Sustainable Living Stack Exchange
Sustainable Living Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
8
votes
2 answers

Is my car more sustainable with or without an EGR?

I drive a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta with a 1.9 liter turbo-diesel engine. I often get well over 50mpg on the high way, and I love the fact that I have such a fuel-efficient car that is also fun to drive. A few months ago, my check-engine light came on,…
Flimzy
  • 1,191
  • 10
  • 19
8
votes
3 answers

Sustainably raising home-grown meat in a city?

Where I currently live there aren't many restrictions on types of animals one can raise for food in the city. I don't think I could practically have cattle, but smaller animals are not a problem. Leaving aside questions of zoning laws and the…
Chris Travers
  • 7,039
  • 20
  • 44
8
votes
2 answers

What are the physical limits on wind turbine size?

Wind turbines just seem to keep growing. Predictions a few years ago that a 120-metre diameter rotor was going to be the maximum, have turned out to be wrong, and 154-metre rotors are being installed now, with 180-metre ones being designed. But a…
410 gone
  • 14,714
  • 6
  • 41
  • 95
8
votes
5 answers

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…
Highly Irregular
  • 8,795
  • 10
  • 38
  • 78
8
votes
2 answers

How to improve energy efficiency of composting toilet?

I've been looking at a commercial composting toilet for a mobile, off-grid application ("boondocking rv"). I've done a power budget and the toilet is coming out as the biggest user of energy. Power is provided via solar PV panels, and the system…
Bryce Nordgren
  • 81
  • 2
8
votes
4 answers

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…
albanx
  • 183
  • 5
8
votes
1 answer

What is a sustainable solution to cats in the tropics?

Cats are one of the top problems for bird biodiversity in the tropics and bird populations worldwide. The most sustainable way might be to eat them, but no one in my community seems to care for that solution. Spay and neuter - ing could work, but…
Alex
  • 779
  • 4
  • 12
8
votes
5 answers

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…
Matthew Brown aka Lord Matt
  • 460
  • 2
  • 11
8
votes
1 answer

Does repeatedly turning on and off an appliance tend to damage it?

When nobody is watching the TV, my practice is to turn it off, so as to save electricity, even if I know that someone will want to watch it in the next 10 minutes. However, it is claimed that turning it off and then on again 10 minutes later is…
user1631
8
votes
1 answer

Is the energy used to manufacture and install solar panels in proper balance with the energy output from them?

From mining/harvesting materials to altering them into useful manufacturing materials to making actual products, and then packaging them and shipping them to retail stores, or directly to customers, and then the time and energy it takes to mount…
J. Musser
  • 443
  • 3
  • 14
8
votes
2 answers

Is there a green alternative for spray polyurethane foam?

I know that spray polyurethane foam is difficult to remove and separate from other building materials. Also, dust particules containing toxins can be released when applying or removing it. What is a greener and healthier alternative? I know for…
THelper
  • 14,470
  • 7
  • 60
  • 147
8
votes
1 answer

What would be the most sustainable biomass source for (100%) ethanol production?

So I have read that sugar (cane) is way more efficient than corn, (and that Brazil leads the way in taking initiative to actually bother with this advance in biofuels sustainability), and that, based on multiple independent sources, they produce…
user487
8
votes
2 answers

What have been the economic factors behind the build of tracking PV systems?

I see there's now over 1GW of installed PV capacity in tracking systems. What have been the economic factors behind this? I'd pretty much written off both 1-axis and 2-axis tracking in my mind, because of the maintenance issues, and the increased…
410 gone
  • 14,714
  • 6
  • 41
  • 95
8
votes
2 answers

Is it better to use propane or natural gas as a heating fuel?

Given the choice to adjust a new furnace to either propane or natural gas (?), is one less unsustainable than the other?
J. Musser
  • 443
  • 3
  • 14
8
votes
1 answer

What vegetable plants (if any) will produce enough organic matter to replenish the soil through compost?

I am looking for some good vegetables which will produce enough biomass that, once the main crop is harvested, the plants can be composted and returned to the soil, and will leave the soil better than they found it, in terms of organic matter…
J. Musser
  • 443
  • 3
  • 14
1 2 3
…
99 100