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More sustainable mosquito repellants Having already looked at more sustainable ways of preventing mosquitos, this is a question on living with the remaining ones without getting bitten so much. What methods are there to avoid getting bitten. I have tried Zodia. This is big around Jakarta. Contrary to popular belief...	I've found that, if you aren't apposed to something genetically engineered, the Mosquito Shoo Geranium has some use. One popular natural repellent that comes up quite often on the internet is oil derived Citronella grasses, according to the Oil of Citronella fact sheet.
When bringing your own reusable bags for produce that needs weighing, what's the lightest option? When purchasing fresh fruit and veges and other foods from the supermarket that are weighed during check out, I have tended to use the very thin plastic bags provided (when it's necessary to use a bag at all) because if I ...	I would like to suggest you also look into recycling very light, maybe sheer, window curtains as the material for your own homemade bags.
Resources for Teaching Children About Solar Panels I'm sure some of you will have already taken classes on Solar.The reason I am posting this question is to help out two Farmers in Kauai, Hawaii. They are currently creating an extension program through their farm to help teach children and others that visit. Now, even...	Okay, given that the age of children is not known, here are some general teaching resources about solar energy that may be useful: Energy teaching resources from the New South Wales Department of Environment and Heritage, this web page contains many links to specific teaching resources, particularly, the scaffolded edu...
Is it a good idea to throw organic waste in a river? I live in an apartment in an urban area that doesn't offer municipal compost. I store my food waste in a paper bag in my freezer. When the bag is full, I run it over to Whole Foods and dispose of the whole bag in their compost bin. This bin is probably meant to on...	Adding waste to the river is never a good thing and sediment resulting, as well as pieces not yet decomposed, can settle to the bottom, ensuring that when water levels rise, they rise further than they have before such dumping.
What is the state of "artifical photosynthesis" technology, as at March 2014? I've been hearing a lot in the news about artificial photosynthesis processes that can use energy from sunlight to split water and produce synthetic fuel. Sounds pretty exciting, but being a non-physicist, I'm having some trouble separating t...	Very recently, according to the JCAP's News and Events page, researchers have been researching and testing energetics and efficiency analysis of a material capable of harnessing solar energy into fuel.
What to do with broken nylon tights? I happen to break some nylon tights(pantyhose) each season, is there any alternative to just throw them in the garbage? I keep a couple of them for wearing under the jeans in exceptionally cold days, but besides that I don't have any idea. I guess they are not even recyclable <Q> Ha...	You can use old nylons as Stuffing for pillows/cushions Polishing or cleaning cloth (no worry that you'll make scratches, plus it's great for attracting dog and cat hair).
Deciding when to stop patching a hose When you live in the country and have hoses that are kept outside, they will occasionally get chewed on. I fix them when that happens, with a hose repair kit: If you haven't used one of these, you basically cut the hose on either side of the hole, losing a few inches, then put th...	If two of your hoses get too short, then you would be able to patch them together to get a longer hose.
Are there any uses for used up hair elastics so they don't end up in landfill? I have some hair ties that have been stretched so much that they aren't stretchy anymore. I'm talking about ones that look like this: It's basically thread wrapped around elastic. The elastic inside stretched to the point of breaking, and ...	cut them and braid them into bracelets or some sort of rope. and I use them to tidy up my cords behind the TV.
Composting paper versus recycling it, which one is more environment friendly? As the title suggests, the question boils down to which one is more environment friendly? I started composting few weeks back. After reading about composting on various internet resources, I tried using some paper in my compost bin. This is ...	Recycling paper at scale has a greater cumulative effect on the environment by helping to offset the use of trees for virgin paper manufacturing.
Lowering the heating thermostat at night: is it really worth it? I've heard some very conflicting information regarding the effect of lowering the house heating thermostat at night. On one hand there are academic papers (such as Thermostat strategies impact on energy consumption in residential buildings , Energy and B...	If we lower the thermostat at night, then that will allow the internal temperature to drop lower.
What Makes an Oven Eco-Friendly? I am currently in the market for ovens and I wanted to know what makes on oven eco-friendly, whether it's electric or steam, without compromising reliability. I want a oven that not only benefits me but the planet as well. <Q> If you are able to heat the oven from a renewable source (li...	How much energy does the oven use when cooking
How do I find an eco-friendly laptop? I am looking to replace my laptop. Being in a conscious path of my own, I want to choose a laptop which is a product of good and sustainable procedures. I am saying good because most popular brands like Lenovo have factories in China where the labor conditions are inhumane I have r...	Always try to buy hardware, that is easy to repair and upgrade. Apple and HP also score well in the conflict minerals report. As far as labor practices, the Samsung Chromebooks are assembled in Japan.
Indoor composting with limited space I live in a small flat and my only place to grow things is in window boxes on my generously sized window ledges. I would like to be able do a small amount of composting with things like leaves from my plants, teabags and so forth. If I do it needs to be safe, nearly odorless and ver...	"NatureMill" composting machines are designed for composting indoors, with an electric motor for turning the material and an air filter.
