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1500 questions
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votes
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How to interpret the efficiency of ground-source heat pumps?
This page at energy.gov says the following about geothermal (or ground-source) heat pumps.
Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs), sometimes referred to as GeoExchange, earth-coupled, ground-
source, or water-source heat pumps, have been in use since the…
mac01021
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6
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documented research on best practice for encouraging behaviour change towards more sustainable transport?
Cars have large overheads in terms of energy, materials, physical space requirements, accident casualties, and local & global pollution. But, particularly in anglophone countries, few interventions seem to have had significant impact in mitigating…
410 gone
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How to monitor energy use in existing office building without submetering?
Our office occupies one floor of a 4-story, one hundred year old building. We are making tenant-level improvements to our space, and are interested in lowering and monitoring our energy use, but are unable to install submetering or take significant…
megankoehler
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6
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Uses for Winter Creeper (Euonymus fortunei), also known as just Euonymus?
The property we are gradually developing into a forest garden is absolutely overrun with Purple Winter Creeper (Euonymus fortunei). It's quite the invasive and suffocates most other species in the area. My first instinct is to just sheet mulch it…
Daniel Bingham
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Where are the world's wave resources, beyond the UK and Portugal?
Are there maps of the global resource for near-coast (<200km or so) wave power? I know that the UK has a particularly good resource - the kinetic energy in the waves in UK waters amounts to an estimated 80 GW. And I think Portugal has a good…
410 gone
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How do word processing on a laptop and writing with pen and paper stack up sustainability-wise?
I suddenly had to write a packing list for a trip I'm going to make (a really sustainable one), scribbling it off the top of my head while it was on my mind.
I had the choice of writing the list with pencil on the unused back of a piece of paper…
user487
6
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1 answer
What is the global environmental impact of holiday decorations?
Just a random curiosity question here. How much do all the holiday lights and other such decorations affect the environment? Relative to the footprint of a house a set of outdoor lights is probably pretty minimal, but if you add up all the…
dsollen
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In general, is cardboard with a plastic coating acceptable for recycling?
Many children's toys and other items come with a box or package made of cardboard with a thin plastic coating. How does this affect the recycling process?
Can paper recycling facilities generally process this material?
I think some cardboard…
Highly Irregular
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Burning wood efficiently via rocket stove
Is burning wood considered sustainable if the efficiency can be improved up to 90% compared to the 50% of conventional burning stoves?
Jacob Jan Tuinstra
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Where to find cross-country data on winter thermostat (temperature) settings?
P. 136 of this pdf tells us that the average internal winter temperature of homes in Great Britain in 2010 was 16.9°C (62.4°F).
I am interested in finding the corresponding figures for other developed countries (e.g. US, Japan, Germany), where can I…
user1631
6
votes
4 answers
What are some ways to affordably furnish a temporary apartment?
I will be living in an unfurnished apartment for my final year of college. I'm a pretty handy guy with access to power tools and experience with designing my own basic (cheap) furniture. However, I'd love to save some money this year as I go to…
pheidlauf
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Recycling paper at home
What are, in your opinion or according to your direct experience, the easiest and most convenient way to recycle and re-use paper at home?
usumdelphini
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How much does 'economic sustainability' translate into 'environmental sustainability'?
Does buying a product that costs less money (though being produced in the same way), really translate into better environmental sustainability, or does it just mean you have more money without changing your environmental impact?
If the latter, what…
user487
6
votes
2 answers
Recycling video (VCR) tapes in the UK
Like many I have a large pile of redundant VCR tapes. We're moving house so I'm having to landfill them as the local recycling facilities won't take them. Does anyone know of a recycling (or bulk re-purposing) scheme in the UK?
As an aside I am…
Cheeseminer
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Where can I recycle plastic caps in the US?
The city recycling bins in Denver don't allow plastic caps but some other cities do so it is possible to recycle them. Does anyone have any ideas where or how I could recycle the caps?
user1503
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