Revision as of 13:12, 3 November 2010

I keep coming across references to "a set of 40 tools" that make up the Open Ecology project. But nowhere on this wiki can I find a list of them. Below is a list of tools I personally think would do the job.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that once you get clarity on what tools are needed, open-source designs can be found online for the majority of them. The task of the Open Ecology Network, as I see it, is as much about collecting and organizing existing solutions as it is about inventing new machines. We need to take existing instructions and turn them into out-of-the-box solutions. This is true especially for food/agriculture. In the digital manufacturing area, some open-source designs still have to be done from scratch, but several of them are already under development by other people, like Lasersaur.

It is important to realize that if there are to be replicable ecovillages, they will each have different requirements. So some may use wind turbines, while others use solar. Some may farm hydroponically while others use permaculture. Some will be urban and some rural. So the toolkit is to be used on a pick-and-mix basis.

Each of these tools must fulfil the following requirements.

Open documentation
Instructional videos or similar
Bill of materials with sourcing info
Low cost
Lifetime design
Modular design for easy disassembly and repair

Housing

CEB press

Sawmill

Modular building system

GridBeam is an open-source modular building system

Hexayurt

http://www.n55.dk/MANUALS/MICRO_DWELLINGS/micro_dwellings.html - These are modular geodesic octahedral structures that can be stuck together to form a variety of forms. Open-source

Geodesic domes

Plenty of instructions online on how to build these

Air-formed domes

Place a balloon-like membrane on the ground. Cover it with wet concrete. Inflate the balloon. Let the concrete harden. Voila - an indestructible concrete dome built in a day using 20% of the material and 20% of the energy of a normal home. [1][2]

Open architectural designs

http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/

Energy

Wind turbine

Plenty of open-source ones:

http://www.appropedia.org/Optimized_Blade_Design_for_Homemade_Windmills

http://makeawindturbine.com/

Again, just a matter of organizing the existing information. Would be nice to get some CAD files made so that people can CNC good blades

Solar photovoltaic/thermal cogeneration

http://www.shpegs.org/

Microbial fuel cell

Plenty of open-source designs for these. Need to combine the best features of each, make instructional video.

http://www.microbialfuelcell.org/www/index.php/Tutorials/
Instructables Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
Six part YouTube tutorial
Lecture by Bruce Logan with lots of ways to optimize power output

Hydroelectric

Geothermal heat pump

Steam engine

Inverter

Battery

Stirling engine

http://openstirlingengine.blogspot.com/ In alpha phase

Electric motor

Food

Organoponic Raised Bed Gardening

Vertical hydroponic units

Complete open-source designs exist: http://www.n55.dk/MANUALS/HOME_HYDRO/HOME_HYDRO.html

Scalable aquaponic system

Barrelponics and Farm Fountain are complete open-source aquaponic systems.

Beehives

All that needs to be done is for someone to turn Langstroth or National hives into CAD files so that they can be 3D printed.

Wormery

Many complete open-source designs exist:

Small modular fish farm

Complete open source design exists: http://www.n55.dk/manuals/fishfarm/fishfarm.html

Open Source Crop Planning Software

Spirulina

This is basically open-source spirulina farming: http://www.antenna.ch/en/malnutrition/training-module.html

Mushrooms

Again, a lot of information online about how to do it, but no complete out-of-the-box design.

Water

Atmospheric water generator

We need a prototype, bill of materials, instructional videos and design documentation. Can be done either with hygroscopic materials or recirculating cold water.

http://sculptors.com/~salsbury/Articles/atmospheric-condensing.html Gives a verbal description of a prototype

Living Machines

Combined slow sand and UV filter

Well Drilling Rig

Digital fabrication

CAD software

There's loads of open CAD software out there. It's still evolving, of course.

3D scanner

http://www.david-laserscanner.com/
MakerScanner, uses a PS3 webcam (which cost about $40) and a few parts that can be 3D printed.
http://www.splinescan.co.uk/