How can I can sustainably use the biomass of garden weeds? When pulling out weeds in the vege patch, I want to think of more ways that I can put it to good use that might be even better than merely letting it break down above the ground on its own (assuming you are on a property where you are responsible for for the gr...	The bulk of this material, however is best used in your compost pile. Fine materials (hair grass, small twigs, seed fluff) can be left as nest making materials. For certain materials, you can use them to make bug hotels with the material.
How 'clean' should something be for recycling? Outside my apartment, there are 3 rubbish bins. One for glass , another for metals, paper and plastics and a third without a label, for bio-waste I guess. So I wonder what are some guidelines for when a package goes to number 2 or 3? If there is still chocolate on the ...	Generally speaking, it's best to separate the different types of material as much as possible (if they belong to different bins).
Why the tiny input openings on recycle bins? My local recycling bins look somewhat like these: As you can see, the opening can facilitate a single item at a time. How is one supposed to dump a large sack of plastic packages in the plastics bin? How is one supposed to throw a medium-sized plastic object, like a baby'...	The public bins are sometimes designed like this: To avoid people simply dumping a bunch of rubbish in them, most of which probably doesn't belong in them (but perhaps the others)
How much power does a computer monitor left switched on use? It's a little niggling annoyance that always gets me in my office that when I work overtime and leave the office after everyone else I see row upon row of little orange lights where people have turned off their computers but left the monitor switched on. I'm...	Bottom-line is that you'll have to check your monitor's power consumption specs and/or you may need to get a power-kill-switch.
Practical and cheap ways to get warm at home this winter? Since winter is near, can someone suggest some practical ways to get warm at home without spending too much in gas or electricity?Also for every solution, please add if it can be done homemade and what the approximate costs are? More information:the problem of ...	The first is to improve the efficiency of how your home is kept warm - either by increasing the efficiency of the heating system, or by reducing the rate at which warmth is lost to the outside. You can buy a seal for about £5 to go around doors and windows to plug any gaps. I am not allowed to comment, thus as an answe...
Is eating beef unsustainable? I recently saw a poster somewhere saying that some type of emission or byproduct that comes out of cattle production is extremely wasteful and harmful to the environment. What exactly is this byproduct and how can we find alternatives and more efficient ways to handle this unfortunately un...	Cattle produce a lot of methane, which is a greenhouse gas.
How to fix plastic (acetate) glasses frame? My prescription glasses has fallen on the ground... it's an Oakley Shifter 2.0 Black Smoke. Lenses are still good but the frame has broken when falling on the ground (a clean cut directly where the support of the nose is, in the middle). Is there any way to fix it? I trie...	After reading carefully about the question on internet and how other have fix their glass' frame, It is known that acetate frames (or any other thing made of Acetate) can be "melt" using Acetone. Unless you are a professional and/or you have correct tools, you are not able to replicate the exact angle as your frame had...
Can real straw be used as a natural drinking straw? I'm wondering if grass (or something else) straw was ever used for making drinking straws before plastic ones were made. My daughter loves having a straw in her drink but it irks me to have to throw a piece of plastic in the rubbish each time she gets one. I know the...	Regular grass, like hay, is probably too thin to be useful, but I imagine if you can find an edible plant with a hollow stalk that you can dry, it would probably be suitable to your needs. Example of two edible plants growing in Europe which can be used as a drinking straw: lovage - This plant is being used in salads a...
Should I dry my hands with paper towels or a dryer? In our office toilets, we have paper towels and a hand dryer. Is it better for the environment to use the towels or the dryer to dry hands? <Q> I think it really depends. <S> For instance, for the towels, are they recycled, composted or what? <S> Are the trees used ...	Using paper towels actually has the potential to be good for the environment (if the towels are made and disposed of well), however, they also have the potential to be bad. I think it's pretty tough to tell which is better in the average scenario.
Why were meat, shrimps, vegetable, fruit in the past more delicious than they are now? I traveled to many countries in the world and I found that generally meat, shrimps, vegetable, fruit in the past (like 30 years ago) were more delicious than they are now. Is that because people try to mass produce in bulk them and ...	Part of what we call flavour is just the age of the animal.
Can we build a very effective cooling system for house or apartment using solar or wind power? I ask this question all the time. I am living in Southeast Asia & the temperature there is always 30-32 C in almost every day of the year. So, houses in Southeast Asia normally are pretty hot. However, people there tried man...	A common thing to do is use the cooler temperature of the ground to reduce the temperature of your home. If building a new home, you can simply build it into a hillside or completely underground.
