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Explore 9,336 resources and solutions for sustainability, appropriate technology, poverty alleviation, permaculture and more!
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- How can cities that rely on consumption recover from the pandemic, while reducing emissions? Here's some good ideas. Mar 24 [1] ...Manchester
- Spain to launch trial of four-day working week, Mar 15 [2]
- Climate Resilience Needs Community Roots, Mar 11. [3] "One message is clear: cities can better address climate challenges by embedding democratic principles, such as collaboration, power-sharing and transparency in their climate action work." ...Europe news
- A new direction for public engagement with energy and climate change, Mar 9 [4] ...Climate news 2021
- “When democracy is conducted at a human scale, it helps create what looks like superhuman wisdom.” How the state of Vermont does it, Mar 9 [5]
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The objective of this project is to create a solar cooker out of local invasive species and waste materials. We want to create a device that can pasteurize water and be an alternative to the use of fossil fuels for cooking food. Our criteria for evaluating the appropriateness of technology are: use of local materials, efficiency, durability, ease of use, ease of construction, cost, impact on environment, impact on culture/lifestyle, education or expertise needed for construction.
Overall this was a successful project. We were able to meet our goal of pasteurizing water. The solar basket can pasteurize water in a quart container in about an hour with optimal conditions. If we were to make the solar basket version 2.0, here are some changes we would make:
- Double up the blackberry runners so that the ribs of the basket are stronger
- Use another material instead of pampas grass because it causes lumps on the basket's surface, maybe something softer
- Use all large can lids, of the shiniest quality
- Construct the rings that hold the parabolic shape out of a less flexible material than the aluminum and wire that we found
Project Coordinator: Bart Orlando
Student Engineers: Ginger Fletcher-Santillan and Ana KolpinSelected gallery
Chris's ENGR305 Solar Food Dehydrator
A hybrid, solar food dehydrator
Compressed earth brick press
An exploration of compressed earth bricks
Cooperation Humboldt potato tower
A Vertical Garden Used For Growing Potatoes
Deidre's vertical vegetable garden
Solar powered vertical vegetable garden
Devan's vertical axis wind turbine
Experimental Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
Emily small aquaponic system
micro-aquaponic system to grow personal vegetables/fruit
Engr305 peanut sheller project
Peanut sheller made from clay and newspaper
Engr305 pulser pump
A Labeled Pulser Pump
Engr305 pulser pump
A working model of a Pulser pump
Engr 305 solar learning station
Instructional Solar Learning Station
ENGR305 windbelt
Testing new materials for prototype windbelts
Ethanol from organic sugar beets versus refined cane sugar
Determining the cost inputs and energy outputs of small scale ethanol production
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I hate books about poverty that make you feel guilty, as well as dry, academic ones that put you to sleep. Working to alleviate poverty is a lively, exciting field capable of generating new hope and inspiration, not feelings of gloom and doom. Learning the truth about poverty generates disruptive innovations capable of enriching the lives of rich people even more than those of poor people.
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