping foreclosure on your home.

Getting a home loan modification is also all about educating yourself on what your options are. There are an unlimited amount of resources available on the internet to research home loan modification or mortgage refinance. Make sure to get information from relevant sites as there are a great deal of spam sites out there. If you need any help, just do a quick google search for mortgage refinance or stop foreclosure and I am sure you will get some great resources.

Ultimately home loan modification will help stop foreclosure. This is exactly what the President wanted and he will make sure it happens. Hopefully the number of foreclosures greatly declines through the next several months as this has been a hinder on the recovery of the economy. Having lower mortgage payments and more money to stimulate the economy will help us on the road to recovery. For more information on home loan modification and stopping foreclosure, make sure to come back to Subprime Blogger for future articles.

Diamonds pile up worldwide as consumers finally realize their worthlessness.

Diamonds pile up worldwide as consumers finally realize their worthlessness.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER May 11, 2009

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Each day, the contents of the bags spill into the stainless steel hoppers of the receiving room. The diamonds are washed and sorted by size, clarity, shape and quality; then, rather than being sent to be sold around the world, they are wrapped in paper and whisked away to a vault — about three million carats worth of gems every month.

“Each one of them is so unusual,” said Irina V. Tkachuk, one of the few hundred people, mostly women, employed to sort the diamonds, who sees thousands of them every day.

“I’m not a robot. I sometimes think to myself ‘wow, what a pretty diamond. I would like that one.’ They are all so beautiful.”

It could be years before another woman admires that stone. Russia quietly passed a milestone this year: surpassing De Beers as the world’s largest diamond producer. But the global market for diamonds is so dismal that the Alrosa diamond company, 90 percent owned by the Russian government, has not sold a rough stone on the open market since December, and has stockpiled them instead.

As a result, Russia has become the arbiter of global diamond prices. Its decisions on production and sales will determine the value of diamonds on rings and in jewelry stores for years to come, in one of the most surprising consequences of this recession.

Largely because of the jewelry bear market, De Beers’s fortunes have sunk. Short of cash, the company had to raise $800 million from stockholders in just the last six months.

The recession also coincided with a settlement with European Union antitrust authorities that ended a longtime De Beers policy of stockpiling diamonds, in cooperation with Alrosa, to keep prices up.

Though it is a major commodity producer, Russia has traditionally not embraced policies that artificially keep prices up. In oil, for example, Russia benefits from the oil cartel’s cuts in production, but does not participate in them.

Diamonds are an exception. “If you don’t support the price,” Andrei V. Polyakov, a spokesman for Alrosa, said, “a diamond becomes a mere piece of carbon.”

In an attempt to carefully calibrate its re-entry on the global market, without forcing prices still lower, Russia is relying on two things: the Soviet-era precious gem depository — created to hold jewelry confiscated from the aristocracy after the 1917 revolution — and capitalist investors, whom Alrosa hopes will buy diamonds as an investment, like gold.

Russia is taking a leadership role in other ways, too.

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Sergei Vybornov, Alrosa’s chief executive, said that he had helped persuade the central bank of Angola — which, like Russia, is still relatively flush with oil money — to buy 30 percent of the production of Angola’s diamond mines, keeping these stones off the market.

And last fall, Alrosa began what it called the St. Petersburg Initiative, along with De Beers and other large producers, to invest collectively in generic diamond advertising, akin to De Beers’s promotion of the slogan “Diamonds are forever.” Russia assumed the task as De Beers has principally shifted to promoting its own branded gems.

Still, it is a precarious time for the Russian diamond company to assume leadership of the industry.

Until last year, De Beers produced about 40 percent of the global rough stone supply, and Alrosa 25 percent. But De Beers, which is prohibited under its European Union antitrust agreement from stockpiling, closed mines in response to the glut in rough stones. Russia is loath to do that, as authorities in Moscow, gravely concerned about potential unrest by disgruntled unemployed workers, try to keep workers on the payroll.

In the first quarter, De Beers reduced output by 91 percent compared with the previous year. The diversified mining companies Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton also curbed production.

Meanwhile, the market for wholesale polished diamonds, worth about $21.5 billion, is expected to fall to about $12 billion in 2009, according to Polished Prices, an analytical service for the industry.

Rough diamond prices have fallen even more, as much as 75 percent since their peak last July at some auctions.

The two markets are distinct. Typically, about 60 percent of a rough diamond is lost as dust or shavings in the cutting process.

Mr. Vybornov blames diamond traders who pledged diamond stocks as loan collateral for part of the world glut. When credit dried up last fall, banks and other creditors seized those gems and sold them, he says, flooding the market. By December, his company decided to withdraw entirely from the market rather than further erode prices.

Russia historically remained mostly a behind-the-scenes player, perhaps because Soviet authorities would have had to perform some ideological gymnastics to promote a product consumed principally by the rich of the capitalist world.

Instead, twisting politics, the Soviets concluded a semisecret agreement with apartheid-era De Beers to sell Siberian diamonds in a way that would not undercut the market.

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After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian diamond industry created a formal alliance with De Beers, selling the South African company half of each year’s production at a discount intended to subsidize De Beers’s generic diamond advertising undertaken in the 1990s, mostly in the United States.

Now, the Russians are in the driver’s seat.

Charles Wyndham, a former De Beers evaluator and co-founder of Polished Prices, said Russia had thus far managed the transition well: withholding gems to make more money in the long run rather than further depressing the market.

“Whatever one wants to say about the Russians, they certainly aren’t stupid,” Mr. Wyndham said.