What's the optimal glass separation for secondary glazing? We've bought a huge Georgian B&B in the UK. It has vast single-glazed windows. The house is not listed however we want to retain as much fabric as possible. Therefore we are looking at secondary glazing rather than double glazing for the windows. Given the...	For thermal, it can depend on the time of day and what way the windows face, as windows gain heat as well as let heat out.
Pool, sauna and shower with electric heating and solar thermal vs gas heating? I have four things that need to be heated on my house: Pool (28.000 liters solar thermal heated) Jacuzzi (I think that is like 400-600 liters is gas heated) Showers (actually they are all electric) Sauna (not sure here but I think it's ...	For heating water, you're far better off looking at solar water heaters, which take thermal energy from the sun to heat water.
Green social media to connect with nearby people to help reduce carbon footprint I find that it's difficult to associate with other sustainable thinkers, especially with the biggest sustainability challenge of them all - global warming. Is there some really famous green social media network / plug-in that I could use ...	I know you are asking specifically about connecting to nearby folks to reduce you carbon footprint, but consider this: The Federation is a bunch of different Free Software-based social networks that can interact with each other.
tree for carbon sequestration in temperate climate I want to plant some trees so that I end up having a negative carbon footprint. I'm looking for a tree that can be used for carbon sequestration, which is not very tempting for illegal deforesting. Does such a tree species exist? NOTE: Initially I was thinking abou...	If your climate has the right temperature regime in spring, the maples may have good value as a source of sap for making maple syrup.
How to properly dispose of bubble wrap envelopes? In those envelopes paper is often glued pretty well to bubble wrap portion, making it hard to separate. On top of that bubble wrap itself is seldom recycled - for example in my area of Ontario, Canada it does not qualify for curb-side pick up of recyclables. Are there ...	You can also contact the envelope sender and ask them to start using recyclable bubble mailers. Re-using is almost always better than recycling, since recycling isn't 'free' (it still takes energy).
Is using copper for gutters and roofs a sustainable choice? I see with some high end housing construction the use of copper for gutters and drain pipes as well as roofs and flashing. Is using copper where it will be exposed to water runoff from rain a good choice? Will the copper oxide dissolve into the water and cre...	For guttering, the price of copper does matter, because if it becomes expensive it becomes highly desirable to steal.
Oxyhydrogen as home heating method I'm curious about the efficiency of using Oxyhydrogen as a home heating method. Oxyhydrogen can be generated from water. I understand the fact that it takes more energy to generate the oxyhydrogen, but perhaps if I use a combination of wind/solar power it might make more sense to u...	For heating, either use a resistance heater, which is very cheap to buy, and better efficiency than any chemical route; or if it will be running for a large proportion of the time, consider investing in a heat pump, which will allow you to harvest more joules in heat than the joules of electricity you put into it. Effi...
Fruit peels as alternative to store-bought fertilizer? I've read somewhere that (organic) banana peels make a good fertilizer. You simply cut them up into small pieces and bury those around the plants in your garden. But how effective are banana peels compared to an organic fertilizer you'd buy from a store? Could I ...	Banana peels are especially valuable because they rot relatively quickly & have high potassium, plus magnesium & other good minerals
What are the natural alternatives for toothpaste? According to culture and countries, people must have using alternatives for toothpastes. What all things can be used as effective alternatives for tooth cleaning and whitening? For example, in Indian villages some people use some ayurvedic powders instead of toothpast...	There are lots of alternatives to store-bought toothpaste. For myself, I go simple, just baking soda and salt.
Are my compost piles adding CO2 to the atmosphere by offgassing? I make several compost piles, flip them regularly, add some additives and apply them to my crops. I often cover the piles when its rainy, will this affect the offgassing? Some of my neighbors apply some of some things to their plants (coffee cherry shel...	Your neighbors applying directly to the soil in a thin layer makes it offgas less CH4 (methane) and more CO2, since the process is exposed to more oxygen.
Aquaponic system doesn't grow the plants I have created aquaponic system and tried to plant tomatoes, cucumbers and some other herbs. They sprout without problem but after couple of days they dried out. I tried it 2 times with the same result. The water circulates 15 min every hour. I'm not using siphon setup but wate...	So, I think that a problem with your setup might be not enough sunlight.
Is grass efficient for carbon sequestration? I wonder how much carbon dioxide does grass sequester, compared to trees. Moreover, is grass still efficient in absorbing pollution? It seems to me that grass would be more efficient in storing carbon in soil than trees. <Q> I found this article regarding lawns . <S> It s...	In conclusion, the lawn is more efficient for carbon sequestration in the first year or so, but over the long term the tree is more efficient in locking up the Carbon in a more permanent manner.
Can I use Ni-MH batteries in my garden solar lights? The solar light batteries in my garden are dead. Upon replacing them, I realized they were the old Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries. I have heard that these batteries are not so good for the environment because they contain toxic chemicals (see Wikipedia ). I would lik...	I don't know who's correct about which is better, however I do know that NiMH batteries quickly deteriorate if left fully discharged.
