Bubble Wrap Your Windows

Photo by Nick Lowe From the remarkable folks at Build It Solar comes this heating conservation tip – bubble wrap your windows. Simply cut sheets of bubble wrap to fit your windows, apply some water with a spray bottle and before it dries stick the bubble wrap on the glass. While you can buy special bubble wrap designed for greenhouses, according to Build It Solar, regular bubble wrap will probably work just as well. If you number the pieces you u...

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Lights Made from Soda Bottles

...Via Make Blog, a clever homebrew solar light made from soda bottles. I’m a bit skeptical about how you could make these watertight, but for an outbuilding or patio roof they might make for a nice low cost alternative to solar tubes or skylights....

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Village Homes: A Model for Sustainable Suburbs

...rowth coupled with the reduced asphalt surfaces makes the whole development 10 degrees Farhenhiet cooler in the summer than the surrounding suburbs. I could go on and on, but perhaps the best way to get a feel for it is to watch the 10 minute video above. It’s hosted by Permaculture guru Bill Mollison, who’s a big fan of the development. It’s well worth the time to watch it all the way through. Also, here’s a short paper on the development, which...

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Saturday Tweets: Cheap Heaters, Paper Airplanes and Lost Ornaments

Solar-OSE: Solar concentrator for steam generation https://t.co/bj8QmXxG6t — Root Simple (@rootsimple) November 6, 2015 Cheapest Heater In The World Version 2. Bigger, Better, Hotter . https://t.co/bTmzTutTWX — Root Simple (@rootsimple) November 6, 2015 Citizen Maths: free/open adult math education for practical real-world numeracy https://t.co/n4IvJEytGn — Root Simple (@rootsimple) November 3, 2015 Gorgeous book of paper airplanes collected by a...

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Who Needs Windows?

...all those Amazon warehouses, or Los Angeles’ hidden and still functioning urban oil wells. Our window free tour will visit some misguided office buildings, a Masonic temple and a trade school. So turn on that glaring bank of florescent lights, sit down in a dark cubicle and let’s take a windowless journey beginning with the headquarters of America’s most mediocre chocolate factory. Hershey’s Chocolate Headquarters 19 East Chocolate Ave. Hershey,...

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