Home Made Wind Turbine Want to build a wind turbine for your home? I have gathered several PDFs for those who want to build there own wind turbines and have links to them at the bottom of this post. They cover all types of wind turbines and issues that you may run in to such as wind speeds and noise. From reading these my self I have found that the Hi-VAWT takes all into consideration and is easy to replicate. In VENTURI horizontal axis Wind Turbines wind turbines the blades rotate and describe a circular surface. What is Castile Soap? Castile soap is an ideal product for someone trying to go green and reduce the use of harsh soaps, many of which contain chemicals harmful for the skin. The main advantage of using this soap is that it is natural, biodegradable, and milder than other soaps. The Basic Ingredients It is made from vegetable oils. In general, olive oil is used for this purpose. This soap is not made from animal fats and synthetic substances, unlike the regular soaps. Its basic ingredients are pure olive oil, lye crystals (potassium hydroxide), and water. Traditionally, castile soap is made by using only olive oil. Uses It is a versatile soap. Benefits Made from pure olive oil, this soap is so mild that it is suitable for babies and people with sensitive skin as well. Recipe for Making Castile Soap Making your own soap can be a really rewarding experience, if you know the technique and the right ingredients. Now, allow the lye mixture to cool down, and in the meantime, put olive oil in a pan.
Light Clay-Straw & Solar Hal Brill and Allison Elliot’s light clay-straw home brings together passive solar design, active solar technologies, natural materials, and an efficient layout for an energy-saving, durable dwelling. Home Power (HP): Besides incorporating solar technologies, your home has some unique features. What served as your initial inspiration? Allison Elliot: The development process took several years. Key inspiration came from architect Michael Frerking’s house that was featured in a 2005 issue of Sunset magazine. We fell in love with the curved roof, and that really landed the design for us. The overall design is dominated by this curve, which evokes Anasazi cliff dwellings and our experiences in the canyons of Utah on raft trips. HP: Why did you decide to use clay-straw (or “light-clay”) as the wall infill material? Elliot: Through the years, we attended numerous sustainable building conferences, including the International Straw Builders Conference. Clay-straw seemed to be the middle ground.
DIY Dish “Soap” | Buy Nothing Project By Rebecca Rockefeller (This post originally appeared at Rock Farmer) DIY Dish Soap & Friends This is even easier to mix up than the DIY Dishwasher Detergent… It’s not really soap, and it’s not necessarily entirely plastic-free, but this will clean almost every dish in your kitchen sink. And here is all you need… Plastic-Free Dish “Soap”: Baking sodaEssential oils. What, that’s it? hammer some holes in that lid Now for the fun part. Find a jar that fits well in your hands. Using a large nail and a hammer, poke holes all over the jar’s lid . Fill the jar with baking soda, add your drops of essential oil, cover the lid with one hand and shake it well to mix. scrubbing a dirty bowl in a dirty sink Now, go wash some dishes. Marvel at the way the baking soda cuts through pretty much everything. What about bacteria? Where’s the plastic? The least expensive baking soda I know of is from Costco, but it comes in plastic bags that I can’t recycle locally. Here’s to clean dishes, with less plastic!
How to Build Your Own Solar Panels in Only Two Hours and Have Free Electricity For the Rest of Your Life! by Rich M.,AskAPrepper Solar is inarguably the most commonly chosen form of alternative power. The one problem with solar is its cost: installing enough solar panels on your home to power everything can cost upwards of $30,000. Even so, solar is still the king for alternative power. While most people buy ready-made solar panels or even buy them from a solar contractor, this isn’t the most cost effective way of getting solar for your home. An Important Bit of Theory Before we try to build anything, we’d better understand what we need. , connected and mounted together, so that they produce a usable output. In order to ensure that there is enough electrical power to charge 12 volt batteries, it is necessary to produce at least 14 volts. Each solar cell produces 0.5 volts, regardless of its size. produce more watts of power, but they are still producing 0.5 volts. There are two different ways of connecting solar cells together, what is known as “in series” or “in parallel.” .” . . . .