How should I store fruits and vegetables in the fridge? I currently use plastic food containers like those in the below picture of different sizes. Is it better (in terms of energy consumption) for the fridge? Should the containers be sealed or not? Would plastic bags or freezer bags be better? How should I st...	In order to sustain the vegetables as much as possible, I use vegetable bags and put them in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator.
How can I more effectively cool my house by managing windows with outdoor temperature changes? How can I more effectively cool cooling my house by managing windows with outdoor temperature changes? My current strategy I open all my windows when the temperature inside the house is warmer than what the temperature is o...	Leaving the window open on the shady side of the house would be OK, except on very hot days.
How to avoid planned obsolescence when buying a second hand smartphone Since I think buying a second hand smartphone will please the environment more than buying a new one I am planning to buy one. I already considered things like quality, battery etc. But there is still one more thing I am not sure about: Planned obs...	The best way to get the most useful lifetime out of your phone is to by the most recent iteration of your preferred choice. Inability to update operating systemsand software is one way to ensure designed/planned obsolescence.
What's the best use for pig fat (lard)? We have two Tamworth pigs coming back from the butcher tomorrow with a decent amount of fat (don't know how many pounds yet). What are the best and/or most economical uses of pig fat or lard? I'm not just looking at cooking applications. Evidently you can also make candles and o...	Chips taste especially nice when cooked in lard. It can be used as a wood preservative.
Which is more energy efficient? Heating ten 1L water separately or one 10L water directly Just like the title said. In my house, we are very heavy tea drinkers. So my mother tends to boil a lot of water every day. She usually does this with a small amount of water (1-2L) every time she boils the water. This make me w...	If you can make 10 litres of boiling water and insulate the container then you might save energy, especially if you can fill it with tea at a slightly lower temperature rather than needing boiling water every time. The most efficient water heater is one that works so fast that there are no loses.
Good alternatives to a fuel oil heating system in an apartment block I live in a building of 8 apartments, in Belgium. We share a communal fuel oil boiler in the basement to provide hot water and heat. For the latter, each apartment has radiators through which a hot liquid flows. We do not have gas pipes running to eac...	You could definitely switch to an efficient gas boiler system with proper controls to run "cleaner" and more efficiently. You will definitly need a professional to do the installation and to properly size all components.
Coffee substitute with less water use I have heard estimates as high as 37 gallons (140 liters) of water used in the production in each cup of coffee. As someone who is an inveterate drinker of coffee for multiple reasons (caffeine, calming effect of sipping at it while coding, the extra exercise from getting up and ...	If you need to go to the bathroom too often, you could replace your water bottle for something smaller. You could choose to buy coffee from somewhere that's not short of water.
Do USB outlets waste energy just like conventional wall warts? It is widely known that most AC-DC converters (aka "wall warts") continually use electricity, even when no devices are plugged in to them. That wasted energy is often called "phantom electricity" or "phantom use". A new trend is USB (DC) outlets, whether...	Electronically they're the same and will waste as much energy as a conventional adaptor.
Should I worry about the minimum mark on our kettle? Our electric kettle for boiling water for tea or coffee has what looks like a minimum mark at 0.8 litres (though on closer inspection it says “ mini ” rather than “ min ”!). I try to save energy by boiling no more than the amount actually needed for my drink, which i...	There's another reason for minimum water levels: when the steam is used to trip the temperature sensor, a certain minimum amount of steam (or rate of steam delivery) is required.
Is the bag of cat food recyclable? I am still getting to know the world of recycling and I have come across a minor issue when it comes to learning the difference between recyclable items. I have several cat food bags ( OK CAT Health & Taste Low Magnesium, 800g — I mention this because I hope there is someone who had ...	Both PET and PE can theoretically be recycled individually.
Is it economical / sustainable to switch from CFL to LED? In my house, I currently have a mix of incandescent, CFL, and LED bulbs. I have a supply of additional CFL and LED bulbs. My immediate plan is to go through the house and swap out the incandescent bulbs that I can since they're considerably less efficient, and a...	And as others have said, due to the sunk environmental cost in creating the CFLs you already own, it's likely a net environmental loss if you discard them before their useable lifetime is over. Right off the bat, I would say that LEDs make much more sense sustainability wise since CFLs contain Mercury which makes broke...
Can we design an everlasting toothbrush? Lately, I have been thinking about the wasteful use of toothbrushes. I assume that most people replace their toothbrushes every 4-6 weeks. This, of courses, generates a lot of plastic waste. I guess it is not in the interest of the industry to produce everlasting toothbrushes....	From what I've been reading is not possible (at least yet) to produce an everlasting toothbrush due to the wearing of the bristles.
Alternatives to garbage plastic bags I currently use plastic garbage bags in the kitchen. I would like (if possible) to use something plastic free, as hygienic as the usual plastic bag and easily obtainable in Europe. Is there any sustainable (biodegradable or plastic free preferably) alternative to plastic garbage b...	If you have pets, then the empty food bags make great trash bags.
