Imagine a village with buildings of dirt (CEB) with year-round greenhouses (sawmill, CEB, bioplastics from local trees), with all
facility energy produced by a solar turbine, where people drive hybrid cars with car bodies (bioplastics) made from local weeds, with critical motors and metal structures (aluminum) extracted from on-site clay, which are fueled by alcohol produced on-site, on a wireless
network linked to the greater world. That's just a sampling of the technology base. Food, energy, housing sufficiency. There are no poor among us – because we are all evolving human beings and farmer scientists.
Once the prototype is done, I pursue a business plan, peer review, consultants possibly at a fee, and present an entire proven deliverable for funding from many contributors. Basically: here is a proven product, including a profitable enterprise stemming from it, such as sawmill kits – where information (design) itself is free – or cut lumber. Upon proving economics, we invite a Fellow. Fellow's stipend is paid by the same fundraising done above. Then, the Fellow adds the particular enterprise to our subsistence – while becoming economically self-sufficient – and contributing the remainder of their time to further research and development.
I am formalizing this more. I will put up the Optimal Enterprise Foundation – which essentially uses the above model with already proven ideas – such as a profitable year-round, high value greenhouse. I do the organizational and intellectual work – and fundraising – and let the practitioners contribute what they have – at a fee when required.
The second part is the Open Dev. Consortium – where we use the above model for the more complete product line for producing replicable global villages. Here's the product line of interest for a replicable global village:
I theorized 3 years ago that an agricultural community can provide for its needs very simply – with one farm manager feeding 100 people. Look for my name at http://www.oekonux-conference.org/documentation/texts/index.html. This analysis showed me that it's ridiculously easy to survive in an agricultural setting – so that all effort can be dedicated to other pursuits. I have not considered housing, energy, equipment breakdown, general operations, and other details related to the well-being of a 100 person community. The present list of 27 items, i believe, would provide for a robust on-site economy, where cultural creation and evolution can happen on the scale of 40 acres. This is from experience, where I am seeing the reality of what it really means to live on the land. One absolute prerequisite is being in control of one's technology pool.
I believe this set of open source products is an enabling feature for an affordable, replicable, integrated, land-based community to be built, almost entirely from the ground up. Some design specifications, though these need to be more detailed:
- Price ticket for putting together this entire infrastructure is approximately $18,000 plus land costs. This includes one car. This is a ridiculously low figure, but I plan to deliver in three years. I base this on OS flex fab costs, and have some data already from my experience with almost completing the sawmill/CEB.
- From there, productivity funds any expansion of housing, cars, etc.
- Unlimited house building capacity (from CEB and wood if available)
- 24-100 member community
- Lifetime design of all products
- 100% self sufficient in food, water, car fuel, electricity, gas
- 1-2 hour/day – 6 day week – work requirement per per person – the rest is higher pursuits
- Essential products of wide use are chosen
- Neosubsistence product choice – subsistence plus production for external markets
- Education built into marketing of all products
CEB – Compresssed earth block – regarded as the highest quality natural building method; also used in upscale housing; does not require curing – so may be built continuously; lends itself to 100% onsite building material sourcing; excellent thermal, acoustic, and strength; aka structural masonry. Also usable in fences, cisterns, road paving, Usable for ovens in a bakery, pond dams, thermal storage cisterns, silos. Used for barns, dairy plant, bakery building, additinal housing, greenhouses, etc. I would go so far as that could be the secret weapon of the entire operation. Other connections in diagram: requires soil to be pulverized, which may be done with the agricultural spader. May be used for building raised beds, modular building and greenhouse units. High value flex fab enterprise opportunity for any entreprenuer interested in fabrication of machine- huge profits are possible, because other CEBs are expensive ($25k for one of 3-5 brick/minute performance). Livelihood opportunity for independent builders. Requires as little as 1 person to operate. OSE design is based on power from tractor hydraulics – where the tractor is a general tool that can supply power to a large number of devices. Output with 2 people – a 6 foot high round wall, 20 feet in diameter, 1 foot thick, can be built in one 8 hour day. Fabrication is absolutely simple – after metal is cut – only a drill press is required. Zero welds in structure. Summary: a high performance, rapid, semi-skilled building technique, which lends itself as a building method for creating advanced civilizations. DfD, lifetime design.
