Multi-Modal Transportation and Energy

Multi-Modal Transportation and Energy

On Thursday I was able to attend the presentation at The Bexley Public Library called “Thoughful Transportation“. It was well-presented by Craig Ness and Erik Bjørnard, bicycle and eBike enthusiasts and dads to two ofmybioEngineering summer camp kids (small world). Anyway, the presentation got me thinking about Multi-Modal Transportation and Energy.

They Left Out Energy

I realized quickly that my legs were not up to the task, and I didn’t actually know how to use the gear ratio on the bike!

Jim Bruner

This was a very clever bit of the presentation that I really enjoyed. It opened my eyes up to a wide variety of considerations for becoming a one car household. But they did not address energy – either kinesthetic, athletic, or electrical.

At Mezzacello, we are always considering the role energy plays in our lives, our ecosystems, and our community. I have a bike, it’s an eBike and I charge it up from the energy produced by the bioreactor. (see the photo below) But that is really only part of the issue.

Multi-modal transportation and energy

It takes time and effort to adapt to the reality of riding a bike places, even an eBike. Last night I chose to ride my bike to join my friend Dee at a bar. It seemed like a great plan at the time:

Free transportation, enjoying the city with my friend and a built-in safety that I would not have too much to drink. But my battery died on my eBike on the way there. I realized quickly that my legs were not up to the task, and I didn’t actually know how to use the gear ratio on the bike!

All Good Systems Require Planning and Action

To be absolutely clear, Craig and Erik were upfront about this situation in their presentation. But it’s one thing to KNOW it and another to EXPERIENCE it. Dee was of course gracious, but I felt like a fool.

I didn’t have a backup plan. Actually, I did: I was going to have Rick come pick me up in the Ford F-150. I am bougie.

Dee convinced me I could do this – and they were kind and helpful, supportive and right. What I am leaving out here is that I have terrible anxiety around getting lost and I am really night-blind. I can’t read street signs in the dark and I can’t see my iPhone without glasses, but can see the street with my glasses on.

This was an unexpected complication. So I think I will be adding a pair of heads up glasses to my repetoire so I can see the map on my phone and not have to fuss with the readers I wear to see the phone but that blur the road ahead of me. Yes, I am a mess.

I am also a problem solver, and Craig, Erik, and Dee have inspired me. I’ll figure this out and get back to you all. In the meantime, here is my stat deck I created in regards to energy and multi-modal transportation.


Mezzacello After Dark

Mezzacello After Dark

Mezzacello Urban Farm is a very special place to me. People rarely get to see it at night, but this week was a refreshing change of pace. We hosted a troupe of Girl Scouts to explore STEM Careers at an urban farm and they were the first group to experience Mezzacello After Dark.

The power systems at Mezzacello are mostly solar arrays and Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) powered by wind and traffic. The VAWT systems even light themselves when they turn. But they add a certain charm to the farm at night.

Camps In Autumn and After Dark

It Is Better To Light a Single Candle Than To Curse The Darkness

William Lonsdale Watkinson

Traditionally we have run workshops, after school, and summer camps in the day. We had the opportunity to hold a workshop and tour of Mezzacello Urban Farm at 7:00 PM EST (14:00 UTC) and we wrapped it up by 8:30 PM EST (15:30 UTC). The night had very little impact though.

We have slowly been upgrading our systems at the farm to manage things at night. This new series of camps will allow us to extend our programming not only into the evening, but well into the winter as well. We will keep you posted on these updates and the necessary infrastructure in the coming weeks.

Better To Light a Single Candle Than To Curse The Darkness

This is one of Rick’s favorite quotes. All of the lighting and electrical systems run on either solar, wind, kinetic storage, batteries – or in a pinch, the grid. We kept adding systems to deter predators and make upkeep easier.

It never occurred to us that this light would lead to more opportunities to advance our mission. It came about quite by accident. We had 30 people there, and only I was worried about the lack of light in the front of the farm.

As we add new infrastructure, systems, and programming to our Learning Lab we will also extend the idea of new spaces, heat sources and lighting. This is a new direction for us. I am happy to embrace the night with the aid of the light.


Let’s Start a Farm On Mars

Let’s Start a Farm On Mars

Power, Water, Nutrients, and Food

Everything I do Mezzacello is geared towards learning, exploring, and growing food as efficiently as possible. A young friend calls my 21st Century Urban Farm the “Let’s Start a Farm On Mars” farm. I like that title.

Power

I start with power because it is essential. So many things for building a farm ANYWHERE need power to run tools, cook food or run pumps. Power is a critical component.

