How to... Archives – The Green Optimistic

20 free and cheap ways to improve energy efficiency at home

Matias Prieto — Mon, 13 May 2019 16:18:31 +0000

A simple attitude towards improving your home energy efficiency is to start with simple and cheap actions. Believe it or not, simple solutions might generate a big impact on your water or energy bill. So with the money saved, you can go on working on more ambitious projects. First, gather all your gas and electric […]

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How to Encourage Others to Recycle (Nicely)

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 13:12:07 +0000

I can’t think of any good reasons not to recycle. It’s relatively easy, affordable, saves your city money, and it can make a huge difference in the world around us—plus, hey, it just feels good! So why not extend that pleasure to your family, friends, neighbors, and community? If you can make a huge difference […]

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How to Build a DIY Aeroelastic Flutter Energy Harvester

Arsenij Percov — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 19:37:53 +0000

Aeroelastic flutter is the back and forth motion of an object caused by the air flow. An example is the shaking of a plane’s wings during turbulence. This phenomenon has been used by Instructables user DylanD581 to produce electricity and is even more effective than a wind turbine in low winds. Wind turbines only work […]

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How to Practically Save Water (and Money!) at Home

Guest Contributor — Tue, 09 May 2017 19:48:28 +0000

As countries around the world face water shortages and restrictions, many people have had to change they way they look at and approach using water in their homes and lives. Living in South Africa, it happened to us with water shedding too. Here are some of the tips we used to dramatically decrease our water […]

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3 Toy Electric Vehicles to Build With Your Kid

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 06:45:07 +0000

Electric vehicles are something that fascinate more and more people each day. But until an engineer gets to work at Tesla, he has to have that spark planted in him/her. The video below builds, with an amazing ingenuity, three toy electric vehicles from stuff everyone has around the house. Even more: they’re built from scrap […]

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How to Make a Pedal Powered Smoothie Maker

Mila Luleva — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 16:41:10 +0000

Would you like to take “healthy living” to the next level? Follow this tutorial and make your own pedal-powered smoothie maker. We all know that the key to healthy living is doing regular exercise, eating healthy food full of fruit and vegg, and of course trying to reduce our personal carbon footprint and promote renewable […]

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7 Ways to Keep Your House Cool Without Air Conditioning

Mila Luleva — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 09:43:36 +0000

Keeping the house cool throughout the hot summer days might mean keeping the aircon on all the time, ending up spending a fortune. But, it doesn’t have to be that way- here are seven useful tips on how to do without it. The hottest days of summer are still to come, yet extreme temperatures are already hitting […]

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Going Off the Grid? 8 Things You Should Consider

Mila Luleva — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 15:32:58 +0000

Are you considering going off the grid completely? If so, here are some tips to keep in mind for maximum success. For many, going 100% off the grid is a dream come true. Not only that it could save you money, but it also can bring you that incredible feeling of satisfaction, knowing that you […]

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Rocket Mass Heater – an Eco-friendly Stove Build Tutorial

Mila Luleva — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 05:55:08 +0000

A lot has been said about Rocket Mass Heaters, and their ability to cheaply and efficiently heat up entire houses. If there is an option to heat up a home for a fraction of the sum, which the owners are spending on right now, it is definitely worth exploring. In fact, it is not difficult to achieve […]

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5 Habits That Will Improve Your Home Energy Efficiency

Mila Luleva — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 12:48:45 +0000

Habits that ruin your home energy efficiency are easily acquired with all the daily tasks and duties we all have. However, energy-efficient homes have been trendy in the past few years, and people have been investing heavily into having good insulation or better building materials. Unfortunately, often, people do not even realize that they do […]

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How to Make a Battery From a Coke Can

Mila Luleva — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 12:15:19 +0000

Making your own coke can battery is often seen as extremely unnecessary and not at all cost effective, simply because of the availability of energy storage technologies on the market. But if you have some spare soda cans, and want to turn them into power generators, here is the coolest and most simple tutorial. […]

