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I am noob, ruiner of rofums...
  • I've had it in my head to develop a similar project, but am one man with no money.

    I thought the notion of 'guerilla infrastructure' would be a great way to make places like Africa suck less. Carry only what you need, bring enough resources to 'bootstrap,' do away with resource grid connects and distribution nets from central points.

    And here you guys are, doing it.

    I noticed a few holes in the wiki that my research has found. Figured I'd contribute. I don't have money, so I give what I can...

    Beekeeping: Top Bar Hives. Very simple to build and maintain. Healthier for the bees than conventional bee farming. Not as much production, but it is almost 'fire and forget.'

    Wind Turbines: 50kw? Are you kidding me? Check out the wind section that the otherpower.com people have. They're making more power than they know what to do with.

    http://www.otherpower.com/20page1.html

    http://www.otherpower.com/new17page1.shtml

    You've really taken the hydraulic concept to heart (with good reason), try a hydraulic version of the XR3 "car." Your capacity for fabrication puts it well within your grasp. Skip the fiberglass body and the batteries. As much of your community shows, reaching out to obtain resources that are not immediately on your land is inevitable. I had figured a modular diesel/hydraulic power plant for it a few years ago. I'm sure this isn't new to you...

    http://www.rqriley.com/xr3.htm

    http://www.hydraulicinnovations.com/

    Used fossil oils can be utilized in the same way as used vegetable oil. I'm converting my TDI to it now. It's not as green as Veg Oil, but it's still (marginally) better than what comes out of the pump. For me, it is far more available. Processing is similar. I use a centrifuge/heat.

    Consider heating with heliostats. Would merge with your solar boiler/steam engine concept. Microcontrollers and motion control are clearly within your grasp. When you don't need the steam for other uses, point it through a window at a pile of CEBs...

    Which leads me to ask, why aren't you making interlocking CEBs?

    Old oilfield engines can be employed to run on methane. They're already designed to use natural gas, which is mostly methane. Old, slow engines run forever. Lack of friction due to lack of velocity... Old is good. So much is lost in the modern planned obsolescence, buy a new one mentality of so-called 'modern engineering.'

    I've seen very little documentation for it online, but making your own lead/acid batteries using the old methods first discovered by Gaston Plante. The lead used in Plante Cells is 100% recyclable. I've got it in my head to use 4 gallon square food-grade buckets with a fine dimpling in the surface of the lead casting to increase surface area before the porous crystallizing steps. They don't have the energy density, but due to owner recyclability, are essentially perpetual.

    I hope I'm not clogging you up with repeats and stuff you already know. I don't know how helpful I can be... I do have extensive experience in CnC machining, and the study of a parallel course for about 10 years.

    I hate living the stuck-on-stupid lifestyle... I wish I lived there.

     
  • 2 Comments sorted by
  • 1- Good intro.
    2- Basics CEBs are easier and quicker.
    3- Pump up that wiki!
     
  • basic CEBs are easier to make, but not to assemble.  Now that you have developed the machine, some time should be spent designing interchangeable molds for it, so that you could make floor tiles, hollow CEBs, CEBs with a U profile for adding reinforcement, etc.  Interlocking could get rid of the mortar, and has been done quite a bit.

    There are some decent suggestions in this post.  Check out my super simple top bar hive: http://www.velacreations.com/bees.html
     

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