Difference between revisions of "Tools for self reliance"

Revision as of 14:14, 25 July 2012

Tools for Self Reliance groups gather, repair and put together sets of tools for tradespeople, which are then sent to various international development projects.

What does Tools for Self Reliance do?

Guiding principles

Why do we do it?

Some numbers that help to put things into perspective:

1 in 4 people in the world without access to electricity
1 in 6 people in the world never touched a phone
1 in 3 people in the world has access to a computer
75% energy used in 'developed' countries
1 in 5 people in the world does not have access to safe drinking water
1 in 3 people in the world does not have access to adequate sanitation

Tools required

Past meetings

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 [http://www.tfsr.org/uk Tools for Self Reliance] groups gather, repair and put together sets of tools for tradespeople, which are then sent to various international development projects.
+== What does Tools for Self Reliance do? ==
-Welcome to the Nottingham Hackspace Appropriate Technology group. We try to meet once per month to discuss and work on projects relating to appropriate technology and international development. Please come along and get involved.
-[[Image:Appropriate_technology_workshop.jpg|thumb|none|500px]]
+== Guiding principles ==
-== What is appropriate technology? ==
-The term 'intermediate technology' was coined by the economist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._Schumacher E.F. Schumacher] who wrote the book '''“Small is beautiful - Economics as if people mattered”'''. He actually wrote that there is an 'appropriate size for everything'
-* ''“encompassing technological choice and application that is small scale, labour intensive, energy efficient, environmentally sound and locally controlled”''
-* People centred ideas
-== Guiding principles ==
-Hackers and makers and tinkerers all enjoy a challenge. The idea behind the NHAT group is to work on ideas and projects which are useful to people. We want to look at challenges faced by people both at home and abroad. The main principles are to keep things simple and appropriate to the people using the equipment. Sometimes this will be as simple as a mud-brick oven, other times more technology may be appropriate, such as for communications. We are looking at the long-term sustainability of all the projects we work on.
 == Why do we do it? ==
@@ Line 24: / Line 16: @@
 * 1 in 3 people in the world does not have access to adequate sanitation
-== Main Projects ==
+== Tools required ==
-These are projects we as a group are actively working on:
-===Solar Lanterns and chargers===
-We wanted to look into building solar lights and solar battery chargers using recycled and scrapped equipment.
-[http://wiki.nottinghack.org.uk/wiki/Solar_Chargers More information about the solar chargers workshop is here]
-On another day we looked at using the Joule Thief to power an LED from a solar charged AA battery.
-Find information about us [http://wiki.nottinghack.org.uk/wiki/Joule_Thief building Joule Thief's here]
-===Woodburning workshop===
-Looking at the efficient burning of wood in various forms. This will mean looking at:
-*Rocket stoves
-*Efficient burning of wood
-Some links are here, please add more:
-*[http://wildstoves.co.uk/ Wild stoves who sell equipment for efficient burning on wood]
-*[http://wildstoves.co.uk/2011102171/blog/general/cross-cut-log-flares/ Make a cross-cut wood flare]
-*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knh1UWjLkmo How to build a rocket stove pt1 - Nice design from Ben Milner]
-*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4uy6e7jqZs How to build a rocket stove pt2 - Nice design from Ben Milner]
-=== Build your own solar panel===
-Here are details for people to build their own solar electric panel [http://www.lowimpact.org/course_outline_build_your_own_solar_panel.htm This is the best design] I have seen and has been pioneered and improved by Norman Phipps who runs a course to build them at LILI (Low Impact Living Initiative). He has been building them in groups in Africa. It would be good to get him along to do an afternoon on this.
-== Project Ideas ==
-This where we are listing ideas for things to design and build in the future, but we are probably not actively working on.
-=== Micro hydro electronic load controller ===
-[http://www.re-innovation.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=128:micro-hydro-electronic-load-controller-project&catid=69:micro-hydro&Itemid=97 A bit of an overview is here]
-=== Water pumping systems ===
-It would be great to build some of these simple water pumps but there are already some very good designs for these so we are unsure of how we could improve those designs.
-* Rope and washer pump
-A rope washer pump is a very simple and inexpensive way of lift water. [http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/publications/techpublications/techpub-8a/rope.asp Some details on rope washer pumps are here].
-[http://www.instructables.com/id/Rope-Pump-Elephant-Pump/ A nice model rope pump is here]
-* [http://www.instructables.com/id/Coil-Pump-V20-testing-rig/ Coil pump]
-* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout_PlayPump Roundabout water pump]
-=== Pedal power equipment ===
-[http://www.mayapedal.org/machines.html Maya pedal machines]
-== Contacts ==
-These are some groups we either have contact with or would like to make contact with. We would really like to link up with hack spaces, fab labs, development NGOs and inventors from around the world. Please get in touch if you have an idea or a useful contact.
-*[http://practicalaction.org/geekhome Practical Action Geek Club]
-*[http://www.ewb-uk.org/ Engineers Without Borders UK]
-*[http://www.sunseed.org.uk/ Sunseed - researching appropriate technology in a semi-arid environment in Spain]
-*[http://manufacturingchange.org Manufacturing Change - Volunteers helping with technology issues for developing countries]
-== Useful and Interesting links ==
-*[http://practicalaction.org/ Practical Action]
-*[http://www.ewb-uk.org/smallis2011 'Small is...' Festival 2011 2-4th September Rugby]
-*[http://www.lowimpact.org/course_outline_build_your_own_solar_panel.htm Build your own solar panel]
-*[http://opensourcemachine.org/ Build a machine that can make anything from scrap for developing countries]
-*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14967535 Lighting from water bottles in the Philippines]
-*[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/10/why-fixers-will-save-our-planet/246349/ Folk who fix our discarded waste in Africa]
 == Past meetings ==
-''Monday September 19th 2011'' - Inaugural meeting. The main ideas and principles were discussed.
-''Thursday October 20th 2011'' - [http://wiki.nottinghack.org.uk/wiki/Solar_Chargers Building solar battery chargers]
-''Monday October 24th 2011'' - [http://wiki.nottinghack.org.uk/wiki/Joule_Thief Building a Joule Thief]
 [[Category:Events]]
 [[Category:Projects]]
 [[Category:Featured]]