Sustainable Living Stack Exchange
Sustainable Living Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
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3 answers

Reusable alternatives to bulk and produce bags at the supermarket

Using the reusable bags at the shop check-out is well-known, and is getting wider acceptance. Also, some details were already discussed here before. However, what to do with transparent plastic bags supermarkets provide in their bulk foods and…
theUg
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Does a solar thermal hot water system make sense for my home?

Currently my house has a natural gas-burning hot water heater, with a 40 gallon (150 liter) tank. Given the vintage, the efficiency of this heater is likely around 80%. A new, drop-in replacement would be over 95% efficient, based on what's on the…
LShaver
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Is there a scientific consensus whether lifestyle or amount of human population the biggest problem

When discussing with a colleague about ecology yesterday, we had agreed on the following premise : Before industrial age, world population was low, and the environment was not significantly damaged Today, world population is too high, and the…
Bregalad
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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…
LShaver
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Can i use expired can goods in my cut grass to make mulch

Just want to know is it safe to use expired can goods for compost making, examples: Diced tomatoe,evaporated milk,turkey gravy,different Campbell soups,can pumpkin,coffee
Randy
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How can I stop using HFC refrigerants?

Are there any HFC-free air conditioners on the market? How about refrigerators? Given the massive warming potential of HFCs I would expect there to be more information on how to avoid HFCs and on what alternatives exist but I'm struggling to dig up…
Trav
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Are there any good diy examples of home level STES or BTES

I just came across the concept of STES - Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage and more specifically BTES - Borehole Thermal Energy Storage. (Example project) I wondered if anyone had built a small scale version to store summer heat and release in their…
Simon Kenyon Shepard
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What is the wind wake effect and why is important for wind turbines?

I was reading about wake models. However it is unclear to me how they are used to model wind turbines. Could anybody explain me what are wake models and why it is important to predict wakes in wind turbines?
anon
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What do I feed my snails?

So I've recently gotten into foraging and found a site called eattheinvaders.org that encourages people to eat invasive species. One of the most invasive species here in California is the common Garden Snail (Cornu aspersum). I've practiced…
tr3ndyBEAR
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If the concentration of minerals in oceans was reduced through extraction, would they be replenished quickly?

If large scale mineral extraction from seawater was performed, how quickly could we expect the minerals to be naturally replenished? For each particular mineral, the answer to this may be dependent on whether the mineral is at (or close to) a…
Highly Irregular
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Recycling with stickers

So many of our products have stickers/tape on them, i.e. boxes, glass and plastic. I have been removing stickers/tape from boxes (except amazons recyclable tape) but do I need to be doing this for all products? Or am I wasting my time doing…
Brette Lane
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Nike water bottle breakdown?

So many know that single use plastic water bottles break down with repeated use. Well the other day, I decided to buy a reusable water bottle. I am on a budget and picked up a Nike Hyperfuel 32oz. Its composition is 60% low density polyethylene/30%…
user2852927
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Does air duct cleaning increase heating efficiency?

I recently moved into an older house with a natural gas-burning forced hot air furnace. There are no records of the ducts being cleaned, and based on the layer of black grime I can see, they are quite dirty. It seems that having the ducts cleaned…
LShaver
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How can bath tissue be both "100% recycled" and "50% post-consumer recycled material"?

While shopping for bath tissue at the store today I saw Seventh Generation brand with this information on the label: Seventh Generation 100% recycled bath tissue minimum 50% post-consumer recycled paper How can both of these things be true?…
LShaver
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Which climate change mitigations take longer than 12 years to see a net benefit?

The recent IPCC SR15 Report has garnered a lot of press coverage because it warns that we must dramatically reduce CO2 emissions by the year 2030, less than 12 years away. Global net anthropogenic CO2 emissions [must] decline by about 45% from 2010…
Nic
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