Sawmill – highly versatile and valuable lumber if woodlot is available – or lumber may be bought from neighbours. Decentralized sawmilling may obviate clear-cut lumber companies in a new economy. Many uses. Flex fab opportunity. Lends itself highly to the type of modular structures proposed by the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems – look
for GreenForms at http://cmpbs.org/flash/download.htm . Lends itself highly for flex fab production, especially kits. Fabrication is absolutely simple – after metal is cut – only a drill press is required. Zero welds in structure, with minor welding for motor attachments. DfD, lifetime design. Driven by a hydraulic motor powered from tractor hydraulics. Head features a log cleaner- which is implemented easily if hydraulics are the power source. Sawmill may be converted to a chainsaw sawmill, with a 100+ cc chainsaw, by removing the bandsaw cutting head and putting on the chainsaw attachment. Extremely flexible. Desirable to incorporate bandsaw blade sharpening capacity in this project.
Hammer mill – it appears that CEB walls, wood rafters, and green roofs thrown on top of a roof by a hammer mill are a great method for building with 100% onsite material. Straw or branches are chopped by a hammer mill – and these have a strong ejection port that may throw such biomass on top of a roof to decompose into a green roof. The hammer mill may chop straw or newspaper for straw-clay insulation. The hammer mill is the great aid for any organic farming – with any type
of compost chopped for facilitating decay. Critical to soil fertility if enhanced soil building is required. The hammer mill can also chop a large variety of other items, perhaps plastic for recycling. We are using one currently to make mulch for raised organoponic beds and to mulch our orchard. May be applicable to mulching wood for making compressed wood gas.
Bakery and dairy - need I say more about bread and butter? Yes: ghee, too! The microcombine provides the grains, compressed gas generated from wood provides the fuel for the bakery. Dairy is expandable to cheeses, yogurt, and kefir, clabbered milk, ice cream production. Fresh bread and butter is essential to many people on earth.
Compressed fuel gas - proven technology for gassifying wood exists. It is not a huge leap to compress and store this gas, as a local option for fuel gas. Huge market potential. Essential to bakery, or metal melting.
Multimachine – www.multimachine.net/ shows it – a general purpose metal fabrication tool including lathe, mill, and drill press. This could be the central tool piece of a flexible workshop – and this item is already open source! I have not assessed this more fully, but it appears to be a promising candidate to address tooling needs for a community – at absolutely rock bottom cost – eliminating thousands of dollars of expenditure requirement for similar abilities. The capacities and practicality of this lower tech 'personal fabber' need to be assessed fully. The multimachine could be the centerpieces enabling the fabrication of electric motor, CEB, sawmill, OSCar, microcombine and all other items that require processes from milling
to drilling to lathing. Crucial.
Freeze dried fruit powders – high value product from our orchard. Freshest preservation method known. Could be base for a huge softdrink enterprise, either bottled or sold as powders.
Electric motors – they are everywhere, such as the spraying pump in the freeze dried fruit powder machine. Electric motors of interest also double as electric generators (dynamos). The design requirement is infirnitely scaleability in power and speed. Thus, we could produce motors for all applications, from pumps, vacuum pumps, to hybrid car wheel motors. Crucial. The challenge is to produce a smart design, here a larger or smaller motor can be build around the same design, such that the motor is essentially stackable for higher power. Electric generators are used in turbines, windmills, stationary power,
hybrid cars, etc. – they are the heart of the worldwide electric grid.
Electric motor controls – these are electronics that are capable of infinite control of motor speed. Can't have a car without one. Variable speed control eliminates the need for pulleys and gears – and is a great simplification. The key is to make an infinitely scaleable controller – from a fraction of a kilowatt to about 100 or more kilowatts – for controlling power at any level.
Energy food bars – a wide variety of onsite product – nuts, ghee, dried fruit, fruit powders, stevia, honey – could provide the materials for energy bars. Effective packaging is key. Huge market opportunity.
Agricultural microcombine – a combine is a complex device that cuts, threshes, and winnows grains and field crops of all sorts. Modern combines are huge devices today, and a smaller one is desirable for a small farm. This is not to say that this design should not be scaleable to larger size, as required to feed larger populations effectively. We propose a hybrid combine, with all parts driven by separate, infinitely speed controllable motors. This eliminates all pulleys and complexity of a single power source powering the entire modern combine. The key here is availability of cost-effective motors and controls, where today, motor controls are prohibitively expensive for such a proposition. OS changes this. With a microcombine under the
control of the operator, expensive maintenance is avoided, and full food sufficiency becomes feasible on the tens-of-acres scale.
Orchard and nursery – the orchard gives fruit with little labor requirement. The nursery is crucial to having the ability to produce orchards on demand, and to provide stock for replicating facilities. Mail order nursery product is another huge opportunity.
