Sustainable Living Stack Exchange
Sustainable Living Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
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How much CO2 do I cause with one Google search?

Is there any data about the CO2 emissions per individual Google search? Or are there none because Google is moving towards 100% renewable energy supply? Scope: Just the search query, no lifetime emissions Excluding my PC, home or city consumption
orschiro
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Are kill switches used for planned obsolescence?

I was wondering about planned obsolescence in the hardware of electronic products like TVs and smartphones. Is this achieved through low quality parts that simply break over time or do manufacturers put in kill switches for this purpose? An example…
user3589
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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…
kinar
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How can I deodorize a school bathroom without using naphthalene?

I've started teaching at a school in Indonesia and found an arch-enemy of mine: naphthalene. People here use huge quantities in our flush toilets to suppress the smell. I made the principals remove the naphthalene balls from the toilets. But now the…
Qohelet
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What alternatives there are to recycling paper?

My parents live in a small place where paper is not recycled. They don't even separate the paper from the rest of the residues. I can't carry their paper away to recycle it when I visit them so I was wondering which alternatives there are. I know…
S -
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Which is the most sustainable type of pencil?

Which type of pencil is the most sustainable one? Wooden pencil Automatic (propelling) pencil/Clutch pencil The types I'm referring to: I've read related questions about comparing pens and pencils: What is more sustainable, using a mechanical…
Lucky
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Sustainability of different fabrics

I know this is a huge question, but I keep find conflicting or, at best, qualitative and not referenced information about the following issue. See for example here, or here. What is the sustainability and impact on the environment of different…
usumdelphini
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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…
Borivoje Petrovic
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Environmental impact of toner versus ink cartridges?

I'm trying to decide what type of printer to buy. I've read a number of posts on the web where people claim that laser printers are more durable than ink-jet printers. Some people say this is because inkjet printers are targeted at consumers who are…
THelper
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Concrete vs asphalt: which is better in terms of sustainability?

According to this jolly article, concrete is just as recyclable as asphalt, easy to maintain, requires almost no maintenance, etc, when it comes to pavement. I realize the guys who wrote the article have a vested interest in the affair. However,…
Ricky
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Composting used white shredded paper

I happen to have a lot of white used paper (with black ink on it, either from a printer or a pen), and also a very wet compost bin (I guess it's because my soil is heavy clay and the drainage is quite poor). My thought was: I buy a paper shredder,…
usumdelphini
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Why are electrical cars encouraged but is electrical heating discouraged?

Electrical cars are very much promoted for a sustainable future, because they do not rely (directly) on fossil fuels. In the meantime, most of the electricity is produced with fossil fuels, such that electrical cars actually are less efficient from…
BNJMNDDNN
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How "heavy duty" does a compostable container need to be to hold hot food?

I am tasked with finding a compostable takeout containers for a food festival that we can use to replace thousands of styrofoam takeout containers. There are a lot of issues with convincing the organizers to do it; the two primary concerns are cost,…
era
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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 to…
Sustainable Programmer
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Can plastic with only the Japanese recycling symbol be recycled in the US?

I bought a vacuum cleaner that came wrapped in several plastic bags. The bags only have one recycling code printed on them, the Japanese pura māku: Can these bags be recycled with ♴ or ♶ plastic film in the US?
drs
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