Check out his story. If these guys get the Crowd-funding they are looking for it brings a nice side business to nearly anybody. Plus you can do good while doing right.
My post is not a plea for funds for these guys, but an observation on how technology can democratize a business that was limited to "experts", and allow the everyman with limited capital and time to be able to supplement their family income, or turn it into a large scale family business.
At the very least you can get free honey for the family and increase the number of hives of our very precious bees.
Enjoy.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1071501276198227
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Water, water, Everywhere
I have been following the development of water from air and water reclaimed with great interest. At any moment, the atmosphere contains an astounding 37.5 million billion gallons of water. That is a lot, and even in arid areas, especially in Mediterranean climates there is enough relative humidity to dehumidify in the air and extract drinking water out for approximately $.07/liter on a small scale. That number will fall 14% a year as technology advances in solar energy.
The drought is now starting to focus heads on this problem, and I am fascinated with the possibilities, but even more so how can we use technology and this crisis in California to increase our self reliance and lower our living costs, but where to start?
The approach I like to take is incrementalism, by ROI analysis, or best bang for the buck and my time.
I know my biggest water use is in the yard, then the shower, so my focus is there.
The drought is now starting to focus heads on this problem, and I am fascinated with the possibilities, but even more so how can we use technology and this crisis in California to increase our self reliance and lower our living costs, but where to start?
The approach I like to take is incrementalism, by ROI analysis, or best bang for the buck and my time.
I know my biggest water use is in the yard, then the shower, so my focus is there.
- I started with smart watering; less frequent , yet longer duration watering. Get the roots deeper. Secondly, I opted for the best time, which is early morning to allow absorption into the soil, and not be evaporated.
- Stage two, was I noticed with my clay soil half of my watering still ran out into the street, so I sunk two 55 gallon water barrels underneath my french drains and allow those to fill and recirculate that water into my vegetable garden, and turned those sprinklers off.
- The next phase is to turn my vegetable garden into a hydroponic garden, grow more food and create a closed loop system.
- We have low flow toilets and low flow showerheads. However, I am researching the idea of a shower fogging system which provides the warmth and oxygen of a nice shower but with an incredible reduction of water use.
When these are all complete, I will reduce my families water use by 40%. I am already at 20%, and I sacrificed zero living standards.
But this is just for me. For those looking to turn this lemon into lemonade, the big money is going to be helping farmers and industry use water much more effectively. As far as I know nobody has really productized an approach to systematically offer water saving profit sharing like with LED lighting and solar. Seems like a great crowdfunding opportunity, or petition your water authority to issue bonds to offer savings credits.
Now back up to my thoughts on the nexus of solar energy and water, check out this technology. I am looking forward to scaling this down to the home. Enjoy. Much more on this subject coming up.
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