Recycling and D.I.Y. projects go hand in hand.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/diy_recycling_f.php

DIY: Recycling Floppy Disks

Recycling and D.I.Y. projects go hand in hand. And if yours don't, then perhaps you should re-think the way you are doing your DIY projects.
And speaking of recycling, I just wanted to post this link and teaser for an article for 2 reasons: I wanted to put it where I could find it again, and I wanted to hopefully spark some imagination in my readers.

PLEASE give props and tips to the original author of this article.

DIY: Recycling Floppy Disks
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia on 06.27.07
DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE (recycled)


The floppy disk was the medium of choice during the 80's and 90's, they are now relegated to landfill, and cost dollars to dispose of correctly. People are great at finding ways to recycle and are making the floppy disk into something useful! Instructables has a great 'how-to' on how to make stuff out of floppy disks. Try your hand at making a bag or if that is too much for you get some crafty geekery for your home office with this floppy disk pen holder from Etsy. Others ideas for re-using these floppy disks include, notepads like this or this and there is a simple little 'how-to' at gear log for these and more fun floppy disk geekery, but for something slightly more stylish try this bag.

Another good article for further reading is:

http://www.inthewake.org/howtos/diy-recycling.html

A Collective Manual-in-progress for Outliving Civilization
DIY Recycling

Do-it-yourself recycling is about modifying and reusing cheap and widely available rubbish to meet our own needs. [Skip to projects]

Part of the appeal is simple waste-reduction. By modifying what would otherwise be junk to meet my needs I can avoid buying something else for the same purpose. Or if I have limited money, or in a collapse context, I can make something useful I wouldn't otherwise have. DIY recycling can use much less energy than full-blown industrial recycling.

DIY recycling also allows us to keep materials in our own communities instead of giving them right back to the corporate economy. Many of us are hesitant to give a source of cheap raw materials to an economy that isn't exactly renowned for making good, ethical choices about what to do with those materials. As peak oil progresses, militaries and corporations will no doubt have increasing demands for all sorts of cheap raw materials and I'm not very inclined to give them up once I have them in my hands.

And I found this one interesting, especially since I have a fondness for cardboard.

http://www.tarabox.com/eng/bett_2.html

Cardboard:

How to make platforms from cardboard: This site has an example of a really simple way to make platforms out of corrugated cardboard that you could use to put your bed on, for example.

How to Generate Your Own Electricity: Living Off the Grid

(Cited from: http://www.dannylipford.com/diy-home-improvement/electrical-and-lighting/living-off-the-grid-generating-your-own-electricity/ )

Living Off the Grid: How to Generate Your Own Electricity

Taking the Alternative Energy Plunge
When my wife and I moved to Montana last year, we found a comfortable home on several acres with a view of the mountains. There was only one hitch – the house was off the grid. In fact, everyone in the subdivision generated their own power, including the bed and breakfast nearby.

That doesn’t mean it was primitive. The house had solar panels, a wind turbine, a battery bank and inverter, a generator, and a full range of appliances including washer and dryer, refrigerator, stove, satellite TV, propane furnace, and even a dishwasher. Since I had operated a cogeneration power plant before coming to Montana, I wasn’t too concerned about generating my own electric power, so we bought the house.

If saving money is your goal, you need to crunch some numbers and do some research. If saving the environment is your goal, then the investment is worth it.

Alternative Energy Cost
Since then, I’ve learned the second lesson of renewable energy: while the energy may be free, it still costs more than electricity from a utility company. This may not be obvious, so let me explain. The following are the approximate prices for the equipment we have now, materials only – installation is extra:

Solar array 1 kW $6,000
Dual-axis tracker $6,250
Wind generator w/50 ft tower 1 kW $3,700
Inverter/charger 4 kW $3,000
Batteries (1 day reserve) $8,000
Total $26,950
If you assume that we receive eight hours of sun and eight hours of wind per day (a generous assumption), we would produce 487 kW-hours of electric energy per month from renewable sources. This is almost half the 920 kW-hours per month that was used by the average American home in 2006.


Electrical inverter/charger

Assuming the equipment has a 20-year lifespan, it will produce 116,880 kW-hours of energy during that time, and my prorated cost for the equipment will be $0.23 per kW-hour. That’s more than twice the average cost of the same amount of energy from the local utility company.

Thats some hefty investing. BUT if its done right and quality equipment and parts are used then over time much money can be saved.

D.I.Y Genius: Making a floating island from plastic bottles

Gentleman lives on floating plastic bottle island home

Xeni Jardin at 8:07 PM Monday, Sep 13, 2010
(Cited from: "http://www.boingboing.net/

Mr. "Rishi" Sowa lives on an floating island.That he made. From empty plastic bottles and a few mangrove plants. In Mexico.

From the blog:

From 1998 to 2005, Rishi Sowa hand-built and lived on the first Spiral Island, which floated on over 300,000 recycled bottles! It was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005. Rishi has now built an even better island at Isla Mujeres, Mexico, in a lagoon which offers shelter from bad weather! Rishi will continue to make improvements to the Island, so it will always be a eco-work-of-art in progress!

YouTube video by The Resident.

There's an online community of "Spiral Islanders" here.

DIY Guide to Soundproofing a Room

This article is from here:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/106884/diy_guide_to_soundproofing_a_room.html


Soundproofing a room can make your home more enjoyable and improve the value of your home. Many people think of recording studios when a soundproofed room is mentioned; however, it is increasingly popular to 
soundproof rooms for other reasons, like creating a soundproofed room for a home theater. Noise pollution, whether from inside the home or outside, can be a significant annoyance or disturbance. Whether you want to keep noise out of your home or limit sound inside your home from traveling to other houses or rooms here are some DIY tips you can use to soundproof your room.

When planning your soundproofing project it is helpful to remember some basic science about sound. Sound can be defined as energy propagated by mechanical vibration. The three factors that are involved in reducing sound intensity are air, mass and distance. Distance is something you probably do not have too much control over while preparing to soundproof your room. Most DIY projects to soundproof a room are going to be concerned with air and mass. Mass is significant because heavier objects stop more sound than lighter objects (except perhaps fiberglass insulation). The general rule is that if you double the mass of a wall only half the sound will be transmitted through to the other side. However, remember too that as the frequency of the sound lowers it becomes more difficult to isolate. For every one octave drop in pitch the sound reduction is reduced by half. This is why you can hear the bass sounds coming out of a concert or arena.


Read the rest of this here:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/106884/diy_guide_to_soundproofing_a_room.html