Alternative Energy

(Page 2 of 2)

November/December 1973
By the Mother Earth News editors 
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Here's a solar water heater consisting of a sheet-metal box covered by one layer of glass. Inside the unit is a thin copper plate to which copper tubes are soldered in a sinusoidal (straight and curved) configuration. The plumbing is connected to a water storage tank.

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L. John Fry began to experiment with the production of methane over 20 years ago on a 1,000-head hog farm outside Johannesburg, South Africa. In an effort to dispose of his animals' manure, Fry designed and built this "sump" digester" which converts organic wastes (human, animal or plant) into [1] methane, an ignitable gas, and [2] a nitrogen-rich fertilizer.

Old water wheels - both working and dilapidated - can still be seen in parts of rural America. This is an example of an "undershot" mill.

A simplified solar still of low cost and easy construction.

THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS experimental methane generator - built on Richard Shuttleworth's cattle farm near Redkey, Indiana - has proven the practicality of producing an ignitable fuel from cow manure and water. This unit was designed and constructed by Shuttleworth, with the assistance of L. John Fry and Ram Bux Singh. Singh has been director of the Gobar Gas Research Station at Ajitmal in northern India for the past 20 years.

The hydraulic ram, widely used in this country before the advent of the rural electrification program can automatically pump water from its source to a higher elevation.

This Pelton wheel is a pressure turbine which runs off a gravity water system. Inside the unit's casing is a rotor with cups evenly spaced around its rim. A high-pressure stream of water hits the cups, turns the wheel and gives it speed and power.

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