DIY Life

Inhabitant and Core77 are hosting a greener electronics design competition. The event will take place on February 1, 2008 at the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York city. They are looking for products that reduce the environmental impact of consumer electronics. Your design can target any stage of the product life-cycle. They suggest you consider these three areas of sustainability:

1. Energy
2. Materials / Life-cycle / Recycling
3. Social and educational development
   

If you have a cool gadget idea that considers our carbon footprint, uses less energy, employs green technology or recycling, then this might just be the way to showcase your innovation. You can win a little green too, so get those solar powered wheels turning and submit your ideas to the Greener Gadgets competition.

Entry information, event schedule, and prizes can all be found here. Entry deadline is January 28. I'm excited to see all the new ideas that will come out of this competition.

One third of all household waste is organic. That means that a significant portion of the garbage in most homes could have been composted. If you have the space and a garden that would benefit from rich top soil, consider building a compost bin in your yard.

This compost bin is a simple DIY project constructed from old shipping pallets. You can find recycled wooden pallets at a furniture, office, or hardware store. Most places that ship large items use these pallets and they are happy to give them away.

According to the U.S.Department of Energy, there is a checklist of items which you can look at around your house to determine if you are doing your fair share to support your home in its energy conservation program. You see, your house wants to save energy. If you could ask, it would tell you so.

Houses which have higher efficiency rankings also have fewer problems related to mold, mildew, rot and decay. An energy efficient house is not as prone to moisture damage caused by condensation as a poorly insulated house is. When thinking about water damage to homes, flooding is the first major cause, leakage from above is second and condensation due to poor insulation runs a close third.