There are multiple ways to gain power. Wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, gravity batteries that use falling water, methane generators, and solar powered electrolysis systems that create hydrogen to fuel a system. Just to name a few.

I use all of these – methane and hydrogen electrolysis systems will come online this summer. They will both be integrated into the Biodome project. The project will create fresh water from waste water as well as collect dew from the atmosphere on its plastic sheathed dome.

The biodome 2.0 will also house a new methane generation system that will transform manure and kitchen scraps into methane gas. It will then store that gas under minimal pressure for use in a generator. The heat that was a disaster last year will be a benefit in version 2.0.

Water

Mezzacello recycles as much water is practical. Rainwater, and recycling waste water is done in new and novel ways. The biodome 2.0 will contain three water evaporation stills that will purify water. The outer dome will feature a dew collection system that uses vibrating actuators of the steel dome frame to shake dew off the outside skin of the biodome for collection.

All this water will be used in multiple ways. Some of it will be used to water animals, add to hydroponic growing systems, or mixed with minerals to make it drinkable. Water is a valuable resource anywhere, but especially at Mezzacello.

The ability to easily recycle and purify water makes the pond an even more useful feature. I always maintain that the addition of the pond into the ecosystems at Mezzacello makes us draught proof. I always have fresh liquid water even in the winter.

The pond at Mezzacello is 1.7m (5’8″) deep. This depth insures that fish and aquatic life can dive and avoid prey birds. This depth also insures that there is liquid water in the pond at all times.

The liner for the pond at Mezzacello

This reservoir of water is also a useful feature of sustainability. Knowing there is a THIRD backup of water is a good idea. The more diversity, the better.

Nutrients

Nutrients at Mezzacello come from a variety of sources. The top three are from compost, manure, and the soil structures themselves. I need the nutrients to support the life I am trying to grow in terms of food.

Compost is a primary nutrient resource. I create it from collecting greens and browns from all around Mezzacello. I accelerate the compost with a combination of water, beer, soda, and ammonia.

This accelerant not only makes compost in a speedy 45 days, it also produces a pre-biotic fluid. This fluid is an excellent fertilizer! I can also use this fertilizer in combination with algae from my pond and make an even healthier fertilizer.

One of the summer camp kids testing the fertility of the accelerated compost in the bioreactor.

I can then use the compost anywhere I am growing food or even plants. It improves the soil and the water drainage. It encourages micro biotic life to come up to the surface.

I also collect manure and waste materials from five species of animals and insects at Mezzacello. All of these sources of nutrient materials arrive in different ways and require differing treatment. For example chicken and duck manures are acidic and dangerous to plants fresh, whereas rabbit and algae are fine fresh.

Regardless, all manures get recycled here at Mezzacello. Either directly in the soil structures, in the compost, or as a base for liquid fertilizer, nothing goes to waste. No pun intended.

In the livestock coops and warrens, a system of underground pipes channel chicken and duck wastes to a holding tank where they naturally lose their acidity over time. The fish wastes are collected in the biofilter for drying and reuse. The rabbit, worm, and cricket wastes are immediately recycled.

Food

All of these resources are leading us to food. Food production at Mezzacello is the primary focus of all of the above resources. From power to water, to nutrients, all of it can be traced back to food in some way.

There are six primary avenues of food production on site. These include:

  1. fruits and vegetables
  2. herbs and flowers
  3. meat production
  4. egg production
  5. food-grade insects
  6. imported grains, and dairy
No cows or grains at Mezzacello!

All serve some purpose at the farm and are part of the sustainability network. And what is eaten is largely recycled back into systems that provide feedstock to compost, insects, or to the animals directly. Regardless, food is a precious resource here.

The power systems provide energy for grow lights for the hydroponics systems and energy for the bioreactor which creates compost and waters the garden beds. Power also keeps animals safe and warm, and keeps water liquid in winter. Power also automatically pulls water from the rain barrels to the central bioreactor water tank.

The water helps us obviously to grow food and produce nutrients for food. Water also provides us resources for and from the animals, fish, and insects. These in turn provide nutrients which -you guessed it! Help us grow food!

Well now I am hungry. I think I’ll go down and harvest some spinach, open a can of canned tomatoes, grab some fresh herbs and make an egg omelette. Enjoy your day and thanks for reading this!


Lesson: Chemical Bonds and Ions

Chemical Bonds and Ions!

