Category Archives: Green

Back at junk value, recyclables are piling up….

Friday, December 12th, 2008
Posted by Phillip Torrone from MAKE Magazine.

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Although people might be consuming less, the demand for recyclables is crashing, so it’s all piling up…

The economic downturn has decimated the market for recycled materials like cardboard, plastic, newspaper and metals. Across the country, this junk is accumulating by the ton in the yards and warehouses of recycling contractors, which are unable to find buyers or are unwilling to sell at rock-bottom prices. Ordinarily the material would be turned into products like car parts, book covers and boxes for electronics. But with the slump in the scrap market, a trickle is starting to head for landfills instead of a second life.

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PET bottles reused with style

Thursday, December 11th, 2008
Posted by John Park from MAKE Magazine.
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SunTrack: follow the sun to catch its reflection


Posted by Luke Iseman from MAKE Magazine.

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Here’s a great way to increase the sunlight you bring indoors:

SunTrack

The SunTrack system can reflect the sun in my house and keep the reflection all day. That way it is possible to have a lot of light in my living room witch is facing east.

With a KlikAan remote control (433mhz) it is possible to:

Calibrate the sun postion by relecting the sun back and ajust the shadow.
Move to a point where the reflection should be, and save 3 reflection points.
Select one of the three reflection points and stay there by adjusting the rotors.
Power down: go to the sleep position.

(via hack a day)

Here’s an (older, largely text-based) description of a solar concentrator; please comment with links to others!

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Complete sprouting chart


Posted by Luke Iseman from MAKE Magazine.

While it may not be a masterpiece of information design, Jeff Breakey’s complete sprouting chart does tell you what you need to know about sprouting everything from Aduki to Wheat.

Here’s an excerpt:

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And here’s the full version.

(via Mother Earth News)

It is from 1981, so expect prices to be a bit off…

For sprouter plans, check out a variety of Instructables.

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GE frees CFL lighting from the tyranny of ugly


Posted by Joseph L. Flatley from Engadget.

Was it Arthur C. Clarke who said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic? If he was correct, it would follow that GE’s new Energy Smart CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulb is most magical. A true product of “ecomagination” (their word), the imagineers (Disney’s word) at GE have taken the their tried and true CFL hardware and housed it in the form factor of a traditional light bulb. Of course there are already a vast number of options for homeowners wishing to go green on the lighting front, but we’re hard pressed to find something that works across the board in traditional lighting fixtures (at least without looking awful as it does so).

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Sustainable penguins


Posted by Patti Schiendelman from MAKE Magazine.
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Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo is in the process of building a new Humboldt penguin exhibit that conserves energy; they’re installing a natural filtration system, and they’re using geothermal energy to keep the pool at a penguin-pleasing temperature range of 50-60 degrees Farenheit.

State-of-the-art engineering allows the new penguin exhibit to help us reduce our environmental footprint. The plant roots and microbes in a “constructed wetland,” similar to a natural wetland, will filter the penguin pool water as it becomes dirty, or nutrient-rich (think feathers, fish and poop!). This natural filtration system will return purified water to the penguin pool. This means a pristine water environment for the penguins and no pollution entering our lakes, streams or Puget Sound.

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Phoenix Motorcars bringing all-electric vehicles to Maui by 2009


Posted by Darren Murph from Engadget.

Whoa, talk about returning from the depths of yesteryear. For those with incredibly good memories (we’re talking superhero-level here), you might remember Phoenix Motorcars touting a “truly plug-and-play” vehicle nearly two years ago to the day. Now, the outfit is back with a partnership with the state of Hawai’i. In an ambitious press release, the two parties have jointly announced plans to bring “all-electric vehicles and an electric vehicle infrastructure to the island of Maui by 2009.” The premise is sound; after all, it doesn’t many months of paying $5.29 / gallon for regular (proof after the break) to get everyone on the island to support such an initiative. The real question, however, is will Phoenix Motorcars deliver?

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220 foot screen controls the world’s oil

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
Posted by Phillip Torrone from MAKE Magazine.


CBS’s Lesley Stahl takes an inside look into the world of Saudi Aramco, the world leader in crude oil production - there are a lot of political, energy, social and security comments that I’m sure folks will have, but you must check out the GIANT 220 foot screen in the command center. It.is.crazy… The engineers control the drill bit real time, 500 miles away over “instant messaging” as they drill.

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Upcycling wood pallets

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
Posted by Luke Iseman from MAKE Magazine.

I have a love of free materials for many reasons, not least of which is that I feel fine having dozens of non-working prototypes when I’m building with garbage. It doesn’t get much “freer” than wooden pallets. Here are a few pallet projects I’ve found:

And, a few descriptions of pallet recycling:

  • Woodworkers discuss building with pallets

  • Even Norm from the New Yankee Workshop gets in on pallet building!

    • Please comment below and let me know what other uses for old pallets I’m missing!

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    Discarded mattress recycling contest

    Monday, December 8th, 2008
    Posted by Becky Stern from MAKE Magazine.

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    Here’s an interesting contest: recycle discarded mattresses into useful products! Deadline has been extended to December 19:

    The competition aims to encourage entrants to form groups capable of creating a consumer product, instructions detailing how to make the product, and a plan for production on a larger scale. Entrants must create designs that take into account the volume of mattress waste generated each year. Groups are encouraged to utilize local resources, including existing manufacturing facilities and other waste products.

    Via Core77.

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