Here’s a humongous barrel-type compost rig that can turn up to 500 lbs of a load using pedal-power. All the parts were made from bike drive trains and parts found around the shop. This might be overkill for a household, but might make sense for a small community garden. Definitely you’d get some exercise while […]
Alexis Belonio is an associate professor in agricultural engineering at the Central Philippine University of Iloilo City. In 2008 he received a Rolex Award for Enterprise for a rice-husk-burning stove he designed. Belonio’s stove is not complicated, either mechanically or conceptually: A columnar metal burner with the addition of a small intake fan at the base to tip the stoichiometry of combustion towards oxidation, giving a blue, clean, efficient flame that leaves little or no residue. Traditional rice husk burners, by contrast, do not have this forced-air feature and produce a yellow, dirty, inefficient flame that leaves tar behind. The upshot is more efficient use of rice husk biomass and greatly reduced pollution from the many rice-husk burners in use today.
Spotted this sexy commercial electric bicycle in a back issue of Popular Science at the barber shop today. It’s called Pi, and the company that makes it is based out of San Francisco. The magazine article claims it uses a Nu Vinci continuously-variable transmission but the official company specs now only mention a Shimano 8-speed. Sounds like they’re still working out the kinks. Something to keep an eye on, though.
Thinking about mechanical means for auto-opening a fence gate.
Looking to increase his atmospheric lighting options, maker Jeroen Domburg built this wirelessly controlled RGB LED light bulb using an ATTiny44, RGB LED emitter, USB-PSU, and 433MHz RF receiver.
Don’t be confused by the title – we’re not talking superheroes here. Actually, kids can feel like superheroes when they scavenge through the recycling bin to find the materials to make this fun and quick-to-assemble bat mobile. Ellen from The Long Thread shares not only how to assemble the mobile, but also provides a pattern […]
Peter Maltzan is building a passive solar straw-bale house, and has been at it since October of 2008. He’s done a great job of documenting the construction process, which is now nearly complete, in photographs. Highly recommended if you want to get a feel for how it all goes together. Thanks to MAKE subscriber Pete Marchetto for suggesting the link.
