1 kW is enough to heat 1 liter of water per minute by 14.3 degrees Celsius. If you have a 20 l/min shower head and water pressure to actually deliver that, that’s 20-30 kW of power for as long as the shower is running (if the water is heated by heat pump, that’s output power, input would be 1/4th to 1/3rd, and wastewater heat recovery is possible - but most places don’t have that and use fossil fuel or resistive heating).
A 15 minute, 20l/min shower uses 5-7.5 kWh. You can reduce that by a factor of 6 by using a 10 l shower head and 5 minutes of water (turning the water off while you don’t actively need it). At 200 kg CO2 per MWh (natural gas), that’s 0.3-0.45 tons of CO2 saved per year.
Likewise, lowering the thermostat and saving heating can make a huge difference.
In general on a large scale, living in a smaller apartment is “greener”, since less space needs to be heated, but also less space has to be built, and higher density means less travel.
Heating/housing, food, and travel are typically the biggest parts of your footprint. For travel, distance matters more than the way you move. Flights aren’t great per km traveled but what makes them really impactful is that they make it practical to travel large distances. (Keep that in mind when you see “green” politicians trying to propose measures - often these measures are either purely symbolic, adding annoyance without benefit, or work mostly by making it impractical/undesirable to travel or do otherwise enjoyable things).
Two items I can think of: a bluetooth/wifi controlled multicolored lightbulb and reusable K-cups
Rather than setting up strips of lighting along my ceiling in my apartment, just changing out the bulb in my lamp is a really simple way to have full customization of a room’s lighting. Nowadays, I find myself just lying in bed, changing the color and brightness of the bulb on my phone as I listen to music, changing it to whatever feels the best. Even for regular use, changing how bright or soft the white light is can be useful.
As for the K-cups, it makes for a really easy method of making coffee at the office. Due to a long commute, I have to wake up earlier than I would like to arrive at the office on time, and it generally leaves me little time to prepare coffee at home. During the summer I usually prepare cold brew the night before, though in fall and winter, I prefer warm coffee and I find it easiest to grind whole beans myself, prepare a K-cup the night before, and then brew once I arrive. Simple and clean with very little hassle.
Pro: good gas mileage, manual transmission, cheap maintenance, comfy seats. I can go ~700mi on a tank. Costs me $40 to fill. I fill it maybe 8-10 times a year assuming no road trips. It’s about 60-70MPG.
Cons: slowest car I have ever driven so I have to plan merging onto highways/motorways very precisely. Literally my only complaint.
Another con: it only has two seats. Doesn’t hurt my use cases where I generally drive solo, or at most with my love, but for some that may pose an issue. (Think about it, though, most people who drive only drive themselves, generally to and from work.)
Biggest thing for woodworking for me was just buying more pencils. I bought a pack of 30 or so and put all of them in a cup attached to the wall. Now I just grab a new one if I forget where I put it down.
Did you forget your ear? I thought all woodworkers kept their pencil on their ear.
I recently bought an electrician's pouch that velcros around my belt. Great for holding screws, square and pencils. Think of it as a wall cup on your belt.
For starters you can ask why your apartment management charged you 104 dollars for heat a month even though you use the gym showers at work, and it was never cold enough to turn on the heater. That’s one way
After a year, my reasonably smart cats (potty training them to use the toilet took 3 weeks) have learned that the “outside” makes me open the door, because they rush towards it when I push it. But they never use the button themselves.
I have a 2019 Fit! It’s perfect because it’s just the right size for me; it feels bigger on the inside but it’s the definition of compact. And I only spend about $80 US on gas monthly, if that!
100kms round trip commute in a 2009 Volkswagen Rabbit. Also doing 300km round trips on the weekends a couple times a month so that don’t help.
It’s supposed to be fine on gas and to be fair I’ve been having check engine light and some tire issues that have been affecting mileage but before I invest too much in fixing those wanted to check out other car options.
That’s a lot of KMs on the poor car. I’m a little confused on the price and gas monthly cost because of the “$”. I was thinking those were dollars. I assume, those aren’t $500 dollars a month?
So that’s roughly 600km per week, 2400 per month? Damn dude, that is a lot. A hybrid won’t help you much because electric motors are mostly used at low speeds, like to get going from traffic lights in a city, which saves a lot of fuel. They don’t do much on highways.
I like it! For those who do not have municipal compost bins, is it possible to compost leftovers indoors? Perhaps on a balcony (without attracting pests)?
I’ve done it on a balcony before. You need to be careful about it but it’s possible. I took a plastic bin and drilled holes in the sides/ bottom for air circulation. Then put it up on 2 bricks on top of another bin lid to make sure anything that leaks doesn’t do so on my neighbors. Then you have to make sure to turn it often to prevent it from stinking or getting too hot. And that’s it! It’s not enough for a large garden, but it was enough to restock my large balcony planter every year and made great tomatoes and herbs!
It’s always hard to know what kind of outdoor space you’re working with when it comes to rentals. There are indoor composters like Lomi which can do it indoors but the cost of the unit is out of reach for most. Composting yourself will always attract pests. It’s not fun when those pests make it inside your place. Reach out to local community gardens and see if they have recommendations for composting your food scraps. I’m fortunate enough to have my compost picked up every week. I pay for this privilege and again, I know it’s not affordable for many but I glad I’m able to make the investment. I probably empty my normal trash bag once every 2 weeks.
Good nail clippers. My toe nails grow hella fast and if I don’t keep 'em trimmed, I end up spending a lot more on socks. Good trimmer is like $5. Though I wish they came in bright colors since I quite often misplace them or they fall off my night stand and are a PITA to find.
Video games can get pretty finicky when you go off the beaten path, requiring a lot of extra "mechanical skill" to get right.
A certain glitch on a game I play involves carefully timed button presses while keeping the control stick in a specific, narrow range just outside the "deadzone". You then go fast, and backwards, and have to steer by switching which side you're holding the control stick on. If at any point you go out of that range (either through the center/deadzone or tilted too far), it instantly stops working. And some other tricks in that game are hard.
So that sounds like a good way to practice some dexterity, I know it's helped mine.
Other than that there's stuff like Rubik's cubes, arts and crafts,
Ocarina of Time, "Hyper-Extended Super Slide". Roll into e.g. an explosion, shield and target on the same frame within a certain frame window. For reasons, you go fast, and can retain the speed by keeping the stick in "ESS position".
asklemmy
Active
This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.