NOTICE: Large moosehead wall lights have finally been invented.
360 Modern is a real estate firm in the Pacific Northwest U.S. that specializes in modern homes. Beautiful stuff.
Handy way to skip all the intro crap on DVDs that is usually forced on you when you throw a disc in your player. Apparently the chapters on DVDs that you can't skip (FBI warnings, copyright stuff, etc.) are flagged, on the disc, as UOP, or User Operation Prohibited. This site lists some of the techniques you can try to skip the ennui.
This colour coordinated bookshelf looks cool, but you might have a hard time finding a particular title.
For chewie edge lovers or corner brownie fans - it's the Edge Brownie Pan. All edges, all the time. Via BoingBoing
Puzzle carpet.
This to That is a handy site that will tell you what adhesive to use when attempting to glue various objects together.
Super creative bathroom tiles.
Skinny house in Brazil.
Apparently there are many LED lightbulbs available already. Via TreeHugger
WiiRoomba. YouTube of a guy controlling his Roomba with a Wii remote.
Hardcore Lost fans have a party and repackage the snacks and beer as Dharma Initiative rations. Make your own with the PDFs that they've so generously shared.
Here's a nice set of home improvement videos with the energetic and snappy Eric Stromer.
Faucet Fountain turns your regular faucet into a drinking fountain.
Kids and the Home Office. Here's a list of tips for the parent that works from home.
Save the Internet.
Great Pac-Man bathroom tile work.
Crazy toaster from the future TODAY!
Here is a nice napkin folding howto site with clean pictures and straightforward instructions. I think the shirt's my favourite.
DIY T-Shirt Rack via Instructables.
360 Modern is a real estate firm in the Pacific Northwest U.S. that specializes in modern homes. Beautiful stuff.
Handy way to skip all the intro crap on DVDs that is usually forced on you when you throw a disc in your player. Apparently the chapters on DVDs that you can't skip (FBI warnings, copyright stuff, etc.) are flagged, on the disc, as UOP, or User Operation Prohibited. This site lists some of the techniques you can try to skip the ennui.
This colour coordinated bookshelf looks cool, but you might have a hard time finding a particular title.
For chewie edge lovers or corner brownie fans - it's the Edge Brownie Pan. All edges, all the time. Via BoingBoing
Puzzle carpet.
This to That is a handy site that will tell you what adhesive to use when attempting to glue various objects together.
Super creative bathroom tiles.
Skinny house in Brazil.
Apparently there are many LED lightbulbs available already. Via TreeHugger
WiiRoomba. YouTube of a guy controlling his Roomba with a Wii remote.
Hardcore Lost fans have a party and repackage the snacks and beer as Dharma Initiative rations. Make your own with the PDFs that they've so generously shared.
Here's a nice set of home improvement videos with the energetic and snappy Eric Stromer.
Faucet Fountain turns your regular faucet into a drinking fountain.
Kids and the Home Office. Here's a list of tips for the parent that works from home.
Save the Internet.
Great Pac-Man bathroom tile work.
Crazy toaster from the future TODAY!
Here is a nice napkin folding howto site with clean pictures and straightforward instructions. I think the shirt's my favourite.
DIY T-Shirt Rack via Instructables.
Consumer Reports Air Conditioner Power Calculator
How powerful an air conditioner do you need? Consumer Reports have created a comprehensive air conditioner power calculator that uses criteria such as geographic location, room size, wall frame type, ceiling height, window size/orientation and more to determine the most energy efficient air conditioner for your space. The calculator uses your actual kWh rate to produce a yearly operating cost estimate.
