Chelsea Green Blog
Renewable Energy
Earth Day Reading: 13 Essential Books
This year, people all around the world are celebrating a milestone—the 50th anniversary of this international day of action for our environment. Why not celebrate Earth Day by reading about our great planet? We’ve compiled 13 books to get you started! In Courting the Wild Twin, Dr. Martin Shaw invites us to seek out our wild…
Read More
How to Make Biochar
For something that looks like a lump of charcoal, biochar certainly has a great press agent. The subject of books, articles, blog posts, research papers, workshop presentations, conference talks, and various top-ten-ideas-that-will-change-the-world lists. Its potential ability to address a variety of global challenges is indisputably large. So, how exactly do you make this strange material?…
Read More
Solar Cooker & Dehydrator: How to Design Your Own
In today’s world, nearly everything we use, from phones and computers to cars and kitchen appliances, requires energy derived from fossil fuels. Wouldn’t it be nice to offset some of that energy use by harnessing the renewable power of the sun? Josh Trought, founder of D Acres—an educational center in New Hampshire that researches, applies,…
Read More
Replacing Windows? Understand Your New Glass Options
Having been in my passive solar home for 35 years, my original Alcoa windows were showing their age. The time had come to upgrade. My current experience of selecting which window and glass type to purchase turned out to be more formidable than I anticipated even as a professional in solar home design. There now…
Read More
Evaporative Cooling Box: A DIY Project
Learn how to make an evaporative cooling box from home this weekend with these helpful & simple tips! The following is an excerpt from The Carbon Free Home: 36 Remodeling Projects to Help Kick the Fossil-Fuel Habit by Stephen & Rebekah Hren. It has been adapted for the Web. How to Make An Evaporative Cooling…
Read More