Lesson: Chemical Bonds and Ions
A Covalent Bond

An ionic bond

This is an important topic, lesson: chemical bonds and Ions. Bonds and ions are EVERYWHERE on an urban farm. We will need them in BioTechnology, BioEngineering, BioRenewables and BioChemistry. They make everything possible!

Let’s start by explaining what each bond does and why. Remember, an ion is NOT a bond, but can lead to bonds. Ions are change agents that put energy into or away from a system.

But First, The Atom!

A representation of a Helium Atom with two protons, two neutrons, and two electrons.

This is a basic and whimsical diagram of a Helium Atom. There are two protons (+) and two neutons ( ) and two electrons (-). Here the subatomic components are Proton, Pooh, Neutron Eeyore, and Electron, Tigger.

Not all atoms have neutrons. But when they do, they have usually a matching set! All atoms do have protons and neutrons though!

Covalent Bonds

All bonds come down to the electron. The electron zips around the outside orbital of the atom. It isn’t always a circle like this, but it is always there.

In a covalent bond, the electron is shared between two or more atoms. in the example below, we have a molecule of water. H2O is the chemical name and it means two hydrogen atoms and one big old Oxygen atom that are sharing Poohs and Tiggers!

Lesson: Chemical Bonds and Ions
A Covalent Bond

I decided to bring all the friends into this diagram. Even though Pooh and Eeyore both live in the nucleus of the atom, they still impact the bonding. That’s because atoms are magnetic + and -.

The nice feature of covalent bonds is that it is a casual bond that is easily broken. Like water (H2O) can easily be turned into steam, water or ice. It can be made by igniting Hydrogen in the presence of air, or split using electricity.

Ionic Bonds

Unlike a covalent bond, Ionic Bonds are much stronger. That’s because they are LOCKED in an atomic embrace. Think of salt or Lithium Oxide.

We can dissolve salt in water, but it STAYS as salt! That ionic bond is really hard to break apart. That’s why I used Rabbit here; He holds onto things with both arms!

An ionic bond

Ionic bonds make more complex molecules and substances possible. Remember what the levels of reality are again. We are FIRMLY in that Quantum and Virtual realm here.

Nested Realities from the Organism to the energy that animates it.

So what is an ion?

An ion is an atom that has an extra or very energetic electron on a level of the electron field that is looking for a magnetic partner. Putting it simply, ions are Tiggers looking for triggers – they want to break things apart or cause reactions to happen. Sometimes they just transfer energy, but something is always happening with an ion around.

In a battery, it’s the ions in the Lithium or Zinc Oxide cathodes that push electrons out into the current. The ions are just looking to do something so they aren’t so energized anymore. We could not exist if we did not have ions in our body making billions of reactions happen every day.

An Ion – note the charge!

Next we will talk about the entire FAMILY of atoms in the periodic table of elements.

Periodic table of life
We most definitely recycle atoms and molecules!

Energy and Sustainability

Energy and Sustainability

Energy and Sustainability is a must on an urban farm in a downtown metropolis. It is NOT sustainable to rely on a city grid for power. Power outages and usage fees would put that at risk quite quickly.

Clean and safe energy is UN Sustainable Development Goals number 7. It goes right in hand with access to water. We need access to energy to begin improving the world from the local to the global level.

But there is a cost to creating energy from nothing. Like a pump, it requires initial work to get the flow started. Once it is running it quickly pays for itself, especially in colder climates.

The Basics

Clean affordable energy starts with solar arrays. These capture energy from the sun and release no pollutants, but they do require a LOT of extra pieces and parts to make them work. So be prepared!

The solar arrays are going to need a charge controller to protect your solar panels and your batteries. The batteries are next most expensive component of a sustainable energy system. Any 12 volt or higher battery will do, but the best are Lithium or Lithium Iron (LiFe) batteries.

The solar arrays and the batteries are going to need wiring – LOTS of wiring. You have to connect the arrays together, then you have to connect the arrays to the charge controller, and from the charge controller to the batteries. It’s more wire than you think you’ll need!

Understanding Wires

Most wires we will find in the world today will be copper or aluminum. To remain sustainable in terms of producing energy, you must understand heat, electricity and wire thicknesses. If a wire is transmitting too much energy, it will get hot and catch fire.

Burning your system down is the opposite of sustainability. Thus you need to understand how much voltage and amperage (also known as load) a wire can take before it melts due to heat and pressure. The thicker the wire, the bigger the load it can transmit.

Wire gauge chart

A curious thing about wire is called “gauge”. That means the diameter of the wire. The curious thing is, the smaller the gauge number, the thicker the wire.

