GreeniacsGuides
Energy
Manual Washing Machine
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Written by Joanna Hoang
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| Wednesday, 24 November 2010 | ||||
Manual Washing MachineSo, how about a bike pedal-powered washing machine? Currently, there are many different designs and ideas for pedal powered washing machines. The goals differ, but they include reducing energy and water consumption and costs, and increasing accessibility for people who cannot afford and/or do not have the energy capacity to own conventionally powered washing machines. By now you are probably wondering how you can manage to get your hands on a pedal powered washing machine... Unfortunately, at this time there are no pedal powered washing machines available for mass production and thus for purchase by consumers. However, if you are handy with tools you can build your own! BENEFITS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Medium to High. Using a pedal powered washing machine will help you use significantly less energy and save water. COSTS: Low - Medium TIME AND EFFORT: Extremely High Here are guidelines and instructions for making a pedal powered washing machine based on Homeless Dave’s Project: homelessdave.com. Homeless Dave had been using a handwasher to do laundry for over a decade, and in early 2007 he decided to build a pedal powered machine and use that instead.2
For more eco-friendly laundry tips: "Laundry Make it Eco Friendly" For more eco-friendly drying tips: "Dry Your Clothes on a Clothesline" Pedal Powered Washing Machines to watch for: A team of engineering students at MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are designing a bicycle powered washing machine from bike parts and empty barrels in a project called Bicilavadora for residents of developing countries.5 Another cool laundry machine design by Shang Che Wu also uses pedal power, but not in the form of a bike. The form of this design is very much like a laundry basket. A prototype of the design has not been built yet, but the idea is amazing: 6
1 http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html 2 http://homelessdave.com/hdwashingman.htm 3 Id. 4 http://www.greeniacs.com/GreeniacsGuides/Dry-Your-Clothes-on-a-Clothesline.html 5 http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1641595/ mit_students_create_bicyclepowered_washing_machine/ 6 http://www.yankodesign.com/2010/02/22/fear-of-laundry/
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 31 October 2011 ) | ||||
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Green Facts
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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.
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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.
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A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%.
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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.
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Bamboo absorbs 35% more carbon dioxide than equivalent stands of trees.
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Every week about 20 species of plants and animals become extinct.
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You’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle.
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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.
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Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months
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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.
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Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch.
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Glass can be recycled over and over again without ever wearing down.
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An aluminum can that is thrown away instead of recycled will still be a can 500 years from now!
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Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.
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Shaving 10 miles off of your weekly driving pattern can eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
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Less than 1% of electricity in the United States is generated from solar power.
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The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people die prematurely worldwide every year due to air pollution.
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In California homes, about 10% of energy usage is related to TVs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, and DVD players.
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A laptop consumes five times less electricity than a desktop computer.
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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.
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Refrigerators built in 1975 used 4 times more energy than current models.
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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.
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82 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from burning fossil fuels.
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States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.
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77% of people who commute to work by car drive alone.
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Current sea ice levels are at least 47% lower than they were in 1979.
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Americans throw away more than 120 million cell phones each year, which contribute 60,000 tons of waste to landfills annually.
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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.
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Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.
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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.
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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.
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A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.
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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.
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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.
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Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.
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It takes 6,000,000 trees to make 1 year's worth of tissues for the world.
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Turning off the tap when brushing your teeth can save as much as 10 gallons a day per person.
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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.
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Recycling 100 million cell phones can save enough energy to power 18,500 homes in the U.S. for a year.


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