Energy Conservation, DIY Style: Make a Tea Light Heater

When you think energy conservation, crafting might not spring immediately to mind, but this tea light heater can heat a whole room for pennies!

This DIY heater made from tea lights and terra cotta flower pots is actually not that new, but now that cold weather is here it’s making the rounds again. The project comes from Dylan Winter of Keep Turning Left, and he uses the heater in the video to warm his small home studio.

To make your own tea light heater that will last for about four hours, you will need:

• four tea lights – you can actually get six hours of heat instead of four and make this an even greener project by choosing eco-friendly, slower-burning soy candles!
• a metal loaf pan
• two terra cotta pots – one smaller than the other, so you can nest them together
• the empty metal tin from an old tea light
• a hot plate or old magazine, to put the apparatus on

Need your heater to run longer? Replace the tea lights as they wear out. Check out the video for a demo on how to set this puppy up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=brHqBcZqNzE

There are actually lots of DIY energy conservation projects out there! Here are a few of my favorite ways to use my crafty skills to conserve energy all winter long:

• Make a DIY draft dodger.
• Use homemade curtains to prevent warm air from escaping through old windows.
• Warm up cold floors without turning on the heat with a cozy handmade rag rug.
• Got super drafty windows? How about making some thermal curtains for them?
• If you’re feeling super ambitious, you can build your own solar panels to handle some (or all!) of your home’s power needs.

I would love to hear from you guys! What DIY energy conservation projects have you done around your home?

Image Credit: Terra Cotta Pots photo via Shutterstock