Facts about Water as a Nutrient (Page 3 of 3)

1. Tap water tastes best when it is served fresh and chilled.
2. It is generally recommended that adults should drink around two litres of water daily and considerably more when they perform exercise and/or the weather is hot. 6-8 good-sized glasses of water a day should give you this amount.
3. Being well hydrated helps medicines to work more effectively and helps combat the diuretic effect of some medicines.
4. If your tap water tastes of chlorine, put it in the fridge or leave it to stand for a short while and the taste will go.
5. Of the total amount of water on the planet, just 3% is fresh water. Much of that is currently frozen, leaving just 1% available to drink.
6. When the body is not adequately hydrated, it responds by conserving its stocks, shifting water to where it is most needed and causing thirst.
7. Fluid loss corresponding to 2.5% of body weight has been shown to reduce an athlete’s physical performance capacity by 45%.
8. For the price of one cup of coffee (£1), you can drink the equivalent of 1,000 litres of tap water.
9. Water is the drink of choice for protecting your teeth and gums.

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Facts about Water as a Nutrient (Page 2 of 3)

1. Fresh tap water does not need to be filtered or treated in any way.
2. Water is one of the six basic nutrients. It is widely seen as the most important because the body requires it constantly and all the important chemical reactions – such as the production of energy – take place in water.
3. A hospital patient could drink two litres of tap water a day for nearly five months, and cost the NHS just the price of a first class stamp.
4. 10 litres of tap water costs around one penny – that can be as much as 1,000 times cheaper than soft drinks, caffeinated drinks and bottled water.
5. Simply breathing in and out uses more than a pint of water a day. Without water, you would only expect to live for around one week.
6. Tap water quality in the UK is among the highest in the world.
7. Drinking water helps keep the body flushed of waste products.
8. Strange as it sounds, drinking more water actually helps to reduce water retention.
9. We each use around 150 litres of water a day, but national surveys show us that we currently drink as little as one litre – that’s around half the amount we need.
10. We lose lots of water when we suffer from diarrhoea, sickness or infections that cause a fever. It is vital to drink more water at these times.

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Facts about Water as a Nutrient (Page 1 of 3 )

• Water is the main constituent of the body and forms 50-60% of body weight and around 75% of volume. The exact amount varies with age and sex and also depends on body fat content.
• Water contains no fats, no proteins, no carbohydrates and therefore no calories.
• Water is the perfect complement for a nutritionally balanced meal.
• There are no health advantages to drinking expensive bottled water instead of tap water from the public water supply.
• Even in the absence of any visible perspiration, approximately half of water loss occurs through the operation of our lungs and skin.
• The NHS advises that where clinically appropriate, patients should be drinking 2.5 litres of water a day, or half a litre with each meal.
• The Thirst 4 Life hydration initiative undertaken by Buckinghamshire NHS and
• Buckinghamshire County Council led to a 45% reduction in A&E attendances at Wycombe General Hospital from nursing and residential homes between November 2004 and March 2005.
• Unless there is specific medical advice against it, everybody can benefit from practicing good hydration.
• Remember that consuming sugary drinks slows down the rate at which water can be absorbed from the stomach. 

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Do It Yourself Solar Hot Water

Using solar energy for domestic water heating is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce your power bill and the carbon footprint of a household. 

Either evacuated tubes or flat plate collectors can be used for diy solar hot water. A conventional boiler or immersion heater can be used to produce hot water for those occasions when the sun does not oblige, which is often necessary for night-heating or in countries where sun exposure is weak in winter. 

The type of system chosen depends firstly on whether freezing is likely to occur. In climates where freezing is not a problem, there are three main options:

• A batch heater
• A direct pump system
• Or a thermosiphon system

A batch heater employs a storage tank for collection; a direct pump system moves water from a collector to a storage tank; and a thermosiphon system uses gravity, and no pump. 

If temperatures are low enough to cause freezing, then drainback or closed loop systems with heat exchangers and antifreeze will be required. 

Drainback systems use distilled water to transfer heat, while closed loop systems circulate antifreeze and use a heat exchanger to transmit the heat to prevent freezing.

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How to Build Your Own Solar Panel

Having a solar electric system installed by a company is expensive, so many people prefer to buy DIY kits, or to build their own. 

For those that are not daunted by technical details, the task of building a DIY solar panel can be completed in a very short time. Solar panels can be easily constructed using parts obtained through Amazon, eBay, or from the local hardware store.

The most expensive component of a solar panel is the solar cells, which are made from crystalline silicon and conducting metals that convert sunlight to electricity. 

To save costs, blemished or damaged solar cells in working condition can often be picked up at a much lower price than the cost of cells that are in perfectly new condition. 

A total of 36 3’x6’ solar cells will be required for a complete solar panel (other sizes are available and can be used, just make sure you buy cells of uniform sizes and wattage). 

The cells should be wired in series by soldering, leaving some space between the cells to allow for expansion when they are heated by the sun. 

Normally each cell will generate roughly 0.5 volts, so 36 cells in series will produce around 18 volts, which is sufficient to charge a 12 volt battery. 

Other equipment that is necessary to complete the system include: an inverter to convert the DC current of the solar panels to AC current used by household appliances; deep-cycle batteries to store surplus energy; and a charge converter to ensure that batteries are not overcharged, or excessively drained. 

Once the solar cells are wired together in series, they are attached to a backing-board and secured in a protective box casing built to house your solar cells. 

This must be shallow enough to allow sunlight to reach the cells without being inhibited by the sides. 

The front of the protective box casing is covered with a durable clear plexiglass front to protect the unit from the weather. 

You’ll need to weatherproof your unit by sealing the joins with silicon and painting the backing board if you’re using plywood.

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