Solar IS Civil Defense, Illustrated

 
Solar IS Civil Defense
Like this solar LED light and AA battery charger

or this solar/dynamo am/fm/sw radio, similar to the ones US and NATO forces have distributed in Afghanistan.

Solar IS Civil Defense
and, after all,  
we are at war.

Solar IS Civil Defense
a flashlight, radio or cell phone, an extra set of batteries
solar powered
with hand or foot operated dynamo back-up,
emergency lighting and communication
day or night
from sunlight or
muscle power.

One solar component
is an LED flashlight
which also charges AA batteries.
This design allows for
battery switching,
charging a second set of batteries
to use in other devices.

The Bogolight is a charger and light
with an international development
addition:
each light bought
buys another solar LED light and battery charger
for someone who has no access to electricity
in this world.

Solar IS Civil Defense in another way.

US and NATO forces have distributed
solar/dynamo am/fm/sw radios
in Afghanistan.

Those solar/dynamos could easily charge
AA batteries
and establish a low power DC grid
through battery switching.
This level of survival electricity
would raise the standard of living
for most Afghanis,
helping to rebuild their lives
as well as their country and economy.

This circuit diagram is one way
to add this capability to the present
solar/dynamo radios now in Afghanistan.

The image I have is of a
solar swadeshi, hand-made electricity.
Instead of turning the handle
of the charkha spinning wheel
making thread
for khadi cloth
an hour a day as Gandhi did,
turning the crank of a dynamo a half hour a day,
the direct production of survival power
for yourself, your family, and your community,
swadeshi, local production.

How did Gandhi's Pashtun colleague,
Badshah Khan practice it?
And could his example
help bring peace back
today?

•  the more we rely on solar

  we more we invite our enemies to blight the skies!

  by Marcion on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:02:55 PM PDT

  •  LOL.

    The more we rely on solar the further underground we force Dick Cheney to go.  Vampires can't survive in daylight.

    by inclusiveheart on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:06:57 PM PDT

  •  That's rich

    Love it!

    by The Termite on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:14:28 PM PDT

•  thanks, gmoke...

  interesting as always!

  by cfk on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:04:32 PM PDT

  •  You're Welcome

    by gmoke on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:26:21 PM PDT

•  Great impulse

  more detailed information on the solar swadeshi, and how I might actually make/buy/produce one ...or many.

  Tipped and recommended.

  by DelicateMonster on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:04:40 PM PDT

  •  Well, I would tip if you

    put up a tip jar!

    Thanks for the diary nevertheless. Quite a treat.

    by DelicateMonster on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:05:30 PM PDT

    •  No Tip Jars!

      I don't do tip jars.  They make no sense to me.

      by gmoke on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:28:17 PM PDT

  •  kitchen gadget powered by bicycle

    use your pedaling to make a Smoothie

    by RosyFinch on Mon May 12, 2008 at 07:46:51 PM PDT

•  Why not human powered energy production?

  It could certainly be used in extreme emergency conditions.   Lights, radios,  powering cell phones and producing potable water.  Seems like a good idea to me.

  Looking back at Katrina and knowing we have other disasters in our future, it's sensible and prudent to use people power for a lot of reasons.

  by Aaa T Tudeattack on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:06:16 PM PDT

  •  Not practical.

    Honest to god I just heard a story about a company that wanted to try that for an employee function and they didn't have the manpower to generate the power they needed to run the function.

    Meanwhile, the sun is just hanging around there waiting for us to harness its power.  It is ironic how much Mother Nature has given us and how we constantly persist in ignoring her gifts.

    by inclusiveheart on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:10:28 PM PDT

    •  We could also shade our air-conditioned buildings

      with trees and overhangs.

      by simaramis on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:24:38 PM PDT

      •  We could make it so our buildings' windows

        opened too so that in temperate months we were not reliant on power to push fresh air through the buildings.  There are many, many things we could do actually to ease our pain.

        by inclusiveheart on Mon May 12, 2008 at 06:09:04 PM PDT

      •  Yes, change zoning codes to allow

        arbors supporting evergreen vines over whole single-family homes, and then design options for wider and taller coverage.

