By Deborah Merriam of ecoDomestica reDesign

SCOOPED limited-edition pendant lamp, 1/20, colour: Spring, of discarded laundry detergent scoops, photographed without flash

I’m excited to have recently added handmade pendant lamps created from upcycled materials to my portfolio. (Most materials are “downcycled”, degrading in quality and value, as they are recycled into new products – an oft-cited example of downcycling is the recycling of paper fibres from cardboard into office paper into toilet paper. “Upcycling” is the opposite of this, creating an object of beauty and increased value from a material that would otherwise be discarded.) Continue Reading →

If you’ve been putting off disassembling your brilliant Christmas LED light strands like me, I have just the project for you. Now, you can enjoy your efficient little twinklers any time of year!

Green craft blogger Wenona Napolitano and Instructables member Reclaimagination present the DIY Recycled Bottle LED Lamp. It’s a quick and dirty project requiring readily available materials and very few tools.

Why not opt for eco mood lighting for your next date night or theme party? Chance are, retailers in your area are aggressively clearing out their LED Christmas light strands.

Get the full instructions here, and add your own creative flare!

Photo Source Continue Reading →

Peter Amerongen installing a sun pipe on the MCNZH’s roof

Construction of the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) is progressing nicely.

Before Christmas we (as in, Peter’s crew and a friend of mine) started installing the steel roof. We installed the locally made sun pipe that will pipe natural light to the windowless bathroom on the second floor: Continue Reading →

Andrea from Edmonton-owned website/marketplace raisingspaces.com recently informed me that Edmonton has it’s very own local manufacturer of light pipes: Sunscope Natural Light Systems. We’ll be considering their product first for the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) because buying locally helps to create the vibrant local, green, living economy that we need.

A light pipe is a great way to get natural light to a room that has little or no windows in it. A light pipe, or sun tunnel or light tube, is essentially a pipe that sticks out of a building’s roof and reflects sunlight into an interior room. Here’s a good illustration: Continue Reading →