The Electric Lifestyle

The Film

2008-08-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

The shorter version is on vimeo. This is t 13min version. I hope you enjoy

Film coming soon.

2008-05-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

Apples everywhere

2008-05-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

I went on a journey to Covent Garden fruit and veg market by battersea park in the hope of finding many apples for a good price. 18p per apple is better than the 25p at Sainsburies, but after taking into account time and travel expenses it worked out at a £1 save on that many apples, whoo hoo.

Rowing, possible 500W output

2008-05-04T11:36:00.001-07:00

Our bodies have a 15% efficiency of turning food energy into excercise. So say we ate an apple of 100Wh it would result in 15Wh to be dedicated towards physical activity. Say we used a rowing machine that was 50% efficient in converting our mechanical movement into electricity. So 7.5Wh were produced from that apple, enough to power an ipod for 6 hours and 15 minutes.

Only slightly impressive.

BUT, we as humans are very lucky because we can STORE energy. So the 3 slices of pizza we ate a good while previously can still be drawn on many hours or even days later. That same rowing machine could possibly produce as much a 500W sustained power for about 10minutes or more. enough to power a 120W Flat screen television for (500w x 60sec x 10min)= 300000W = 83.33Wh = 40min.

Bad visual explanation in weight watchers

2008-05-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

In the weight watchers pamphlet, they have this section, that tries to explain portion sizes in comparison to other things. What genius compares the size of a potato to a light bulb. What is the size of a light bulb. How does a CD give you an idea of how big your bagel is. I just thought these examples really badly chosen.

Skittles

2008-05-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

This many skittles posses 200W (+1)

Eerie values on everything

2008-04-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

A woman has a RDA of 2000Cal which works out at 97W an hour.
A man is allowed 2500Cal so his hourly consumption works out at 121W an hour.
A photocopy machine eats ....... about 150W but i will have to check that.

Have checked, and its more like 600W for a copier while copying, less while idle.

Granny Trolley

2008-04-25T06:18:00.001-07:00

My proposal for harnessing the energy from our bodies tends to evoke a thought that it requires allot more physical exertion over and above what people would normally do, and of course some times this could be the case, but there are people that like to physically exert themselves and they will have ample opportunity to put it to good use. But this proposal also exists in on a less invasive level. The thought that through our motion we could create power through even minimal effort is is illustrated in the idea of the Granny Tri Walker. An old lady that slowly pushes her trolley anyhow now can have the added benefit of being able when getting to a traffic light; which are notoriously too quick for a slow walking granny to cross in good time, she can hop on to it and use the stored up energy to scoot her across the road. So you see not only could this concept highlight another form of harnessing energy, but also create an opportunity to tackle exterior issues like granny mobility in the process.

Another Mac

2008-04-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Actually a laptop is 55W got it wrong.

Big Mac 575W = 4hours 47minutes TV

2008-04-14T03:35:00.000-07:00

Whisper watt dream

2008-04-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

a girls dream.

An apple = 100w therefore

2008-04-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

Appliances Eat every hour

2008-04-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

250ml Red Bull 132.5W

2008-04-04T05:30:00.000-07:00

Human Power

2008-03-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

What do we really give to the world?
We consume natures lovely produce and convert it into waste.
What else?

Energy Saving Search Engine

2008-03-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.googleblackle.com/

Eating Meat

2008-03-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

Cartoon from 'The Last Green Book in the World'
animation Martin Brown

Delving behind the kWh

2008-03-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

3600j = 1W
1Whr = 1000w
1kWh = 1000Whr

Into life

2008-03-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

Energy in a T-Bone steak

2008-03-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

Whatt?

2008-03-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

How many watts in your full english breakfast

2008-03-06T09:18:00.001-08:00

Energy lable peach slices

2008-03-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

Apple

2008-03-03T14:33:00.001-08:00

Fattest Man in the world.

2008-03-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

Miguel Uriel weighed 560kg and has an ideal weight of 120kg. The energy contained in the weight that he needs to burn off is the equivalent of the amount of energy stored in 9,827L of coca cola.
2L of coca cola contains exactly 1kwh worth of energy which would mean that Miguels excess fat contains the equivalent energy as would power my house for 63.7days

Pull String Light

2008-02-25T05:26:00.000-08:00

Another human powered device. This light has the advantage over a usual light of not having to be connected to the wall which means that you can move it around with you. Behavior like this will start to change our need for overhead lights and change the way we relate to light altogether.

Making Tea

2008-02-25T05:05:00.001-08:00

Friction pads within the cup that rub together as you wind the handle could possibly be a method of heating water, which would save 60w worth of electricity by not using the kettle.

Harnessing energy from running

2008-02-04T05:18:00.000-08:00

As you can see from this man, when people run they tend to hold their arms up and swing them. I think that that position and habit is a potential area to exploit in regard to harnessing energy from his movement. Alos if you look closley this man already does have something on his arm, which i presume is a heart rate monitor of sorts, so it shows that people are not averse to putting extra things on themselves, to learn more of what happens when they excercise.

1Kwh = ?