Greenlivingpedia, a wiki on green living, building and energy From Greenlivingpedia, a wiki on green living, building and energy Welcome to Greenlivingpedia, a free resource for sharing information on green living, now and for the future. This is a wiki, so you can create and edit content to share information and collaborate with others on how we can lighten our footprint on the planet and live in harmony with nature and our environment. You can also publish original information in a protected article if you wish. Our goal is to provide an information resource that you can use and contribute to across a broad range of green living and community action topics. Search Greenlivingpedia or create article Featured articles - green buildings See also: Gallery and map of green buildings Featured articles - community action, environment, water and energy Topics New content Some tips on how to use Greenlivingpedia Use the navigation bar on the left to access pages. Bookmark this site
Mobile home makeover: Before and after Looks like "Fixer Upper" Joanna Gaines may have some friendly competition when it comes to home makeovers. Amy Shock Amy's mobile home before the makeover. Gaszton Gal Los Angeles-based designer Amy Shock took a low-end $5,200 mobile home in Ojai, California, and turned it into a high-end dream house, complete with floor-to-ceiling walls of glass, a modern kitchen and a large, inviting deck. RELATED: Carmen Electra's new home is surprisingly traditional — until you step inside Amy's mobile home after the makeover. According to the LA Times, the 800-square-foot property took 12 months and about $175,000 to renovate. "The situation was attractive to me," she told TODAY of choosing to buy the mobile home. "The idea that I could purchase the opportunity for $5K was mind-numbing to me," she said. And resuscitate she did. A graduate of the Cornell University School of Architecture and residential designer, Shock conceived the idea for the update on her own.
12" Mini turbine Mini DIY 12" Wind turbine updated 22-02-10 This was a very successful project, I used an off the shelf 3 bladed propeller, beautifully balanced and extremely strong, made from glass filled nylon, they are designed as 'pusher' props and can spin at up to an amazing 13 000 rpm when driven by a radio control plane engine. I suspect just 2000 rpm will be my max as a wind generator. I am using this propeller mounted backwards, so the flat side is facing forwards and the true aerofoil is on the back. Having the blades pre made allowed me to focus my attention on matching the alternator to the blades characteristics, having seen Ed Lenz's work over on Windstuff now using radial air core alternators, I decided to work along similar lines. I sourced a very powerful N42 Neodymium cylinder magnet here that differs from most magnets in that it is diametrically magnetised i.e. the 2 poles are on the edge of the cylinder and not the face, as with most.
Solar Grill Stores Latent Heat For 25 Hour Cook Time At 450 degrees Image credit: Derek Ham/Barbeque Lovers We've seen a DIY solar cooker built from old CDs, and we've seen plenty of commercially available solar ovens too. We've even seen one solar-powered grill. But we haven't seen many solar cooking options that can store heat for longer cooking times or hotter temperatures. Until now Derek Ham writes over at Barbeque Lovers about a solar-powered grill project he has been working on that uses latent heat storage to both extend cooking times, create hotter temperatures, and reduce the problem of intermittent sun. If successful, this grill could both alleviate the well-known environmental impact of traditional charcoal grilling, and also offer a cleaner, greener and more socially sustainable cooking option in the developing world: Of course this design is unlikely to excite the purists who are addicted to the taste of hickory. The students are currently conducting an online survey to gauge the grilling habits of potential customers. via: Treehugger
Eco Homes from the Earth: Cordwood Wouldn’t it be nice to own your own green dream home, made with recycled and natural materials and packed with custom features? Whether you’re an experienced builder or have never picked up a power tool in your life, you can build a natural eco-friendly home with user-friendly, low-cost materials like cob, cordwood, straw and the dirt and wood from your own land. These natural building techniques produce beautiful homes with a small ecological footprint and tons of personality. Cordwood (images via: daycreek, cordwood masonry) From far away, it looks like stone masonry – but get up close and you’ll see that cordwood buildings are actually made from wood stacked firewood-style, and mortar. Soft woods like cedar and pine are used because they are more stable, with less expansion and contraction. (images via: home-n-stead) by Steph / via WebEcoist
Green Building Elements | From brick and mortar shops to city planning, we cover sustainable trends in construction, renovation, and more. July 19th, 2015 by Stephen Hanley Add hemp fiber to lime and you get a lightweight building material that can be shaped like a cinder block. When fully cured, it floats in water. Buildings up to 10 stories tall have been built from hempcrete in Europe according to Philly.com. Hempcrete is made using the woody, balsa-like interior of the Cannabis sativa plant (the fiber for textiles comes from the outer portion of the stalk) combined with lime and water. Though it lacks the structural stability its name might suggest, hempcrete does provide natural insulation that is airtight yet breathable and flexible. Best of all, hempcrete is a sustainable building material because hemp can be grown and replenished relatively quickly. But first, society needs to unlearn 75 years of lies told about hemp by promoters of wood, paper and plastics products. In fact, hemp has no pharmacological connection to the its cousin, the marijuana plant. Photo credit: Tiny Hemp Houses About the Author