How to prevent older Diesel cars from emitting NOx, dust and smell? I'm considering on buying an older car but I haven't decided if it should be gasoline or diesel powered. I would like to choose a diesel, but I'm considering the negatives: smoke smell NOx emisions Is there something I personally can do to emit ...	Make sure the car is well maintained, particularly any emission controls such as Diesel particulate filters and echaust gas recirculation systems.
What will be the effect of PET-eating bacteria in society? In a very recent paper scientists talk about the discovery of a bacterium (" Ideonella sakaiensis ") which can "eat" PET, one of the most common types of plastic. I was wondering what effect this would have in our society but in any of the press articles th...	If using plastic eating bacteria is cheaper than recycling plastic then plastic recycling plants could close.
What to do with expired food? When I last visited my grandmother I found a couple of expired cans of peaches. Given that they should have been consumed three years ago I don't think it's safe to eat them. I was thinking about using them for composting but I don't know if it's safe for the plants. What can I do with ex...	Some processed/cooked/rotten/mouldy food is fine in composts, especially if they represent a small part of it.
What is the environmental cost of encrypting your communications? I am concerned by people's privacy in the Internet age, and the security that communication software and services offer, which is why I try to promote encryption in different everyday activities (emails with PGP, communication apps that offer end-to-en...	So on a global scale the impact of encryption is most likely rather small. Since communication networks are composed by several intermediate devices (e.g. wireless access points, switches, routers, .etc), there is an extra energy consumption, due to transmission and processing, at each of these nodes.
How can I cheaply evaluate how much solar energy I can collect? I'm nearing the end of the life of my asphalt shingles on my house (the inspector estimated 2yrs left when I bought the house 2yrs ago). Since my house is 100% electric and my state (Nebraska) offers Net metering (but no other incentives), I'm considering...	You are much better off using one of the "solar calculators", specifically one that uses actual data from installed systems.
Why refrigerant cooler is more popular than evaporative cooler? When I look at how houses/offices are cooled in my area I see that refrigerant cooler is far more popular than evaporative cooler. I did not find any company which serves evaporative cooler services/devices so there must be some downside of evaporative coo...	Evaporator coolers work by putting moisture into the air.
Why don't toilets use saltwater? My question is in the header. It would seem to be a major environmental benefit if toilets used saltwater in stead of potable fresh water, right? <Q> The main answer is logistical. <S> Building a network of pipes to bring water to houses is a major effort, and most places where that's b...	Saltwater used for toilet-flushing and fire suppression purposes is simply filtered as it is not intended to be potable.
Why can't solar stills convert sea water into fresh water? If I replaced the foliage in this diagram with a gallon of sea water - would the resulting "fresh water" be pure enough for agriculture? For human consumption? Is the process really that prohibitively inefficient? (like 1 gallon of sea water yielding 1 shotgla...	To produce significant amounts of water from a solar still would require either an extremely large region of ocean be covered with a condensing medium (such as a plastic sheet) or the area of ocean be covered with an extremely large number of smaller stills.
How I use/clean this old SIGG bottle that makes water taste bad? In my furnished apartment I found a 0.6 litres SIGG bottle from unknown year and previous tenant. It makes the water taste bad (not clearly a metallic taste, somewhat different or more in addition to that) and also I found out that old SIGG bottles relea...	Store some water in the bottle for a reasonable period of time in conditions that are similar to how you might use the bottle (ie a few hours, perhaps a day, at room temperature), and store some water from the same water source at the same time in another container known not to affect flavour (eg a glass bottle, with a...
What's the average efficiency of pumped hydroelectric energy storage facilities? Pumped hydroelectric storage has, to date, been the most scalable way to store electricity (in this case, in the form of gravitational potential energy), allowing us to spread the time between when the electricity is first generated, and w...	Energy Storage Association cites round trip efficiencies above 80% http://energystorage.org/energy-storage/technologies/pumped-hydroelectric-storage The average efficiency will be much lower than the peak, as a lot of plants are old and have efficiencies around 60% (although some have been refitted to boost efficiency)...
How to heat an isolated room I live in a medium-sized airy house whose bedrooms are all in the main part of the house, with the exception of one bedroom which is above the unheated garage. This room gets quite cold even in the autumn, and has an electric heater that we use along with lots of blankets. The living room ...	This may be outside the range of what you want to spend, but if it's a big room you could consider a heat pump, which pulls in heat from the outside, rather than creating heat through electricity or combustion. The effect is subtle, but it definitely keeps the worst of the chills away.
Does the world have a defined amount of water? I was thinking the other day, after having a very wet winter season in New Zealand, if we are getting all this rain, are other parts of the planet, getting droughts? and of course this lead to the question, does the world have a defined amount of water, or is water created...	Yes, there is a limited amount of water on (and in, and above) Earth.
