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Written by Joanna Hoang   
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Tuesday, 09 November 2010

Make a Speaker

Are your earbuds and headphones just not cutting it anymore for you and your rock-outs? Instead of at least twenty bucks on a decent set of speakers, consider making your own using the materials you probably already have around your house. Read here to find a variety of ideas for constructing your own speakers that will use less energy than speakers purchased from a big box store and will still sound great! We even have some options for those of you who aren’t DIYers ☺

BENEFITS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Less waste going to landfills and no new resources necessary!

COSTS: Variable… low or none!

TIME AND EFFORT: Minimal

Make Speakers from Disposable Cups

Have any cups lying around left over from a party last weekend? Also have any extra ratty old stock earbuds that came with your digital audio player? Together they can become great eco-friendly speakers!1 These speakers work simply by amplifying the sound your earbuds make, creating a louder and crisper sound.

iPhone ear buds2 party cups3


Instructions:
  1. Gather 2 or 4 plastic cups, 2 toothpicks, and a pair of old earbuds.
  2. Using a sharp object, poke a hole at the base of 2 cups, large enough to push an earbud into each cup.
  3. If you decide to use 4 cups, flip the 2 remaining cups over opening face side down. Connect these cups with the toothpicks by poking them through the base of the structures.
  4. Place the 2 ‘earbud cups’ on top of the base cups.
  5. Plug the speakers into your digital audio player! You know have a simple set of economical and eco-friendly speakers!
Cup Speakers4


Scratch Paper Speakers

Don’t have any plastic cups hanging around because you only use reusable drinkware? Do you have thicker sheets of paper in your recycling bin, some tape, and a bit of creativity? Or just some paper cups? By using the same amplifying concept from the plastic cup speakers, you can experiment with different shapes to produce the best sound or simply imitate the shape of the cups and you have yourself a decent set of speakers!

Instructions:
  1. Gather the paper, tape, scissors, and your creative thinking hat.
  2. Try folding and rolling the paper into various shapes, then tape them up into your chosen shape.
  3. Poke holes for the earbuds to go through.
  4. Voila! A new set of speakers.
To make more durable speakers follow the steps above, except apply clay and make ceramic speakers for extra amplification!5

Scrap Paper Speakers6


Turn the Packaging your Digital Audio Player came with into Speakers!

The packaging your audio player arrived in can also be altered to be made into speakers also, either by using the amplifying methods explained in the cup and paper speaker guides above, or by purchasing the Bird-Electron iPod Recycling Speaker. The Bird-Electron speaker does not require any power source outside of being plugged into your iPod or MP3 player, and it does NOT have to be used with an iPod box—any small container, for example a water bottle, will do the job!7

Clear Box Speakers8


Don’t Feel Like Creating Your Own Speakers from Scratch?

Or maybe you’d prefer higher quality sounding speakers with actual speakers instead of an amplifier? You can also purchase do it yourself kits instead of the Logitech or Creative brand speakers. There are do it yourself eco speakers made by EcoNation and sold in Urban Outfitters stores, which come with everything you need to build your own speakers and some color pencils to help you decorate them! Most of the body is made from recycled cardboard so you can also dispose of them in your recycling bin when you move on, which is more environmentally friendly than sending it to a landfill.9


DIY Eco Speakers10


Not feeling creative?

Other companies also create speakers created from recycled materials which are great for the environment. The speakers are also foldable and do not use any batteries, so just plug them into your digital audio player! TIME Magazine chose the foldable speaker for their top 50 best inventions of 2009!11

EcoNation NEO Speakers - Green12 Eco-Friendly Travel Gadgets13 OrigAudio's Fold n' Play Speakers.14


New Eco-Conscious Speaker Technology

A research institute in Taiwan has sent a new ultrathin flexible speaker, composed mostly of paper, into production and it should be released into the market by the end of 2010. The fleXpeaker is created from paper and metal filled with an electroactive polymer that changes shape according to an audio signal’s electric field.15 The speakers of course consume less energy than regular speakers, but without sacrificing performance quality!

Ultrathin speakers created from nanotubes16


More ultrathin speakers created from nanotubes may be coming in the next decade as well, according to the Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Center.17

Other Fun Eco-Friendly Speakers

Pekka Salokannel’s Gramo Speaker Solar Powered:

These speakers run on three layers of photovoltaic panels which run on solar power. They are small and portable, utilizing a cone-shaped folding design.

