GM First to Market Greenhouse Gas-Friendly Air Conditioning Refrigerant in U.S.

WARREN, General Motors Co. will introduce a new greenhouse gas-friendly air-conditioning refrigerant in 2013 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models in the U.S. that keeps vehicle interiors as cool as today while reducing heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere by more than 99 percent.


The biggest benefit of the new refrigerant, (HFO-1234yf) supplied by Honeywell, is that it breaks down faster in the atmosphere than the refrigerant currently used (R-134a), On average, R-134a refrigerant has an atmospheric life of more than 13 years, giving it a global warming potential (GWP) of over 1,400.

By comparison, the new refrigerant lingers in the atmosphere for just 11 days and has a GWP of only 4, a 99.7 percent improvement. GWP is a value used to compare different greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. The base measurement for GWP is relative to that of carbon dioxide (CO2).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awards regulatory credit for the improved environmental performance of the new refrigerant, which helps GM meet the overall requirements of the EPA's new motor vehicle greenhouse gas regulations.  The new regulation requires an overall 40 percent improvement in overall U.S. fleet average vehicle fuel economy by 2016.  The use of HFO-1234yf will help GM vehicles significantly exceed its targets under the new regulations.

"GM's decision to adopt this new refrigerant is additional proof of our commitment to be on the forefront of green technologies that will keep our planet healthy for our children and grand-children," said Mike Robinson, GM vice president of Environment, Energy and Safety Policy. "It's not just about meeting regulatory requirements; it's about environmental leadership and GM plans to lead in developing new technologies that will take the vehicle out of the environmental debate."

Said Terrence Hahn, vice president and general manager for Honeywell Fluorine Products: "We're pleased that GM is taking the lead in choosing HFO-1234yf, a refrigerant that has a lower impact on global warming.  This is another example of how Honeywell is developing innovative new environmental and energy-efficient solutions to meet our customers' current and future needs."

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • RSS

Decorate Your Kid's Room

Kids room decorating are an opportunity waiting to come to life! No where else can you mix and match a variety of paint schemes along with creative stencils, stickers, sparkles, and get away with it. Best of all, your kids can be involved in transforming their room into their own accomplishments while redecorating at the same time.

Some creative ideas on decorating kid’s bedrooms:

Furniture - Make a whole play area from an ordinary bookcase. Choose bright colors that match your child style and add features such as cutout doors for a doll house or castle effect. Add texture materials to one or two compartments that create a window or door like feature. When your child has out-grown the design, you can easily remove the materials and doors and replace them with the original materials that you saved. Other ideas can be used with Lego or large building blocks to create more designs to match your child’s age.

Walls - Turn your kid’s walls in a big canvas. Paint is the perfect solution and least expensive way to create a kaleidoscope impact while offering unlimited color options. Just changing one wall or adding stripes, borders, sponge or stamping techniques can bring new life to an ordinary room. Use wavy or splat design patterns, or turn one wall into a mural effect. Choose a bright base and pick accent colors to achieve the best effects.

Ceiling - Create a magical night sky on your child’s ceiling with glow in the dark decorations. These can be fun and even comforting for your child to be able to lie in bed and gaze up at the night stars

Doors - Use wooden letters that spell your child’s name and glue them on the door. Painting them in the theme color of your child room will dress up the door nicely. Closet door hardware can be replaced with wiggly handles or their favorite cartoon character. By matching the door hardware with wall plates you can carry the pattern through out the room that accents their style.

Shelves - Using shelving materials can be the least expensive way to pick up the clutter and organize a room. Painting with the same colors or add design features with stencil or stamping can quickly dress up any room. Different shelve designs can also be used to border a window that eliminate the need for expensive window treatments.

Accessories - Large cork boards can quickly turn a bare wall into a busy space. Cork boards also eliminate holes in walls from nails or tacks that later need to be repaired. Wooden picture frames can be painted to help accent the room. Fans blades can be reversed and painted with designs to add cool effects when in use and then can be reversed when it comes time to re-decorate.

Decorating your kid’s bedroom is a great way to give them a place they can call their own and you may just find your kid spending more time in there!

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • RSS

Classic furniture a timeless style

But among the many ways to decorate, the classic style is certainly one who most reflects the true nature of full furniture landscape, the wide range of furniture and its variants are in fact a landmark in the production of any furniture factory.

The classic style impose itself in the proposed furniture to be timeless, adaptable to any environment, presents enviable modularity and functionality that join the preciousness of lines and materials will creating an evocative harmony.