Most environmentally friendly mode of transport You often hear "Walk, it's better for the environment", but is that actually true? If I walk 5 miles instead of taking say a public bus, given that I now will need to replace the energy I spent walking with food which has a cost on the environment to grow, which would re...	So the conclusion is, bicycling is much better than cars or even electric cars, better than buses even in high traffic areas, but not as good as a light rail in the most densely populated areas .
How to reduce humidity in the home? During the winter, I often get high humidity in the home. Especially with multiple people living here, and cooking, or having showers etc. This leads to condensation on the windows, and moisture on other surfaces, and maybe mould growing. So how to decrease the humidity? Obvious an...	Replacing a lot of lower humidity air with outside air lets a lot of heat out. If you can't grow bamboo in your climate, try Moso Natural for product ideas.
What is the definition of "sustainable"? An exchange in the comments on this question got me thinking: what is the standard definition for sustainable? Does it include such things as: Geographic extent Time frame Economics Other factors? <Q> There isn't really a single agreed-upon definition of sustainability. ...	Sustainable: To continue a practice over a long period with little or no impact on the underlying resource.
Can I compost vegetable oil? I have a quart (0.9 liter) of vegetable oil, and was wanting to get rid of it. I know you're not supposed to pour it down the drain, and was thinking that if I put it in the compost bin I would be feeding the worms and helping my garden. Are there any problems with that idea? <Q> Yes -- w...	If you add too much oil and/or don't aerate your heap properly the compost will start to smell and turn into an anaerobic process .
Reusable alternatives to plastic wrap? I have been reducing use of one-time-use items in the house, and have drastically reduced the use of plastic wrap by putting food items in tupperwares. However, there remains a few uses for plastic wrap for which I have not found an alternative: For example, I use it when "st...	For steaming vegetables you can use a container with its own lid which can be used in a microwave.
Mismatched socks? What to do with hundreds of them? I may be unique here but over the years I have collected perhaps hundreds of mismatched socks of various sizes and colors. Some are good cotton and others are like new. Since I have a large family and many no longer fit the children, I want to either get rid of them, ...	You can cut them in little pieces and use them as stuffer for pillow, footstools... Make sock puppets, either yourself or others (children!)
Does responsible living leave more space to unresponsible living? It looks to me that the efforts I'm doing to make my living more sustainable are worthless. Indeed, when some of us make efforts to lower energy consumption, doesn't it only leave harvestable resources for the others at lower price (because of market l...	Most changes seem to have a net positive effect, albeit that it's less than it one might expect at first.
Why does cheese have such a high carbon footprint? (Source of information here ) As you can see, cheese has the third highest carbon footprint. Only beef and lamb have a higher footprint. Several other sources (such as this ) corroborate this. Why is it so high? You would expect it to be due to the milk producti...	A large part of the dairy related emissions are in the form of methane .. and dairy farmers in NZ appear to have achieved significantly lower emissions by changing the diet of their stock.
What type of cheese has the lowest carbon footprint? An answer to a question about the carbon footprint of cheese inspired this question. According to Wikipedia , cheese can be made from the milk of several animals: cows goats sheep buffalo reindeer yak donkey moose camel Another key ingredient in chees...	Vegan cheese has the lowest carbon footprint First, let's take a look at cheese from dairy milk.
What's the most sustainable way to re-use or dispose of meat scraps? Given that you shouldn't put leftovers of meals that has touched meat in compost bins due to the risk of attracting vermin, what is the most sustainable way to deal with these scraps? <Q> Get a pig. <S> Or some chickens. <S> You still need to follow s...	If you cannot eat it anymore, I recommend composting in a closed compost bin with small air-holes
Dishwasher or paper plates: which are worse? After running the dishwasher last night it struck he how much energy it must consume: from heating large amounts of water to the motorized pumps and spinners to the heated plate drying. Then there's also the potential water pollution by the detergents. Got me wondering abou...	Paper takes a lot of water to produce, energy to transport, and money to purchase.
New electric vehicle: does the cost outweigh the benefits? Since it's summer break and I can no longer walk everywhere like I could at university, I've been having to drive my car a lot. For a 2001 model, it gets excellent gas mileage (or so I assume, I've never driven anything else; I can drive it for about a week and...	Electric car is a good idea from climate perspective if you can charge it with 100% carbon-free electricity. Probably not, so you need a battery that lasts for >100 days of driving. Also, the all-electric range of a plug-in hybrid is only about 14 miles or so. Then the benefits do outweigh the increased cost, but that ...
Is it ethical to dump packaging of products at the same store you bought them from? I was told to ask this question here. Note: This question is in the context of reducing trash at home. Say I buy some meat at the grocery store. I would prefer to bring my own container and not use their packaging, but they do not all...	If a store offers a publicly accessible rubbish bin, then it would be ethical to ask the store for permission to discretely transfer their product to your own containers inside or near the store and discard the packaging in their bin. From an economic ethics point of view, you are throwing away your own trash (which yo...