Solar Speakers18 Solar Speakers19


Gourd Speakers:

These speakers are created from natural real gourds with a natural wax finish. They are $1200 a pair designed by David Ellis.

Gourdspeakers20


So whether you are looking to make your own or buy from a store, there are many eco-friendly speak options to be found!

Browse all Greeniacs Guides Browse all Greeniacs Guides        Browse all Greeniacs Articles
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1 http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/recycle-earbuds-diy-speakers.html
2 http://www.lowtek.ca/roo/2009/ipod-earbuds-disassembled/
3 http://www.trc-office-supplies-and-home-office-supplies.com/index.cfm/ses_/
c,list,x,1400012,1601931,x/Cleaning%20&ampses_thispage/2/

4 http://www.nerve.com/archived/blogs/diy-ipod-speakers
5 http://dtti.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/paper-ceramic-loudspeakers/
6 Id.
7 http://www.audiocubes.com/product/Bird-Electron_EZ17-B_iPod_Recycling_Speaker.html
8 Id.
9 http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2009/07/diy_eco_speakers.html
10 Id.
11 http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933984,00.html
12 http://www.tanga.com/products/econation-neo-speakers-blue-or-green
13 http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/10-new-eco-friendly-travel-gadgets/9
14 http://www.origaudio.com/
15 http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/audiovideo/flexible-paper-speakers-on-the-way
16 Id.
17 Id.
18 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/solar-powered-speakers-less-guilt-more-boogie.php
19 Id.
20 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/08/gourd_speakers.php




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Green Facts

  • Washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water saves 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, and drying your clothes on a clothesline six months out of the year would save another 700 pounds.

  • Less than 1% of electricity in the United States is generated from solar power.

  • Americans throw away more than 120 million cell phones each year, which contribute 60,000 tons of waste to landfills annually.

  • Turning off the tap when brushing your teeth can save as much as 10 gallons a day per person.

  • You will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive if you always keep your car’s tires fully inflated.

  • A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.

  • You’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle.

  • Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch.

  • Recycling for one year at Stanford University saved the equivalent of 33,913 trees and the need for 636 tons of iron ore, coal, and limestone.

  • A tree that provides a home with shade from the sun can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime.

  • One recycled aluminum can will save enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.

  • Glass can be recycled over and over again without ever wearing down.

  • 82 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from burning fossil fuels.

  • A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%.

  • Every week about 20 species of plants and animals become extinct.

  • Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.

  • Bamboo absorbs 35% more carbon dioxide than equivalent stands of trees.

  • Nudge your thermostat up two degrees in the summer and down two degrees in the winter to prevent 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

  • 77% of people who commute to work by car drive alone.

  • An aluminum can that is thrown away instead of recycled will still be a can 500 years from now!

  • American workers spend an average of 47 hours per year commuting through rush hour traffic. This adds up to 23 billion gallons of gas wasted in traffic each year.

  • Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.

  • If every U.S. household turned the thermostat down by 10 degrees for seven hours each night during the cold months, and seven hours each weekday, it would prevent nearly gas emissions.

  • In California homes, about 10% of energy usage is related to TVs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, and DVD players.

  • Due to tiger poaching, habitat destruction, and other human-tiger conflicts, tigers now number around 3,200—a decrease in population by about 70% from 100 years ago.

  • In the United States, automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Walk or bike and you'll save one pound of carbon for every mile you travel.

  • For every 38,000 bills consumers pay online instead of by mail, 5,058 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided and two tons of trees are preserved.

  • You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL), over the life of the bulb.

  • States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.

  • Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.

  • A laptop consumes five times less electricity than a desktop computer.

  • Recycling 1 million laptop computers can save the amount of energy used by 3,657 homes in the U.S. over the course of a year.

  • Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months

  • Shaving 10 miles off of your weekly driving pattern can eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

  • Current sea ice levels are at least 47% lower than they were in 1979.

  • Recycling 100 million cell phones can save enough energy to power 18,500 homes in the U.S. for a year.

  • The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people die prematurely worldwide every year due to air pollution.

  • Refrigerators built in 1975 used 4 times more energy than current models.

  • It takes 6,000,000 trees to make 1 year's worth of tissues for the world.