Sustainable Living Stack Exchange
Sustainable Living Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
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For the exactly same income, does a person pollute more when living in a big city or in a small town?

I had a recent argument with a coworker (we are both engineers) that the amount of pollution generated by a person increases with the person's income (we both agreed on that)... but my coworker claimed that the fact that person lives in a big city…
Gabriel Diego
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How can alum stone be melted and molded into small shapes?

We are a small NGO in Nepal working to help people after the recent earthquakes of 2015 and now the floods of this year's monsoon of 2017. There is a stone here that is used as an astringent/after shave when men go to the barber for a shave. Our…
Sujit Rajbhandari
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Laptop nights: shutdown or sleep?

Assuming I use it all day long, should I shutdown my (recent) laptop every night and power it up every morning, or just let it sleep by closing it?
rap-2-h
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Woodburning stoves: what wood and why?

I have been experimenting with a very old (made and installed in the 60s) woodburning stove in my new house in Devon, UK. I have started to learn that hardwood burns for longer than softwood, that well seasoned wood burns more quickly and more…
usumdelphini
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PV and Battery circuitry for DIY off-grid solar power

I am in need of setting up an off-grid power supply for a 10k btu air conditioner (plus some extra power for light use, like laptop charging). The AC runs at 7-8 amps 110v, but I'm unsure of it's initial load amperage or exact wattage (somewhere…
Eric_B
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Can Siberia's greenhouse gas be harvested?

Russian scientists find 7,000 Siberian hills possibly filled with explosive gas. I wonder if it makes business sense to harvest these explosive gases and turn them into liquid natural gas for later use, or to build power plants on the spot and…
George Chen
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What techniques or solutions are available for reducing heat absorption by walls?

I live in tropical region. Have pretty hot summers (44 degree C). The question is regarding houses built with brick and mortar (walls) and reinforced concrete flat roofs. In this forum I have come across other discussions on solutions for reducing…
user4462
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How does one calculate the wattage of a biomass fired water heater

My newly designed "biomass fired water heater" gives 50 liters of boiled water within 20 minutes by firing 2kg of firewood. Room temperature is 30 deg. centigrade. Please let me know how to calculate the wattage.
Anura
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How does transportation cost depend on food?

Given that two foods requiring refrigeration have the same weight and volume and are being shipped from one location to another via the same method, how does the environmental impact of that transportation depend on the type of food being shipped?
Please stop being evil
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Is there any link between deforestation and paper use?

Or to phrase it differently: Are we, by using paper, causing any change in an overall forests area. My guess is that none of paper we use comes from deforested land. That paper industry is continually replanting forests in order to keep their…
kub1x
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What type of cheese has the lowest carbon footprint?

An answer to a question about the carbon footprint of cheese inspired this question. According to Wikipedia, cheese can be made from the milk of several animals: cows goats sheep buffalo reindeer yak donkey moose camel Another key ingredient in…
LShaver
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Types and quantities of air pollutants by fuel, per kWh, for electricity generation?

An often repeated claim is that transitioning from coal to natural gas reduces air pollution... but what pollutants? and by how much? how is the potential reduction calculated? While natural gas (left) is roughly the same anywhere in the world, coal…
LShaver
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Solar UPS with Priority of Power Sources

I would like to add solar to my energy mix. For context, my grid supply is unstable. Currently I have a UPS which switches to Batteries when grid goes down. I have been researching products which can prioritize use of energy in this order: Solar…
bhains
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Water heater vs stovetop: most efficient way to heat water using natural gas?

When I am going to boil a pot of water for cooking, will the total energy consumption be less if I start with hot water from the tap? A few considerations: Both the water heater and the stove burn natural gas (methane) The water heater is less than…
LShaver
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How much could the US reduce its electricity demand if people moved from Texas back to Ohio?

I have a theory that I am trying to develop empirical support for. I believe that the migration of people from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt has caused an increase in overall electricity usage and carbon emissions due to increased air conditioning…
kingledion
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