Solar Water Still Construction You can use stills in various areas of the world. They draw moisture from the ground and from plant material. You need certain materials to build a still, and you need time to let it collect the water. It takes about 24 hours to get 0.5 to 1 liter of water. Aboveground Still To make the aboveground still, you need a sunny slope on which to place the still, a clear plastic bag, green leafy vegetation, and a small rock (Figure 6-6). To make the still-- Fill the bag with air by turning the opening into the breeze or by "scooping" air into the bag. To get the condensed water from the still, loosen the tie around the bag's mouth and tip the bag so that the water collected around the rock will drain out. Change the vegetation in the bag after extracting most of the water from it. Belowground Still To make a belowground still, you need a digging tool, a container, a clear plastic sheet, a drinking tube, and a rock (Figure 6-7). To construct the still-- Back to Water Procurement
Solar Oven Transforms Salt Water to Drinkable Water Of all the water on earth, only an incredibly small percentage is available for us to use and drink… the remainder is largely highly salty water, or at best brackish water with unhealthy levels of salt. For much of the western world, where water is plentifully available and piped right to your location this is hardly an issue for concern; but in countries where limited water availability is compounded by heavy pollution and miles of walking each day to collect it, the situation becomes a lot more dire. Enter Italian designer Gabriele Diamanti and his fascinating Eliodomestico. See Also Water Down: Detailing the Global Water Crisis The deceivingly simple device transforms salty water to clean drinkable water in one day of sun exposure – just by filling the top-mounted black boiler with salty water and tightening the cap. Diamanti was inspired to create the project by his own extensive travel and by his friends’ work with NGOs. ↬ fastcodesign
DIY Solar Still How To Make Your Own Distilled Water Make your own distilled water from stream or lake water, salt water, or even brackish, dirty water, using these DIY Solar Still Plans. With just a few basic building materials, a sheet of glass and some sunshine, you can purify your own water at no cost and with minimal effort. Distilled water is not just for drinking, and it’s always worth keeping a few gallons of it on hand. Clean water free of chemicals and minerals has a number of valuable uses: • Always refill the lead-acid batteries used for solar energy systems or automobiles with distilled water • Water delicate plants like orchids with distilled water; minerals and additives like fluoride or chlorine that are present in most tap water can harm plants • Distilled water mixed with antifreeze is recommended for car radiators, as it’s less corrosive • Steam irons become clogged with mineral deposits unless you use distilled water How to Make a Solar Still The operation of the distiller is simple. 1.
Sell mobile phones: Sell your unwanted mobile phone - mobile phone recycling Cashmyfone is the UK's fastest growing mobile phone recycling company in the uk and heres why; At cashmyfone.co.uk we guarantee to beat all other mobile phone recycling companies on price for high end handsets. If you find a better price, feel free to give us a call and we promise to beat or match the price. Unlike other mobile recycling companies we actually buy brand new handsets as well offering the highest prices in the industry so if you have an unwanted upgrade or a brand new handset why not see what we can offer you. At cashmyfone.co.uk its quick, easy, and anyone can do it with our easy to use website; STEP 1: Find you phone through our search function, just type in the make and model number and we will quote you a price there and then, we display pictures of the handsets, so it’s easier for you to identify. STEP 2: Then you can review your order, describe your handset as ‘Brand New’, ‘Used’, or ‘Non-Working’ and quantity. And it’s as simple as that with cashmyfone.co.uk
How To Build A Solar-Powered Still To Purify Drinking Water The author’s solar still, with one pan in it. The still actually has room for two of these. Note that the glass top is at an angle, allowing the water to flow down to the catch tube. Everyone agrees that water is needed for survival and articles abound for how to find water and purify it for drinking. But all those articles have one thing in common: They are talking about purifying water from biological hazards. Normally, the biggest hazards we face from drinking water are microorganisms: bacteria, protozoa and other parasites which can enter our system and make us quite sick. While those biological hazards are important, they aren’t the only thing we can find in our drinking water. Distillation is a simple process, although it can be difficult to accomplish in quantity. The really great thing about distillation is that nothing else evaporates with the water. A solar still, like many solar collector devices, consists of a glass-covered box, which is painted on the inside.
