edit  watch  

Sharing knowledge to build rich, sustainable lives.

Appropedia is for collaborative solutions
in sustainability, appropriate technology, poverty reduction, and permaculture.

You are welcome to add to and edit Appropedia -
your site to find, co-create and improve the solutions we need. Our vision and mission.

Contributors have made 346,695 edits and uploaded 27,572 files.
Browse our categories or all 7,430 articles.

edit  watch  

Announcements — more

Aprologo-old.png As we approach our ten-year anniversary, we are looking at how best to support Appropedia in the next ten years. Please share your thoughts with us on the idea of appointing an Executive Director.


Solar hot water system for a hotel in Parras de la Fuente, Mexico
Hotel Perote solar pool heating system. Parras de la Fuente is a desert oasis town of about 44,000 residents located in the south of the Mexican state of Coahuila. Along with textile manufacturing, tourism is one of the main industries in Parras. Tourism has become increasingly emphasized after Parras's designation as the "primer pueblo mágico del Norte de México." Parras is warm in the summer, and cooler in the winter, but temperatures rarely fall below freezing, snow falls once every several years.

Antiqua Hacienda de Perote is a hotel, restaurant, nuez (pecan) ranch, vineyard, and winery. It sits on about 500 acres on the western-most edge of Parras. According to Igancio (Nacho) Chacon, Perote's owner, Perote's hotel business has been growing rapidly, and in 2006, the hotel was constructing rooms to meet demand.

Parras Program students Heather Kuoppamaki and Rowan Steele built a rooftop solar hot water system for Hotel Perote in the summer of 2005. Intended as prototype for a larger system to heat a spring-fed swimming pool (alberca), then being constructed, the system was sized to provide heated water for a single hotel bathroom. The 2005 system is no longer located at Perote, and has been moved to the residence of someone afiliated with the local city government. Igancio has requested a system to keep the pool at 28° centigrade from October to March. The design problem revolves on this performance parameter and several state variables.

Ecological dry toilets at Pedregal

Ecological dry toilets at Pedregal, a Permaculture Demonstration Center in Oaxaca, Mexico.

edit  watch  

Community action news

AlleeImFruehling.jpg
Dec 20 Communities online: Introducing the 'Teaching Community Technology Handbook' [1]

Dec 19 Sustainable livelihood news: WorkerTech: fighting for better work through technology [2]

Dec 19 California: These Workers are Celebrating 20 Years of Shared Bread and Shared Ownership [3]

Dec 17 Free Cash in Finland. Must Be Jobless. [4]

Dec 17 Solar Power Helps Raise Income Levels In Kenya [5]

Read More...


Selected quote
People, their buildings and the ways they organise themselves are central to permaculture. Thus the permaculture vision of permanent (sustainable) agriculture has evolved into one of permanent (sustainable) culture.

edit  watch  

Visit the Water Portal

Estuaries and coastal waters are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth.
Water is vital for all known forms of life. Covering 71% of the Earth's surface, it is found mostly in oceans and other large water bodies. 1.6% of the total mass of the Earth's water is below ground in aquifers and 0.001% is in the air as vapor, clouds, and precipitation (rain, snow and sleet).

The Earth's water moves constantly through a cycle of evaporation and transpiration (evapotranspiration), precipitation, and runoff, usually reaching the sea. Over land, evaporation and transpiration contribute to the precipitation over land - thus deforestation and other changes to land can have wide and long-lasting effects through their impact on the water cycle.

Some observers estimate that by 2025 more than half of the world population will be vulnerable to a lack of water. Appropriate water supply and water purification technologies can help.

Related portal: Greywater
edit  watch  Selected service learning Projects gallery (refresh)

Engr305 Appropriate Technology Projects: Below are selected service learning projects from Engr305 Appropriate Technology, which is a course on appropriate technology at Humboldt State University taught by instructor Lonny Grafman.

Air Ship Air City rooftop greywater filtration

A rooftop greywater filtration system  
Aleiha's parabolic solar cooker

Parabolic Solar Cooker  
Amal's ethanol still

A valved reflux ethanol still  
Backyard Biodigester

A biodigester converting organic waste to a fuel source  
Bike Rodeo bicycle blender

A kid's bike blender for Rio Dell Community Resource Center  
Bike trailer

A bike trailer from a converted baby stroller  
Blue ox earthen oven

Blue Ox earthen oven  
Bottoms strawbale earthen plaster

Earthen plaster and natural paint recipes  
edit  watch  

Selected categories

edit  watch  

Construction zone — correct mistakes & flag spam as needed

Newest articles more Wanted pages - click to add info more
Under construction
New pages being developed:
  1. Oven Stove Adjustment Knob
  2. Haq Homes
  3. Recyclebot v5.0
  4. Nuclear Insurance Subsidies Cost from Post-Fukushima Accounting Based on Media Sources
  5. Sanctuary Arcata
  6. HSU mason jars
  7. HSU mason jar comparisons
  8. Fork Support for Bike
  9. Viability of Distributed Manufacturing of Bicycle Components with 3-D Printing: CEN Standardized Polylactic Acid Pedal Testing
  10. Mason jar analysis

Note: Appropedia's newest pages may not yet comply with our policies. Page titles in italics are "redirects," often created when moving a page.

Under construction

Create a new page:

  1. Nutrition
  2. Bacteria‏‎
  3. Human development
  4. Environmental science
  5. Open sustainability
  6. New Urbanism‏‎
  7. Building management systems
  8. Science‏‎
  9. Microgeneration
  10. Environmental design

These red links are invitations for you to contribute your knowledge.

Or create a page on the topic of your choice.

Newest files - images and documents that can be added to pages more

Note: Appropedia's newest files may not yet comply with our policies.

edit  watch  

Please help Appropedia grow!

We want your projects, current works, observations and wisdom! See Contributing content. Improve articles by clicking "edit" at top of the page or section. Our philosophy is: Be Bold and contribute!

Questions? Comments? Visit the Village Pump. Also discuss Appropedia and related topics over on the Permies permaculture forums.

Find us on Facebook, Pinterest, StumbleUpon and Twitter. Check our Flickr images and YouTube videos.