Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could use readily available trash to make electricity? Now that would be green energy! As an artist I’ve learned that one of the best amplifiers of creativity is limitation. The more you’re limited the more you’re creative! There ain’t no hardware stores or RadioShacks here in the village! BUT… there’s the trash– which includes used DVD players, cassette decks, computers, and of course, bottles.
This post takes power. Bianca has been observing how my computer adds to our electricity bill. And she’s right, our bill is too high– Ridiculously too high when you consider how much sun the village gets and how much running water and wind are here. And where does the power come from that I am using now? Sure, its nice to be able to work on my computer and post this blog… but if the legacy of this activity is massive dams, nuclear power plants, or what not, is this blog even worth it?!
Exactly. So, that’s why I am been passionately playing around with the various trashed electronics here in the village.
When it comes to designing a power pack for myself, I can’t help but think of easily transportable: a small, self-contained generator, that you can bring with you and put anywhere. I love how cut coke bottles fit together. They make great bricks, but also casings. I’ve been fooling around with creating everything for the generator using a Coke bottles. It is a great challenge: “To craft an easily replicable, transportable, and versatile power generator using as much trash as possible”.
Here are some of my first working prototypes. They use both a solar cell and a DVD motor to create charge which is then stored in a Lithium Polymer battery and regulated by a small circuit board with a USB output jack. The DVD motor, when turned by the bottle propeler creates a small trickle of electricity that is stored in the battery. This is then accessible when needed by the USB jack.
Alas, the battery, solar cell and circuit board are not trash! I am still working on this part!
Here’s some shots from the process.
