Archive for category How to…

How to Make a Bubble Wrap Window Insulation For Your Home

Posted by Mila Luleva in How to..., Power Saving on April 11, 2013

Over the last few days we published a series of articles showing how to save energy and cut down electricity bills at home. Undoubtedly, the first step towards having an energy efficient house is to ensure that there is a good and functional window insulation. Here we would like to show you how to improve your window insulation by [...]

How to Make a Nice Bowl From Recycled Paper

Posted by Mila Luleva in How to..., Recycling on April 10, 2013

This article will teach you how to make an inexpensive, low-tech bowl by recycling paper you have lying around, instead of throwing it to the bin and letting it rot in decades. Do you sometimes find yourself sitting on a rainy Sunday afternoon, looking at a pile of old magazines, junk mail and papers and [...]

How to Make an Algae Photo-BioReactor at Home

Posted by Mila Luleva in Biodiesel, How to... on April 9, 2013

Producing biofuels from algae is a topic that has been widely discussed over the past few years. As we have already mentioned in earlier articles on the topic, government officials in the U.S. are already funding various projects to encourage scientists and companies to implement this technology. Here we would like to show you a [...]

How to Save Energy to Reduce Your Home’s Carbon Footprint

Posted by Mila Luleva in How to..., Power Saving on April 9, 2013

We all hear the big plans politicians and environmentalists have to cut down greenhouse gas emissions, reduce carbon footprint, mitigate climate change and so on, but are we, as individuals, making that step towards saving our planet, or we are simply waiting for somebody else to do it for us? We, at The Green Optimistic, [...]

How to Make a Solar Oven From a Cardboard Box in 5 Steps

Posted by Mila Luleva in How to..., Solar Power on April 8, 2013

Are you tired from the old oven at home, which seems to be consuming incredible amounts of electricity? If yes, then you will definitely enjoy the following tutorial. We would like to show you how to utilize a tempered glass picture frame (or simply a regular glass one), some newspapers, a roll of aluminum foil, [...]

How to Make Paper at Home from Recycled Materials

Posted by Mila Luleva in How to..., Recycling on April 7, 2013

This tutorial should enable anyone interested to make paper at home from recycled materials and put them to good, green use. “Recycle paper, save a tree” is motto that has become increasingly popular over the past few years. It is used to raise awareness and stimulate more people to care and protect the environment. Taking [...]

How to Make a $1 Speaker Out of Recycled Paper Plates

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in How to..., Recycling on April 7, 2013

This project can prove itself green if you use leftover plastic plates from a picnic, some magnets you have lying around and some copper wire from an old TV or radio. You can get yourself a nice speaker, entertain your kids and at the same time teach them something useful. So here’s this Youtube guy, [...]

How to Build an $8 Fresnel Lens Solar Concentrator from Old TV

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in How to..., Solar Power on March 13, 2013

Building a solar concentrator can prove itself an easy task – if you watch someone doing it. This guy who calls himself “Grant Thompson” used a Fresnel lens from a dismantled old Toshiba projection TV and shows the world on Youtube how this thing can scorch nearly anything from pennies and concrete to eggs. In [...]

How to Build an Electricity-Producing Peltier Gasifier

Posted by Mila Luleva in Biogas, How to..., Thermoelectric on February 13, 2013

A gasifier works by decomposing organic matter in an oxygen-free environment at high temperatures and then burning the hydrogen that results from that decomposition. It is a smokeless, much cleaner way of providing electricity and/or heat without particle emissions and soot. The so-called “Fusion Jr.” Home Energy Reactor has an amazing potential to generate energy [...]

7 Tips on How to Renovate Your Home Energy-Efficiently

Posted by Mila Luleva in Green Buildings, How to..., Power Saving on February 12, 2013

Renovating your home is always a pleasant activity, especially when the end result brings joy and comfort to the whole household. At The Green Optimistic, we would like to show you a few steps that will help you enjoy the benefits well into the future. Remaining true to ourselves, our tips to a better home [...]

How to Make Your Home Energy Efficient in 6 Simple Steps

Posted by Mila Luleva in Green Buildings, How to... on November 18, 2012

For most DIY lovers, having the chance to design and build their own house is like a dream come true. Now imagine you do that, but together with the pleasure of actually constructing your home, you can also make it energy efficient and save some extra cash! Today we decided to give you a few [...]

How to Make Biodiesel at Home With Supermarket-Procurable Chemicals

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in Biodiesel, How to... on June 25, 2012

Hailed or blasphemed, the biodiesel is the cheapest and greenest alternative to the driver who doesn’t have anything but a diesel-drinking car, vegetable oil, some will and green heart. Here’s a recipe for making the fuel with elements you can buy from the supermarket. First of all, you should be working in a highly ventilated [...]

DIY: How to Build a Thermoelectric Energy Generator With a Cheap Peltier Unit

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in How to..., Thermoelectric on June 22, 2012

Peltier units transform the difference of heat to electricity. They belong to a class of materials called “thermoelectrics” and are one of auto industry’s greatest hopes in what regards the savings obtained from an internal combustion engine. With a Peltier unit, a car can effectively decrease its fuel consumption by recovering part of the energy [...]

How to Produce Hydrogen From an Aluminum Soda Can and Water

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in How to..., Hydrogen Power on June 21, 2012

Here’s how you can produce hydrogen to power cars, homes, or even toys. Hydrogen is the cleanest energy carrier in the universe, and is also easily obtainable from recycled soda cans and water that you can find virtually anywhere. The process sitting at the base of this experiment is a simple one you probably learned [...]

How to Build a Cheap DIY Solar Panel System for Under $1,000

Posted by Ovidiu Sandru in How to..., Solar Power on June 13, 2012

Let’s face it: we’re still living the post-traumatic stress of what’s happened in 2008, and we’re still living uncertain times when every cent we take from the bank is thoroughly analyzed before we actually sign a contract. The lack of financial stability has caused astute savings among those who learned how to save what they [...]