CEB Collaboration
One of the goals of our CEB development is to neo-commercialize it: provide an open source business model for producing the machines, where all enabling information is in the public domain. No strings attached. To do this, we’ll be performing thorough...
Turbine Update
Our team is working with Dan Granett on the boundary layer turbine (see former blog entry). This will be a profound improvement over the Lister for electrical generation. It will be fired by a Babington burner with a flash steam generator. Here are simplified...
CEB Press Prototype 1 Completed
It is interesting to see the progress on the Compressed Earth Block (CEB) press from prior art: to our own conceptual and design drawings: to raw metal as shown at https://www.opensourceecology.org/?p=36 and to reality: Now we take a mound...
CEB Day 35
A quick update on the CEB. Most of the automated hopper assembly is finished. I connected and tested the second cylinder for the hopper, and it moves nicely back and forth. I spent time yesterday, with the ice storm past, digging some soil for testing...
From 12-11-07: Yesterday a stove; Today firewood.
The cord wood room was coming to completion and we were still without a stove to heat it with. Craigslist, ebay, and local newspapers only had dead ends; the stoves listed were either too expensive, too far away, too big or already sold. I had asked a...
Internetless Ice storm
We have been out of touch for over a week now; an ice storm struck and while we still had power (unlike our neighbors, who do not have off-grid power systems) our internet receiver was covered in ice. As it is located on top of a tree, also ladden...
CEB Day 27
This past week we put on the roof for the cordwood building addition: Yesterday I returned to the CEB. On November 26, we produced the first brick. I got right back into it – beginning work on the automated hopper assembly – which will allow...
Winter Reflections
If winter was without snow, I would not have learned to love winter. But, I grew up with snow-filled winters and the great anticipation of cross-country skiing at the local golf course, snow angels, sledding, and hot chocolate and a fire to warm up to....
Three Days in the Life of a Factor E Farm Guest
I had met with Marcin several times and Brittany once before and I consider them as friends. Knowing the effort they were putting forward and the common values we shared, I thought it was important to commit myself to visit their Factor E Farm and take...
Assessment
How much is a twenty-foot diameter building worth…made of earthbags? Does it increase the property value or decrease it? When we first built our earthbag structure (locally known as the “mud hut”), the very small neighbouring town was...
