From ESWStanford
Workshop Brainstorming Ideas
Contents |
Biodiesel/Ethanol
- making biodiesel from Straight Vegetable Oil
- using SVO in a modified engine
- production of biodiesel commercially
- production of ethanol commercially
- economics of ethanol and biodiesel
Water filtration/ disinfection
- Slow sand filtration (make your own filter)
- SODIS techniques
- UV water filter (build your own UV filter)
- Economics and ease of various techniques
- Solar distillation
Construction
- Sustainable building design and materials
- low-tech for remote sites/developing world versus high-tech for developing world
- Earthquake safe design
- "Withstand the Shaker" design competition
- Design for the long term (life cycle costs, buildings designed to stand long times, ease of construction and deconstruction)
Water Pumps
- Building water pumps using inexpensive means
- Minimizing the effort to extract water
- Types of aquifer source for wells and their safety
Wind/ Solar Energy
- Use of solar energy for off grid systems (village phones, etc)
- Solar cooking, passive solar heating
- Wind turbine design and use
- Economics of wind, solar. Is it a good personal investment/ commercial investment. Why/why not, what are alternatives, etc...
-Grid Alternatives offers workshops and volunteer days for solar panel installation. For a calendar of events visit: http://www.gridalternatives.org/event
