Inspired by previous styrobotic art, Cool Tools blogger Kevin Kelly and his son built this fine bot from repurposed packing foam – I had five years’ worth of foam accumulated. I had some space in my studio to assemble it. I got my foam cutters handy. So we began designing. The bot had to fit […]
Wired has an interesting article about a DIY solar powered trike. It’s powered by a couple of lead acid batteries and a 24-volt motor. The system is recharged in 24 hours via solar panels both on and off the bike. He bought the trike in 1993 and started playing with the idea of fitting it […]
(Wikipedia’s example of a cob house) Want to build to last hundreds of years with the dirt already on your land? One way might be by cob. Here’s an upcoming seminar that may make a good start: Cob Garden Wall Workshop October 24-26, 2008 Leander, TX $250 – early tuition (paid in full by Sept […]
(My pedicab, pre-foam-addition.) Thanks to everybody who commented on my first post in this series: I’ve got great feedback, including a hilarious put-down from another local pedicabber (“Luke, Death Cab for Cutie called. They want a photo for the next album cover.”) And, appropriately, there’s been a call for data. So here’s what I’ve got: […]
(A rendering of “Our Green Treehouse”) If you find yourself with a desire to see examples of how we might live more in harmony with nature, with a stress on the “in” part, there’s a collection of treehouses being unveiled in San Antone through tomorrow: The Balcones Chapter of the USGBC invites you to come […]
The Green Microgym recently opened in Portland, Oregon – in addition to using solar panels and green building materials, they’re working with several companies that harvest power from gym equipment, including ReRev and Human Dynamo. More: Kinetic charger
Rainwater harvesting’s kind of a no-brainer: when you start looking into it, capturing free water from the sky tends to creep onto your project list. (Image from Austin Water) Here are some Instructables to help you get started on basic systems: Starting with one 55-gallon barrel, and tying in another Getting fancier by going multi-tiered […]
