Clean as Clean Should Be: Yes, this is the household bottleIt is difficult to find an all-purpose cleaner these days that doesn’t fill your kitchen with the fresh scent of artificial toxins. Whether the cleaning agents are safe or not, oftentimes the most harmful chemicals in cleaning products are the fragrances.

Currently, there are no regulations on the fragrance industry resulting in a lot of unnecessary airborne pollution, or VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). Chemicals such as toluene are abundant in the fragrance aisle; they’re also abundant in auto parts stores. Toluene has been proven to cause cancer and nervous system damage, and is designated as hazardous waste in large amounts. Now, that doesn’t sound very refreshing or romantic does it?

Oftentimes these harmful chemicals in our everyday environment, from cleaning products to air fresheners, contain hormone disruptors, which are toxins that fool our body by imitating our natural hormones. Hormone disruptors bind to the sites in our body where our natural hormones usually bind, and block those sites from our natural hormones. This often results in low sperm count, high breast cancer rates, prostate and testicular cancer, thyroid problems, and behavioral abnormalities in children.

Now I’m not saying that one cleaning product a day is going to steal your health away. But, exposure to many products through out the day containing toxic chemicals can lead to an unhealthy state. So, I am encouraging you and helping you to use cleaner, safer, homemade products that perform just the same!

Following is my All-Purpose Cleaner Contents 101 just for you!

• Rule of thumb # 1: if it burns your nostril, it shouldn’t be topical.
• Rule of thumb # 2: if you can’t pronounce it, denounce it!
• Rule of thumb # 3: If the scent is strong and synthetic, keep in mind that it is probably present to mask the scent of another equally harmful chemical in the product.

Below is a recipe for an All Purpose Cleaner, and although you certainly could clean your body with it I am recommending it for windows, countertops, mirrors, sinks, tubs, even use it as a weed killer, or in a bowl to remove unwanted odors from a room!

The active ingredients are:

Vinegar: originally a French word meaning “sour wine”. It is simply made from the fermentation of ethanol (the alcohol commonly found in alcoholic beverages) in wine, cider, beer, fermented fruit juice…basically anything that has an alcohol content. The active ingredient is acetic acid, which is usually between 4-8% of the liquid volume. At a PH of about 2.4 the rather acidic liquid helps to kill bacteria, prevent bacteria from growing in the first place, and cuts through grease.

Visit these pages to find millions of opportunities to substitute vinegar in everyday cleaning and even weight loss.

The Vinegar Institute: Uses and Tips
Hints and Things: Vinegar

Borax: an umbrella word for a few closely related natural mineral compounds that differ in content and structure. Commercial borax is usually sodium borate decahydrate. It is very water-soluble and uses that property to convert water molecules into hydrogen peroxide, thereby becoming a great natural, yet mild, bleach and cleaning agent. At a PH of 9.5 the alkaline, the basic compound uses it’s salt, and/or oxygen content to disinfect and kill unwanted pests/organisms. Borax is used in many detergents, fungicides, preservatives, and disinfectants.

Now that you have the facts, here is how you make it!

Ingredient list:

• 4 T Vinegar
• 2 tsp. Borax
• 10-20 drops of the essential oil of your choice (optional)
• 32 oz hot water

Step 1: Find a spray bottle that will hold about 32 oz or more. If you want to use an old spray bottle, which is a great idea, first disinfect and clean it. How? Put in 4 T Vinegar, 2 tsp Borax, and fill it about 1/3 with boiling hot water (if your bottle is plastic, reduce the heat of the water a bit). Shake it real well, let it sit for a day or two and rinse it well.

There you have it!Step 2: Add the 4 T Vinegar right into the bottle

Step 3: Add the 2 tsp of Borax right into the bottle

Step 4: Add 32 oz of hot! Water

Step 5: Add 10-20 drops of your chosen essential oil if you please

Step 6: Put on the top/lid and shake it up.

Step 7: Clean away to your hearts fancy and be breath deep. It won’t hurt you!

Isn’t it refreshing to know that having a cleaner home requires less: less ingredients meaning less harmful disguises?

Source articles:

No Perfume Means Healthier Air
About.com: How Does Borax Clean?

Build it beautiful

In honor of the holiday and the American Dream of freedom and exploration, I am going to help you declare an “energy independence” today (at home anyway). Today, we are going to decrease our dependency on finite natural resources such as coal and natural gas used to generate much of the energy we consume in this country. The interesting lesson is that these finite resources are burned to generate steam that drives a shaft through magnets, resulting in an electromagnetic inductive reaction that generates electricity; the same principles on which wind power is generated.

Today’s topic to shout from the mountaintops is how to make your own affordable wind turbine. Did you know that the energy in the wind more or less follows the human 24-hour power consumption cycle? So I’m here to say, lets utilize that wind while we simultaneously use up the electricity.

