Michael Janzen

Don’t worry… I’m not an off-roader. But after reading about ATVs and homesteading in Mother Earth News it occurred to me that an electric ATV could be very handy for heavy chores, mowing, and even plowing small fields. I know that sounds crazy but many ATVs can pull small trailers and tools like mowers. If all you had was electricity (solar, wind, or even grid) your ATV could serve as a battery backup most of the time and a useful tool when needed. This is all theoretical of course. Here are a few I’ve found:

• Barefoot Motors (Ashland, Oregon)
• EVS – ATV (Ellicottville, NY)
• RTEV (Winnsboro, SC) – more like a golf cart

I just stumbled on this from a reader’s private website. This page is not private… but a very cool collection of solar cookers and plans. Solar cooking is a great way to use the sun for free to cook food.

Solar Cooker Plans

I ran across this big backyard sized mirrored solar dish on CleanTechnica. It’s a project by some students at MIT that has turned onto a new start up called RawSolar. I’ve often thought that there would be a big market for a mirror like this coupled with small stirling engine for backyard alternative energy generation. But it would have to be low cost. These folks are planning on using it to generate steam to drive a turbine.

I want to make a tiny alcohol burning stove and space heater for Nine Tiny Feet and just came across this great tiny stove on Make. This example is so small if actually can be worn around the neck like a necklace. Weird but possibly useful. Stove Necklace. You can also see it for sale… very expensive… better to make one yourself out of copper tubing me thinks.

Why alcohol burning? My guess is that post peak-oil many of us will probably learn to distill spirits from local vegitation as an alternative fuel to petroleum and natural gas. Nine Tiny Feet will have a peak-oil prepper spin when I’m done; a teaching tool for simple and sustainable living without petroleum.

Great site for ultralight backpacking equipment. I’m not an ultralight backpacker but I look to these people for great simple living ideas like tiny alcohol stoves made from beer cans.

• Mini Bull Design
• Instructable: Ultralight Backpack Stove
• Penny Stove
  

I found this on materialicious. It’s an article that summarizes eight small wind turbine manufacturers. These are the kind of wind turbines you might use to augment a photovoltaic array and power your house.

• Small wind turbine article on Jetson Green
• Small Wind Roundup – materialicious