Biodiesel is a fuel similar to ordinary diesel, but instead of being made from fossil fuel – oil – it’s produced from either vegetable oils or animal fat. The main source of biodiesel is presently waste cooking oil, which is collected from restaurants and fast food outlets. Pure oil is … Read more
We have a strange relationship with petroleum. On one hand we love it. We rely on it to get us from A to B in a car or aeroplane; it heats and lights our homes; and provides much of the energy that makes our everyday life comfortable. There’s no doubt … Read more
Renewable resources are natural resources using natural processes that can replenish themselves over a period of time. All renewable resources are a part of the natural environment and make up the eco-systems on the planet. They are threatened by industrial progress but also must be monitored so as not to … Read more
Off-the-grid homes operate independently of all public utility services. Gas, electricity, water, sewage disposal – it’s all generated supplied or disposed of by independent means. Off the grid home made with adobe and strawbales Estimates for off-grid homes are approximately 300,000 off-grid homes in the United States and another 40,000 … Read more
Possibly the world’s first mobile dragon oven fires up to inspire the local food movement among Angelenos. The Dragon Oven “Sparky” is the creation of artist Ray Cirino and business partner Camille Cimino who both wanted to create a piece of art that was fully functional and supported the city’s … Read more
With the cost of energy steadily rising every day, we tend to invest in electric appliances that are cost efficient. These are usually products that comply with Energy Star requirements. Using these types of products, we are assured that costs will be kept down. While using less energy, the impact … Read more
Vegetable oil fuels are an alternative for diesel fuel as well as for the use of heating oil burners. More recently they are becoming the fuel of choice for green-minded vehicle drivers. Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, did initially experiment with engines running on vegetable oil fuel. … Read more
Air flight has a huge negative impact on the problem of global warming and carbon emissions. While the primary green house gas emission from powered air craft in flight is carbon dioxide, other emissions may include nitric oxide & nitrogen dioxide, sulfur oxides and carbon monoxide (which bonds with oxygen … Read more
The dirty, dusty feel of the dull grey paper in your hands and the less than happy smell is the recycled paper from which you read today’s news. That same paper can be thrown away to decay in a dump or be recycled, where parts of it will be transformed … Read more
Recycle your batteries! Learn how Today almost everything uses batteries – from wristwatches and mobile phones to laptop computers and cars. Anything that runs on electricity without having to rely on an external power source for practical reasons requires a battery. However, as great as batteries are for making portable … Read more
Permaculture, a term created by David Holmgren and Bill Mollison in 1970, is defined as a “consciously designed landscapes which mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature, while yielding an abundance of food, fiber and energy for provision of local needs. People, their buildings and the ways in which … Read more
Harvesting energy from the tides is a surprisingly old method; the technology has improved and changed through time but the general concept of using the waxing and waning of the moon and the correlating tides has remained constant. Europe during the early Middle Ages is the one of the first … Read more
Locavores are usually defined as people who practice eating foods harvested from within an area most commonly bound by a 100 mile radius. Some define the concept as utilizing a concentric circle; utilizing the most local area, such as the backyard garden, for common food items, buying from regional farmers’ … Read more
Cardboard comes as the packaging and shipment container from almost all the goods we buy. Your food and all other home and personal products, (unless bout locally or directly) utilizes cardboard to help get the product to you. At this time, cardboard is considered one of the biggest singular components … Read more
On the 20th of April, 2010, a series of events on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig in the Gulf of Mexico, caused an explosion, the animals, ecosystem and waterfront towns paying paying the biggest price in terms of damages. BP today is still in operation. The Deepwater Horizon was working … Read more