Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2 Tent Review

Shoulder RoomThe HV in the name stands for High Volume. If the regular Copper Spur is a standard two person tent, then the HV is a plus size model with extra head room and floor area to provide extra livability. Nearly vertical sidewalls create plenty of elbow and head room for sitting around, cooking, and playing games. BA says it’s 20 percent roomier than the original Copper Spur. 

PackabilityThe other initial, UL, stands for Ultra Light. So even though it’s a bigger boned version it is not heavy by any measure. At just over three pounds this is worthy of the UL moniker. The secret is lots of mesh and a proprietary rip stop nylon throughout the tent that is light but tough. 

Set UpSet up is quick and easy with a hubbed double pole propping most of the tent and a truss pulling the doors out. The clips that attach the tent to the poles speed set up. 

WeatherproofThe silicone treated nylon fly is poly coated. It didn’t soak up water and dried really fast. But it’s not super tough, so care should be taken when opening and closing it. The well thought out design pitches the vestibule out past the door to keep water and rain away from the entrance. But the way the fly ties out of the way, means it always hangs a bit into the door. When wet, this meant a wet kiss from the fly every time we climbed in or out. The steep walls helped shed precipitation without any pooling.

FeaturesThree key features on this tent caught our attention. One: Big Agnes’s focus on eco-friendly options. The poles are DAC Green, built in a less wasteful way and they found non-toxic options for seam tape and waterproofing. The media shelf is one of several pockets inside the tent. It sits overhead and is big enough and designed for a smartphone or even small tablet. There is cable routing and the way its positioned allows watching a movie while lying down. And our other was a negative: the fly kept catching in its zipper. Frustrating but overall not an opinion changer. 

The Copper Spur HV is a roomy tent (like COLEMAN WEATHERMASTER 6-PERSON SCREENED TENT ), with big doors and lots of handy features, and it’s super lightweight. For less than two pounds per person it’s a great backpacking tent with the stability and steep walls to handle full three season use.

Turkey launches first solar cell integrated factory

Turkey’s Renewable Energy Resource Zone Project (YEKA) inaugurated Turkey’s first integrated solar module, cell and panel production factory at a ground-breaking ceremony in the capital Ankara on Dec. 21.

The photovoltaic (PV) factory to be located in Ankara’s industrial zone will produce components for Turkey’s biggest solar plant facility, the YEKA project in Karapınar in the Konya province.

The factory will have 500 megawatts (MW) of ingot and wafer production capacity, 650 MW of solar cell capacity and 800 MW of solar panel capacity, Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister said at the opening ceremony.

According to Berat Albayrak in October 2016, the Karapınar solar project will meet the energy needs of more than 600,000 households.

In accordance with the rules of the tender, solar components are to be produced locally and the tender also stipulates that local engineers should constitute 80 percent of employment in the project.

During the ceremony held at the PV Cell (like SUAOKI 60W ) and PV module Factory and Research and Development Center in Ankara, Albayrak said the factory that had attracted $500 million in private sector contributions was testament to the secure environment that Turkey has developed for investments.

“Turkey is ready for global competitiveness in the energy sector,” he added.

Turkey’s private sector had attracted over $100 billion in 15 years, said Albayrak.

With the help of new energy investment, Turkey will reduce its energy dependency, a goal that the minister said is highly important for the country having had an energy expense bill of over $55 billion per year on average for the past 10 years.

“A few years ago, the installed capacity was around 32 gigawatts (GW), currently Turkey is close to reaching 85 GW,” he said.

In March 2017, the Kalyon-Hanwha consortium won the tender bid for the construction of the solar facility at a cost of $0.0699 per kilowatt-hour. Now, this new integrated solar production factory will produce the equipment for this facility.

Also at the opening ceremony, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said the solar production factory would be finished ahead of schedule within 12 months.

Construction of the photovoltaic equipment production factory was agreed within 21 months following the signing of the tender agreement.

Yıldırım explained that clean energy and the increased deployment of renewable energy is part of the country’s goals to diversify its energy resources.

He said that over the past few years, the use of clean energy sources and energy production from these sources, which increased from 20 percent to 32 percent, was insufficient for a country like Turkey.

“It is important for Turkey to increase the number of clean energy projects, and more importantly it is also important to build research and development centers so Turkish citizens can avail of new energy technologies,” Yıldırım added.

smart garage-door controller

A smart garage-door controller is an add-on that works with your existing garage-door opener, letting you control the door from anywhere through an app on your smartphone, tablet, or computer. It does not replace your existing garage-door opener or prevent other devices that open your garage door—such as visor clips, push buttons, and keypads—from working as before.