This is a matter of money. More wire is more expensive (and thicker) but the number will be lower. It’s crazy, but it is a real issue.

Another real issue is heat. The hotter a wire gets, the more it will be impacted by being thin. The thinner wire melts faster at higher amperage.

Other Forms Of Energy

Solar and batteries are great! But that isn’t the only form of energy that is available to use. Just remember, rotation of movement in general almost always produces energy.

This means that any wheel that turns with copper wire and magnets will produce energy. So think about what a wheel is; something that turns. This opens up an entire line of sustainable options!

More efficient wind turbines

Bicycle wheels can produce power to store in batteries. A wind turbine spinning in the wind can produce power to store in batteries. A rain gutter can pour water over a spinning wheel and turn an axle that turns a motor to produce power to – you guessed it, store in batteries.


Power Heat and Water Even in the Winter

Power Heat and Water Even in the Winter

Power Heat and Water Even in the Winter
The bioreactor and its turbines and solar panels in ice

The pond with it’s six foot depth and mesh cover

I’m really excited about power heat and water even in the winter at Mezzacello. Especially as I enter my third season of summer camps. Why am I excited about winter for the summer?

I’m so glad you asked! The reason is these systems are integral to all four of the camps that I focus on at Mezzacello. Bio technology, bio engineering bio renewables and energy, and bio chemistry.

I have found that my summer camp kids love the fact that Mezzacello is a living machine. It seems magical to them and they really love problem-solving to help all the various animals plants ecosystems micro biomes and systems live together in a fun way. This applied stem playfulness is at the very heart of the success of Mezzacello.

Why sustainability is cost-effective

As a farmer and a scientist I am intensely Interested in how all four of these systems integrate throughout my farm. The energy components, the bio chemistry components, the animal safety, and the natural resources are all very important. Also, they are impossible to replicate and financially difficult to replace by hand.

Let’s look just that water. If I were to pay for all the water that I regularly use on my farm annually my water bill would be OVER $1000 US dollars – I’ve included a currency calculator here. That is not affordable.

Nor is this sustainable. But my systems for storing and using water cost me under $1000 to implement and they re-integrate rain and snow back into my water table. That costs me zero dollars.

What’s the catch?

The one caveat to water is that it needs one further treatment before I can use it to grow food or water animals. So do I buy an expensive water treatment system? Or do I use gravity and natural filtration systems to clean the water on demand?

if you guessed option number two congratulations you were right. What are the benefits of the Bioreactor tower is that it pulls water from rain barrels. But only water from the top of the rain barrel. All of the heavy elements and dangerous elements sink to the bottom and baffles where they can be cleaned in the spring.

Interoperability and integrated sustainability

This interoperable and integrated sustainability method is a life changer. But it did require an initial capital investment three years ago. Since then the system has run entirely through wind and solar power including in the winter when I need it most.

I recently gave a lecture on the 17 UN sustainable development goals to a group of high school kids here in Columbus. I’m very pleased that all of my integrated systems at Mezzacello touch on almost all 17 of those UN SDG. It is a point of pride for me.

in 2023 I plan on talking more about these integrated systems and what they have to do with the UN 17 SDG to avoid climate reality and ensure sustainability is an easy option for anyone. I don’t have a title for the series yet, maybe you could help me out with that. I’ll probably be work shopping it in my summer camps.

After all, who is better suited at coming up with clever ideas for sustainability than the very people who will inherit this world well after I’m gone. I hope you’ll join me. And of course you’re welcome to give options in the comments and I hope you do.


Installing a New Solar Array in Photos

Installing a New Solar Array in Photos

Recycle these boxes that the solar panels came in.
Solar array setup wattage and structure.
Attaching the mounting braces To the solar panels.
Testing the voltage of the solar panels in sunlight .
A view of the solar array with metal braces, my adapted wood braces, to replace missing braces, and the magnetic screw box.
All the tools I used to build and mount this solar array.
My bolt and screw collection bought at Habitat for Humanity’s Restore for $8
A View of the solar arrays from atop the trash bin behind Mezzacello.
The new solar array and the solar heater set for the coming winter.

This was a fun project. I managed to build and install this entire array on my own. I will share more details tomorrow.

The Batteries and Solar Panel Wind Turbine Tie Ins

Bioreactor Compost Engine Update for 2022

Bioreactor Compost Engine Update for 2022

This is a Bioreactor Compost Engine Update for 2022. The system continues to impress me. For a refresher, the bioreactor is a multi-use system that supplies pressurized water, nutrients, compost, power (Solar and Wind), telemetry (4G, Radio and 5G), weather, and various atmospheric and power monitoring modules.

