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Mother Earth News | Do It Yourself
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Mother Earth News | Do It Yourself
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Recycled Map Crafts | | Use old maps to wallpaper a room, shade a window, create a scrapbook, and other useful household crafts. | | 2/15/2012 3:40:52 PM |
Best way to sharpen an axe? | | Summing up the past week with a few highlights that help to illustrate how we've been getting along in the ending days of the 2012 winter season. | | 2/15/2012 12:55:09 PM |
Children's Bedtime Tea | | How to quickly and easily make a soothing herbal tea blend for children, plus bags and boxes to hold it. | | 2/7/2012 5:15:45 PM |
How to Install a Bathroom Vanity | | Learn how to install a bathroom vanity to give your bathroom a fresh look without spending a ton of money. By finding cheap bathroom vanities - or even recycled ones - and replacing your old vanity yourself, you can easily update the look and feel of your powder room. Use the step-by-step photos in this article to help you create a professional look. Who knew replacing bathroom vanities could make such a big difference (and that it was so easy)? | | 1/18/2012 2:00:02 PM |
Unique Wall Painting Techniques for the DIY Homeowner | | Ever thought you could use the veggies in your fridge to paint designs on walls in your home? Stop dreading paint projects and get inspired with these wall painting ideas. You will learn to add a rustic countryside accent using one handy tool, a tone-on-tone wall painting technique and glaze medium. As for using veggies, learn how to create an elegant floral pattern with this unexpected tool you likely store in your fridge's crisper drawer. These DIY paint projects can easily be completed in a weekend, with results that will last for years. | | 1/4/2012 1:55:02 PM |
A Smart Way to Stay Sharp | | Diamond sharpening stones make the work of sharpening chisels, plane blades and other edge tools go quickly and easily. | | 12/24/2011 4:20:36 PM |
True Grit: How to Choose Sandpaper Grit and Wood Finishes | | The sandpaper grit you choose can make a big difference in the final look of your woodworking project. The project you are working on will determine the sandpaper grit you should use, as well as the best wood finish for the look you are trying to achieve. In this article, an experienced woodworker set out to see how coarse or fine a grit you need to use, as well as how the sanded wood looked with three different finishes, for the type of wood you are working with. The photos of his results make it clear that paying attention to sandpaper grit is worth every woodworker's time. | | 12/22/2011 8:42:28 AM |
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Mother Earth News | Green Homes
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Mother Earth News | Green Homes
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To Compost or not to Compost, That is the Question! | | It has become a Christmas ritual for me to clean out my mother's fridge. I find whiskery gnarled morsels, shoved to the back of the fridge many months previously, unseen, and untouched by my mother's arthritic hands. Do I compost all this detritus? | | 1/13/2012 11:46:54 AM |
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Scientific American | Solar at Home
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My Electric Bill Was WHAT?!? Analyze Your Power Use with These 3 Web Sites |  In one of the best quips I’ve ever heard at a scientific conference, cosmologist Max Tegmark complained about a lecturer’s vagueness and pleaded for some quantitative predictions: “numbers—you know, the kind with decimals in them.” Like Tegmark, I love data. Concrete information beats hand-waving speculation any day. So it’s awfully fun to use a home [...]
  | | 9/29/2011 6:24:01 PM |
Can You Really Get Solar Panels Installed for Free? |  It sounds too good to be true: you can go solar without paying a cent. I first mentioned this proposition, known formally as a power-purchase agreement, two years ago: a company such as SunRun or SolarCity installs panels on your roof at its expense and, in exchange, collects the government subsidies. But I never really [...]
| | 8/22/2011 4:49:26 PM |
How Optical Illusions Can Build a Better Bulb |  At the SciFoo conference last weekend, brain scientist and illusionmeister Steve Macknik elevated a basic principle of energy conservation—turn off the lights when you don’t need them—to a whole new level. He showed how you can turn off the lights in a way that no one will even notice. Right now, an AC light bulb [...]
| | 8/18/2011 6:43:02 PM |
Could Hackers Break into Your Electric Meter? |  When I was getting my solar panels installed, I couldn’t wait to see my electric meter literally spin backwards. Alas, as part of the process, the utility swapped out the old analog meter. That spinning metal disk had been a reminder of the raw mechanical power—giant turbines, mighty waterfalls, searing furnaces—that stood at the other [...]
| | 8/11/2011 6:26:23 PM |
20 Solar Apps for Your iPhone |  The iPhone seems like the perfect accessory for a solar power enthusiast. Right now, you have to navigate a maze of websites such as PV Watts to calculate how much energy you can expect to produce and how many years a solar array will take to pay itself off. The iPhone could cut to the [...]
| | 8/1/2011 4:45:00 PM |
Is a geothermal heat pump right for you? |  I’ve tried it all: caulking cracks, blowing in insulation, replacing drafty windows and—I’m especially proud of this one—installing a mail-slot cover so airtight it could be used in a space shuttle docking module. Yet my home heating bill remains an object of fear and loathing. After years of trying low-tech solutions, I’m drawn to a [...]