Agricultural spader – This is the most advanced, but least affordable, method of soil preparation for planting. The spader is the mechanized equivalent of several digging shovels. It is operated by the power take off (PTO) behind a tractor. It operates like a rototiller, but with reciprocating spades. It is a superior method of soil preparation for planting – because, unlike a rototiller, it leaves better soil structure without creating a hardpan underneath the tilling layer. Moreover, the spader is capable of deeper tilling. This is the state of art in soil preparation, but few farmers are privy to it because of high cost – $5k for used machines. Our version will be driven by tractor hydraulics, eliminating costly gearing. The fabrication is not
straightforward like a rototiller, as the spader spades ride on cams that are offset from a rotating axle. Effective fabrication strategy must be developed. Overall, this would help improve farmers' efficiency. The spader (and rototiller) are a one step soil preparation method – unlike plowing – which is typically followed by multiple disking or disking and harrowing.
Organoponic raised bed gardens (ORBs) – the ultimate growing method outdoors would consist of fertigated (irrigated with fertilizer) raised compost beds, replacing poor soil, poor moisture conditions. Fertilizer could be organic or microbial cultures. This is an integration of John Jeavons' biointensive growing with hydroponics, both of which are efficient techniques. Food self-sufficiency with minimum weeding is a byproduct. Relationships: if grown in a greenhouse, plastic extrusion of greenhouse glazing is relevant. If ORBs are done outside, then hammer mill is relevant for large-scale compost shredding.
Plastic molding and extrusion – extruded forms include sheets, tubes, and others. Relevant for greenhouse glazing with polycarbonate extrusion (Lexan Thermoclear), or even UV-stabilized polyethylene (Solexx). Tubing for water pipes or irrigation, plastic shapes and sheets are all doable with slight modifications of a basic extruder. The key may be a ram extruder (simple design) with inductive heating, to which various dies are adapted for profiles (extrusion), or molds
for shapes (injection molding), or blowers and molds (blow molding). This is one example of a product where cheap feedstocks (ex, <15 cents/lb for virgin polyethylene resin (50 lb/cu ft)) – where each square foot of Solexx weighs on the order of a quarter pound) produce very expensive products (about $1/sq foot for Solexx) – where the feedstock price in that dollar of product is under 5 cents. If an extruder is available – combined with the knowhow – then localized production of such glazing could probably yield cost predictions of something marginally higher than material costs, under the
DIY-flexible enterprise scenario. The challenge is producuring the knowhow for extruder fabrication and material extrusion – where the material costs for the device are expected t be around $5k for the machine – structure, hydraulic ram, inductive heating, and die. This is a prime example of market inefficiency – where middlemen, R&D costs, company overhead, competitive waste, and proprietary technique – make the price so much higher than the open source flex fab
scenario. The flex fab innovation required here is the fabrication of a generalized device for die extrusion, injection molding, and blow molding in one, where dedicated machines serve each purpose today.
Bioplastics – this is the perfect addition to an integrated farm and forestry operation. Cellophane is reformulated cellulose (wood),
produced via an acid and base dunk of sawdust. This may be used in
glazing. Car bodies may be made – the original car bodies for Ford
were soybean-derived bioplastics. Other useful objects may be machined
or extruded. Essentially, the promise of bioplastics is producing all
that is currently derived from crude oil. This is worth the investment
in technology – at the promise of local material use.
Living machines – these are integrated water treatment systems based
on living ecosystems – housed in a greenhouse in cold climates – for
recycling all waste water up to drinking quality. This is one avenue
for handling all human organic waste. The notable feature is
possibility of integrating living machines with food production – and
obtaining drinking water at the same time.
Well drilling rig – water is crucial. This is a great flex fab
enterprise opportunity – based primarily on integration of off-shelf
materials.
Modular housing units – may be based on dimensional post-and-beam
construction. Metal connectors may be cast from aluminum if available.
If integrated with autonomous food, energy, and water system, these
housing units, infinitely modular and scaleable – may be a valuable
flexible fabrication opportunity.
Modular greenhouse units may be stand-alone or part of a house. The
key is to open source robust growing systems, and potentially,
high-value crops such as herbs – for self-sufficiency and market
applications.
Biofuels – for the temperate climate, alcohol derived from Jerusalem
artichokes or waste orchard fruit appears to be the proven,
sustainable route of fueling cities. Crop productivity and fuel usage
calculations indicate that most cities, worldwide, scale in size in
such a fashion that they can produce all their vehicle fuel needs from
a land area equivalent to the size of the city – as long as this
calculation is not based on the inefficient, though touted, alcohol
from corn – but on perennial crops such as Jerusalem artichokes. This
would not contribute to the food-or-fuel scenario that detractors of
this proposition point out. Key: this is proven technology, and
vehicles can run on alcohol with minor modifications. In the tropics,
palm oil appears to be the solution for fuel needs, based on yields.