Alrosa is seeking to jump-start demand by selling gems under long-term contracts to wholesale buyers in Belgium, Israel, India and elsewhere. Under these contracts, six of which have been signed, prices are set at a midpoint between the peak last August and this winter, and fixed for a period of several years.

“A diamond ring should not cost $100,” Mr. Vybornov said. “We don’t want that type of client.”

Alrosa is also working with a Moscow investment bank, Leader, a subsidiary of the Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom, to market diamonds to investors. Under the plan, investors would buy diamonds but the gems would not be released to jewelers for several years.

It is a program, essentially, of outsourcing the stockpiling function to investors in exchange for the chance to profit from a possible recovery in the market.

At one of Alrosa’s cutting shops in one of Moscow’s outer districts, Aleksandr A. Malinin, an adviser to the president of Alrosa, showed a typical collection that might become the basis for such an investment vehicle.

The gems fit in a felt box about the size of a laptop computer.

The larger stones, a circular-cut 10 carat flawless white and a princess-cut yellow, were estimated at about $400,000. The smaller ones ranged from $16,000 to $100,000. But the value of the box, while surely several million dollars, is something of a mystery just now given the depressed market.

How the buy-in price for the stones will be set, and how the company will determine when the price goes up and down, is unclear, Mr. Malinin said.

“We have to tell people that diamonds are valuable,” he said. “We are trying to maintain the price, just as De Beers did, as all diamond producing countries do. But what we are doing is selling an illusion,” meaning a product with no utility and a price that depends on the continued sense of scarcity where there is none.

At the Alrosa unit that receives diamonds, called the United Selling Organization, where about 90 percent of the output of the Siberian mines arrives for processing, Elena V. Kapustkina pours about 45,000 carats of diamonds though a stainless steel sieve every day to sort them by size.

“It’s just a job,” she said.

When asked whether diamonds had lost their romance for her, Ms. Kapustkina paused, looked down at the pile of gems on her table and blushed.

In fact, she said, her husband, a truck driver, gave her a half-carat ring 22 years ago. “Of course I love it,” she said. “It’s from my husband.”

Nearly one in three US homeowners owe more on mortgage than their home is worth

Nearly one in three US homeowners owe more on mortgage than their home is worth

May 7, 2009 | 10:39 AM

The downturn in home prices has left about 20% of U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage than their homes are worth, according to one new study, signaling additional challenges to the Obama administration’s efforts to stabilize the housing market.

The increase in the number of such “underwater” borrowers comes amid signs that falling prices are making homes more affordable for first-time buyers and others who have been shut out of the housing market. But falling prices also make it more difficult for homeowners who get into financial trouble to refinance or sell their homes, and for others to take advantage of lower interest rates.

For instance, fewer will qualify to take advantage of a key component of the Obama administration’s plan to stabilize the housing market. Under the plan, announced in February, as many as five million homeowners whose loans are owned or guaranteed by government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can refinance their mortgages, but only if the mortgage loan is a maximum of 105% of the home’s value.

Government officials are considering an increase in that limit. “It’s a question that we’re looking at,” said James Lockhart, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie.

Real-estate Web site Zillow.com said that overall, the number of borrowers who are underwater climbed to 20.4 million at the end of the first quarter from 16.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter. The latest figure represents 21.9% of all homeowners, according to Zillow, up from 17.6% in the fourth quarter and 14.3% in the third quarter.

“What’s going on here is that you don’t have any markets that have turned around and you have new markets, like Dallas, that have joined the ranks” of communities where home prices have fallen, said Stan Humphries, a Zillow.com vice president.

Borrowers who owe far more than their home is worth may also be less likely to participate in another part of the government’s housing plan, which provides incentives for mortgage companies to modify loans to make payments more affordable. Thomas Lawler, an independent housing economist, said borrowers who owe 30% more than their homes are worth are far more likely to walk away from their property than those who owe just 5% or 10% more and expect prices to rebound. More than one in 10 borrowers with a mortgage owed 110% or more of their home’s value at the end of last year, according to First American CoreLogic.

There are some recent indications that the housing market could be beginning to stabilize. The National Association of Realtors pending home-sales index, for instance, increased 3.2% in March.

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Just how many borrowers are underwater is a matter of some dispute, with the answer depending in part on assumptions regarding home values and mortgage debt outstanding. Variations in home-price estimates can make a major difference in the number of borrowers who are underwater. In addition, borrowers who are already in the foreclosure process may be counted as being underwater if the title to their property hasn’t changed hands.

Kenneth Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, said underwater estimates can be too high if they use price data that includes a large number of foreclosures. Foreclosed homes tend to sell at a discount, he said, making it appear that prices have fallen more than they actually have.

Moody’s Economy.com estimates that of 78.2 million owner-occupied single-family homes, 14.8 million borrowers, or 19%, owed more than their homes were worth at the end of the first quarter, up from 13.6 million at the end of last year.

Part of the reason Zillow’s numbers are higher may be that it looks at mortgage debt taken out at the time the home was purchased and doesn’t adjust for any payments since made toward the outstanding mortgage balance. It also assumes that borrowers who took out home-equity lines of credit at the time of purchase have fully tapped the amount they can borrow. That approach can overstate the portion of borrowers who are underwater, Mr. Zandi said.

Mr. Humphries of Zillow calls his methodology conservative and said Zillow’s use of pricing for individual homes provides a better measure of home valuations than Mr. Zandi’s approach, which relies on market-level estimates of home values. He adds that Zillow doesn’t include foreclosures in its pricing models.

Write to Ruth Simon at ruth.simon@wsj.com and James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com

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