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How to Make Your Own Biodiesel

Mila Luleva — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 12:10:52 +0000

Regardless of what people say, biodiesel is definitely a much better alternative to any fossil fuel. Not only that it is much more environmentally friendly, but it is also possible to make high quality biodiesel in your own kitchen or garage, saving you money on both petrol and on car repairs. Here is how. The […]

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10 Fabulous DIY Clean Energy Generation Projects from Instructables’ Contest

Mila Luleva — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 12:31:19 +0000

Generating energy to charge and power devices or household appliances for free is the ultimate dream of many. Here are a few ideas of how to achieve this at home, or at least get close to it. The thing is, before you mount solar panels on your house roof, or you buy a wind turbine or solar […]

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How to Reduce Waste and Extend the Life of 5 Most Popular Items

Mila Luleva — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 09:06:31 +0000

We all know that in order to fight pollution we have to reduce waste. The three golden R’s- reduce, reuse, recycle should drive every purchase and the sound of the words should ring in our heads every time some waste is to be sent to the landfill. But even if we do everything by the […]

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How to Build a Biogas Plant in your Backyard

Mila Luleva — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 15:33:24 +0000

Anybody who generates a significant amount of bio-waste, and especially those among us with country farms, often have one single dream- and that is to have their own DIY biogas plant. The reason why not so many have succeeded in building it, however, is because it is way too easy to overestimate the dimensions, and consequently fail […]

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A Solar Panel on Your Car for an Off-Grid Lifestyle

Mila Luleva — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 12:38:56 +0000

Building a solar panel on your car and disconnecting completely from the grid is quite a challenge even for the most determined of us. However, doing so in stages, starting from, let’s say, charging cell phones and laptops, does not have to be too hard. Here is a suggestion where to start and how to do […]

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How To Make Your Own AA Battery and Use It Safely

Mila Luleva — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 08:51:58 +0000

It is that time of the year again, when people buy and give millions of little gadgets and toys that all run on the popular AA batteries. Here is one for those of you who would like to try making one of these small energy storage devices, using materials that can easily be bought online. […]

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How to Clean Your House Using Only Natural Products

Mila Luleva — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 11:50:05 +0000

If your New Years’s resolution is to go that little bit greener in the coming twelve months, but you don’t know where to start, here is a suggestion. Forget about toxic cleaners and detergents, opt for natural food products that can remove any type of dirt. There are many reason for one to hate all […]

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How to Convert Your Car to Solar in One Easy Step

Mila Luleva — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 10:16:01 +0000

Many of the leading car manufacturers are now looking towards solar and releasing models with solar cells on the roofs that allow charging on the go. Unfortunately, these do not come cheap, and are still out of reach for many of us, who secretly wish there was a way to swap the roof of our ‘Average […]

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How to Minimize Food Waste This Holiday Season

Mila Luleva — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 10:01:48 +0000

Food waste was identified as one of the most pressing problems of modern society. For some reason, however, regardless of the warnings and pleas of governments and eco-groups, people still throw away perfectly good produce. Here are some tips to avoid falling into this trap over the holiday season. Feeding the global population is one […]

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How to Go Green This Year Without Spending Extra

Mila Luleva — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 14:21:09 +0000

It is never too late to go green, and there is no better time than the New Year. Unfortunately, it is a common misconception that being eco-friendly means you should invest in solar panels, or an expensive electric car. Well, it is not true, and here are ten tips how to go green for free, […]

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How To Cut Down The Carbon Footprint of Your Car

Mila Luleva — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 12:19:34 +0000

The new year is approaching, and with it, everyone is hoping to change for the better even if it is a little bit. New Year’s resolutions are already flooding the news feeds of social media, as it happens around this time every year, but the difference now is that among the extra gym sessions, and […]

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How to Make Shiny Roof Shingles From Recycled Aluminum Cans

Mila Luleva — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 15:06:11 +0000