OSCar – biofuels would fuel the OSCar. There exist several attempts at
an open source car worldwide, all of which remain without product to
date. We propose a pusher trailer – where a hybrid trailer pushes any
lightweight, gutted chassis from behind – as Phase 1. This would prove
the integration of an engine power source (initially preferred to be
fueled by free waste vegetable oil) with electrical generation, wheel
electric motors in the trailer, motor controls, and electric braking.
Once this is proven, then an open source platform for designing cars
from the ground up will exist. The key is cost control, initially by
adopting surplus components, and eventually, by producing open source
components and materials. Evolved phases involve aluminum structure,
scaleable wheel motors, regenerative breaking, and motor controls -
all open source. Distributed production is an automatic possibility.
Aluminum extraction from clay – we are not talking about energy
intensive smelting (requires fuel consumption on the order of 1 gallon
of fuel oil for 1 kg of metal) with bauxite as aluminum ore, but a
thermal and chemical process based on clay- not bauxite. Aluminum is
not smelted, but leached out with hydrochloric acid:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4388280.html. This is remarkable news
to anyone interested in a better world – formerly strategic metals can
be made anywhere. I need not emphasize the ranges of use of aluminum.
Metal casting and extrusion – metals from the waste stream, and
eventually aluminum from clay – may be turned into valuable forms or
extruded profiles. Engine blocks, structural metals, wire, and many
other uses abound. This is doable with local compressed gas sources as
the source of heat.
Electric garden tractor – for a tractor, heavy batteries involved are
a plus. A quiet utility machine may be made. First phase is a small
tractor primarily for mowing and utility work. These are expensive off
the shelf – $12k for the Electric Ox. If motors and controls are
opensourced, the cost of producing a tractor similar to the Electric
Ox could drop to the price of the materials – for flex fab product for
DIY – or a reasonably priced good if fabricated is outsourced, and the
tractor is offered for sale.
Solar turbine CHP – this is the holy grail of the future world. Forget
about expensive solar cells, nukes, coal, or hydro – utilize the heat
of the sun directly, with solar concentrators running a power cycle
that has been proven in geothermal plants. One key is to develop an
efficient turbine – Jeff Sterling, who claims that a working, small
scale system (kW power range) is within month from release – from
Matteran Energy has told me that it took him 10 years to realize, and
now solve, this problem. Conceptually – the problem is simple -
capturing the energy of an expanding gas in a rotor, to convert the
energy to electricity. A solar turbine is a tractable problem, and
deserves full attention. With 1 kW of insolation from every square
meter on earth, such a proposition must be consiered seriously. This
includes possibilities of thermal storage when the sun does not shine
- just do the basic feasibility calculations and convince yourself
that this is possible – even for extended periods beyond 12 hour
nights. Check out the http://www.shpegs.com/ open source project for
further background on a large scale implementation. Note that
technical drawings exist for a 50% efficient solar turbine – look for
the C. Christopher Newton thesis at
http://www.redrok.com/engine.htm#turbine – but fabrication costs need
to be proven on such project. All in all, backup power – such as
electricity derived from alcohol combustion – could be used – but it
is more interesting to utilize a backup stove that can produce the
necessary heat for the turbine cycle. This is especially useful in
conjunction with space and greenhouse heating in the winter. Moreover,
MIT's Fab Lab has done work in optimizing diesel engines produced by
Vigyan Ashram in India (http://cba.mit.edu/projects/fablab/apps.html)
- and these may be available for opensourcing. If so, it would be
instructive to fabricate diesel engines locally at OSE for backup
power, and optimizing them for waste vegetable oil operation. Price
predictions are $2-4k per balance of system kilowatt.
Inverters and grid intertie – Inverters convert dc power to ac, or may
be used for conditioning ac power. If a large power source is
available from the sun – energy sales to the grid are feasible. This
is cost prohibitive today due to the high price of components on a
small scale. We aim to make selling power back to the grid feasible on
scales of 1 kW. A good inverter is the heart of an off-grid electrical
system if batteries are used to store power.
Marcin Jakubowski
My email is joseph.dolittle@gmail.com. I welcome collaboration feedback. The wiki that’s just being put up is at openfarmtech.org.
RepRap and Multimachine are a great combination, I just found out about it through MIT’s Fab Lab. See comments on Salient Features of Technology Base:
http://openfarmtech.org/index.php?title=Main_Page#Enabling_Technology_-_Salient_Features_of_Technology_Base
Marcin
Marcin check this web site out: http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome its about open source 3 D printer, a hi tech open source DIY idea in development. Quite compatible with your dream.
Sasha
marcin
this is a great idea
i would like to tlak with you
wich is your mail?
vicente