A smart garage-door controller is an excellent security and access tool for your home, vacation home, or rental property. An estimated 71 percent of American homeowners use the garage door as the main entry point to the home, and being able to open and close it remotely is very convenient. For example, if you or another member of your household often forgets to shut the garage door while driving away, a smart garage-door controller will tell you it’s still open and let you close it remotely. The device will also give you a heads-up if you leave the door open when you come home, or if it’s open when it shouldn’t be, so that you can close it from wherever you are, even if that’s just the couch. You can view the status of your garage door at any time, so you can be sure your home is safe and secure.

These devices also offer a simple, convenient way of granting people access to your house when you’re not present. The Gogogate2 in particular caters to rentals and condominiums with a feature that lets a landlord assign an unlimited number of access “keys,” useful if you live in an apartment complex with a shared garage.

All the controllers integrate with home-automation systems, and some do so with individual devices such as lights, thermostats, cameras, and locks. But you don’t have to be fully invested in home automation for a smart garage-door controller to be useful—it’s a simple, entry-level item that can make your life easier. Most are easy to install and easy to use, and don’t require additional hardware to operate. So you can just buy one, plug it in, and start controlling your garage door remotely.

If you’re shopping for a whole new garage-door opener (like MIGHTY MULE MM260 ) you can now buy all-in-one smart garage-door openers from Chamberlain and LiftMaster with Chamberlain’s MyQ technology built in. Gogogate2 has partnered with Sommer to offer an opener with its tech incorporated (currently available from The Home Depot). Genie makes one that works with Lowe’s Iris, and GoControl is planning to release a GoControl/Linear integrated opener this fall (both Linear and LiftMaster are sold only through dealers). But if your garage door is already opening and closing fine with its existing opener, and you just want to add some smart features, a smart garage-door controller is the right choice for you. Such a device typically costs between $80 and $200.
Finding a compatible controller for your garage


Not all smart garage-door controllers will work with all garage-door openers. And contrary to what you might normally expect with technology, the newer your door opener is, the less likely it is to work with the majority of replacement garage-door controllers.

If you plan to buy a smart controller, check its compatibility with your garage-door opener first, and if you can’t find your exact model listed as compatible or noncompatible at the below links, try to contact the company’s support before purchasing to be sure your model will work.

To test all of our chosen controllers, we had to use four garage-door openers: the Legacy Overhead Door Opener (for the Garageio), the LiftMaster 8365, MyQ enabled, 2016 (for the Chamberlain MyQ Garage), the LiftMaster Professional Formula 1, 2011 (for the Gogogate2 and Iris), and the Linear Garage Door Opener, 2016 (for the GoControl).

As a general rule, here is how you can tell which controller your garage-door opener will work with:
If your garage-door opener was manufactured between 1993 and 2010 and has infrared safety sensors installed, it should work with any of these replacement devices.
If your door opener does not have safety sensors (most likely because it was manufactured before 1993), it will not work with the MyQ Garage but will probably work with the GoControl, Garageio, and Gogogate2, because those wire directly into the opener.
If your door opener was made toward the end of 2011 or later and is a Chamberlain or LiftMaster (or branded under one of the company’s many OEMs), it is probably compatible only with the MyQ system.

To check the compatibility of your door opener with the models we tested, you can consult the lists posted for the MyQ Garage (Chamberlain models; for LiftMaster models, go here), the GoControl and Iris Z-Wave, and the Garageio. The Gogogate2 is compatible with all garage-door openers except Chamberlain, LiftMaster, and Craftsman openers with MyQ technology (built-in or enabled) or using Security+ 2.0 wall push buttons.

Why do the newer Chamberlain/LiftMaster openers not work with smart controllers other than MyQ? Because, according to the competition, Chamberlain doesn’t want them to. “Chamberlain (who owns nearly 60% of residential market) is making their new openers (2011 and above) non compatible with us and the rest of the competition in this segment,” wrote Juan Roca Arderiu, operations and sales manager for Gogogate2, in an email interview.

Chamberlain says it launched a patented radio-encryption method in late 2011 that has been embedded in every opener manufactured since then. We asked the company why this change was necessary, given that it apparently broke compatibility with third-party openers. The response was: “This updated encryption provided a new level of safety and security to consumers. Of course third parties are welcome to partner with Chamberlain.”

