Every problem has a solution. Sometimes you find them in the most unlikely way.
Illac Diaz, created a way for poor people, living in windowless, closely built homes in slum areas to light up their homes with plastic bottles.
The plastic bottles are filled up with water with bleach added to prevent any formation of bacteria. The idea is that water inside the bottle refracts the sunlight during the daytime and creates the same intensity of light as that given out by a 55 watt light bulb.
Light from a bottle of water? Check out to see if it really works.
If you are interested to make yourself one, watch this video.
You can also find the free tutorials at instructables.com.
Share this idea if you think it could help your community.
Saturday, 26 April 2014
No fund? Creativity will do.
I found a new site to pick up free tutorials. It's Pinterest.
I followed the instruction shown on this image but decided to use a punctured tube found in my bicycle shop to work on instead of buying a strip of leather.
If I continue to make sections of this, I can sew them up and make myself a smart looking bag.
I will definitely show it off if I have time to complete this project. Look out for it in my future postings.
I followed the instruction shown on this image but decided to use a punctured tube found in my bicycle shop to work on instead of buying a strip of leather.
If I continue to make sections of this, I can sew them up and make myself a smart looking bag.
I will definitely show it off if I have time to complete this project. Look out for it in my future postings.
Friday, 25 April 2014
Gift boxes? Handmade and eco-friendly.
If your children are sociable, they are bound to be invited to lots of parties. If they are still schooling, think of the number of students each one of them have as classmates. Add them up and you know that you will have to spend quite a bit on gifts for them to bring to parties they are invited to.
Other than storing up on gifts when sales are on, here is another way to save cost. Make your own gift boxes. You can start by keeping the empty plastic bottles.
The small gift boxes mean smaller and less costly gifts to look out for, right?
Other than storing up on gifts when sales are on, here is another way to save cost. Make your own gift boxes. You can start by keeping the empty plastic bottles.
The small gift boxes mean smaller and less costly gifts to look out for, right?
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Plastic bottles? Great as broom.
If you are thinking of buying a broom, maybe you would like to check this video out to see if you could make yourself one. After all you should not have any problems getting the material you need to start making it.
May your new broom sweeps clean.
May your new broom sweeps clean.
Friday, 18 April 2014
Free cups? Need covering up.
Look into your cupboard and you are bound to find odd cups in a variety of shape, sizes and colours that you have received with some product you have bought.
If they are not something that you treasure because of the company logos printed on the cup, maybe it is time to get your crochet hook out and ...
...make a cozy to cover the logos up.
Why?
If they are not something that you treasure because of the company logos printed on the cup, maybe it is time to get your crochet hook out and ...
...make a cozy to cover the logos up.
Why?
You can try to make some bucks while clearing them out that way by selling them on Etsy?
More crochet and kniting cozy designs can be found on Pinterest shared by Irmalulu.
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
Used chopsticks? Great art material.
What can one do with used chopsticks? Ask artist-architect, Hong Yi, who use materials, that are commonly used in our daily activities, in her artwork.
She was requested by internationally known movie star, Jackie Chan, to create a portrait of himself for his 60th birthday and she came up with an idea to use disposable bamboo chopsticks to create it. Why chopsticks?
Jackie Chan is a Chinese and eating with chopsticks is so typically the Chinese way. And who could forget his fighting skills with chopsticks in his movies? Hong Yi likes the idea too that discarded materials can be reused and made into something meaningful and beautiful which reflects Jackie Chan, as an environmentalist.
So, armed with a collection of 64,000 chopsticks, this is what she has accomplished.
If you have it in you to create art, cost of material should no longer be a factor. Be inspired by Hong Yi, the painter who don't pain with a brush..
She was requested by internationally known movie star, Jackie Chan, to create a portrait of himself for his 60th birthday and she came up with an idea to use disposable bamboo chopsticks to create it. Why chopsticks?
Jackie Chan is a Chinese and eating with chopsticks is so typically the Chinese way. And who could forget his fighting skills with chopsticks in his movies? Hong Yi likes the idea too that discarded materials can be reused and made into something meaningful and beautiful which reflects Jackie Chan, as an environmentalist.
So, armed with a collection of 64,000 chopsticks, this is what she has accomplished.
If you have it in you to create art, cost of material should no longer be a factor. Be inspired by Hong Yi, the painter who don't pain with a brush..
Friday, 11 April 2014
Elevator? Very eco for treehouse!
Building a treehouse is green, espcially, the one built by Ethan Schlussler.
He utilizes sheets of metal reclaimed from an old barn as roofing material and wood from the trees in the area it is built on. The treehouse is held in place by friction of five large cable clamps tightly encircled around the tree, so no nails, bolts or screws were knocked into the tree to secure it in place, 28 foot above the ground.
So, how does he gets up there? See for yourself.
That's a bicycle powered tree house elevator you are looking at!
He modified his mom's old bicycle with used parts and old scrap materials but to ensure that it works safely, new pulleys and cable were added.
Source:
http://www.gizmag.com/human-powered-bicycle-elevator/29102/
He utilizes sheets of metal reclaimed from an old barn as roofing material and wood from the trees in the area it is built on. The treehouse is held in place by friction of five large cable clamps tightly encircled around the tree, so no nails, bolts or screws were knocked into the tree to secure it in place, 28 foot above the ground.
So, how does he gets up there? See for yourself.