Aluminum pollution has attracted quite a bit of attention lately, especially since the concentrations of the element in cosmetics and shampoos were found to be much higher than our bodies or the environment can handle. Another major source of polluting aluminum is cans that are dumped in landfills, when they can be recycled easily. Here is […]

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Free Heating – Two Effective DIY Projects

Mila Luleva — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:30:34 +0000

Free Heating? Really? Oh yes, and there is not only one way to get it. Here are two of them- fast, cheap, effective, and bill-free. It is that time of the year again, at least for us in the Northern hemisphere, when the air is crisp, the temperatures are below zero, and all we want is […]

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How to Make Your Own Solar Powered Christmas Decorations

Mila Luleva — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 15:50:16 +0000

DIY projects are great. Regardless of how useful and innovative the final creation is, once you see it all working, it gives this incredible sense of achievement. Now, imagine how great it would be to combine this with the approaching Christmas holidays that are all about decorations and lights- it would definitely be one for the books. […]

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How To Make a 3D Printer While Reducing E-waste

Mila Luleva — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 13:42:48 +0000

The alarming rate of production of various electronics and high-tech gadgets, and respectfully the ever-so-growing amount of e-waste that is being generated, calls for immediate strengthening of e-waste recycling and reusing systems. Here is an idea, how about turning the old floppy drives into DIY 3D printers? I am a true believer that the best […]

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Homemade Pumpkin Battery, or How to Generate Pumpkin Power

Mila Luleva — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 10:30:30 +0000

Happy Halloween, everybody! It is that time of the year again, when we have stocked up on incredible amounts of pumpkin and facial paint. But, what can we do with all that leftover pumpkin that didn’t make it to a scary lantern? Here is an idea, turn it into a pumpkin battery. So, before we […]

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How to Save Water Without Changing Our Daily Routines

Mila Luleva — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 08:49:40 +0000

Climate change is happening, and the best indicator for this is the continuous drought that many American states are fighting with for quite some time now. The efforts of governmental officials, regardless of how big or small, alone are clearly not enough, meaning that we should all join forces and save as much water as possible. […]

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How to Make Graphene from Pencils and Washing Liquid

Mila Luleva — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 19:33:31 +0000

There is not a single week that passes without the magic word, graphene, making its presence in the news. Ever since the discovery of the material, researchers and engineers continuously show new properties and even more uses for it. Yet, scientists are still looking for a cheap and effective way to produce defect-free graphene, as […]

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Top 10 Best Do-It-Yourself Green Projects

Mila Luleva — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 13:13:57 +0000

We all love Instructables, the site that can never let us get bored for even a second, with the numerous ‘Do-It-Yourself’ ideas often going beyond our imagination. This is why, as soon as I came across the winners of the Green Living and Technology Challenge, organized by the user ‘Danger is my middle name’, I […]

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How To Make A Wind Powered Composter

Mila Luleva — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 18:55:12 +0000

There is nothing better for the environment than being able to turn your home waste into compost. If done properly, you not only produce your own soil fertilizer, but you also help the community by reducing the amount of garbage, sent to landfills. We would like to show you how in 12 simple steps you […]

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How to Make Paper at Home from Recycled Materials

Mila Luleva — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:48:58 +0000

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 […]

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Thermoelectric Generator: How to Build One

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 16:10:54 +0000

A thermoelectric generator is a semiconductor device that transforms the heat difference between its two layers into electricity. It belongs 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, and is also called “Peltier generator.” With a Peltier generator, […]

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Solar Panel System: How to Build a Cheap One

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 20:20:18 +0000

A cheap solar panel system will forever be the best solution to expensive electric bills. Solar cells are getting cheaper each year. While you could pay up to $10,000 for an off-the-shelf installation and could cover the system’s price in just over 10 years, it’s still better and more educational to make one yourself. Let’s face it: […]

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Jake Explains How to Build a Super-Cheap Solar Water Heater

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:49:04 +0000

Solar water heaters are not a new idea, but people who often complain about rising energy prices should be reminded to use such devices to help heat their homes and take a shower, too.