Another potential compatibility issue is with single-panel flip-up doors. The manuals for both MyQ and GoControl state that the tech is designed to work only with sectional, roll-up doors. This is because single-panel doors typically do not require a garage-door opener. The Gogogate2 is the only model we tested that promises to work with flip-up doors connected to a garage-door opener, though anecdotally we’ve heard of people being able to get MyQ to operate their flip-up door connected to an opener.

All the models we tested will control more than one garage door—up to three in most cases, if you purchase another door sensor (usually around $35) for each additional door.

Nonprofit installs solar panels on roofs of lower-income households — free

Twane Turnage and Anthony Garner stood at the bottom of a bright orange ladder and carefully guided a solar panel (for example: GOAL ZERO NOMAD 7 ) with hooks and ropes attached along the ladder rails toward a pitched roof.

“Pull!” hollered Turnage, 18.

“Pull!” echoed Garner, 21.

Above them, their colleagues peered over the edge of the roof, pulling the rope on the rudimentary pulley system to haul the panel up while the ladder kept it from banging against the wall.

Over the next two hours, the team would repeat this process 20 times to transport all 20 solar panels onto the roof.


Turnage and Garner were two of five trainees who recently installed solar panels at the Woodland home of retiree Catherine Bennett, 78.

“I knew I needed a little help” with the electricity bill, said Bennett, who has lived in the house in Southeast Washington for 41 years. “This may help me some.”

Decked out in green hard hats, yellow T-shirts, and harnesses, the trainees were supervised by members of GRID Alternatives Mid-Atlantic, the regional branch of a national nonprofit group that helps implement solar power for low- to moderate-income families free.

The trainees are part of the summer cohort of the newly launched Solar Works DC, a low-income solar installation and job-training program jointly developed by the District’s Department of Energy and Environment and the Department of Employment Services. The program will train more than 200 D.C. residents over three years, and GRID Alternatives Mid-Atlantic was awarded a grant to implement the first year of the program. The organization will train about 75 program participants in skills needed for careers in solar and related fields, and install solar panels for 60 to 100 income-qualified District homeowners.

Before homeowners can receive their solar panels, a shade analysis is conducted to make sure the panels will receive sufficient sunlight to make the system viable. Once the panels are installed, any solar energy that is not needed to power the house is transferred to the power grid.
Equitable solar

All of this is part of the District’s larger goal of having 50 percent of its energy supply come from renewable sources by 2032, of which 5 percent would come from local solar power, as outlined in the city’s climate and energy plan. And training young residents in solar installation would prepare them to work in the rapidly growing solar industry, which added jobs almost 17 times as fast as the overall U.S. economy last year, according to an International Renewable Energy Agency report.

But installing solar panels isn’t cheap, and for many, shelling out thousands of dollars upfront simply isn’t affordable. There is a risk of exacerbating the city’s economic divide: Wealthier households that can finance solar installations could end up reaping the benefits of energy savings, while poorer households continue to be disproportionately burdened by utility bills.


The District is well aware of the inequality of solar power access and is working to remedy that by targeting poorer households as it seeks to expand the amount of solar energy generated locally. The goal is to help 100,000 low-income households reduce their electricity bills by at least half through solar energy.

Equity “needs to be at the forefront of the renewable energy economy,” said Nicole Steele, executive director of GRID Alternatives Mid-Atlantic. Unless renewable energy is equally and widely accessible, people will continue to rely on fossil fuels, and the utilities industry will remain stuck in its current model, she said.
“Every little bit . . . helps”

“Rope!” said Dexter Rawlings, 24, a Solar Works trainee, as he tossed the rope from the roof back down to the ground, ready to be hooked to the next solar panel.

Next to him stood another trainee, Whitney Jackson, 23, who only weeks before was too afraid of heights to even fathom spending hours working on a roof. Now, she moved about confidently, ­maneuvering the panels and attaching them to the mounting racks, which they had installed the day before.

The learning curve has been steep, she said, but the work has been “challenging and rewarding at the same time, because you know you’re making a difference in homeowners’ lives.”

Harold Thomas, 76, is one such homeowner.

GRID Alternatives Mid-Atlantic installed solar panels on the roof of his home in Congress Heights at no cost to him two years ago. Since then, he has made “noticeable” savings, Thomas said.

His house was the first in the neighborhood to go solar, said Thomas, who lives and works as a community advocate in Henson Ridge, a townhouse development built on the site of two demolished public housing complexes.

