Appropriate Technology Collaborative

=Description =

ATC is designing and building appropriate technology products and machines for third word/bottom of the pyramid countries.

Some of the things they have developed or are working on:
 * Design Library
 * Bamboo Reinforced Concrete
 * BioFuels
 * Solar Refrigeration
 * Solar/ LED Lighting
 * Treadle Pump
 * Nickel/Iron Batteries

=Contacts=

John Barrie, Executive Director Adr: The Appropriate Technology Collaborative, 1100 North Main Street, Suite 107, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Phone: 734.668.4811 Email: info (at) apptechdesign.org

=Correspondence=

Sent on 5/16, 2011 Mr. John Barrie:

I am associated with the Open Source Ecology project (http://openfarmtech.org). After reading your website, I believe that we have overlapping goals. OSE is designing and prototyping a set of 50 machines that we believe will support a self-contained village-sized economy that we call the Global Village Construction Set. Many of these machines are quite appropriate for the same sorts of situations that ATC products are aimed at.

There was reference in one of your blog reports of a Nickel/Iron battery development effort. We are also interested in developing this sort of technology (see http://openfarmtech.org/wiki/Nickel-Iron_Battery) and it might make sense to collaborate or at least share research data. Can you tell me who is leading your development effort and how I might contact him/her? Any information you can share would be of great use to us.

NiFe batteries and other energy storage methods are of interest to us as we are developing several power-generation technologies including solar concentration, bio-mass steam generation, bio-diesel driven engines, etc. We are attracted to this sort of battery because it seems simpler to make from materials relatively easy to obtain (sheet steel, sheet nickel, lye, and glycerin) and within the capability of a relatively skilled person to fabricate.

I have copied Marcin Jakuboski on this message, who is the founder and executive director of the Open Source Ecology project. Thank you for your time,

Mark J. Norton for Open Source Ecology