I have personally not built this mechanism, but being a declared experimental designer, I like to rig things up and love to figure out how things work. Thus, I have reviewed many instructions and debriefed for you an informative and simple process from a Do-It-Yourselfer in Arizona who built his for under $150. If you crave more specific instructions, visit his site or one of the many options at the bottom of the page. There are hundreds of ways to build each sub-construction, so get creative and think about efficiency in weight, size, and aerodynamics.

Without further ado, following is a simple and cheap process of instructions on how to build your own wind turbine at home!

The bare necessities that every wind turbine has in common:
1. A Generator
2. Blades
3. A mount and wind vane to keep it turned to the wind
4. A tower to put it up in the sky
5. Rechargeable batteries and an electronic control system

With that said we will follow these 5 recommended steps to simplify your way to a great affordable turbine.

1. The Generator
First, the heart of the whole mechanism: the generator. An electric generator is quite simple when you refer back to your knowledge of physics. To put it simply, the generator will convert the mechanical energy in the wind intercepted by the blades and into electrical energy. If you want to learn how a common generator works inside, refer to this site. To get the basic principles of electromagnetism, refer here.
Electric generator: image courtesy of wvic.com

Generator Shopping:
Many electric motors work as generators, as they function the same fundamentally only in reverse. Instead of outputting a voltage from the crank of a shaft, a motor would crank the shaft from an applied voltage. The only problem is that many motors have to be driven much faster as a generator to reach their rated voltage.

I am told that Ametek motors are the best for home built turbines. The Ametek 99 voltDC, although large, is the best one they make. But word on the street says it’s a hard one to find, so if you can't find the top dog, don’t worry, they make many alternatives as do other companies.
The best advice for motor/generator shopping I can give you is look for a motor that is rated for:
1. High DC voltage
2. Low rpm’s
3. High current

If you’d like to leverage the properties of the different Ametek generators visit this site!

Another great motor I’ve heard a lot about is the MiniGen Motor. Although it doesn’t have a huge power output, it is small and can serve as your hub to attach your rotor blades to directly. It outputs AC power so when you get to the electronic controller stage you will need a rectifier instead of a blocking diode.

MiniGen Motor

Once you’ve acquired and decided on your generator we are ready to move on to the blades.

2. The Rotor Blades and Hub

Many people use ABS, or PVC piping. You can carve your own out of wood, which I have done, but be sure to use as light a wood as possible. If you want to get real slick and sexy, you could use styrofoam and carbon fiber, but those materials are neither sustainable nor healthy. A great site to refer to while constructing aerodynamic efficiency is the Danish Wind Industry Association.

With a plastic pipe 6” in diameter and 24-36” long depending on the intended scale of your project. This is what you want to do (scale is set for 24” blades).
1. Cut the pipe into 4 equal parts around the circumference (you only need 3)
2. Cut the blade at the angle you prefer (usually about 20 degrees)
3. Sand the edges to maximize the aerodynamics
4. Next you need a hub to bolt your blades onto (4-6” diameter hub will be perfect) with a hole in the center that will fit the motor shaft.
5. Mount the ends of the blades onto the hub with screws and bolts each 120 degrees from the other.
6. If you can find a plastic half sphere to cover the front of this construction, it will improve the airflow therefore the efficiency of the unit by directing air into the rotor blades.
Hub and Blades: Image courtesy of Mike Davis

3. The Mount

The mount and wind vane are important because they hold all the parts and direct the blades into the wind. The wind vane or tail is the balancing tool of the mechanical energy operation. It keeps the turbine from capsizing, therefore sacrificing harvestable wind.

1. It is easiest to use a 2×4” piece of wood about 35” long. This measurement can be imprecise as long as it fits the motor and is long enough to allow the vane to work with ease, so feel free to use any scrap lying around. Again, it is important to keep this whole construction light. This will facilitate movement of the mount in the direction of the wind.
2. Mount the motor to one end of the 2×4 so that the motor shaft is fully extended beyond the end of the wooden mount. (It is a good idea to cover the motor with something to insulate it form weather conditions-metal electrical boxes work as well as a piece of PVC pipe.)
3. Mount the rotor blades and hub construction onto the motor shaft.
4. Next, Wind Vane: All you need is a rigid piece of material to stand up about 8 inches and extend down the mount about 14 or longer. This is the mechanism that really controls the direction of the turbine. It is very important. Although the rotor blades can catch the wind and aid turning the construction in the right direction, the vane does this with much more ease. (Common materials are sheet aluminum, plastic, or even a thin wood. If you want to go green and creative- find a piece of flashing that’s laying around, cut up an old plastic binder, or cut up the lid to an old Tupperware container. [Note: all these materials are very light].)
5. Cut a groove in the wooden mount just wide enough for the thickness of your chosen vane material.
6. Slide it in. If it’s not tight enough, glue it into place to secure stability and function.
7. Add a weight of any sort to the bottom of the wind vane end on the 2×4. This will be your counterweight to the generator. You can use a lead weight (although not a magnet), a sand filled balloon…

An alternative to this construction is to find a 2 ¼” pipe or something large enough to fit the generator into. Insert the generator. Attach the hub to one end. Cut a slit in the other end in which to insert your wind vane. You can also place your counterweight inside the pipe. This construction is a bit sleeker in appearance.