“$13, $3.33, $33 . . .” Thomas said, listing out his substantially lower electricity bills. In his pre-solar days, the bills were about $100 a month.

There have even been a handful of months when his bill came out to zero, he said.

Those savings have added up, and they have gone toward “buying more food, buying more clothes, and paying more bills,” Thomas said.

Solar panels have also helped ease financial burdens for Kirby York, 30. She and her husband purchased their home near the Congress Heights Metro station in 2014, but within months she had both given birth to a child and lost her job.

What we need is a dog friendly resort for the summer!

Cape San Blas, Florida, is among the several remaining undeveloped treasures that shines brilliantly about the ring of shores that work across the shoreline of Florida. Unlike her more developed sibling shores in Panama City, Destin, along with other Panhandle places, the Cape is usually named "The Forgotten Coast," since while all of the development was happening in additional seaside towns, the Cape was remaining perfect and mostly unchanged. Your dog-legged formed peninsula, Cape San Blas stretches out of the mainland in the region of Port St. Joe, Florida, a little neighborhood where the Florida structure was created.

While you abandon the mainland, the very first portion of the Cape runs east and northwest. While you move the historic Cape San Blas house rentals along with a place referred to as Stump Pit, the landmass makes a change, and also the remaining 15 approximate kilometers operate north south. This part of the Cape can also be occasionally referred to as vacation rentals Cape San Blas. In the upper end-of the Cape may be the St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, including more than 2,500 miles of stunning pristine shores, stunning dunes, and wilderness. In the very suggestion of the Cape is just a common place for individuals to-go by vessel for family excursions of shelling and picnics.

Like a Florida indigenous, I am fussy about my shores. This is exactly why I'd a "delay and find out" perspective when my spouse prepared our first family trip towards the Cape San Blas region in 1997. Like a Florida County indigenous, for whatever reason I'd never heard about dog friendly beaches gulf coast, Port St. Joe, or Beach Region -- that "Ignored Coast" name again. Whenever we came, nevertheless, I had been immediately in deep love with the region and understood I'd return over and over. And that's precisely what we've completed. Our kids have become up paying summers about the Cape and we invest just as much time there once we could.

Exactly why is the Cape therefore unique? When you generate into Port St. Joe, you keep behind the hustle and bustle that's therefore much part of Florida today. About the peninsula there are lots of issues you will not find: No high rise structures, no huge condo things, no imposing resorts, no centers, no cinemas, no traffic, no sound with no crowds! What you should discover are stunning shores, beautiful sunsets, perfect Cape San Blas Florida vacation rentals, the fantastic seas of the Gulf, pelicans, dolphin, shelling plus much more.

What's there to complete? About the Cape, reconnecting along with your household and character are number one actions. You might want to simply invest per week throwing back about the beach, reading publications, fishing in the beach, obtaining a bronze, gathering covers or playing horseshoes. Plenty of households just do that, plus they state actually children discover the Cape an excellent spot to rest and relax.

More the energetic kind? About the Cape, you are able to get horse riding about the seaside, have a canoe out within the gulf or bay, learn to scallop, move offshore to get a morning of getting grouper and red camera, head-over to St. Vincentis Organic Wildlife Sanctuary on the water taxi, vacation to Apalachicola acquire some oysters or higher to vacation rentals Cape San Blas FL to Wreck Island Waterpark. This site with Cape San Blas details about nearby companies and things you can do can get you began on hiring ships, where you can consume, tennis, seafood and much more.

If you're buying holiday spot where the only real sound may be the audio of the seagulls, the search, as well as your youngsters' fun, the Cape might be for you personally.

How to Get Your Business on Google’s First Page for Free

It is the dream of every business online to be on the first page of Google search results. The benefits you will get from it are huge, which—among other things—is lots of traffic. I mean constant traffic. The free method you can use in reaching this coveted position is by writing pillar content on your business blog.

So what is it with Google and pillar articles? Google loves to answer people’s questions, and it uses pillar articles to do that effectively. This kind of post has some benefits attached to it:

It brings new readers to your blog.
Other websites will link to your blog.
It is a timeless post that will continue to bring more readers to your blog for a long time to come.
It will bring in traffic from search engines.

5 Ways To Make Money From a Blog

Every day you read about people who are making money on their blogs. It’s no wonder you think this could be the business model for you.

You might love to write and feel that sharing what you have to offer via a blog is the perfect path to online success. Before you run off and quit your day job, take a look at the potential ways you could make money from a blog.