| | 4/18/2011 8:00:00 AM |
Social networking and energy conservation: What went wrong? |  It was a match made in geek heaven. Combine the hottest online activity—social networking—with the biggest environmental challenge—energy conservation—and you get something yummier than peanut butter and chocolate. It’s not just a mashup of buzzwords, either. Most of us pat ourselves on the back about our energy-saving ways. Sure, we have our vices, but doesn’t [...]
| | 4/14/2011 8:00:00 AM |
A better kind of lightbulb? |  This week, the lighting start-up company vu1 is beginning to ship a new type of lightbulb that could displace compact fluorescents and LED lamps as the energy-saving bulb of choice. The technology, known as cathodoluminescence or electron-stimulated luminescence (ESL), offers similar energy savings, but provides a more natural quality of light. My life in the [...]
| | 3/21/2011 8:00:00 AM |
Looking for patterns in your electric use: The eMonitor home energy monitor |  Last month, I wrote about the EcoDog home power monitoring system, which lets you see how much electricity your house is pulling, circuit by circuit. Apart from being fun for energy geeks like me who have an insatiable appetite for data, the device lets you discover patterns in your power consumption you might never have [...]
| | 3/2/2011 8:00:00 AM |
The literally shocking truth about the quality of solar arrays |  Solar panels are supposed to be a set-and-forget technology. Mine have performed just as advertised. All the installer said I need to do is look them over a couple of times a year and rinse off any dirt buildup. The approval and installation process had its delays and gaffes, but all’s well that ends well, [...]
| | 2/14/2011 8:00:00 AM |
Are local solar regulations really as bad as people make them out to be? |  The New York Times recently ran an article on how solar power is getting all caught up in red tape—specifically, local building codes and permitting requirements. My first reaction was: "Darn, I’ve been scooped." I’d been meaning to write about these bureaucratic hassles for over a year, but never got around to it. My second [...]
| | 2/7/2011 8:00:00 AM |
Sniffing out energy hogs: The EcoDog energy monitor |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American‘s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. "I was bleeding energy out," fellow solar homeowner Paul Proctor told me. "I needed to find out how, and why, and where." I can relate. [...]
| | 2/1/2011 3:00:00 PM |
Someone please tell the Obamas: Solar works now! |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American‘s George Musser has been chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. One of the hardest thing about installing solar panels is getting good information, so I’m happy to report that a new book by fellow solar [...]
| | 9/22/2010 1:00:00 PM |
A solar detective story: Explaining how power output varies hour by hour |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American’s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. Solar homeowners’ favorite topic of conversation is the performance of their arrays. As part of the sales pitch, the installer estimates how much power you’ll [...]
| | 7/30/2010 6:43:00 PM |
Solar subsidies are a victim of state budget crunches |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American’s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. As if the news coming out of Washington about a climate bill weren’t bad enough, state budget crises are also sucking the blood out of [...]
| | 7/29/2010 1:26:00 PM |
Solar panels versus historic districts: A conflict we need to resolve |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American’s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. A few posts ago, I talked about the tragic conflict between preserving historic homes and reducing their carbon footprint. I thought our solar array had [...]
| | 7/28/2010 1:35:00 PM |
How home solar arrays can help to stabilize the grid, Part 2 of 2 |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American’s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. In the first installment of this post, Arnold Mckinley of Xslent Energy Technologies described how "reactive power" — that is, power stored momentarily by electrical [...]
| | 6/1/2010 3:00:00 PM |
How home solar arrays can help to stabilize the grid, Part 1 of 2 |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American’s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. Solar arrays can do more than feed energy into the power grid. They might also be able to help the grid cope with a problem [...]
| | 5/24/2010 1:00:00 PM |
Cutting the cost of solar by watching every nut and bolt |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American‘s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. Solar power involves wondrous quantum physics and materials science, but its fate may hinge on whether contractors can learn to bolt on the panels without [...]
| | 4/8/2010 6:00:00 PM |
Five tips for people who love both the Earth and old houses |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American’s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. Earlier this week I posed the question of whether old houses will ever be able to reduce their energy needs by the factor of five [...]
| | 4/2/2010 8:30:00 AM |
Are old houses doomed? The conflict between historic preservation and energy efficiency |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American‘s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. As readers of this blog know, our family has done a huge amount to button up our Victorian-era house. Today when I hear the [...]
| | 3/26/2010 11:30:00 PM |
Focus your mind: The rise of concentrated solar power |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American ‘s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. I had a fun talk yesterday afternoon with Bob MacDonald, the CEO of Skyline Solar, makers of a new concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) array. The [...]
| | 3/24/2010 3:45:00 PM |
Happy equinox! A very special time of year for solar arrays | .jpg) Editor’s Note: Scientific American‘s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. Who could put a price on spring? Ah, the reawakened life, the budding flowers, the dabbles of green in the grey wood. Well, actually, a [...]
| | 3/22/2010 5:00:00 PM |
Tools for doing your own energy audit |  Editor’s Note: Scientific American‘s George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here. The last piece of my solar array fell into place three weeks ago when the utility installed two new meters on my house, one that [...]
| | 1/3/2010 7:10:00 PM |
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Choice Home and Garden | Real Estate News
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Farmers' Almanac | Current Moon Phase
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Farmers' Almanac | Current Moon Phase
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