4 Green Projects For Your Small Apartment

Planet Green got inspired (as did we) by the efforts of Barcelona-based designers who are trying to make urban living a lot greener. So they've outlined four green apartment projects, ranging in price from cheap to think-about-it-when-I'm-older.

The cheapest and easiest is detailed on the designers' own site -- how to make a lamp out of a discarded plastic container. They call it a Bidon Lamp:

First, you need to give it a thorough wash, inside and outside. We recommend you wear gloves as some may have contained toxic products, like photo-chemicals, or just cooking oil.

Then you unscrew the lid and mark the diameter of your bulb fitting on the inside of the lid. With a sharp Stanley knife cut out the circle. Then you screw the light fitting to the lid so that the cable is on the outside of it. The energy efficient light bulb is to be screwed on the inside of the lid just before you put it back on. It is important that you use a CFL light bulb because incandescent light bulbs give off too much heat and would cause a hazard with this design. Et voilà, plug in the bulb and enjoy!