Are used "blister packs" recyclable? Now, in management of recurring everyday waste, this is something totally unavoidable. Are tablet strips (what they call blister pack strips), after use, recyclable? Can they be dumped with dry waste along with other plastic such as polythene covers? I have been collecting them ...	The blister pack plastic is usually PET which can be recycled, and the foil is usually bonded to the blister tray with LDPE film, which also remains after the aluminium is dissolved, and which can be combined with other LDPE for recycling.
Woodburning stoves: what wood and why? I have been experimenting with a very old (made and installed in the 60s) woodburning stove in my new house in Devon, UK. I have started to learn that hardwood burns for longer than softwood, that well seasoned wood burns more quickly and more cleanly (it releases less creosote). ...	It may also be that, given the age of your woodburning stove, the species of wood you burn isn't the most important factor.
If I have a well, is gray-water really "wasted" when discharged directly in a septic system? I live on an island dealing with water shortage issues in our sole source aquifer. The community has enacted a number of irrigation restricting laws, and there is significant discussion about various other water-saving practice...	The main problem with recharging an aquifer with grey water is contamination, or further contamination of the water in the aquifer.
What is a low-toxic way to kill yellow Jackets? Yellow jackets (technically a kind of wasp) can be very annoying when trying to eat outside as they are attracted to food, and especially to meats. When there are lots of them, if you are not careful, you can even take a bite with one on your food. What are some ways...	You can use just about any type of cleaner that contains orange oil. One method that I have found to be particularly good is using a soap with surfactants in a Hand Pump Garden Sprayer which can be found for under $20, for example here is one on Amazon that looks similar to the one I have.
Most cost effective heated flooring? I am pulling out the carpet in my house. I live in a cold area. I want to heat my flooring, but don't want to spend an arm and a leg doing so. What is the most cost effective and energy efficient way to heat the floor? <Q> It will depend on your local cost of fuels and of equipmen...	The most energy-efficient way to do it would be to have a ground-source or water-source heat-pump that fed your under-floor heating. However, the capital costs of that are going to be very high. The easiest way to warm your floors, if you have access to the joists from the floor/crawl space below them is to run a PEX l...
How long to charge 12v deep cycle battery? How long would it take to charge this deep cycle battery (Amazon link) with a regular household electricity plug? Thanks. <Q> Recharging details for lead-acid batteries are detailed in many places ( for example ). <S> Quoting the linked site: Recharge time can be approxi...	If you have a 2 amp charger (not too uncommon), divide 17.5Ah by 90% of 2 to arrive at 9.7 hours.
To what extent (if any) are electric vehicle batteries recyclable? Are there any existing procedures for the recycling of electric vehicle car batteries, and if so what are they? In particular I'm interested in those used in the Volkswagen E-Golf, though general information is appreciated too. <Q> This material can be ...	Li-Ion batteries are worth recycling just for the lithium in them.
How to sustainably dispose of or break down used cooking oils? I have recently wondered what I should be doing with my used kitchen oils having seen a news article about an enormous fatberg clogging the sewer in London. Obviously putting it down the sink really doesn't do anyone any good for the above reason. I've tri...	You can compost the oil / grease if you have the room.
Newer heat pump vs new space heaters in Seattle winter I see similar questions to this one, but mine is slightly different, so here goes: I live in Seattle, where the winters are mild, with days in the 40s°F (4-10°C) and nights in the low 30s°F (around -1°C) at worst. I live in an 8-bedroom house with all bedrooms occ...	You will spend loads less money on heating by insulating the exterior walls, which will prevent heat from escaping into the outdoors.
How can I reuse or upcycle used, leftover, tiny bath soap bar bits? After the bath soaps have been used, tiny bits remain. Note that this is not about re-using half-used or little-used soaps such as found in hotels. I am aware there are charities such as Sundara Fund that upcycle them. I want to know what can be done...	You can dissolve the bits in water to make liquid soap.
Can a bag of non-organic potatoes that have gone bad be used to mulch an organic garden? I have a big bag of potatoes I bought that aren't organic and I didn't eat all of them. They have reached a point where they really aren't worth the trouble to use for food. Can I cut them up and use them to fertilize/mulch my or...	You may compost them, apply the compost to a non-organic biomass production system (for example, sod/hay), cultivate that non-organic biomass production system for three years in a manner which allows you to transition to organic biomass production at the end of that period, then apply biomass collected from that syste...
Most sustainable vehicle that shelters from rain I usually travel by bike, and it's a great vehicle and is mostly sustainable. I love travelling by bike when the weather is nice, but what all the pro-bike propaganda never mentions is that one very major problem - the rain (and, to a lesser extant, the wind and the co...	Given the high price of the enclosed pedal powered vehicles described above, it seems that the better option is to get an e-bike (so you can ride in heavy clothing without sweating too much and carry all the gear with you), and fit panniers so that you can carry your wet weather gear at all times.
