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1500 questions
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Where can I find an in-depth treatment of a Pulser Pump?
I just stumbled across the concept of the [pulser pump] - a pump that uses water flow with a small head to pump part of the water to a higher head. Simiar to a ram pump, but without any moving parts.
This could be interesting as an alternative to…
mart
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Should I donate old electronics or drop them off at e-waste recycling centers?
Lately I have been needing to get rid of some old (and/or broken) electronics and have been struggling with the question of whether I should try to donate the electronics to someone or just drop them off at an e-waste recycling center.
On one hand,…
Cave Johnson
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What is the most environmentally friendly way to paint/preserve wooden art or construction outdoors?
Wood beams, whether pressure-treated or not, tend to be painted to help preserve them outdoors. Wooden art outdoors tends to be stained or coated in something to weatherize it. I am concerned that most of these paints and sealants are petroleum…
cr0
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Temperature for hot water cylinder
I live in an apartment in the UK. There's an electric "hot water cylinder" (storage tank) to heat water for tap usage. (Not for heating, there are electric radiators for that.)
This hot water cylinder has a thermostat where you can set a temperature…
Mirko N.
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Which alternative fuels are practical for cars in Europe? Is there a map of stations?
I am looking for viable options to allow sustainable personal transportation in Europe. For the sake of this question, let us ignore the question of emissions / LCA. The question is the practicality of alternative fuels that are currently available…
Ixxie
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4
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GHG-wise sustainability of our daily caffeine-dose
I was wondering if there's any analysis on which source of caffeine is GHG-wise the most sustainable.
Coffee is often shipped around half the globe, while energy drinks usually come in a can, which - even if recycled - need a lot of energy in…
Erik
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How is "recovered ocean bound plastic" any different from recycled plastic?
I've started to see this phrase on things like credit cards and plastic bags: "contains recovered ocean-bound plastic."
At first, it sounds like something really positive -- this was made from waste that would have polluted the oceans! But how is…
LShaver
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Can you replace chemical fertilizers with organic ones in a way that doesn't compromise food security?
Environmentalists advise us against chemical fertilizers and tell us to use organic alternatives instead. Sri Lanka tried to do that, and now its economy is in a total shambles (not only because of that, but partly because of that): they had crop…
Sergey Zolotarev
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What type of bin liner is best for waste heading to landfill?
I found myself recently needing to purchase something to line my waste/landfill bins with. Up until now, I've been relying on a tub of single-use plastic bags that I've collected over the years, but they've (finally!) run out. When I went to the…
Robotnik
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How does the S&P 500 ESG Index actually rank companies?
I hadn't known about the S&P 500 ESG Index until today's news that Tesla was delisted from it. Can someone help me understand how S&P actually ranks companies for the Index? Is it objective? Are their methods public?
I've read Wikipedia's…
uhoh
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Is it more energy efficient to ventilate a home with an HRV/ERV or “shock-ventilation”?
In a reasonably cold climate like Hamburg, Germany where the standard practice is to open all your windows in the winter for up to 20 minutes once a day to ventilate your home (Stoßlüften or “shock-ventilation” as promoted by the German government),…
statueuphemism
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4
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What is the potential for a used car market for EVs?
In the 1970s, my dad bought a new Mazda sports car on a payment plan. About a year later he happened to see what the same model was selling for, and realized that he still owed more money than the car was even worth. Since then, he's never bought a…
LShaver
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How should EV drivers prepare for winter driving?
On Monday night, a snowstorm in Virginia stranded drivers for up to 48 hours on Interstate 95. An op-ed this morning in the Washington Post argued that it would have been much worse if all the cars were EVs:
All else being equal, though, cars and…
LShaver
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How much heat will a Vermont Bun Baker wood stove put off?
My home is 750 Square Feet and also has radiant heating. I'm considering replacing my large, inefficient Garrison wood stove with the Bun Baker, and curious about the potential of using it as an equivalent replacement. I'm concerned how much heat it…
Clickinaway
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What are the most viable options for long-duration storage of large amounts of energy?
With renewables being in large part weather-dependent, the issue of energy storage is slowly moving to the center stage of the incipient net-zero economy. Lithium ion batteries are kinda good, but expensive, take up a lot of space per a single unit…
Sergey Zolotarev
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