That's a bicycle powered tree house elevator you are looking at!
He modified his mom's old bicycle with used parts and old scrap materials but to ensure that it works safely, new pulleys and cable were added.
Source:
http://www.gizmag.com/human-powered-bicycle-elevator/29102/
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Plastic waste? Best used as porus bricks?
There is a new cement-like material call Plastisoil being developed. As the name implies, it is made up of plastic waste and soil.
The developer, Naji Khoury, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Temple University in Philadelphia used discarded polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles which are pulverized and mixed with soil. The blended mixture is heated with a coarse aggregate to create what he wants. A porus substance, which when laid will hold rainwater instead of draining off the surface.
He would like to see Plastisoil used for sidewalks, jogging paths, driveways and parking lots in an effort to reduce plastic waste, road filth and oil from polluting the environment as it drains away into canals and rivers with the rainwater on the current surfacing material used, such as, cement or asphalt.
There is a concern though that toxin in the composition of PET could also leak into the environment which would defeat its prupose as a filter. Moreover, a surface that could hold water would also encourage growth of weeds which could also make maintaining it a problem.
I hope that he will be able to find ways to overcome all these issues and make Plastisoil a reality as it will take 30,000 used PET bottles to make one ton of the material. As it does not used as much energy to manufacture compard to standard surfacing material like cement or asphalt, this could result in lower cost for us as consumers.
Gizmag is my source of information on Plastisoil and you can read its full article at:
http://www.gizmag.com/palstisoil-pervious-concrete-made-from-bottles/17000/
The developer, Naji Khoury, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Temple University in Philadelphia used discarded polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles which are pulverized and mixed with soil. The blended mixture is heated with a coarse aggregate to create what he wants. A porus substance, which when laid will hold rainwater instead of draining off the surface.
He would like to see Plastisoil used for sidewalks, jogging paths, driveways and parking lots in an effort to reduce plastic waste, road filth and oil from polluting the environment as it drains away into canals and rivers with the rainwater on the current surfacing material used, such as, cement or asphalt.
There is a concern though that toxin in the composition of PET could also leak into the environment which would defeat its prupose as a filter. Moreover, a surface that could hold water would also encourage growth of weeds which could also make maintaining it a problem.
I hope that he will be able to find ways to overcome all these issues and make Plastisoil a reality as it will take 30,000 used PET bottles to make one ton of the material. As it does not used as much energy to manufacture compard to standard surfacing material like cement or asphalt, this could result in lower cost for us as consumers.
Gizmag is my source of information on Plastisoil and you can read its full article at:
http://www.gizmag.com/palstisoil-pervious-concrete-made-from-bottles/17000/
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
Old toilets? The bricks for future homes.
There is now a reason to dig out old landfills in search for discarded toilet bowls and ceramic waste, such as, basins, stoneware and bricks.
In the past, old toilet bowls stripped of its rubber, plastics and metalic parts can be crushed and used as roadbed. But research conducted by Spain's Universitat Politècnica de València and Universitat Jaume I de Castellón, Imperial College of London, and the Universidade Estadual Paulista of Sao Paulo in Brazil have discovered a better use for the waste material.
They discovered that Sodium hydroxide or sodium silicate as an activator can be mixed to this grounded up waste material with water. The mixture is then poured into a mould and subjected to a high-temperature process.to harden it. The process make the waste material useful again as cement bricks which are tested to be stronger than the types that are commonly used.
Rice husk ash is also reported to be another possible reclaimed waste materials to use in the process.
I discovered this information reading the following article at New Atlas:
They discovered that Sodium hydroxide or sodium silicate as an activator can be mixed to this grounded up waste material with water. The mixture is then poured into a mould and subjected to a high-temperature process.to harden it. The process make the waste material useful again as cement bricks which are tested to be stronger than the types that are commonly used.
Rice husk ash is also reported to be another possible reclaimed waste materials to use in the process.
I discovered this information reading the following article at New Atlas:
Monday, 7 April 2014
Old stuff? Given new life.
Do you know that you can start a new hobby from stuff that have past their working capabilities? Google ''gifts from bicycle parts'' and click link to "Images" and you will get the idea.
I think that the best way to keep things you once love is to give it a new life.
Source: http://www.places-to-go.org.uk/burford2009_bicycle.htm
I think that the best way to keep things you once love is to give it a new life.
Source: http://www.places-to-go.org.uk/burford2009_bicycle.htm
http://www.shaminir.com/photos.html
Don't you agree?
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Message? Found in free image.
Discovered another site where I can find free images for my blogs. It's Pixabay where I found this clip art.
Why share it here?
I see a message there. It seems to be saying, "Give up your fuel guzzling car. Let's cycle". That's a funny tall order to follow through for earth month.
I like it that I can freely use any image from PixaBay in digital and printed format, for personal and commercial use. Share your photos there if you can but note that you will not be attributed for your effort if your work is used :(
It will be a good green effort though. We can help one another save on draining battery life shooting with our digital cameras.
Why share it here?
I see a message there. It seems to be saying, "Give up your fuel guzzling car. Let's cycle". That's a funny tall order to follow through for earth month.
I like it that I can freely use any image from PixaBay in digital and printed format, for personal and commercial use. Share your photos there if you can but note that you will not be attributed for your effort if your work is used :(
It will be a good green effort though. We can help one another save on draining battery life shooting with our digital cameras.
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