2008-02-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

20w x 50hrs
50w x 20hrs
100w x 10hrs

1kWh

2008-02-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

Each of these contain 1kWh worth of kilojoules. Which is the amount of energy needed to power a 100w light bulb to burn for 10 hours. Looking at the picture there is 80 hours of light there, and if you used an energy saving bulb that only uses up to 20w, it would burn for 400hours.

ELECTRICAL SOUND

2008-01-22T08:39:00.000-08:00

Its interesting that you can get sounds that are so evocative of an electrical action through something purely mechanical. When sound comes from an electric generator, such as the one hidden in the shed in case the electricity fails, its an electrical (not sure thats the right word) sound isnt it? I thought, but like with the car, it is a physical mechanical sound. Talking and house music need electrical sound to transmit.

POTENTIAL ENERGY TO MOVEMENT

2008-01-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

To apply extra touches, like the additional tube in this contraption adds a more applicable element to an otherwise less useful movement.

Hydro power in movement

2008-01-16T03:49:00.000-08:00

This is a potential in energy generation. If you think of the way a horse lopes, something like this would be constantly swished back and forth, and so putting a turbine inside may beable to make that movement capturable.

UNDERSTANDING

2008-01-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

How and how much we need and need to create

giving away the secrets beneath

2008-01-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

these little washers are moving around, looking a bit like fish in a pond. They seem to do it alone but are actually being acted on by a magnetic force, the same force which could potentially be the source of getting your torch to work.

Food conversion comparison

2008-01-02T07:21:00.000-08:00

1.5Kg = 1Kg Fish
2.0Kg = 1Kg Chicken
2.4Kg = 1L Ethanol
3.0Kg = 1Kg Pork
5.0Kg = 1Kg Beef
40Kg = 1Kg Human

So you see, humans are very bad converters of energy. Perhaps that is the reason we don't cultivate and eat each other.

Christmas lights

2007-12-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness isnt christmas grand. I cant believe these people have had their lights up since Dec1 what must their energy bill be?

Looking over Parkstone

2007-12-24T08:37:00.000-08:00

The light pollution is highlighted nicley with the fog. SO MUCH ELECTRICITY is being emitted.

On the home ranch scale, I would order the technologies in this way:

2007-12-11T04:46:00.000-08:00

Energy efficiency.
The most cost-effective and evrionmentally friendly energy availible.

Solar Pool Heating.
If you have a pool and sunshine, these systems are low cost, simple to impliment, and can significatly reduce nonrenewable energy.

Microhydro-electric systems.
Make lots of energy using a modest amount of infrastructure.

Solar Hot Water Systems.
most cost-effective RE technology for typical homes.

Photovoltaic (solar-electric) Systems.
Expensive up front, has high reliability and simple to maintain.

Wind Electricity.
Doesnt work well on a home scale when you factor in the cost of downtime, repair, and replacement.

Taken from; Renewable Prioroties, Home Power Magazine 122 / december 2007 & january 2008

Hmmm

2007-12-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

Why cant there be any more registers to the list of Clear skies companies that u have to associate through. So we have to use these companies for the grant but no more are aloud. Monopoly?

2007-12-03T12:43:00.001-08:00

Potential energy of a nut

2007-12-03T12:37:00.001-08:00

As an illustration on energy that is stored up in objects these nuts burn because of their fatty/oily make up. My Brazil nut burned for 4minutes. Burning is a method of representation but not the answer, since it releases unacceptable amounts of Co2 in the conversion.

Hill of light.

2007-11-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

As villagers walked past Stubblefields farm this is probably close to what they saw when they refer to seeing a whole hill of trees on Stubblefields farm that just lit up. It is said that he used energy from the earth to power them He used cables running through the ground that conducted the energy from the soil.

The Matrix

2007-11-29T05:22:00.001-08:00

People should understand that energy is the driving force behind almost everything. we are energy. The food we eat is transfered to energy. In the matrix the computers realized this and so began farming us to capture our energy

OTHER WAYS TO ENTERTAIN

2007-11-28T17:39:00.000-08:00

Who says TV is the most exciting form of entertainment. What if we were to go without, and all we had was a simple light. Let the shadow puppetry return!!!!!!

One of the many films i watched

2007-11-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cucq06deYXA

Christians keeping it a secret

EVERYONE CAN DO THEIR BIT

2007-11-20T12:11:00.000-08:00

All this trouble for the government and is there nothing that we the people can do to help. Surely we can all muck in. Even.................... Mouse the Hamster

WHAT THE NEWS SAYS

2007-11-20T12:01:00.000-08:00

Thing are hotting up for the government it seems as they have made promises left right and center to cut back on Co2 emissions and increase renewable energies but the situation these days is that the Builders union refuse to adhere to the Merton rule requiring new building to be 10% more Co2 efficient. Not only that but Biofuels have been found to release more Co2 than fossil fuels will, which frankly i always had a suspicion of. Not only that but the nuclear power plant clean up is expected to cost £73billion or perhaps closer to Green Peaces estimate of £100billion. Not only that but the Severn Estuary tidal barrage which cold power 5% of the UK is being strongly opposed by environmentalist. Increasingly it seems the govenrmanet has less and less options to achieve all their promises.

UK ENERGY CRISIS

2007-11-20T11:58:00.000-08:00

A visual of what is now is promised and should be.