Alternative to sealing compound Has anyone ever used self-made, eco-friendly sealing compound for outdoors? What recipe? How long does the recipe you used last? I intend to use this sealing compound to stop wasps from getting in and out of my walls and removing styrofoam insulation (damn wasps) to build their nes...	There is a long tradition of lime plasters. Another solution I used was to cover and fill the cracks with salt dough.
Can grass clippings be used for livestock feed? I was at a university agricultural research farm and I noticed that sheep had maintained grass height on a pasture to less than 1 inch. I asked the person in charge if they used a lawn mower and he said "no, not needed". I never throw away my grass clippings and always ...	I used to dry grass clippings as hay, then bag and store until winter and feed to goats.
Temperature equalisation throughout the house We have been living in our home for a year now, so have seen both summer and winter, and we are now looking to solve the heating and cooling problems we have. Heating The walls and roof of the house are well insulated, and upstairs only has Velux windows, so apart from a ...	Issue 1: Cold floor downstairs: Installing a few ceiling fans that kept the air near the floor moving would help a lot.
How does one utilize the low pressure of a rain barrel? We've been considering getting a rain barrel, and I like the idea -- it doesn't make sense to just have the water run off into my yard creating a rut; I'd rather put it to good use. Problem is, my house is a bilevel with no real water consumers on the lower leve...	You can also just fill up watering cans from the barrel and water your lawn our garden. You could also use it to was wash your car or whatever else needs some basic rinsing.
What capacity solar system is required for new homes under the California 2019 Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24)? From the press release (emphasis added): Moving to cut energy use in new homes by more than 50 percent, the California Energy Commission [CEC] today adopted building standards that requir...	In 2020 all new homes built in the state of CA will require rooftop solar in their construction, to accommodate on grid net-metering, as well as off-grid living standards for those who can not meet a grid.
on demand water heater - propane vs electric? We need to replace our (tank) propane water heater. We'd like to switch to a tankless heater, but we're waffling between propane and electric. I saw this question , which was really helpful, but we've got a few other factors that may have an impact on the best solution. W...	Considering your description and assuming that the grid is stable my first answer from the heart would be: Use the electric heater.
Can the heat generated in a data center be used to heat households and offices? I've just read the article Microsoft sinks a data center off the Scottish coast (The Verge, 6 June 2018) I understand that the cooling of a data center is a problem. Data centers produce huge amounts of heat, and they have to run at norm...	To benefit from the rest heat of a data center or power plant, hot water would need to be piped to offices and households.
What sort of pellet mill can be used for biofuels? I'm thinking that it would be useful to have a pellet mill at home to turn biowaste into fuel pellets. It would be nice to turn sawdust and wood shavings into fuel pellets as well but that I think is a different ball game as it requires much greater ability to grind an...	Pellet mills vary internally in their grinding and screening/pressing die sizes, but they all operate in about the same manner: they grind material, then press it through a die to create a pellet.
Alternatives to bottled water in the UK I live in Devon, and tap water in my household does not taste consistently. When I moved in my current property, the neighbours warned me that they had been buying bottled water since 20 years, because of the bad taste and other suspects about the quality of the water. Thus, fo...	Refill stations exist in Devon itself .
Why are my LED light bulbs so short lived? I thought the idea of LED is, that the light bulb has a very long life and uses very little electricity. I have not invested in full LED lighting but tried the LED bulbs, you screw in your normal sockets and I have to replace them pretty frequently. They also tend to lose a ...	Consumer tests have shown that there are good and bad LED lights; indeed some of them do not reach their advertized life span.
Is it okay from a sustainability viewpoint to buy a christmas tree? I am thinking about buying a christmas tree but I want to know if that is or isn't good from a sustainability viewpoint. <Q> Perhaps the best answer to the question, as posed, is... Research the source of the tree. <S> Was it farmed under the guidelin...	If you don't buy a Christmas tree your impact on the environment is 0.
How do I recycle Kidde brand smoke detectors? I live in the United States and I have a non-working Kidde ionization smoke detector. I've read that these smoke detectors should be recycled because they contain some radioactive material. However, the Kidde website states : IMPORTANT: Alarms and fire extinguishers shou...	The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission advises consumers to "participate in municipal recycling programs for these devices" or "contact and return their smoke detector to its manufacturer for disposal".
How should I dispose of scrap lumber from renovating? I recently purchased a home in Wisconsin, USA, and in the process of making repairs and upgrades I find I'm generating a fair amount of scrap lumber each month. I keep whatever I think I'll be able to re-use in the future, but there's still some left over. I've be...	Depending on where you live, you may have a local 'builders tip': a waste/refuse centre that specialises in construction and demolition waste recycling and recovery.

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