How Solar Water Heaters Work

As we all know using electricity to generate heat is not very efficient. The good news is that we can heat water and air using the sun as well. We'll just be focusing on solar hot water heaters in this article, but it is possible to partially heat your home with a solar heater as well. Read more »

Carbon Tracking Available

I've always wanted to be able to track how much carbon I put up, but until now I've not been able to. After a poll on the website it turns out that quite a few people would like to be able to track their carbon emissions as well. Read more »

Criminals Going Green Too

No, this isn't an update to tell you that the criminals are trying to do their part to go green. It's more along the lines of criminals have realized that stealing solar panels is quite a lucrative business. Read more »

Always Go For Quality

I was reminded the other day in an email how important it is that some parts of a renewable energy system be the highest quality that you can afford. For some, that may run counter-intuitive to the what you read on the site as we teach you how to save tons of money by building your own renewable energy equipment. Read more »

Thoughts Of The Future

It's been a heck of a ride lately. The green shift seems to be really taking off and more and more people are becoming interested in renewable energy. I've read about exciting new advances in solar and wind technology as well as hear about some governments (not Canada!) offering grants to help people switch to renewable energy. Read more »

Electric Bike Motors

We've talked about the frame for an electric bike as well as batteries for an electric bike. Now it's time to figure out how to make our electric bike move. By that I mean what type of motor to use in an electric bike. Read more »

Electric Bike Batteries

There are three critical things to think about when building an electric bike. While the other things are important they're not nearly as important as the motor you choose, the controller and the batteries you choose. The most dangerous part of course is the batteries because over/under charging or over drawing current from them can cause catastrophic failures. Read more »

Electric Bike Design Considerations - The Frame

When I first started planning out the electric bike project I don't think I really knew what I was getting into. Who though I'd need to worry about the amount of torque is going to be applied to the frame? For those who are interested in the project I'm going to go over some of what I've learned. We're still in the planning stage, but getting closer to reality every day. Read more »

Protect Your Wind Generator From Lightning Strikes

It's storming outside and you've seen some lightning strikes that have been a little bit too close for comfort. Than it happens... your wind generator gets struck by lightning. You're ok though because you took steps to protect yourself from lightning strikes on your wind generator. Read more »

Solar Panels Make Roads Useful

What is black and covers square miles of area? If you answered roads than you're right! Roads all over the world cover huge amounts of area, but they only serve one purpose- to help us get to our destination. Read more »