4. The Tower

The height of your tower will be highly dependent upon your location in this world. If you live amongst many a canopy of tall trees, you will have a lot of interference to compete with. If you live on the plains, the wind will “go whipping o’r the plain” freely and quite low in the sky.

What you need for the tower is a long pole with something that functions as a bearing at the top to allow the mount to turn freely towards the wind. These are the step-by-step instructions from Michael Davis of Arizona who scratched his head at the local home center store over this for a couple hours. I think his solution is quite functional yet the resistance/friction on the bearing could be lower and more efficient.

1. Attach a 1” pipe fitting to the bottom of the generator end of the mount about 7-8” in.
2. Screw a 1” diameter, 6-12” long pipe nipple into the pipe fitting
3. Slip the pipe nipple into a 1 ¼”, 10-20’ conduit (depending on your locational interference).

With this construction you can drill a hole in the 2×4” mount and feed the wires from the generator right down through the pipe fitting, through the nipple, down the conduit, and out to the control system.

4. Find a scrap piece of wood that is about 2×2’. This will serve as your base.
5. Make a U shaped assembly out of 1” pipe fittings and pipes.

The Tee construction will function as a hinge that will allow you to raise and lower the tower.

6. In the center of the assembly put a 1 4” Tee. Insert in it a 1 ¼” close nipple, a 1 ¼” to 1” reducing fitting, and a screw into that a 1” diameter, 12” pipe nipple.
7. Drill a hole in pipe nipple, large enough for the wire to come out from the conduit.
8. Next drill holes 1” in diameter in the base platform that line up with the pipe fittings. This will allow you to drive shafts into the ground to stabilize your platform. The shafts will extend from the earth into the parallel components of the U construction, thus grounding the tower!
9. Attach 4 guy-lines to the conduit about 10’ up. Tie a rope to each line. Anchor each rope 90 degrees from the other in the earth with some stakes. Make sure these are secure, as you don’t want your turbine to come tumbling down. If you see this unnecessary then skip the whole u construction and anchor the conduit directly into the ground.
Mike's Base Construction

5. The Controller System

Here comes the interesting part that takes a bit of research, but once you do it step by step it all begins to make sense. The controller stores the power created by the spinning turbine and sent down by the generator.

Here are the items you need, what they do, and how they work:
1. First the power sent down from the generator is stored in one or more small batteries.
2. The surplus power is sent out to a larger storage/load when the primary batteries get fully charged, because they will.
3. A 40 amp blocking diode. These are one-way valves that allow the charge to be pumped in but not back out. This prevents the batteries from powering the generator as a motor and spinning the turbine voluntarily. If you use an AC motor you will want to use a rectifier instead. Rectifiers capture the peak and trough of an alternating current. I referred to this earlier in the generator section.
4. A charge controller. The controller monitors the voltage in the batteries and decides where the power from the turbine is needed and should be stored. If you are savvy with wiring up your own electronics this site will show you detailed diagrams of circuit construction and a couple links to help you out. If you don’t want to go there, then search eBay or some of the sites below for a wind power controller. Our friend Mike in Arizona built a fully functional controller, check it out.
5. The cord. If you have an old extension cord, dysfunctional on one end, perfect! If not find some insulated electrical wire with a decent size gauge (¼ – ½”). Attach a couple spade lugs to each end. Attach one to each output on the generator. Then thread the chord through the conduit and connect the spade lugs on the other end to the controller unit.
6. A 120-volt inverter. This is very important because it allows you to use the DC power generated. You will connect this to the battery load unit. It converts the 12V DC power stored in the batteries and into 120V AC power. From this you can plug in any household device you would plug into the wall: your computer, a toaster, a lamp…
Going Further Bonus: you can get a digital or analog computer-interface multimeter (can be found at Radio Shack or your local Electronics supply shop) that will connect to you computer for data logging!
Ahhh, I think I pretty much covered it all. Now that you have all the parts put together, you have yourself a beautiful turbine that initiates or enhances your independence from the communal electric power grid!

I challenge you to get as creative as possible in your project. In my research, I saw project constructed of 100% reused materials. It isn’t difficult, you just have to dig a little bit deeper. Maybe the shape or material you need is in that object you just put in the recycling bin, or even better in the trash. I also saw collapsible and portable turbines to take camping and on road trips. Here are a couple sites that I hope will inform and inspire your project:

Science Fair Wind Generators
Minigen
Otherpower.com Discussion Board: My First Wind Turbine
Otherpower.com Discussion Board: Wind
How I Home-Built an Electricity-Producing Wind Turbine

Also, get creative on how you hook up the power supply. You could connect it to your water heater or your electric oven. You could rig it up so you have multiple removable secondary loads. Use the secondary battery packs to take inside and power your computer throughout the day or your telephone (but don’t forget to take the inverter too). If you think you are harvesting enough power, look into connecting it to the power supply in your home. If you are not quite there yet don’t worry, the experiments have just begun. Have fun, and please let me know if I can direct you to additional information.