Daniel @daniel@campduffel.social

Been revisiting one of my older ideas regarding energy independence. It is basically a very large(room sized) heat engine designed for very long uptimes and durability. Think decades. It would use a low temperature differential and have abysmal efficiency, but it could be built and maintained with off-the-shelf parts. All it needs is hot water. Heating water with solar thermal is debatably cheaper than photovoltaics, but even if it’s not, the goal is a low tech solution.

@gbrnt@mastodon.technology Yes, they are called a hutch. Super popular in the 80's.

@atyh Starting a journey to figure out how to replicate this and convert it to ammonia fuel.
https://youtu.be/J556uXwrjII

@zephan He has, and her hair isn't like that anymore!😂

@atyh True, that's why things like this are so powerful. It helps a lot of people understand history that they haven't been taught. I'm still playing catch-up.

@atyh I think that's how it happened, but correlation doesn't imply causation. It might be possible to get the same/better results with better outcomes for more people.

@atyh @ned You guys are awesome to chat with! I agree about the primal force. You see it everywhere including code. That is why the, "do one thing and do it well" principle in Unix is so on point. It makes me think that smaller localized markets could work, but I wonder what kind of cap they could place on technological progress.

@atyh Well, actually it does a lot of the time. A couple of years ago I remember sitting down to a dinner of filet mignon that I prepared with some vegetables and wine. I remember the cost for both me and my wife was $12 and that seemed like a miracle. There does seem to be more emerging markets to provide quality products as awareness of their existence spreads(Even in Walmart). It's not perfect and lately appears to have had a stroke.

@atyh Even if you're right to blame capitalism/consolidation, really won't it just give people what they want? If people valued beauty/quality/sustainability over whatever widget can get the job done the cheapest, we would get that don't you think?

100 year old radiator vs. modern art:

When I see things like this, it reinforces my belief that we have lost some wonderful things as a society and they we could be so much better.

@atyh TBH, I could have run the generator, but I knew that it wouldn't last long because there was still some tar and gunk in the gas. It takes a lot maintenance and BS to make gas good enough for an engine that you want to last. I'd love to chat some more about this kind of stuff. It is not easy to live a relatively modern lifestyle off-grid in a self-sustainable way.

@Cherishingsparrows2020 @mary Yes, it is her! I don't think she's seen this post yet lol.

@atyh I built a gasifier once. Got a good flame, but never ran an engine with it. The idea was to make a small trailer-mounted device that could act as a stove and run a 500W generator. It proved too hard to pull off in such a small space for me. It is such a tinkery thing and you can never just set and forget. If I had to build another one, it would be stationary and big.

@mary Found a funny kid picture! Nice hair!