Micro Cottages and Tiny Houses from Houseplans.com 1-800-913-2350 Enter valid plan # (ex: 12-345) Micro Cottage Floor Plans Micro Cottage floor plans with less than 1,000 square feet of heated space -- sometimes much less -- are rapidly growing in popularity. The smallest, including the Four Lights Tiny Houses are small enough to mount on a trailer and may not require permits depending on local codes. These tiny house plans are perfect second homes and vacation getaways and, for the right person or couple, make great starter homes to be expanded over time as circumstances and budgets allow. Read More More... Narrow by Features Clear Sort By Signature Plan 917-4 on sale for $656.10 Plan 498-3 on sale for $810.00 Plan 890-1 on sale for $742.50 Plan 497-23 on sale for $356.40 Plan 891-3 on sale for $1575.00 Plan 449-14 on sale for $675.00 Plan 917-2 on sale for $944.10 Plan 479-9 on sale for $1552.50 Plan 497-14 on sale for $445.50 Plan 48-641 from $525.00 Plan 426-16 on sale for $517.50 Plan 915-8 on sale for $683.10 Plan 479-10 on sale for $1552.50
Amazing Low-Tech Water Harvester Even in places where there’s a severe lack of water, there’s one thing every place has. Air. And even in the most arid of climes, there’s moisture in the air, even if it’s not enough to be felt on your skin. With a deceptively modest design, Airdrop filters hot environmental air through a turbine, feeding it through a copper tubing system—with copper wool to maximize surface area—and into the earth where it cools and releases moisture. Okay, that’s just genius and badass. Via Tiny House Talk Portable Solar Desalination 'Plant' That May Aid In Third World Water Woes By Meera Dolasia on September 14, 2012 CCSSNAS-1NCSS-3Word Search 'Water, Water everywhere, not a drop to drink' - That, unfortunately, is the situation faced by millions of residents in developing countries who are surrounded by oceans, but have no access to fresh drinking water. The Eliodomestico works just like a coffee percolator except, upside down. The Eliodomestico is then placed in a sunny area causing the liquid in the container to heat up and turn to steam. The best part is that this portable device can desalinate up to five liters of water at a time and after the initial purchase price estimated to be about $50 USD, costs nothing extra to operate. Resources: Gizmag.com, gabriellediamanti.com
Tiny Houses | Tiny Home Builders What is a tiny house? A tiny house is a small house that is sized such that it can fit on a trailer. In most areas this means that it can’t be bigger than 8 feet 6 inches wide, 13 feet 6 inches tall, and 40 feet long. The houses are built on trailers since they are too small to be allowed as permanent structures according to most local code enforcement agencies. Why would I live in a tiny house? For many, the dream of owning their own house is only that, a dream. Another advantage of tiny houses is gained time. Another advantage is that the houses can be moved. Finally, one last reason to living in a tiny house is conservation. Why wouldn’t I just buy an RV? RV’s are great for travel, but not so great to live in. Have more questions? Looking for a house for your dog or maybe just a small project to get you started, take a look at our modernDog dog house.
Passive Solar Water Still: Cheap, Clean Water Photo: WaterconePassive Solar One Step Water Condensation FTW!We wrote about the Watercone back in 2004, but considering how much TreeHugger's audience has grown since then, it's likely that only a handful of you were reading the site back then. I think it's time to have a second look at this very clever device that has the potential to help provide clean drinking water for millions of people who are lacking access to clean water (or if they do, maybe the access is intermittent and they could use a plan B). This could save many lives for sure. Photo: WaterconeStep #1: Pour salty / brackish Water into pan. Photo: WaterconeStep #2: The evaporated Water condensates in the form of droplets on the inner wall of the cone. Photo: WaterconeStep #3: By unscrewing the cap at the tip of the cone and turning the cone upside down, one can empty the potable Water gathered in the trough directly into a drinking device.
Plastic Bottle Bulbs Shed Some Light on the Situation | Electric on GOOD For the millions who live in the shantytowns of the developing world, there are better things to spend money on than electricity. But many corrugated-iron-roofed shacks, like the ones seen throughout the poorer neighborhoods of Manila, Philippines, lack windows to let in natural light, leaving residents the choice of complete darkness or running expensive electric bulbs all day. However, a new development project called Liter of Light aims to solve that predicament through an unexpected and highly affordable technology: old soda bottles. When filled with water (with some bleach to keep out the algae) and snugly inserted into custom-cut holes in a roof, plastic bottles refract the sun's rays, scattering about 55 watts of light across a would-be pitch black room. The bulbs have previously been used in Brazil, where a mechanics worker started using the technique during power shortages in Sao Paolo, and in Haiti, as shown in the video below.
Protecting Health and the Planet With Clean Cookstoves This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge. Josephine Adzrolo sat on a stool in front of her mud-brick home, stirring banku, a fermented paste of corn and cassava served with soup or okra stew. She heated the traditional mixture using a typical cooking fuel—charcoal—an energy source linked to serious global health risk. But with her family waiting for lunch, Adzrolo cooked outdoors using a stove specially designed with a ceramic liner to retain heat. Although the scrap-metal exterior gave it a rough-hewn look, the cookstove was rated 40 percent more energy efficient than the traditional stoves used in the area. For Adzrolo, the most obvious advantage was a practical one. Toyola Energy, the five-year-old Ghana business that made the stove, is aiming for far-reaching benefits as well. (Related: "Fighting Poverty Can Save Energy, Nicaragua Project Shows") Global Attention (Related: "The Solvable Problem of Energy Poverty") U.S.
Biochar Clean Cookstoves Boost Health for People and Crops Like many of her neighbors in Amubri, an indigenous community at the southern tip of Costa Rica, Gloria Torress Buitrago relied for years on a fogón for cooking. The traditional open-fire stove is common in Amubri (map), and so are the dire health effects. "It was hard to look around and just breathe without feeling the smoke burning the eyes or throat," Buitrago said. One cousin suffered from asthma, and everyone in her family was constantly tearing up from the wood fire's smoke. Buitrago was just one of three billion people worldwide who rely on such open-fire cookstoves. In regions as diverse as the high mountain valleys of Costa Rica and the agricultural fields of western Kenya, biochar cookstoves are being used to simultaneously clear the air and enrich the soil. Breathing Easier Groups like Seattle, Washington-based SeaChar, the recipient of a $72,000 grant from National Geographic's Great Energy Challenge initiative, have been testing new variations on clean cookstoves.