The new design studies now have developed new designs for classics furniture from the old flavor but  approach with maximum functionality in everyday life.

The classic style is characterized by its very nature by a wide use of wood, especially furniture are cherry-wood and oak, as well as mahogany and solid wood; recall the Old and warmth’s wood are the fundamental characteristic of this style. This style is revisited today by artisanal production that makes it accessible even in contemporary environments while maintaining the value and flavor that only with an accurate woodworking can have.

The classic furniture is timeless and fills the environment with his compactness, does relive the warmth of a time and at the same time is a sign of prestige and sophistication. The craftsmanship embellish every detail so that there are showcases and beliefs from golden profiles well matching with shelves in marble and granite.

The furniture direct on the craft and their validity for this are well known for furniture production by finishing sought such coatings and drawings by hand worked well using over colors and lacquerings. The elegance and the study of detail often makes the difference and processing carried out by experienced operators often leads to have a piece of furniture that not only is never equal to another. In the decorations made by hand, the quest for lines and soft colors, wants to rediscover the ancient and valuable of technical master craftsmen of the past.

The processing and use of wood is the quality that makes the difference and a good production is in furniture that have "life" and giving "life" that decorate the environment. Thus the classic furniture, maintains his desire to ancient but lives in the life of today where required functionality and practicality. In classic style is a beautiful harmonic fusion between ancient’s scent and the modern ‘s comfort.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • RSS

The Elegance Of Hardwood Floors


People always dream of owning their own home someday. While dreaming about their future homes, they also start to design their homes and look for materials that would be best given their lifestyle, their budget and their preferences.

Building a home or even just renovating an old house is a task that requires a large amount of creativity, planning and patience. The moment you have decided on the materials to be used and have actually implemented them, and then there is no turning back. Of course, you can always have it redone but it will mean wasted time and additional expenses, not to mention the damage that may result from said construction work.

One part of the house which requires careful planning and research is the flooring because floors are the most abused portions of the house. People literally step on them, place heavy equipment on them and do whatever it is they usually do with floors.

When choosing floors, homeowners should make sure that they take into consideration the quality of their flooring material, the possible abuse that the floor has to go through and the length of time they are going to b e using that floor.

One of the perfect choices for flooring material is wood, particularly hardwood like maple or oak or even cherry. American hardwoods are in abundance and they provide that elegant touch to every home. Many Americans are opting for hardwoods, even for their kitchen floors, because once they get tired of it they can easily just sand it and change its appearance. However, you should only resort to sanding once you have decided to replace your wooden floors as this may damage them. Other flooring materials require a lot of hard work and expense before they can be replaced.

When using wooded materials on kitchen floors, the best choice is a urethane finish. Most people avoid wood on their kitchen floors because it can be damaged with constant water spills. However, they can avoid this by being creative and placing beautiful rugs in areas that are where water spills usually occur.

Hardwoods are particularly attractive on the floor of your living rooms and even the bedrooms. Wood produces a feeling of nostalgia and gives a feeling that the house has been lived in. Wooden flooring, when done properly, can actually give elegance to an otherwise simple house. It can easily be polished to give that new and shiny effect.

Once you have chosen hardwood as your house flooring, you should make it a point to install the wooden flooring when the construction is nearly completed. This will avoid ugly marks on the wood due to construction works, as well as lessen moisture problems.

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • RSS

Best Mattress Reviews - Good Mattress for Perfect Relaxation

Sleeping is one of the best relaxations for our muscle and brain. With sleep, our muscle and brain get its fresh and will ready to operate again in the next day. According to the experts, good sleep does not count from the quantity but the quality. It means that regardless of the length of our sleep, if the quality is less from good, the brain and muscle will never get its fresh.
To get good sleep, we can use comfortable mattress. So, if we think that we never have good sleep, maybe we have to check our mattress again. If we think that it is too soft or too hard, we have to replace it. Finding good quality mattress is something easy. We can do it by visiting local stores or online stores. One thing should be done when picking up mattress is; we have to check the quality and the price. It can be done by reading mattress reviews if we buy it from online stores.
We can visit Tempurpedicmattress.org if want to read complete reviews about mattresses, especially Tempur-Pedic products. One of the products discussed there is the tempurpedic cloud supreme. It is one of the best mattresses in the world, which have passed complicated researches and tests. Visit the site now if we want to have a better sleep

  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Twitter
  • RSS