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DIY Solar Cell from Tea and Donuts

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:22:59 +0000

The Holy Grail of energy has been, is, and will be the solar power. Numerous solutions of converting solar power have existed along the centuries, and people have always used the Sun to power things up, except for the last hundred years or so - that's the main reason we all got into troubles with mother nature.

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DIY: How to Build a $1 Magnetic Motor With Some Screws

Ovidiu Sandru — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:30:36 +0000

What you are going to see in this video is nothing you don't know. In fact, I urge any weird-science reader to try and make the device from the video below, respecting the pictured details. I'll make it myself from a hard drive plate and a used scotch tape support. Let's see how much time it works, and if it can be improved.

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DIY Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Design (VAWT) from PVC Pipes

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:15:40 +0000

In this consumerism ruled times, the world needs to know ways to do stuff. When electricity generation is predicted to become more expensive (it's like they predict an invasion of electric vehicles), people need to build their own power generating systems for their independence.

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DIY: How to Make a Wave Powered Boat

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:47:16 +0000

You may use small wood boards, or toy boats "borrowed" from your kids. Or as well you may teach your little ones how to build a free energy device.

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Homemade Solar Panel with Cells Bought from eBay

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:08:13 +0000

Today I stumbled upon a web site made by a guy (he's an astronomer) who did his own very cheap solar panel. He has a remote property in Arizona and there isn't any power source, so he had to improvise it by himself.

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How To Run Your Car On Tap Water Plans

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:35:14 +0000

IT ALSO WORKS ON YOUR TRUCK / RV / MOTORCYCLE / AIRPLANE (ETC) Will This Work? Although we cannot guarantee it, we believe these plans will enable you to build a car that runs on water. If you test it out, though, do as the writer suggests and use an old car that doesn’t represent […]

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Body Heat to Electricity: German Scientists Working on Viable Design

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:41:32 +0000

German scientists have found a way of transforming body heat into electricity using thermoelectric devices. The discovery means that we may be able to operate our mobile phones using nothing but the warmth of our hands in the future. New circuits make it possible to harness body heat for generating electricity, scientists at the Fraunhofer […]

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How to Build the Simplest Fuel Cell Ever

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:00:34 +0000

The simplest fuel cell “burns” hydrogen in a flameless chemical reaction to produce electricity. In order to ‘burn’ the hydrogen, a fuel cell needs a source of oxygen and this is usually obtained from air. The only by-product from this type of fuel cell is water. Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not store […]

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How to Make 1L of Biodiesel

Ovidiu Sandru — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:28:33 +0000

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How to Build a Backyard Biogas Plant

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:33:33 +0000

Introduction The success or failure of any biogas plant mainly depends upon the quality of how it is constructed. To construct a good biogas plant, you should not only respect the dimensions as indicated on the drawing but also follow the correct construction method. Hereunder, in a step-by-step fashion, the right construction method of the […]

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How to Make a Superconductor at Home

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:34:23 +0000

Superconductors are known as the holy grail of energy transmission, energy storage and even computing. You can make one yourself if you possess a bit of will, knowledge and the following: Equipment To make an yttrium-barium-copper-oxide superconductor, you will need: * Yttrium Oxide * Barium Carbonate (TOXIC) * Cupric Oxide * A Laboratory Furnace or […]

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Solar Electrolysis for Dummies

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:03:05 +0000

Electrolysis: Obtaining hydrogen from water: The Basis for a Solar-Hydrogen Economy This project involves a fascinating experiment in electrochemistry that illustrates several important energy related processes, and provides an ideal context for discussion of several issues related to electricity generation. Introduction to Electrolysis: Hydrogen from Water As covered in the discussion section below, it is […]

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Build a Can Stirling Engine in 10 Easy Steps

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:51:38 +0000

Can stirling engines have fascinated me and not once was there will to put them into action, but no time. Here’s how you can build a can stirling engine out of materials you can find in your home. #1 – Prepare the materials To build the most simple Can Stirling Engine you need: 10mm-thick wood board 10mm-thick […]

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