Posts in category "sustainable-living" - page 4
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Giving Up Satellite TV
As part of minimalism, we try to reduce stuff from our life every now and then. Like Bruce Lee said, “hack away the unessential”. You may recall some of our minimalism activities from the past like selling our car or the minimalist wardrobe. This time around we wanted to experiment with cutting out satellite TV from our life.
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Solar Panel Performance And Energy Savings
Alright, so I got my solar panels and solar management unit setup all done. Now for the results. According to the spec sheet of my solar panel, it should be able to generate peak output of 320 W. And it certainly did. In fact on some rare occasions it actually produced more than the rated capacity! I was really surprised that something can outperform a spec sheet. From the spec sheet, the panel is supposed to produce 320 W with an irradiance of 1000 W/m2 under standard test conditions (STC). Whatever that means.
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Optimal Tilt For Solar Panels
You might have noticed that in my DIY solar panel setup, the mounting structures were conspicuously missing. That was not a mistake. Actually I looked at many solar panel mounting structures, but most of them are not adjustable. The few ones I found were either too expensive or for smaller panels. So I decided to go find a local metal works fellow and get it built. However, thanks to COVID lockdown and such I decided to go with something simple -- jugaad style instead. More on that later. But first, why is the tilt so important?
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Living a Semi-Urban Life
Some of you might know that I live on the outskirts of Bangalore. The reasons were two-fold
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Managing Dry Waste – Part II
If you have been reading our sustainable living series, you already know that we have stopped generating any wet waste for the trash picker. In the previous post on managing dry waste, I talked about how we are trying to reduce dry waste. In this continuation post I want to talk about more ways to reduce dry waste.
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Managing Dry Waste - Part I
I have been composting my wet waste for a while now (roughly 3 years). The yield of the compost has been good and it has become an integral part of the kitchen. Lots of valuable plants have come out of it and it's been a worthwhile experience for me. I cannot say the same about our dry waste though. Our layout has a BBMP trash van that collects wet and dry waste. I stopped giving wet waste since I have been composting all of the wet waste. However, I have been religiously giving them my dry waste.
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The Minimalist Wardrobe
If you have read the post on my expenses, you would have noticed "wardrobe" expenses conspicuously missing. I quietly shoved them into the miscellaneous expenses. Still, a few people noticed and asked me -- "what about your clothing, shoes etc expenses". Well, I am not much of a shopper and after the brush with minimalism, the desire to buy more clothes has vanished into oblivion.
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How To Make Bio-Enzymes – Part II
This post continues from where I left off on Bio Enzymes. If you have not read that post, please start there. Once you have prepared the bio-enzyme, you can bottle them for different uses. I am including a video (see end of the post) showing the same.
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What Does Minimalism Mean To Us
Like many things in life, what something means to you may not mean the same to others. Take minimalism for example. It has a different meaning to different people, but the core tenets remain the same. Some people confuse minimalism with cheap or frugal. While it does help to be frugal, it does not necessarily mean minimalist. What does minimalism mean to us then? We'd like to think that minimalism means owning or buying the minimum amount of things that will let you lead a comfortable but simple life. That's a mouthful. Lets break it down.
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The Truth About Organic Gardening
You have heard about our organic terrace garden. You know all the exciting projects that came out of it and the fun we had building it. Don't forget the good harvest we had over the past year. However, not everything is always smooth sailing as one might mistakenly assume. We do have our share of pesky problems and that is what this post is about. I write this post in the hope that it may help you understand the other side of terrace gardening in case you are planning to embark on the journey.
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