Why build a wind turbine from junk?

The Green Shed Builds

There’s a great deal of doomerism to be found in the environmental sciences these days. The prevailing view seems to be that in the not too distant future we will be living an apocalyptic lifestyle amongst the rubble of civilisation. I suspect that some may even be looking forward to this.

I am an engineer and have little time for sitting in the road demanding that others solve the problem. I’m more inclined to tinker with solutions. In particular, if one couldn’t rely upon a functioning interconnected civilisation for power, how might you resolve this? If you did find yourself amongst the zombie apocalypse, how could you power your laptop?

You would want your supply lines to become very short. Everything would be sourced locally. You might assume that you could prepare by equipping your home with the very latest in sustainable technology.

However, new technology must pay its way. It must support a business model that serves investors, customers and profit. Those investments must be protected. The business must be competitive. This technology must remain the property of the business. We must stop others copying the idea. We must legally protect the right to produce this technology. We patent the technology. To be eligible the technology must be new. Advanced. Never before seen. Sophisticated. Complex.

Expensive.

Ultimately, every problem becomes solved with the most advanced and complex technology imaginable, and you can guarantee there will be no user serviceable parts. If it malfunctions, you are doomed.

I suspect this is as true for sustainable technology as it is for any other. Performance is squeezed from exotic arrays of sophisticated technologies not to solve the problem, but to defeat competitors on the open market. A roof of solar panels will cost you thousands of dollars. A wind turbine will be similarly expensive. If this technology fails, you probably don’t repair it. You simply buy another.

Must we simply shop our way to sustainable power?

Proliferation of this sustainable technology is constrained by this expense and is likely confined to the well off. However, perhaps it is indeed true that if a radical, revolutionary new technology is inaccessible to the poor then it’s neither radical nor revolutionary.

What’s the alternative?

How could an essential technology proliferate without the support of a viable business model at all? Compelling the population to pay through taxation or legislation simply feeds these business models, and once more the problem is likely solved by high performance, sophisticated, inaccessible, expensive and legally protected technology that primarily serves a profit motive, not the environment.

To break from these constraints, can I replicate these technologies by building it myself from scratch using the cheapest and most available materials that I can get my hands on?

One might suggest that a 3D printer be employed, and I was tempted. However, I wanted to use the simplest tools that might be found in any garden shed and the skills accessible to most people. To 3D print a device requires a laptop, a 3D printer and the skills required to CAD the structure. Once more, we encounter a boundary to the proliferation of technology, and proliferation with the fewest boundaries is my goal.

I want a structure that could be built in the middle of nowhere, or the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Also, I have to live with this thing in my garden, so it had to reflect this little rural idyll that I have built in the middle of an urban sprawl. Plastic doesn’t quite fit my aesthetic and will not last long in the UK climate.

The obvious model to follow is the form and function of sailing ships. Wood, rope and a fabric sail conspire to offer a cheap, lightweight structure that can catch the wind. This technology can be built by hand, repaired by hand, updated by hand, and with the right care and attention could last a century.

This is what we are after.

The turbine must be exposed to the wind, which often demands a tall tower. However, to erect a tower in an urban garden in the middle of a city will demand planning permission that will not be granted.

Planning permission is not required to plant a tree. I could suspend my turbine between two thin ropes, and fix this rope to the highest branch of a tree in my garden.

A small generator is connected to the turbine via a gearbox constructed from magnets. All are built from scratch, preferably from junk I had lying around.

A small junk electric generator and 4:1 magnetic gearbox.

I suspect that this device will not be as efficient as a commercial option. However, the true measure of utility is not absolute efficiency. After all, we have broken out of a competitive business model. We don’t need to squeeze performance out of this mechanism to attract interest. The total cost of this machine is tens of dollars.

If it’s cheap, or built from junk, if I need more power I could just build another, and another, and another, until I have sufficient power. I could suspend an array of them between two trees or buildings until I am gathering all the power that I need.

If I succeed, who else could build such a device? If I make the fewest demands that I can upon costs, materials, tools, skills or time, and have no interest in selling anything, could anyone build such a thing? If a technology adopts characteristics that break it free from a commercial business model and becomes accessible to anyone, could it proliferate quickly, throttled only by the enthusiasm of others?

Could a proliferating technology be strung across the street, between the windows, to become so much electric bunting? Might the whistling turbulence around the upper floors of a tower block be captured by a junk turbine?

I have absolutely no idea. However, I intend to find out.

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