        Pretty, inexpensive, and durable.

        by Creosote on Fri May 16, 2008 at 12:19:51 AM PDT

  •  Human power does not necessarily mean

    to power something electric.  Riding a bike is human power.  Peddle powered mechanical devices work very well too.  

    When I was a kid, I had a peddle powered jig saw, worked better than the electric one too.

    I would love to have a peddle powered generator - I could get my exercise and watch TV at the same time.

    by jimraff on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:18:00 PM PDT

  •  Commonly done

    Mostly for irrigation.

    Human energy powers a lot of agricultural irrigation pumps, for instance.

    Even more ingenious is the PlayPump.

    by sdgeek on Mon May 12, 2008 at 09:14:43 PM PDT

•  Solar lily pads!

  I saw these today and loved the biomimicry:

  Solar Lily Pads Could Soon Power Largest City in Scotland

  and here: http://www.inhabitat.com/...

  by mem from somerville on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:08:28 PM PDT

•  Fascinating

  I had not seen the radios before.  The lights and ovens are practical for anyone anywhere in sun country.  

  by jfromga on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:11:43 PM PDT

•  I've often wondered why all that

  elaborate exercise equipment in work-out rooms couldn't be put to electromotive use.

  by simaramis on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:20:20 PM PDT

  •  Beginning

    There's a gym in Hong Kong that has started to do just that.

    by gmoke on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:25:42 PM PDT

  •  The power generated does not

    completely offset the electricity load of the machine itself. But it's a start.

    by bldr on Mon May 12, 2008 at 08:21:15 PM PDT

•  Ham Radio, too. Solar, bicycle power generated

  For REAL civil defense we should have police-fire-first responders and news media (Daily kos?) with ultimate backup of Ham Radio....alternative power source...and bicycles.......

  by LNK on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:21:48 PM PDT

•  Sorry, I love your intent, but

  that is a terrible idea.  That is, human powered electricity is unbelievably inefficient.  Think about it:

  Crops planted, tended, reaped.
  Foodstuffs shipped, packaged, reshipped, bought.
  Food prepared, served, eaten.
  Energy converted from chemical means into motion.
  Motion converted into electricity.
  Electricity converted into chemical stored energy.

  So, almost any process would use less energy, and result in less overall pollution than the one involving people generating electricity.  

  Just like it is a bad idea to divert corn from food production to creating fuel for vehicles, it is a bad idea to use the product of that food to power people to create electricity.  

  by nsfbr on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:26:50 PM PDT

  •  By the way,

    in case it isn't clear, I'm talking NOT about the solar powered pieces, which can be quite a good idea if you are off the grid.  I'm only referring to the human powered version, which is never a good idea unless you are in an emergency situation, as opposed to the Gandhi human powered spinning wheel, where the outcome is yarn.

    by nsfbr on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:29:44 PM PDT

  •  Wrong Scale

    You are thinking too big.  I think small.  

    I am talking about an LED light, a cell phone, a radio, things that can run on a couple of AA batteries.  This is well within the capability of a person to generate on a daily basis.  A person who bikes a couple of miles can do it without even breaking a sweat.

    I am NOT talking about running your refrigerator with a hand crank or a foot treadle.  I am talking emergency situations, at most camping situations.

    This problem of scale seems to be a fundamental barrier to vision.  Like you, most people don't get what I'm saying because they can't see AA battery power.  They can only see megawatts and exajoules where I am dealing with low voltage, low amperage survival power.

    by gmoke on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:47:54 PM PDT

    •  have you built a solar swadeshi?

      Now you've got me curious.  I own a spinning wheel, if I could figure out how to make such a thing work it could be very handy to have around.

      by britta on Mon May 12, 2008 at 06:18:27 PM PDT

      •  Yes

        http://solarray.blogspot.com/...

        I commissioned two versions of this device, did a patent search, and tried to find an industrial design firm that would help me bring it to the market.  No luck there.  That experience taught me that I am not a businessman but simply a writer.

        by gmoke on Mon May 12, 2008 at 06:30:17 PM PDT

        •  Would that diagram

          be enough to show someone how to build it?
          My dad was an avionics engineer at one time, now he's building guitars (and a long-desired marimba for me!) and he's got the capacity to do such things.

