Posts for energy
Smart Homes – dumb devices and people in between
Most of those smart plugin-devices are not smart at all but constantly send wireless signals to your router, slowly frying you and charging you up. They usually do not adjust their signal strength and have hardly any interface to set up and adjust anything other…
Bay of Plenty gets New Zealand’s first ‘perfect 10’ Homestar house
A home under construction in Papamoa has just become the first in the country to achieve the highest possible rating of 10 Homestar. [..]While I always like great sustainable buildings, I am also very careful with achievements vs. cost. After all, economics are part of…
How we design
Again and again I am astonished as to how long it takes for a great idea for a design until it becomes mainstream. It likewise amazes me how we design things on a daily basis, the things that are not the great inventions but just…
Net-zero INhouse boasts water-smart solutions essential for parched California | Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building
Stories of drought-stricken California have become sadly common, with many citizens forced to slash their water use so severely they’ve let their gardens die. Luckily, innovative architecture is proving that a water-conscious lifestyle doesn’t necessitate giving up your green thumb. Students at the California Polytechnic…
Establishing a feed-in tariff for electricity | TOKO Petitions
I sometimes do not agree with what Greenpeace are trying to do, like the one below:We petition the NZ Government to establish a feed-in tariff which power companies must pay for surplus power fed into the national grid by people with photo-voltaic panels or other…
At the Core of Sustainable Electronics
Some interesting thoughts about electronics and power consumption. But there is another side of electronics that is so often completely ignored or at least ignored in big parts: EMF.There’s rightfully much ado about the climate — from extreme weather events, severe droughts and water crises…
The Spiky shower curtain will kick you out of the shower after 4 minutes
Maybe not that super practical, but a great gag idea for the teenagers…So you think it’s okay to continue with your 15-minute shower because you’ve got your super-efficient, on-demand water heater and extra-conservative shower head? Perhaps you’ve even gone as far as…Source: The Spiky shower…
Ingo @ Green Living Show: Smarter House Design – Affordable And Sustainable Homes For New Zealand
I will be presenting at the Green Living Show 2015 at the ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane, Room 3, 10:30 am on Sunday 28 June.The subject will be: “Smarter House Design – Affordable And Sustainable Homes For New Zealand”.Executive Summary: Land and resources become scarcer and more expensive, energy…
Auckland Housing crisis – all the wrong assumptions and information
The median house price in Auckland is now at $750K, a number that our family would probably struggle to afford with us two parents working in well advanced positions. Clearly investors are currently setting the market price as they have access to the required funds,…
Electric powered 1972 Datsun 1200 gives drag-racing fraternity a shake-up.
Cool, just plain cool. This Taupo based car is great. And there’s hardly anything under the hood. Hope this will change the perception of some petrol heads… Bright yellow, battery-powered 1972 Datsun 1200 gives V8 drag-racing fans a shake-up. There’s something strange about Tom Short’s…