Beginning Column Laying in Workshop
We have begun laying columns for the workshop - right after the 4000 square foot slab was poured. Here is a video from Ben Nelson, one visitor from last Saturdays column laying party, where we had 15 visitors from U. Illinois and from Wisconsin help out:
Ben Nelson works on electric car conversions. We plan on an electric tractor in the future, though it's not on the 50 technologies list for next year.
See the latest progress on the Kickstarter, as of noon on Nov. 8, and pass on to your friends. We are still going strong.
1,384
Backers
$63,573
pledged of $40,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding period
Oct 10, 2011 -
Nov 19, 2011
(40 days)
- First created · 4 backed
- Marcin Jakubowski 125 friends
- Website: opensourceecology.org
Pledge $8 or more
593 backers
Beta Access. Receive weekly status updates with video blog of progress + honorable mention on the Kickstarter Supporters page on our wiki.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2011Pledge $32 or more
121 backers
Represent. Get Beta Access + a GVCS sticker + a personal video thank you message from the OSE Founder published on this page.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2011Pledge $48 or more
84 backers
Back It - Back the project on your own back with the first edition of the Global Village Construction Set T-shirt, in addition to the Represent Package. New reward, added by demand, at the 2-weeks-left mark.
Estimated delivery: Jan 2012Pledge $64 or more
287 backers
Taste the GVCS. Get the Represent package + Punchout Magnet + deluxe data DVD of complete resource library for easy replication of the 4 machines, including instructional videos. The Punchout Magnet is a refrigerator magnet made from 3/4” punch-outs from the world's first, open source, 150 ton hole puncher - punched with tons of love during CEB Press and Tractor fabrication.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2011Pledge $128 or more
34 backers
Visit the GVCS. Taste the GVCS package + admission to Factor e Farm for a visit on Visitor's Days to see the action with your own eyes.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2011Pledge $174 or more
11 backers
Use the GVCS. Taste the GVCS package + Visit the GVCS + a solenoid controller board for the CEB press, including un-soldered components, milled on our own open source CNC Circuit Mill
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $256 or more
21 backers
Build Naturally. Admission to a one-day Natural Building workshop at Factor e Farm in 2011 + DVD documenting the natural construction with CEB, Straw, and Lumber, including modular house and workshop designs that can be adapted based on our designs. Includes hands-on experience: brick laying with CEBs and square bale insulation; assisting with lumber production with the Dimensional Sawmill, and square bale making with the Baler.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $512 or more
12 backers
Consult. Build Naturally package + personal consultation regarding the Civilization Starter Kit applications with the Founder + reservation to a weekend retreat where you can experience the life at Factor e Farm.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $1,024 or more
4 backers
Produce. Build Naturally package + an immersion experience of one day of personal coaching for you to do brick pressing, lumber production, or baling at Factor e Farm. We provide you with technical support, you do the actual work, with possibility of taking home the product.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $10,000 or more
0 backers
Housebuild. Produce package + 1 month of access to CEB press, tractor, pulverizer, and power units as a 'productive vacation' get-away at Factor e Farm. You get a chance to produce the materials to take with you.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012Pledge $10,000 or more
0 backers
Go Deep. Access to user training workshops for any of the 50 GVCS machines as they become available + fabrication training workshops + other workshops as they are offered at Factor e Farm. This is for responsible individuals committed to re-skilling themselves in a deep way.
Estimated delivery: Jul 2012
Comments
Creator Zanstel on November 18, 2011
It would be interesting to see how far it would be feasible to have a powerful electric tractor...
plugged in!
It would be necessary have a system to route the power cable in tension. Probably from one stake to another in the tractor, and a system similar to a dog leash.
Cumbersome, but... effective?
Creator Mark Bruns on November 9, 2011
Although I might have concerns about the immediate market for an electric tractor, because farmers tend to be very conservative in their purchases; they cannot afford to take risks on equipment that they rely on for crop enterprises that constitute extremely large operational budgets. I certainly understand the value of sticking with existing technologies in some cases, but I would lend my support to the electric tractor idea because of its greater LONG TERM merit for more efficient, smarter power generation and use. Electric devices are also going to be much easier to automate and control -- there are many operations where we should remove the drudgery and mindless low-value work of tractor driving.
Much more energy should be generated on the farm and it is most efficient to consume that energy on the farm. I am one of those agricultural engineers who believes small lightweight electric [robotic] tractors make perfect sense in farming -- particularly in areas with wind farms. Consider the value of agricultural drone unit that would dock and power-up next to wind generator and perform its tasks in a manner similar to an Roomba iRobot. In addition to wind, there are other ways to generate power with on-farm generators (e.g. biomass-fueled generators, methane-fueled generators from livestock waste, electricity as a by-product of fertilizer production processes).
In the long term, there is an enormous amount of non-value added effort/energy/investment involved in transmitting the power OFF the farm and shipping fuels/fertilizers to the farm. It necessary to think outside of old boxes if we want to radically improve the economic and environmental efficiency of agriculture.
Creator Vincent Homer on November 8, 2011
Let me start out by saying that I think electric vehicles have their place. They are great for hauling small numbers of people, small loads over short to moderate distances in economies that can afford the premium over an IC vehicle. The current and near future cost of batteries and solar cells is such that it would seem very difficult to build a third-world affordable tractor given the relative inexpense of diesel engines and their fuel.
Your project, to your credit, seems very ambitious with 50 machines to develop. It would seem a diversion to spend much time on an electric tractor and the infrastructure it would require. The impact you can make with your 50 machine program would be enormous. I assume that these machines will be diesel powered where such power is necessary. The additional effort and cost of an electric infrastructure for a single machine seems disproportionate.
Vince Homer