Since my birthday’s in only ten days, I decided to give myself an early birthday present. As you may know, my car has been needing some major repairs, so I decided to start afresh and get myself a brand new comfy car. New cars usually get better gas mileage than old, beat-up ones.
I got a big discount on it, something to do with rising gas prices or something, so it’s a good way to save money. Anyhoo, I decided I was hungry, so after waiting for about a half hour in a drive-through with my car running (keeps the MPG more efficient), I finally got some delicious comida. Unfortunately, I finished it before I got home, so I had to throw my wrappers and cup out the window, but no problema, since they biodegrade quite rapidly.
When I finally got home, I decided to change my new car’s oil. A properly-tuned car can save you a lot of money, and also emits less pollution. But what to do with the old oil? I looked around til I found a suitable place, and then dumped it all there.
All in all, I feel I made a pretty solid purchase. This is probably the best pre-birthday I have ever had.
Amory Lovins, who won a MacArthur Genius grant back in 1993 (and an Eco-Hero Award just right now), has been living in a house he built since 1983. It looks like a very nice and comfy house, especially when you consider that, despite living 7,000 feet up in the Rocky Mountains (where it gets pretty dang cold), he pays $0 a year on his heating. Not only that, but his house actually generates more electricity than he needs — so he sells the surplus energy to the power company for some extra cash. Here are three ways to cut your electric bill like crazy.
His secret (one of them) is that he designed his house to be very well insulated. His walls are 16 inches thick, and his large super-insulated windows (made with special glass that insulates as well as 14 normal panes of glass) mean that his house can retain heat quite well.
Passive and Active Solar Heating
Lovins’ house is heated in two main ways: both from sun-rays passing through his many windows, or by means of Amory’s solar panels, which supply his house with more energy than it even uses.
Energy-Efficient Appliances
Much of Lovins’ house is naturally lit by the sun. Besides that, motion-detector lights and energy-efficient bulbs help to cut down on electricity use. His fridge is thickly-insulated, which reduces its energy consumption by quite a lot. His dryer is solar powered, and looks like it uses no electricity at all (watch the video to see how).
Amory Lovins’ home took some extra thought to design and build. It also cost a little bit extra ($6,000). But by cutting his power bill to zero, the extra planning and money spent were easily worth it. If more and more contractors start building this way, you could kiss our “oil prices” and “energy crisis” problems good-bye.
Look above. That used to be a yellow cheese school bus! Man, when I first saw this, I was too interested. I read all the steps, and looked at all the pictures of what Jake Von Slatt did. What he did was buy a cheap school bus (a little more than $2,000) and transform it into a beautiful, homemade RV. I like his homemade RV for a couple reasons:
He did it cheaply. The bus cost about $2,000, he did most of the work himself (or with his friends), and he got a LOT from the dump, craigslist, or freecycle.
He reused a lot of materials, thereby creating his RV in a very “green” way (reused bus, materials from dump, reused mess off websites).
You can see the process of the bus’s conversion. Seeing all the steps it takes is really interesting, and makes me want to (one day) attempt something like this. It’s really cool, so por favor take a look at it.
Anyhoo, enough with my thoughts. Enjoy this video of Von Slatt giving you a tour of his homemade RV that came from a lil’ ol’ cheese bus.
BBC has an interesting article today about people’s impact on the world’s oceans. Give it a looksie.
One thing I wish they’d done differently is to say exactly what criteria they used for their ratings. Anyhoo, scientists figure this map will be useful for determining what areas of the ocean most desperately need help. These scientists are now in consideration for the prestigious Eco Hero award.
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.
Congratulations to the Live Green, Live Smart people for becoming the first ever to get LEED Platinum status on a remodeled house. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum is the highest “green” rating that they give out, so EcoJoes is sending out a hearty “Huzzah” to them, and also making them an honorary Eco Hero.
I suggest you go check out their website and read all about the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making this marvel of a mansion.
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…
Congratulations to the