Blogs

Upcycled mini-Trombe wall

sites/greenknowe.org/files/trombewall_0.jpgI hate to see anything go to waste.  I also hate to see my life cluttered up with useless crap.  After we had the exterior of our house redone in Certainteed Fiber Cement board, there was lots left over.  Lots and lots.  We found several small

CO2 payback of solar panels and an electric car

sites/greenknowe.org/files/SunPowerMonitoringSystem.pngThere have been a lot of studies and comparisons on the savings of CO2 emissions when pv solar panels are used in place of electricity from a utility company; however, since different solar panel manufacturers use different manufactur

Hand Washing Dishes vs Mechanical Dish Washers.

Dishwashers vs hand washing is one of those debates that rages though the green community and you can find plenty of facts, research and evidence to support both sides.

Trouble is, that most people try to compare apples and (some un-specified fruit that proves the desired outcome) so we here at greenknowe.org set out to do our own first hand practical kitchen analysis.

Products Review: Camamu Shampoo bar and soaps

Camamu Shampoo Bar 

Rosemary Nettle Bar

Electric car home-charger options

If you buy your car home charger through Nissan's program, you must use one of their installers.  Their minimum price with installation is around $2500, which can be excessive if you only need a little bit of electrical work done.

Another option would be to buy your own home car charger from Leviton:

http://store.leviton.com/dp/B004G6ZSZG

Tetra Pak into Pencil Box

Many of you are already familiar with my on going battle with Tetra Pak.  Here is a new project for everyone.  I thought this would be a good project because I found very little in the way of recycled pencil boxes when looking for products for the eco school supply product list.  Most pencil boxes were small, kitsch and over priced.

You will need:

Using PG&E online usage history to measure electric car's consumption level

sites/greenknowe.org/files/pge-smartmeter-usage.pngPG&E has a great online utility that will show you your hour-by-hour electrical consumption, directly from your smart meter.  The image below is a screenshot of the first full charge of my leaf, done around 4am after driving to work and

My leaf has arrived!

sites/greenknowe.org/files/Leaf-Charging-In-Garage.JPGI did not get it in time for Christmas, but my long wait is over -- my Leaf has arrived -- in the garage, plugged in and charging up!  I've been on Nissan's waiting list since June of last year, but I have actually b

Build your own bicycle cargo trailer

So being part of the riot4 austerity and just generally wanting to live a better, healthier life has led us to try and spend more time biking around.  Most of our local errands we accomplish on foot but what about errands that take us out of town but arnt so far that we need to take the car?  What about those intermediate distance shopping trips?  How to get the goods home?

Smarter Lighting Choices: CFLs & LEDs

First came incandescent bulbs, then CFLs now we are onto LEDs.  With this we have changed what sort of lighting fixture we look for in our home.

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