Last spring, two of my friends went to work building a bicycle generator. They slaved away on it for literally a couple days, but eventually it was ready to be tested. Me and Tiff stopped by for this special occasion; Thanh and Billy had hooked up the bike generator to a lamp. All we needed was a volunteer to ride the electrical monstrosity. After a moment of trepidation, I bravely stepped forward to offer my bike pedaling services, and as night fell in the thriving metropolis of Raleigh, I began pedaling…
Amazingly, it did not explode in a deadly shower of sparks. It worked. We had invented… ELECTRICITY. As that realization hit us, Captain Planet flew into the room, and everybody high-fived. It was awesome.Update:WRAL is going to put this on the news. The bad news is that we have to put the bike generator back together, as it’s been through some mess since last May.
Wow. These people in San Francisco built an entire house using nothing but trash. They got all their material from junk yards or scrap yards, and ended up spending less than $3,000 on the whole house! Take a look at the video, it’s pretty impressive (and cool). It makes you think about all the stuff that we are constantly throwing away instead of finding a way to reuse.
Be sure to check out their site, especially their page on green building. All in all, I’m thinking these people are some eco-heroes.
Here in North Carolina we’re in the midst of a good ol’ drought. As my backyard slowly turns into desert, I wonder if there’s a way to clean my car without using water.
Well now there is. It’s called Dri Wash n’ Guard. Apparently, you don’t need to use water with it, which means:
You’re saving water (and money)
You’re avoiding washing all the oil, dirt, and soap into the environment.
But how well does it really work? What if it’s a rip-off? Luckily, you can get yourself a free sample of Dri Wash n’ Guard here. I’m waiting to test mine out whenever I get it.
Edit: If you click the sticker, it’ll take you to the place to get free “Save Snow” stickers. I messed up the link earlier. My B.
Hello concerned citizen,
I come to you today as a representative of a vanishing species of snow-people. My people used to have a proud way of life, replete with ancient traditions and snow-cow sacrifices. But now, we are being hunted to extinction by Brother Sun. Please, get yourself a free “Save the Snow” sticker now, before it is too late.
With coldest regards,
Sir Frosty
Over the last 100 years, we’ve gone from having very basic airplanes to landing on the moon. We’ve gone from using an abacus to handheld computers. We’ve gone from telegraph wires to cell phones. And yet, the Model T, waaay back in 1908, got more miles per gallon than MANY of today’s, modern, top-o-the-line cars. How is this possible? How have so many technologies improved so amazingly much, yet our fuel efficiency has barely changed?
By the way, 27.5 mpg isn’t the average mpg for cars — this is what the automakers have to get to by 2012! We’re not even that far yet!