360 + miles per gallon!

Here is an update on the bike hybrid.

My commute is 7.5 miles each way (if all shortcuts are taken) or 15 miles round trip. Installed the bike engine for a friend in 2007, she didn't use it. I was interested but figured I'd give it a little more time before deciding what to do, I initially wanted to be able to do the full commute 3-4 times a week by bike, but ended up most of the time using the poor man's hybrid, taking the car down the 480 feet hill that we live on, parking, then doing the rest of the commute by bike.

This shaved 8 miles of the commute each day which does make a difference over 4 days in the week. However, the problem is that dragging that heavy piece of metal up and down the hill only to get on a bike the rest of the way is still inefficient, not to mention that the car engine is least efficient when it is started from cold.


That hill we live on is a long hill and it would be nice if you had regenerative breaking on the car to capture some of the energy in braking. On a bicycle though, gravity takes care of just about 2 miles, going down at top speeds of 37 miles an hour, a very nice ride. Going up is a different story, and frankly the energy is not there for that 480 vertical feet every day. This is where the bike engine comes in, it adds relatively few pounds compared to an electric engine, and while making the bike heavier, has no drag when you remove the kevlar belt. The engine made all the difference, now being able to go the whole commute instead of partial commute by bicycle. The last month and a half have proven to me that this works, the bike has gone over 200 miles in less than two months, so that means it will pay for itself in probably about 6-10 months, when figuring in car maintenance and gas prices.

One added side benefit is that both ways one gets a good workout. Towards work there are a few smaller hills, and coming back that last big hill is steep enough to where hard peddling is still required together with the engine, still working up a significant sweat. Having grown up in the Netherlands, where gymns are still kind of a novelty due to the amount of bicycling and walking to work. Commuting and working out can be combined and therefor leave more time for other things instead of driving to a gymn and working out on machines. Exercise machines that don't capture the energy you generate, seems bizarre but is probably more a symptom of the age of cheap and for granted energy.

Finally, being out of the insular bubble (house, car, work bubbles) that separates us from experiencing the texture of reality is a treat. Below taking a break on a dirt path, the October sun still radiating warmth.

New Blog contributer joins with 2 decades of off-grid experience

I've been living Offgrid going on 2 decades now.
My trusty, yet ugly solar panels were burned brown with cracked cells even when I got them, yet still harvest 200watts on thier best day. Given the unfortunate truth of the toxins created manufacturing solar panels, I chose to get all the use possible from ones already made.
My new project will harnest the suns power stored in vegetable oil extracted from plants; first used by resturaunts to fry greasey food, then the remaining energy released and stored in batteries or used to power tools, with the remaining carbondioxide returned to the earth to complete the cycle. Again, the choice to use recycled oil, rather than support the use of agriculture for fuel production.

To do this I am using a replica of one off the earliest stationary diesel engines, which is still in production in India. I chose this design for its long lasting, time proven, clean burning, simple technology with very few moving parts. Again, considering the impact of manufacturing, I chose engine that may last for generations.

Centralizing energy generation breeds dependency.

This is something I don't hear the candidates for president talk about. I'm glad they talk about diversified alternatives to oil, and Obama encourages the consumer to take action within their own household by reducing one's own energy consumption. However, centralizing alternative energy production, simply shifts the production and sale of energy once again in the hands of a few, starting the cycle of complacent energy consumption and dependency all over again. It also still means that it leaves cities vulnerable when those energy lines get attacked or other disaster strikes. And finally, sending energy through lines is inefficient, as opposed to living right next to the source of energy, or having energy be distributed and decentralized.

If you go to "Follow the oil money",
http://prezoilmoney.oilchangeusa.org/ you can see that the more money you take from the oil industry, the more they take up a piece of real estate in your head. An increase in special interest money and face time with the lobbyists, makes folks more inclined to allow the special interests into one's policy decisions.

Look at the successful example of the Barefoot College in India which teaches and empowers illiterate women, making them into engineers in six months showing them how to make their villages energy independent and off-grid, by installing solar and other sustainable technologies.