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What is the environmental impact of meal kit subscriptions (Blue Apron, etc)?
According to Wikipedia, a meal-kit is...
...a subscription service that sends customers pre-portioned food ingredients and recipes for them to prepare homecooked meals.
Well-known examples include Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, and Green Chef. These…
LShaver
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Can wood wool be produced from plywood waste?
For packaging of parcels, is it feasible/ possible to produce wood wool from the waste of plywood products?
If not, what alternative packaging uses are there for plywood waste?
James
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9
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What should I do with coal that I have been given?
My wife and I recently moved from London to a lovely old cottage in the countryside with electricity, no gas and a wood-burning stove. We are incrementally improving insulation to make the house more efficient but currently heat the house by burning…
yetanotherdave
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9
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What is the relationship between permaculture and sustainability?
What is the relationship between permaculture and sustainability? What are sound reasons why both urban and rural permaculture takes us further down the road to sustainability?
Are there real-world cases where permaculture makes sustainability…
Chris Travers
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Does responsible living leave more space to unresponsible living?
It looks to me that the efforts I'm doing to make my living more sustainable are worthless.
Indeed, when some of us make efforts to lower energy consumption, doesn't it only leave harvestable resources for the others at lower price (because of…
J. Chomel
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Are there solar panels that can survive extreme temperature changes?
I want to look at getting solar panels for my home. Unfortunately, one thing that I need to resolve first is whether or not they will work / last while in the temperature extremes - anywhere from -40 C to +40 C.
My question is, are solar panels…
Canadian Luke
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Does putting an automatic car in neutral when stopped help save petrol?
In Australia, most cars are automatic, and most people stay on "drive" while braking when stopped at a red light (i.e. if they weren't breaking, the car would drive forward).
I was wondering if moving the gear handle to "neutral" when stopping for a…
stragu
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9
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Feeding hotwater into modern appliances
Most appliances, such as washing machines and dishwashers typically take cold water and heat it internally. This is probably the most efficient way on a grid connected house with electric water heating.
However, I have an offgrid house, and we use…
Henry
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2 answers
How to choose a more sustainable vacation option?
Background
In general, for a given transportation medium, modes of transport that are more densely populated are more efficient than those that are more sparsely populated. For example, it is not a complete comparison to say your Prius gets 50 mpg…
Jonathan E. Landrum
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9
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About the hygiene of my organic trash can/rubbish bin
At our apartment, we keep a small trash can devoted to organic waste. When it is full, which takes a week or so, we empty it in a compost container near our street.
My question is, how often should we clean that trash bin? Should we worry about…
vaz
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9
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Establishing a Small Commercial Solar Plant
This question may be outside of the scope for this forum, but I'm having a hard time finding good information, and thought asking here might be worthwhile.
I started looking into farm-scale solar here in Oregon, and found that we just don't have…
J.D. Ray
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What is the environmental cost of encrypting your communications?
I am concerned by people's privacy in the Internet age, and the security that communication software and services offer, which is why I try to promote encryption in different everyday activities (emails with PGP, communication apps that offer…
stragu
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What is the rationale for a base temperature for degree-days of 12 degrees?
When evaluating the energy demand of a building, the weather conditions are supposed to be controlled for by calculating degree-days (sometimes also known as accumulated temperature difference).
In Europe, these are defined by ISO 15927-6:2007 and…
lindelof
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9
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Failed "solar thermal" water heating system
I bought a house in Hawaii in 2014 which had 2 4'x8' solar thermal panels, a 120 gallon solar tank with 1 upper grid tied 4500W element. The previous owners had had multiple problems: leaks, replaced one panel, etc. all of which was disclosed. …
RAD
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Recycling symbols on greeting card - what do these symbols mean?
I just bought a card for some friends. It was published by a company called Portfolio, London. It has the following printed on the back:
1. What do these symbols mean?
2. Where do they come from?
3. To what extent is the card recycled?
Lee
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