Articles tagged “Tools”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Green Your Electricity: Take Steps to Reduce Your Energy Use By Michael Graham Richard IN Tech & Transport Mar 14 2008 This is the second article in a four-part series on how to green your electricity. Finally, you can reduce your electricity consumption by reducing the number of electronic gadgets that keep drawing "phantom power" even when not in use (follow the previous link for more information on that topic), and you can cut down... + READ MORE

Make Your Own Foldaway Bike Rack By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Feb 21 2008 Joe on Instructables needed a way to store any houseguests' bikes and still have enough room to park his care and putz around with his power tools. All you need are a few pieces of 1x4x48-inch wood-which you can easily get in salvaged form-some two-inch wood screws, a handful of washers, and a good handle on a scroll... + READ MORE

Find Out Your Connection to Mountaintop Removal By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Travel & Outdoors Feb 19 2008 Every day, Big Coal blasts 2,500 tons of explosives, equivalent to the power of a Hiroshima bomb every week, to blow away Appalachian mountaintops and reach the coal seams underneath. All that rock and debris is then plowed by giant earthmovers-weighing up to 8 million pounds and standing up to 20 storys tall-into the... + READ MORE

Rent Toys for Your Kids By Collin Dunn IN Home & Garden Feb 13 2008 Sure, you can rent jewelry and accessories and college texts, borrow tools, and neighborrow whatever else you might need, but what about the kids? BabyPlays, "Netflix for the toddler set," according to Forbes, gives parents the option to rent four to six ready-for-playtime toys each month; they arrive in the mail... + READ MORE

Get Recession-Ready: Conduct a Home Energy Audit By Collin Dunn IN Home & Garden Feb 5 2008 As the evidence that going green saves you green continues to mount, there has never been a better time to improve the efficiency of your home's energy systems.Depending on what you told it-how long you're willing to wait for return on investment, what your current energy costs are-the calculator can recommend some... + READ MORE

Green Your Home For Savings: More Than We Previously Predicted By Lloyd Alter IN Home & Garden Feb 5 2008 Philadelphia Architect Charlie Szoradi and real estate agent Cynthia Szoradi spent three years converting a '50s bungalow into an eco-sustainable home and learned a lot in the process.For example, where the RMI predicted savings of $58.10 per year by installing a programmable thermostat, Charlie predicts $180.Where we... + READ MORE

Get Recession-Ready: Squeeze Out The Last Drop By Lloyd Alter IN Home & Garden Feb 1 2008 Less is definitely more when money is tight; it is better for your budget and better for the environment.Dilute it: So much of what we buy is mainly water anyways, why not just add a bit more?When you get to the bottom of a bottle, rinse it out and use that too. + READ MORE

Map Your Run By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Food & Health Jan 31 2008 Plan a jogging route around your neighborhood on MapMyRun, or pick out a route someone else already plotted out. You will also find free tools to help you keep track of workouts, exercise routines, and training schedules, as well as weight changes, shoe mileage, and even morale. + READ MORE

Find, Buy Refurbished Tools By Collin Dunn IN Home & Garden Jan 18 2008 Though borrowing from tool libraries is definitely the way to go when you're tackling a weekend DIY project, the time will come, for some of us, when we need to own our own tools. Go with factory (sometimes called "manufacturer") reconditioned tools-remember, there's a difference between "refurbished/reconditioned" and + READ MORE

Reuse Those Empty Wine Bottles: Five Ways By Collin Dunn IN Home & Garden Jan 17 2008 Drinking (organic) wine is sure a joy, but the fun doesn't have to stop there. Crank up the romance with an oil lamp with a wine-bottle base: Pick up a long wick, some lamp oil, a ceramic wick stopper, and a small glass flame-protector, and you're good to go. + READ MORE

Build a Low-Cost Desk By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Jan 10 2008 Mother Earth News shows us how to build a desk with 15-square feet of space, plus an optional shelf underneath for stashing computer equipment or books. A major upside with this desk is the fact that it can be folded flat and stored, simply by lifting the desktop off the skirt and removing a bolt from the long skirt... + READ MORE

Design, Build Your Own "Bale Chair" By Collin Dunn IN Home & Garden Jan 7 2008 We first spotted MIO's Bale Chair over at TreeHugger a couple of years back, and really liked its fun synthesis of artistic expression and DIY ingenuity. To keep the chair level, you'll need four straps-we recommend nylon straps, like the kind used for climbing and widely available at sporting goods or home improvement + READ MORE

Borrow From a Tool-Lending Library By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Jan 7 2008 If you're finding it tough to justify the purchase of an expensive belt sander or a rotary hammer drill for what is likely a one-off project-we know we would-and your neighbors are acting ornery, find out if you have access to a tool-lending library in your neighborhood before you make a bank-breaking purchase. + READ MORE

Find a Green PC for Your Home, Office By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Tech & Transport Jan 4 2008 If it's a greener computing setup you're after, the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) has you covered with an online catalog showcasing 300 desktop PCs, laptops, servers, power supplies, motherboards, and power-management tools that meet standards the non-profit set with the aim of halving computer power... + READ MORE

Celebrate Boxing Day Properly By Lloyd Alter IN Work & Connect Dec 26 2007 Lining up for the Boxing Day sales. Photo credit: dgodin It's Boxing Day in the old British Empire, a statutory holiday that some think is the best day of the year, because they get to play with their gifts without distraction.It is the day when the lords of the manor would hand out boxes containing cloth, grains, and... + READ MORE

Cultivate a New Generation of Gardeners By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Nov 29 2007 Putting your bairns to work in the garden isn't just a way to scam some free labor; gardening, whether at home or at school, offer the little nippers the sensory experience of growing food, as well as the physical activity involved in manipulating tools, planting, harvesting, and building structures such as tomato... + READ MORE

Connect With Other Eco-Minded People By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Work & Connect Nov 20 2007 Give your social life a boost by making meaningful connections with people who share similar interests. If composting all by your lonesome is becoming a drag, you can spark some green amore-and find someone to split your power consumption with-by mousing on over to one of the many online mixers that cater to the... + READ MORE

Save Energy by Avoiding Phantom Power By Collin Dunn IN Tech & Transport Nov 5 2007 Though it's known by a laundry list of names-phantom load, idle current, vampire power and wall wart are the most common-this "phantom energy" all does the same thing: sucks extra energy from the grid into your home when you aren't looking and you don't need it.There are a handful of devices designed specifically to... + READ MORE

Use Electric, Human-Powered Yard Tools By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Nov 5 2007 A significant way of reducing global-warming pollution in your backyard is to avoid using gas-powered motorized yard tools such as lawnmowers and leaf blowers. Meanwhile, mowing an average 1 1/4-acre lawn produces more air pollution than driving a 1995 pickup truck from Washington D.C. to New York and back again.Small... + READ MORE

Weed, Hoe, Cultivate with a Single Tool By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Nov 1 2007 The creators of the CobraHead precision weeder and cultivator call it "the closest thing to a universal garden tool" because its claw-like stainless steel blade-head can be used to weed, dig, scalp, and cultivate all on its own. Aside from being one of the rare tools we've stumbled upon that is still manufactured in... + READ MORE