Vegthreads

The nice folks over at hacknmod.com have came up with an easy 3 step tutorial to convert your gas powered lawn mower to a solar powered one. They boost the project will save you cash, while letting you feel good about mowing your lawn.

The tutorial is divided into 3 steps

1. Remove the engine from your gas powered mower.
2. Charge the electric engine with a solar panel.
3. Put it all together.

A comprehensive tutorial can be found here.

Most people have probably never heard of the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) maintained by the US department of energy currently housing more then 727 million barrels of crude oil. The reserves were originally created to mitigate future petroleum supply disruptions during the 73-74 oil embargo. With the oil embargo long past the reserves now seem rather foolish. To put things into perspective the 727 million barrels housed in the reserve would account for a 58 day supply of oil to the entire nation (we use about 12 million barrels per day). If the oil was allowed to enter the market the price at the pump would drop by about 30 cents per gallons.

Considering the ever increasing price of gasoline, releasing this crude oil into the market to be refined would come as a relief to consumers. The flip side of course is currently the US is capable of refining only about 2 million barrels per day total, far from the current 12 million barrels we devour each day. Since we have not built any new refineries for the past 25 years within US boundaries refining the oil would be a major obstacle to overcome.

In the midst of rampant unemployment, and a bleak economic forecast the outlook for the summer of 2008 is grim at best. Housing prices continue to drop, while commodity prices continue to rise, and gas prices, ugh well lets just say gas is becoming out of reach for many if not all Americans. The economist inside of me is tempted to say this is a good thing, after all rising gas prices will lead consumers to switch to now relatively cheaper greener substitutes such as hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius. At least theoretically in the school of standard economic thought that’s how things should work. But as I grow older I’m slowly but surely discovering things almost never go according to plan.

Traditional economic thought would insist that the rising price of gas should lure entrepreneurial spirits to invest in the research and development of new transportation technologies to cash in on their piece of the pie. And in someways this theoretical model is met with empirical (real world) data. Companies like Tesla Motors have successfully developed viable vehicles that run entirely on electric power. So why aren’t we seeing more of these vehicles on the road? Well for one Tesla has produced a very limited number of automobiles, and their vehicles come at a high price, somewhere to the tune of $100k. Placing them far out of the reach of almost all Americans.

Companies like Tesla have proved the technology to build, and develop a viable electric car is there. Heck GM proved the technology was there back in the mid 90’s when they first rolled out the EV1. If your not already familiar with the GM EV1 it was a production vehicle which ran solely on electrical power. The vehicle was developed in response to California’s zero emissions mandate or ZEV. The mandate specified that by the year 2003 10% of all new vehicles sold within the state of California must be ZEV compliant vehicles. So much for that mandate eh? Well long story GM developed the EV1, and eventually after some under the table negotiations with big oil agreed to pull the EV1 from production. The thing is not only did GM pull the EV1 from productions, they literally bought back every vehicles from consumers for copious amounts of cold hard cash. Sound suspicious? Ya I would say so, if your not already familiar with all of this I suggest you check out the movie “Who Killed The Electric Car” which traces the birth and subsequent death of the electric automobile. Read the rest of this entry »

Consumerism or the process of equating personal happiness with consumption is the economic principle that seems to define our generation. Although these practices have been around since the rise of civilization, our generation seems to have taken it to an extreme. Thorstein Veblen first coined the term conspicuous consumption which evolved into the term consumerism. Veblen viewed the practice as an “irrational and confounding economic behavior” stating

“It is true of dress in even a higher degree than of most other items of consumption, that people will undergo a very considerable degree of privation in the comforts or the necessaries of life in order to afford what is considered a decent amount of wasteful consumption; so that it is by no means an uncommon occurrence, in an inclement climate, for people to go ill clad in order to appear well dressed.” (The Theory of the Leisure Class, 1899).

Over one hundred years later individuals still strive to define themselves by the clothes they wear, and the materials they possess. The appeal of certain commercial brands may be largely due to their ability to enhance ones social status. Our fascination with commercial brands, and consumerism as a whole has placed American’s on a hedonistic treadmill of sorts. The speed the treadmill is ran at ultimately serves as an indicator of level of economic growth. The faster goods, and services are gobbled up by consumers the faster the economy should grow, theoretically.

Our hedonistic tendencies of course come at a price. Namely in the form of waste. Large landfills bigger then some states have sprouted up throughout the country. One of the main components of any landfill are foodstuffs. Food waste, food packaging, and beverage containers. In the picture above we see plastic water bottles that have been thrown away. Sadly in America every 5 minutes 2,000,0000 plastic water bottles are thrown away! The picture below should give you a visual of exactly what that looks like.

Read the rest of this entry »

When you throw your old plastic water bottles away they end up at the dump.  Once there they can take well over 100 years to decompose.  As they do decompose they release harmful methane gas in the air, and toxic sludge into the ground that ultimately ends up in our groundwater, and lakes/beeches.  So instead of pitching your old plastic water bottles use one of our 5 ultra cool uses for your old plastic water bottles, and you’ll be on your way to eco-bliss.

1. As a substitutes for sandbags. If you live in a place that receives a good amount of annual snowfall chances are you put sandbags in your trunk in the winter to gain better tractions.  The downside to sandbags are they can bust open creating a mess, plus they are really heavy.  Why not simply pour sand in your old plastic bottles, not to mention this way when you get stuck in the snow you can simply unscrew the cap on the bottle and dump the sand around your tires, and away you go!
2. As a Water balloon filler. Instead of dropping five bucks on a water balloon filler, simply pour some water in your old bottles, place the water balloon over the spout and tip over the bottle with the balloon still attached to fill your ballon. 
3. Use a Piggy bank. Who doesn’t need to save money these days.  Instead of dropping your hard earned dollars on a piggy bank why not create a green piggy bank by refilling your old plastic bottles with your change.  BTW you may have to cut off a portion of the top to be able to fit quarters, and nickels down the hole.
4. Use as ice packs. Fill your bottle about 2/3’s of the way up (water expands when it freezes) then place in the fridge.  Then when you need an ice pack just grab your old bottle.  Plus once the ice melts you could even drink the water.
5. As a funnel. Whether your working on your car or mixing together those pancakes made with hemp, everyone has a need for a funnel.  Just cut the top off your bottle and you’ve got one!

Got your own unique uses for old plastic water bottles?  Tell us about it!  You can also check out this site for more cool ways to reuse your old water bottles.  Also please note the jury still seems to be out regarding whether its a good idea or not to reuse plastic water bottles.