Washing machines to wind turbines

Child's play: A young Dunedin chap gives the smart drive a twirl.Had a great open day with the Be The Change bus today in Dunedin’s Octagon. A fairly sleepy Saturday but even so we had a steady stream of visitors keen to check out the displays and sit down in the solar web centre. Once again we’ve signed up a bunch of new members on the website so welcome to you all!

The most popular part of our display is the eco bulb demonstration gadget. It’s a couple of bulbs one traditional and one CFL - hooked up to a hand cranked ‘smartdrive’. The idea is that by cranking the handle on the little generator you can experience first hand how much energy is required to power each of the bulbs. The difference is striking. People invariably go away with a new appreciation of just how power hungry the humble light bulb is and how worthwhile it is to switch to CFLs.

Warming hands with renewable energy: Not exactly how it's supposed to be used ...The gadget is powered by a ‘smartdrive’ which actually comes out of an old washing machine. Most washing machines have them and they usually go to the dump or off to the scrap metal yard when the machine wears out. A real waste of a very useful piece of machinery.

I had a chat with a guy from Christchurch today who has salvaged one from an old washer and has used it to build his own wind turbine. He’s set it up in his back yard and it powers a bunch of stuff in his house with good clean renewable wind energy! We’ll try and pay him a visit when we go through Christchurch and find out some more.

If you’re keen to find out more ‘Eco Innovation’ have some good info and actually sell reconditioned smart drives and associated bits and pieces. www.ecoinnovation.co.nz There’s a little video on youtube that explains a bit about how they work here.

So here's a bright idea - let's all start converting those old washing machines into turbines! Hook one up to a wind, hydro, exercycle...