4 Green DIY Alternative Energy Home Projects

jchait — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:19:42 -0400

When it comes to greening your home there's plenty you can do yourself. From simple lighting adjustments, to making a homemade solar water heater, to building the whole darn house, anyone can learn how to do green home projects. It's true, there's a learning curve, but that's good for your brain. Just think how much more adapt you're becoming by tackling home renovations, adjustments, and building yourself.

Here are 4 good DIY projects related to alternative energy and or saving resources.

1. Build an integral passive solar water heater: This project sounds like a tough one, but it's really not that complicated. It's also super inexpensive. Really. Materials include electric water heater tank, plywood box, window glass or plastic, some basic plumbing fittings, paint, pipe and some insulation. Great instructions and an easy read.

2. Build a solar cooker: Four great links that will get you cooking in no time.

3. Build your own small scale hydroelectric generator - a pretty cool fun time project that allows you to create a decent amount of energy.

4. Build an electricity producing wind turbine. Not too hard, but you'll need to locate your own parts, which is not tough if you have access to the internet.

Bonus project - get out: Staying home all the time is no fun. If you'd ever like to leave your house, but hate the gasoline situation then how to make ethanol, might come in handy.

Honoring Earth Day This Month – With Green Building & Home Ideas

jchait — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:51:49 -0400

Sorry to be MIA readers, I caught my son's bad cold and felt icky for days. I'm feeling a bit perkier now and just in time too because April is a busy month.

As many of you likely know, April is Earth Day month. Technically Earth Day falls on the 22nd, but I tend to look at it as an all month event at my blogs - then I can offer up ideas about how you can celebrate.

I should also let you know that I'm a little ambivalent about Earth Day. On one hand, sure I think it's cool to honor the earth one day a year. On the other hand I think it's lame to honor the earth ONLY one day a year. I wrote a rant about this at Tree Hugging Family - so I won't rehash it here.

I will say that in my opinion, the real way to celebrate Earth Day is to be green all year long. Going green, or planting a tree on a single day can only get us so far. Installing n excellent water heater, using reclaimed wood, recycling our building waste, and using other green building and home techniques are green gifts that give back to the planet not only on Earth Day, but for many years to come.

That said, throughout the month I'll be offering you some ideas about how you can honor the planet all year round (and on Earth Day). We're lucky in one respect because when it comes to green building, there are plenty of great ways to make the entire process greener.

This month, at this blog, look for ways to celebrate Earth Day that relate to your home. We'll look at ideas that work for new homes and existing homes. Ideas related to:

Water use.
Energy applications and use.
Insulation.
Reclaimed materials.
Landscaping.
And more.

Also be sure to check the video section of this site. I've added some videos and hope to add a large amount of new ones this month. I'm picky, so they'll be good videos.

What do you think about Earth Day? Are you celebrating? I hope you're celebrating all year long.

Greening Your Home

4 Green DIY Alternative Energy Home Projects

Honoring Earth Day This Month – With Green Building & Home Ideas