All Questions

The cheapest iron has ever been is 10 dollars per ton. Silver is mined at a 1000 ppm grade. If the iron mining reflects energy cost of 10 cents per kwh that's 100 kwh. Silver is 100mwh per ton. That's ...

In theory people can separate waste much better than a machine, since they have more knowledge about the waste itself. In practice, with all my good will, I find that following the directions for ...

Steel costs about 1 mwh per ton for an hour of heating. Silicon is heated hundreds of hours and a 1kw panel has about 40kg silicon. Including waste this more. If that 1kw does 50mwh over its life then ...

We currently have an ailing 14 yr old solar hot water installation. A few plumbers have given us the same story: due to the age and general condition of the system, it makes more sense to replace it ...

When going away for vacation for a few weeks, what steps can I take to reduce the energy and water my home will use while I'm gone? I've already asked about what to do with a refrigerator, but I'm ...

I was looking at the shelf with "ecological" detergents in a store and noticed that most of them boasted of being enzyme-free. I wondered why this is a preferable quality in a detergent, ...

I'm getting ready to take a trip for about a month. We'll eat all of the perishable stuff in our fridge/freezer, but this will leave lots of other things that will do just fine (frozen veggies, ...

I'm currently planning the conversion of a panel van into an RV including heating, water, and electrical. The part which I'm not confident about is the reliable supply of electrical power in the ...

I have 150watts 7 solar panels of specs : max DC volts 20; max SC amps 8.02Amps. Individually checked all 7 solar panels short circuit amps and they are in 6.54 - 7.84amps range. Solar Inverter Specs ...

I have an older Solar Venti solar air heater that's supposed to be installed on the roof, or on a wall. For various reasons it has not been installed .. lack of a suitable location. As it just ...

I want to print logo stickers that will be put onto laptops. I would like to print them at a place that pays attention to sustainability e.g. stickers made of recycling paper, coating of recycled ...

I'm learning about how black soldier flies and insects in general are used to turn organic waste into more insects, which are then harvested for protein-heavy feed for poultry and fish. A lot of ...

In the great vegan vs. non-vegan environmental debate a big point of contention is the topic of animal feed. Vegans argue, that a large percentage of agriculture, namely 98% of soy production should ...

I've been having issues with my indoors storage solution for plastics. Loose wrappers and containers from food products tend to take an unnecessarily large amount of space and without a way to ...

I am not interested in a Tesla powerwall for a variety of reasons - some of them having to do with non-standard form factor and some of them having to do with phoning-home and general network privacy ...

A friend of mine who is working for a big gardening center helped me lately to cut my green waste for the compost and realized the branches were Privet. He claimed a Privet-Hedge would be a "living ...

Let's say, i use my personal computer for office tasks only and am happy with its performance as long as the operating system and the browser receive regular security updates. What would be a ...

Here is a situation I often find myself in. I’m in a park (trees, grass, etc), I’m feeding a fruit to my kid. At the end when I’m left with the peel (or seed or whatever is the waste), I look at the ...

Humans currently consume the ecological resources of 1.75 Earths (https://www.footprintnetwork.org/). Assuming that global average consumption remains stable (less in the global North and more in the ...

Can a parabolic reflector-type solar cooker of reliably boil water? If so, what major factors determine how much/how intense sunlight is required to do this how much water can be boiled how long the ...

I have a house with a solar array on top currently tied to the grid. I would love to be able to use an EV as a battery for my house, and after it charges up in the day be nice to use it for the ...

I would like to help the owners of a pub (based in Milan, Italy) to decrease the environmental impact of the waste they produce. My intent is to make them buy the same food content (especially drinks)...

I'm currently working on a project with an organization that has four major goals for all of their facilities: Reduced energy usage Increased solar energy use Reduced water consumption Reduced ...

For a college project, I'm looking to learn about direct electrical and biomass heating as a means of decarbonization of our college campus? Where can I learn about these? Searching for direct ...

I have two 275 gallon (1040 liter) IBC totes that used to hold avacado oil in one, and canola oil in the other. I want to use it for emergency drinking water. What is the best way to clean it and ...