          And would you mind?

          by britta on Mon May 12, 2008 at 07:05:25 PM PDT

          •  Go Ahead

            I published the circuit diagram because I want people to replicate the device.  I used a solar/dynamo flashlight/radio which is probably no longer on the market but those that are still available usually don't have the ability to charge batteries in the battery bay, only the internal hard wired battery inside the case.  

            This schematic shows how to wire the device so that you can get power to the battery bay from the solar and the dynamo as you choose.  It seems to be fairly simple but I don't have the skill to do the work myself.  That's why I hired somebody to build it for me.  I just dream up ideas, don't expect me to make them real too.

            by gmoke on Mon May 12, 2008 at 10:08:14 PM PDT

            •  Thank you!

              Nothing wrong with being the dreamer upper  :-)  

              I'll let you know how it turns out whenever I can convince dad to divert from marimbamania and attack the spinning wheel.  It might be a while.

              by britta on Tue May 13, 2008 at 06:44:14 AM PDT

    •  Please don't read past what I saying!

      I'm not thinking about scale here, just thermodynamics.  I agree that in
      certain circumstances (many) being off grid is the way to go.  It is just
      wrong though to think that human power is an appropriate path.  That's just
      wrong.

      And I didn't say a person couldn't do it.  Of course they could.  The
      problem is that it would, if adopted on any kind of scale, have a huge
      negative impact due to the increased caloric consumption required.  Unlike
      most of us in the developed world, people in the developing world eat only
      what they need to survive, so an increase in Whr output will require an
      increase in Calories consumed, and a multiplier effect ensues all the way
      down the food chain.  All of that puts Carbon into the atmosphere.

      It is sometimes poopooed(is that even a word) when those that want to do
      nothing point at the Carbon per $GDP and its trendline.  While this doesn't
      do anything to help change GCC, it does illustrate the problem with your
      concept.  It is only by virtue of the fact that more advanced civilizations
      use high efficiency means to power their lives that we are able to consume
      at the level we do.  However, it would be a far worse problem if we gave
      people in the developing world first world devices and then had them power
      them with human power.  That is a recipe for disaster.  Moreover, it does
      it at their expense.

      The better way is to use human brain power to develop a solution that
      harnesses available sources that are un-utilized and low impact.  I'm
      talking about small scale wind (like a couple of hundred watts peak), solar
      and other less conventional means.  Some examples:

      Wave power - this has already been demonstrated in several locations where
      wave oscillation powers a generator to produce electricity.

      Tidal power - similar, but uses the water flow in and out of coastal areas.
      Extremely predictable.

      Solar thermal - A friend of mine demonstrated a simple, low tech solar
      power pump that used old inner tubes for the pump diaphragm almost two
      decades ago.  It was initially manually powered, but changed to solar when
      he understood what I outlined above.  (Although, in the case of pumping
      water, one could make the argument that it isn't such a bad idea, since you
      are doing necessarily work that is producing food as opposed to powering an
      ostensibly luxury good.)

      I can go on.  The point of all this is that I don't believe you've looked
      into the overall impact of this idea and would suggest you not accuse me of
      incorrect thinking viz a viz scale.  I've actually spent a good part of my
      life working on small scale projects at least part time and know of what I
      speak.

      by nsfbr on Tue May 13, 2008 at 06:22:25 PM PDT

      •  Low Power

        Solar Is Civil Defense - flashlight, radio or cell phone, extra set of batteries - that is what I am proposing to be powered by small scale solar with human back-up, when necessary.  If all 6 billion + people on the planet did that, the largest negative impact would be the batteries rather than the increased carbon burden of extra food to turn a crank or a dynamo.  At least, that's how I see it.  (Eventually, I'd like to see small flywheels take the place of batteries but that's a pipe dream as of now.)

        I see this as survival level low voltage DC used in low power and high efficiency devices, LEDs instead of incandescents for instance.  The human power component could be supplied by bicycle power as well through a dynohub or magnetic wheel device.  I am talking about a couple of AA batteries a day, a half hour a day of meditation on non-violence and community economics while generating electricity the way Gandhi made thread from the spinning wheel.

