Back to CAD

I'm so very excited! Since starting work with renewable energy the idea of doing opensource design has been central to my task, and until two days ago the dream had become paralyzed. The problem was with code. There are many great ways to openly collaborate, but they all use code; essentially text. GitHub is one great example. But all of the designs that we have realized have been done in Google Sketchup; it was the only free, cross platform, and powerful CAD program found, and its files are all binary. But two days ago while showing a new student the git repository for the Amo-Esclavo Heliostat project I did a search for CAD and found openSCAD !

There are several good tutorials on using this package, but after watching Galvian's video I was hooked, and impressed. And aperently openSCAD plays well with the MakkerBot
project, with is also very handy to eliminate frequent trips to the metal shop. I am now planning on moving all my designs over to openSCAD!



Next we need an open, text based solution to electronic circuit creation (to replace Eagle). Any ideas?

Shelter: a short film on home building

A well done movie short about Lloyd Kahn and his take on home building.

SHELTER from jason sussberg on Vimeo.

Worm composting

I've been composting (well sorta.. many failed attempts, and several that worked but that I never got to use.. long story) for several years, but the biggest problem is not how to do it, but more importantly the methane gas that is produced. Methane is one of the worse green house gases, and regular composting produces it in large amounts.

Worm composting produces some methane, but less then traditional composting. After a few days of looking for how to for worm composting I found the best reference in the below video.

The general calculations are:

1 square foot of surface are can house 1 lb of worms which can digest 1/2 lb of food waste per day.

in metric

0.205 m^2/kg of worms. So a 30cm x 70 cm bin can support 1kg of worms and digest 500 g of food waste/day. In the video they use two plastic bins to house the worms, the top for the worms and the bottom to hold the water that passes through (which is also a fertilizer and a natural insecticide.)

The Enviromentals (Episode 1) How to Make a Worm Composting Bin from Hal Brindley on Vimeo.

Return to old; Al:silicate cement more environmentally friendly

From gizmag, a post about research in what they are calling a new type of cement; a great example of reading the comments giving the really important info!

This technology isn't as "new" as some people think. Cement used in the Roman Empire had a similar Aluminium-Silicate base as Geo-polymer cement (which is probably why so many of their structures are still standing after around 2000 years). Also, buildings in the former Soviet Union also used Aluminium-Silicate based cements over those using Calcium Oxide (Portland Cement).

Sort of makes you wonder what hold the makers of Portland Cement have over Governments & the Building Industry, that their obviously INFERIOR product has been a staple of construction-in the West-for the last couple of centuries.