A few brands of chocolate milk mix come in re-sealable tins like this: It is also possible (and slightly cheaper) to buy 'refill packs', in order to reuse the tin. However, these refill packs are ...

Since a watertower stores potential energy just like a reservoir does for a hydroelectric dam, could I use that to power a pico (<5kW) hydroelectric system for my homestead? Now, I have read that ...

Background: I have a Magnum Energy MSH3012RV 3kw inverter-charger that runs on 12VDC and I'd like to be able to discharge around 250 to 300 AH between recharges (from 120VAC input) without the ...

There is a lot of information on the Internet about how an individual can lower or negate their carbon usage through various techniques and strategies but much less information on what a person can do ...

If you buy bananas in Europe, they usually come with a high CO2 level, since they are mostly produced overseas. Is there a fruit produced in Europe which comes quite close to bananas in terms of ...

CAISO, the California electric grid operator, provides daily and historical reports on wind and solar curtailment: I started looking for similar data from MISO, the grid operator where I live, ...

In California, the real-time electricity prices routinely go negative. Here's pricing for the four load aggregation points for California on April 1, 2020 (source): This is due to the large amount of ...

Coffee is a wide produced and consumed drinking all around the world. After the use, exhausted coffee filters (wet coffee powder) are a very nutrient fertilizer. This brought some people to collect ...

Apologies in advanced for disgusting question. I share a bathroom with someone. He has started to get really mad that after I flush the toilet...not all the waste gets removed (95% of it does but some ...

Due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdowns in multiple countries, there have been reports of marked decreases in day-to-day pollution hanging over cities, such as this report on ...

From the Guardian, March 31, 2020: Trump to roll back Obama-era clean car rules in huge blow to climate fight (emphasis added): The Trump administration is rolling back the US government’s ...

I have an oil-filled radiator with three heat intensities: Low (900W) Medium (1100W) High (2000W) Given the radiator has a thermostat, what is the most efficient heat setting to use? My goal is to ...

I am a graduate student in physics and I was considering getting a paper tablet like the reMarkable or the Sony DPT to replace the notebooks where I do calculations and take notes. But I was wondering ...

My balcony has a very ugly concrete floor that I don't like. I really like grass carpets (see a few examples on Amazon) though. I like their texture and I think they make a balcony more homely. To ...

The municipal water where I live is considered very hard, measuring about 325 parts per million dissolved mineral content. I currently have a water softener in my home, but it has been giving me some ...

Yesterday, I received my census questionnaire. So have many millions of other Americans, recently. These bags are not labeled for recycling, but are they recyclable? Can I put them in the deposits at ...

Can I use 2.5kW solar panels (10x 250 watts) to power 2kW rated grid tie solar inverter? Will anything blow up? Panels: 10x 250W, 36V panels Inverter: 2kW with max input voltage: 500V any help is ...

I saw a news article saying that Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills. This is definitely unfavourable, but I really want to get a better sense of the scale of the ...

I recently moved into a new home with 2 other housemates (joining 1 who already lived there) and our combined bill for electricity is far higher than I expected. Now we're using just over 40 kWh per ...

The Toyota Prius is available as a plug-in model, but I have a Prius that is only gas-powered, that is gas is the only fuel. I am wondering if the mpgE of the Tesla, 141, is so much better than the ...

I sometimes end up boiling water in a pot without putting a lid on top because I can't find the lid. How much energy is wasted when bringing water to a boil without in a pot without a lid? Or ...

Laundry detergent pods became popular around 2012. Rather than measuring out detergent, you throw a pod in your washer and it does the rest. The "capsule" is made from a type of plastic that is water ...

I've heard that the production and import of chocolate has some consequences including deforestation, excessive use of pesticides and CO2 emissions. There are also concerns about exploitation of ...

This chart from the U.S. Energy Information Agency was published last week in the article "EIA expands data on capacity and usage of power plants, electricity storage systems": The text of the ...

Which uses less electrical energy per passenger-km (pkm) travelled? Electric bicycle (with a single rider) Electric unicycle (aka. self-balancing personal transporter) I have heard that a standard ...