Via Fepy.com
Sub Thirty Dollar Homemade Air Conditioner
Some enterprising student at the University of Waterloo has made his own air conditioner using a fan, a large garbage can and some vinyl and copper tubing. The device works as follows:Here's the basic setup. The garbage can is filled with ice water, which is then fed by gravity (a siphon) through the copper tubing coiled along the back of the fan. The hot air passing through the tubing warms the cold water, cooling the air. Waste warm water is then pumped outside. The system will cool an average room to a comfortable level in approximately 15-20 minutes. Depending on flow rate, a full bucket of water will last approximately 1-3 hours. I use a single bucket before bed on hot nights, which lets me get to sleep. Once the water runs out, the house has cooled off enough that the fan alone provides sufficient cooling.
Recently, someone has posted instructions for making improvements to the homemade air conditioner, which involves an aquarium pump to recycle the water, which in the first generation model, was routed outside the house.
Via LifeHacker
First Affordable Zero Energy Home in the US
Ideal Homes of Norman, Oklahoma has produced a "Zero Energy Home" that sells for just under $200,000. ZEH have been produced before, but have tended to be much more expensive and thus out of reach of the average consumer.The home is connected to the power grid, but attempts to satisfy as much of it's own energy requirements through alternative, renewable methods as well as utilizing high efficiency construction techniques, resulting in net zero energy consumption for the year.
From the site:
"Zero energy homes get a black eye in my mind," says McKown, "Every time they do a demonstration site, they run out and they hire some brilliant architect and they go off and they build this one-off amazing house that sticks out of the neighborhood like a prairie chicken, and it costs a million dollars. Everybody looks at that and says, 'That's interesting. With enough money, you can do anything.' "We wanted to show that you can take any house out of a builder's product line," McKown continues, "and make it a zero energy house and it would look and feel and be just like a regular house, and it doesn't have to cost a million dollars. We could do it under $200,000."
The home made use of some interesting energy saving technology, such as:
- Tankless water heaters
- Ground source heat pumps
- South facing solar panels
- Low-e vinyl windows
- Fresh Air HVAC system
Internet Controllable Thermostat
Proliphix produces an internet connected programmable thermostat that uses your LAN as its power supply with the aid of an (additional) ethernet power adapter. The thermostat's configuration/monitoring webpage is accessible from within your home network as well as from the internet. The company also offers wall mountable and paintable sensors to increase whole-house temperature accuracy. From the site: Proliphix offers indoor temperature sensors, which can be mounted away from the thermostat so that temperature inside a home or small business can be averaged across multiple rooms to avoid hot or cold spots and wasted energy. With an optional Proliphix outdoor temperature sensor connected to a networked thermostat, the heating/cooling system can be controlled more precisely to efficiently and more comfortably overcome the indoor to outdoor temperature difference. The web browser configuration tool is simple to use and allows users to easily configure heating or cooling programs to maximize comfort and minimize energy use.
Smarthome sells the Proliphix NT20e, which is the same unit but with 2 additional remote temperature sensors, for use in monitoring different zones within your home or even the outdoor temperature.
Categories: heating thermostat internet energy efficiency hvac automation cool
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Whole House Cooling Fan
Mounted between your house and your attic, this 'Whole House Cooler' by Tamarack Technologies claims to be able to reduce the cost of home air conditioning by as much as 30%, all on the energy it takes to run two 60W light bulbs. From the site: Engineered to reduce indoor air temperature, the HV pushes the hot air out of the house through the attic and replaces it with cooler outside air. The HV utilizes twin, high-tech, super efficient fan motors to minimize noise and power consumption. Our systems have the industry's only automatic door assembly, providing an air-tight seal with an insulating value of R-22.
The unit operates by remote control to boot.
Telephone Controlled Thermostat
It sucks coming home to a cold house. Unfortunately, if you've programmed a timed temperature drop in your home in order to save energy, you may have experienced this upon coming home early or off schedule. Avoid such a predicament with a telephone controllable thermostat that allows you to call home and chat with your heating system, giving you time to work things out.
Talkingthermostats.com offers this device, of which you can hear a sample of here.
Categories: telephone thermostat energy efficiency gadgets hvac toys automation cool michaeldouglas
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