Laser cutter

In development by the Lasersaur community

3D printer

RepRap

CNC torch table

RepTab

CNC drill-mill-lathe

MultiMachine

MIG welder

Spectroscope

Elphel cameras are open-source hardware and can be used for spectroscopy. This is actually what MIT FabLabs use.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-I keep coming across references to "a set of 40 tools" that make up the Open Ecology project. But nowhere on this wiki can I find a list of them. So here are the tools I personally would like to see. I am very pleasantly surprised to find that once you get clear about what tools are needed, open-source designs can be found online for the majority of them.
+I keep coming across references to "a set of 40 tools" that make up the Open Ecology project. But nowhere on this wiki can I find a list of them. Below is a list of tools I personally think would do the job.
-It is important to realize that if there are to be replicable ecovillages, they will each have different requirements. So some may use wind turbines, while others use solar. Some may keep bees while others do not. Some may farm hydroponically while others use permaculture. So the toolkit is to be used on a pick-and-mix basis.
+I was pleasantly surprised to find that once you get clarity on what tools are needed, open-source designs can be found online for the majority of them. The task of the Open Ecology Network, as I see it, is as much about collecting and organizing existing solutions as it is about inventing new machines. We need to take existing instructions and turn them into out-of-the-box solutions. This is true especially for food/agriculture. In the digital manufacturing area, some open-source designs still have to be done from scratch, but several of them are already under development by other people, like Lasersaur.
+It is important to realize that if there are to be replicable ecovillages, they will each have different requirements. So some may use wind turbines, while others use solar. Some may farm hydroponically while others use permaculture. Some will be urban and some rural. So the toolkit is to be used on a pick-and-mix basis.
 Each of these tools must fulfil the following requirements.
@@ Line 14: / Line 16: @@
 =Housing=
-==CEB press==
+===[[CEB press]]===
-==Sawmill==
+===[[Sawmill]]===
+===Modular building system===
+[http://www.gridbeamers.com/ GridBeam] is an open-source modular building system
+[http://hexayurt.com/ Hexayurt]
+http://www.n55.dk/MANUALS/MICRO_DWELLINGS/micro_dwellings.html - These are modular geodesic octahedral structures that can be stuck together to form a variety of forms. Open-source
+===Geodesic domes===
+Plenty of instructions online on how to build these
+===Air-formed domes===
+Place a balloon-like membrane on the ground. Cover it with wet concrete. Inflate the balloon. Let the concrete harden. Voila - an indestructible concrete dome built in a day using 20% of the material and 20% of the energy of a normal home. [http://binishells.com/technology.html][http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/09/back-to-the-future-the-binishell-returns/]
+===Open architectural designs===
+http://www.openarchitecturenetwork.org/
 =Energy=
-==Wind turbine==
+===Wind turbine===
 Plenty of open-source ones:
 *http://www.appropedia.org/WaterPod_WindPod_Turbine
@@ Line 29: / Line 47: @@
 Again, just a matter of organizing the existing information. Would be nice to get some CAD files made so that people can CNC good blades
-==Solar photovoltaic/thermal cogeneration==
+===Solar photovoltaic/thermal cogeneration===
+http://www.shpegs.org/
-==Microbial fuel cell==
+===Microbial fuel cell===
 Plenty of open-source designs for these. Need to combine the best features of each, make instructional video.
@@ Line 39: / Line 58: @@
 * [http://techtv.mit.edu/collections/mitei/videos/6081-bruce-logan-bioenergy-production-using-microbial-fuel-cell-technologies Lecture by Bruce Logan] with lots of ways to optimize power output
-==Steam engine==
+===Hydroelectric===
+===Geothermal heat pump===
+===Steam engine===
-==Inverter==
+===Inverter===
-==Battery==
+===Battery===
-==Stirling engine==
+===Stirling engine===
 http://openstirlingengine.blogspot.com/ In alpha phase
-==Electric motor==
+===Electric motor===
 =Food=
-==[[Organoponic Raised Bed Gardening]]==
+===[[Organoponic Raised Bed Gardening]]===
-==Vertical hydroponic units==
+===Vertical hydroponic units===
 Complete open-source designs exist: http://www.n55.dk/MANUALS/HOME_HYDRO/HOME_HYDRO.html
-==Scalable aquaponic system==
+===Scalable aquaponic system===
 Barrelponics and Farm Fountain are complete open-source aquaponic systems.
-==Beehives==
+===Beehives===
 All that needs to be done is for someone to turn Langstroth or National hives into CAD files so that they can be 3D printed.
-==Wormery==
+===Wormery===
 Many complete open-source designs exist:
 *http://www.n55.dk/MANUALS/SOIL_FACTORY/SOIL.html
 *http://paulstownallotments.com/Wormery/Wormery.html#Large_scale
-==Small modular fish farm==
+===Small modular fish farm===
 Complete open source design exists: http://www.n55.dk/manuals/fishfarm/fishfarm.html
-==[[Open Source Crop Planning Software]]==
+===[[Open Source Crop Planning Software]]===
-==Spirulina==
+===Spirulina===
 This is basically open-source spirulina farming: http://www.antenna.ch/en/malnutrition/training-module.html
-==Mushrooms==
+===Mushrooms===
 Again, a lot of information online about how to do it, but no complete out-of-the-box design.
 =Water=
-==Atmospheric water generator==
+===Atmospheric water generator===
 We need a prototype, bill of materials, instructional videos and design documentation. Can be done either with hygroscopic materials or recirculating cold water.
 http://sculptors.com/~salsbury/Articles/atmospheric-condensing.html Gives a verbal description of a prototype
-==Living Machines==
+===Living Machines===
-==Combined slow sand and UV filter==
+===Combined slow sand and UV filter===
+===[[Well Drilling Rig]]===
 =Digital fabrication=
-==CAD software==
+===CAD software===
 There's loads of open CAD software out there. It's still evolving, of course.
-==3D scanner==
+===3D scanner===
 *http://www.david-laserscanner.com/
 *[http://www.makerscanner.com/ MakerScanner], uses a PS3 webcam (which cost about $40) and a few parts that can be 3D printed.
 *http://www.splinescan.co.uk/
-==Laser cutter==
+===Laser cutter===
 In development by the [http://labs.nortd.com/lasersaur/ Lasersaur] community
-==3D printer==
+===3D printer===
 RepRap
-==CNC torch table==
+===CNC torch table===
 [[RepTab]]
-==CNC drill-mill-lathe==
+===CNC drill-mill-lathe===
 [http://opensourcemachine.org/ MultiMachine]
-==MIG welder==
+===MIG welder===
-==Spectroscope==
+===Spectroscope===
 Elphel cameras are open-source hardware and can be used for spectroscopy. This is actually what MIT FabLabs use.
-==Induction furnace==
+===Induction furnace===
 In development
-==Plasma cutter==
+===Plasma cutter===
-==Waterjet cutter==
+===Waterjet cutter===
 To attach to the RepTab
-==Multimeter / Computer oscilloscope==
+===Multimeter / Computer oscilloscope===
 http://www.opencircuits.com/Oscilloscope#PC_Oscilloscopes
-==Robotic arm==
+===Robotic arm===
-==Metal saw==
+===Metal saw===
-==Metal roller==
+===Metal roller===
-==Metal press, shear and hole puncher==
+===Metal press, shear and hole puncher===

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