In this update we will be discussing its capacity to create high-quality compost in around 35 days. The onboard water tower, control servos and bioreactor accelerants make this pretty easy. In a week I will remove this module and replace it with another.

New Innovations

This batch you see here will continue to drain to halt anaerobic conditions and that liquified fertilizer will be collected and stored or used around the gardens. After that the top 200 liters of compost will be recycled into the next batch as browns and what is below will be amazing compost.

Two key innovations I instituted in this iteration is the reuse of Eden’s Ghost as an accelerant and injecting the reused and new accelerant directly into the water flow. I need to get this system a little less unwieldy, as it’s rather difficult to pour beer, soda and ammonia into a PVC tube above your head, so some sort of pumping mechanism, or a gravity-fed tank makes more sense. Pouring the Eden’s Ghost right on top is super easy though, and still could use a pump.

The Automation Stalemate

I had hoped at this point to have more of the system automated. Either due to my lack of understanding of fluid dynamics and entropy or just not having time and energy to throw at it, it’s not there. I have been tied up with readying the grounds for summer camps and working with an intern on the bio dome project.

I will continue to work at getting this system to run automatically. Until I do, please know this works really really well. I am looking forward to continue to innovate this process elsewhere so I can analyze, improve, and modify my theories and fabrication.


The War of the Winds

The War of the Winds

War of the winds

The War of the Winds, or the Long and Windy Road. This is a quick video of the dueling windmills at Mezzacello. The traditional horizontal axis windmill (in the foreground) was my first choice for generating power fro wind. I switched to vertical axis, and I am glad I did.

I will keep running tests of the X axis windmill, but I am not holding out much hope. There just isn’t enough pressure from wind in the city at 3 meters above the ground. The X axis generator is only effective above 50 meters where the wind pressures are more constant and extreme.

The Y axis windmills (atop the bioreactor) are FAR more efficient at creating rotational movement in low wid due to their massive amount of surface area in direct line of the wind. These bad boys turn in winds as small as 9KPH at 3 meters.

Zoning Out

The other benefit of the Y axis or Savonius windmills is that they come in under the 14′ (4.27M) height restriction in the city. Anything taller and I would be in violation with zoning and city code. The height at the tip of the taller y Axis wind turbine? 13’9″.

This was a low breeze day. windspeed was just over pKPH and you can clearly see how much more efficient the y Axis windmills are compared to the X Axis at this height. The X Axis windmill is a grumpy cat. But it was a great learning opportunity.

Sources and Adaptations

I bought the y Axis wind turbines on Amazon last summer. They were easy to install. They have already evolved the design as well, now it is an undulating blade, I assume to increase edges to catch wind.

Mounting them was pretty easy. I just used 1-1/2″ steel threaded conduit and a standard 1-1/2″ steel flange. I had to drill out the holes in the flange to fit the rated bolt diameter to secure the wind turbine base to the flange. And then I just secured the 10′ conduit to the bioreactor with four clamps.

Safety Note! The holes will drill out beautifully with a carbide drill bit, but you MUST secure the flange in a vice before you start drilling. Do not ask me how I know this.


The Data Revolution at Mezzacello

The Data Revolution at Mezzacello

Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and George Washington Kept copious notes regarding their research, homesteads, politics. I’ve always admired that about our founding fathers and the American Revolution. Well now I am in the midst of the data revolution at Mezzacello and I am very excited.

It’s taken years to get to this place. Lots of experiments and failures along the way, but I am getting ever closer to my dream. An enclosed sustainable ecosystem that talks to me and amongst itself.

The Key Was Energy

Like Ben Franklin and his key tied to a kite string in a thunderstorm, the key to the Data Revolution has been energy. Mapping out where each sensor would be deployed, what data it would convey and where it would be collected took a bit of work. But In think I am finally close to realizing this.

The bioreactor research and the building of the 3M tower was the turning point in this journey. 1000 L of rain water leveraged 2M in the air and an additional 1000 L of compost below that. Around the structure are deployed sensors, wind turbines, polar panels, anemometers, pumps, 5G Repeaters, Charge Controllers, and antennas.

The big task this summer will be integrating this system into a cohesive power generation schematic that is both accessible and climate controlled. I actually learned a lot and was inspired this summer by George Washington’s Mount Vernon for how I could do this simply and elegantly. It involves manure and compost and the best of intentions!