        I don't believe that produces a large carbon footprint any way you count it.

        But I could be wrong.

        by gmoke on Tue May 13, 2008 at 07:48:18 PM PDT

        •  I'll try again...

          because it actually matters to me that you understand my point.

          Solar - great.  We agree.  

          Wind - fantastic.  Yes.

          People generating electricity on a regular basis by turning a crank - idiotic if done on a widespread basis.

          I keep responding because I'm a real, gosh darn rocket scientist*/environmentalist who truly believes that unless we as a rule are bullet proof in what we espouse, those whose motives are driven by greed and/or fear/hate will eat us for lunch.  My contention is that it is much better to be criticized by someone on your side than by someone who would love to see you fail.

          I love that you are motivated.  I love that you want to do something.  Just know that if you don't analyze what you are doing, you will do more harm than good.

          Peace.

          ______________________________________________

          *Not actually a rocket scientist, but a satellite power systems expert who has also built ultra high efficiency solar race vehicles, and developed the world's most efficient drive train for a electric/hybrid electric vehicle.  

          by nsfbr on Tue May 13, 2008 at 08:01:21 PM PDT

          •  Agree to Disagree

            People generating electricity on a regular basis by turning a crank - idiotic if done on a widespread basis.

            A couple of AA batteries a day is not a big deal nor a total solution but it can mean survival in an emergency or disaster.  That is what I am talking about.

            I know that one human power is about 1/6 of a horsepower and that ain't much.  But it is enough for an LED light or a cell phone or a radio.  That's all I'm advocating.

            Gandhi's idea of swadeshi, local production, the spinning of thread for the manufacture of khadi cloth, was and is seen as foolish and a throwback to primitivism as well.  He saw it as meditation and community service, the foundation of satyagraha.  Others think that family gardens are useless in terms of agricultural production but they keep many, many people connected to the core reality of our biological existence.

            You don't have to worry that hand-made electricity will be adopted widely but wouldn't it be good if the solar/dynamo radios already in Afghanistan could charge AA batteries for a cell phone or a light too?  Wouldn't it add to the resilience of those communities if the batteries could be charged by a hand crank as well as the solar panel?  That's all I'm saying.  That's all I want to say.

            by gmoke on Wed May 14, 2008 at 09:09:54 AM PDT

•  solar HAM repeaters

   I'd like to see solar/wind HAM repeaters on every grain elevator in the Midwest. We've got 'em spaced, oh, every twelve miles or so, just right for repeater duty, and some already have systems. One could run a DSL line to the repeater for autopatch voice duties as well as data. The system could provide authenticated transport of data traffic via IPsec with a null payload crypto method, thusly not violating FCC requirements against the coding of HAM traffic, yet keeping joyriders out of the system.

   This is quite cool stuff ... I don't know what I do without my shake style flashlight - a few flicks of the wrist and I'm reading for an hour after sundown :-)

  by Stranded Wind on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:34:10 PM PDT

•  Thanks for this diary!

  I'm going to order one of those SuperBogos as soon as they're available.  Having been through several whopper hurricanes, and still living in FL, one of those would be perfect when we're without power for days or weeks.  I hate stocking up on regular, non-rechargable batteries, just in case.

  Aside from the sustainablity issue, it'll allow me to invest more prudently in emergency vodka supplies  :-)

  by britta on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:46:24 PM PDT

•  I just deployed my solar wall's shading device

  I add an awning that to a window wash deck/shading device to shade my solar storage wall through the warm weather when heat isn't needed. It is an annual chore I have to do every Spring.

  I designed the home myself and was my own general contractor.

  by Lefty Coaster on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:58:48 PM PDT

  •  Post a photo or 2

    by bldr on Mon May 12, 2008 at 08:24:55 PM PDT

•  thx to gmoke i got the flashlight, love it

  i got it in the winter and have been able to charge it inside (next to window) even in the cloudy winter.

  by mad cow on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:59:14 PM PDT

•  Love the do-it-yourself angle here

  And the best mother's day story I saw was this fellow who wanted his grandma to have a hot shower, so built a solar collector

  inventor

  by RosyFinch on Mon May 12, 2008 at 07:46:05 PM PDT