Friends,

I just learned about OSE yesterday and am absolutely blown away! This kind of work links up very well with what I have been doing, traveling the world for a year on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship studying the ecovillage, Transition Town, and Permaculture movements.

I recently learned how to build the SolarFlower, an open source parabolic solar energy collector that can be made easily from common recycled and salvaged materials using basic tools and skills. It can be made almost anywhere, is portable, and involves no inputs (besides sunshine) or emissions. It automatically tracks the sun without needing electronics. Applications include electrical generation, water purification, cooking, bio-char and charcoal, heating, gasification, and whatever else heat can be used for. It is an excellent example of what could be called Industrial Permaculture, taking both production and energy back into our own hands for true resilience, and an obvious application of the principles of OSE. See it at http://solarflower.blogspot.com/

My idea is to launch a waste veggie oil powered Transition Bus tour around the US, prominently featuring the SolarFlower as a Permaculture and transition technology, along with other Permaculture/transition methods. The idea would be to empower individuals and communities with the conceptual and material skills transition all the systems in their lives toward sustainability: not only physical systems like food, energy, building, water, and waste, but also less tangible systems like decision-making, communication, relationships, and psychology. By spreading the information, skills, and technologies of these alternative approaches to the essential aspects of human life, I would be helping to facilitate the construction of a robust localized future (or the Global Villages, as you would say!)

My plan is to start at Burning Man, where I will unveil the Transition Bus with a flourish by meeting two huge Burning Man needs – drinking water and electricity – by building a device that creates drinking water by purifying greywater through steam distillation and uses waste heat to generate power through a steam engine. Input on the design of this device would be appreciated, though I am working up blueprints with Daniel, the inventor of the SolarFlower. The device will be powered by SolarFlowers, which I learned to build here in New Zealand with Daniel. A big part of the tour will be leading SolarFlower building collectives as I go, so if you know institutes or organizations or people in the States who might be interested, please let me know!

Of course, this is all still just a grand idea and is evolving every day. The problem is, I am traveling until August 3 and Burning Man starts on August 29. I need to find US-based people, preferably on the West Coast, who can help me build the water purification/power generation device with SolarFlowers. I also need to find a diesel vehicle that is large enough for me to live in - a Crown or Gilig or Greyhound bus, RV, large van, etc - and convert it to run off waste vegetable oil or SVO.

I can provide schematics, instructions, money for materials, and a perhaps even a small stipend (though this is all coming out of my pocket, so goodwill time donations would be ideal). Completed machines are needed by August 15, or the appropriate amount of time that allows me to drive the trailer to Burning Man. Could you or anyone you know possibly help me out?

I'd greatly appreciate ideas, advice, connections, spreading of the word, etc. Also, if there are technologies from the OSE canon that would be easily tour-able, do let me know and I will bring them along! I will definitely be spreading the word about OSE far and wide. For any correspondence on any of the above, please respond to me here or with an email to thequestionofwhy (at) gmail.com.

Many thanks,
for a shining future,

Tim

Tim Richards
2010-2011 Thomas J. Watson Fellow
http://sustainablephilosopher.wordpress.com/
(blog about my year of international travel studying the ecovillage, Permaculture, and Transition Town movements)