Open Source Ecology

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Description

Open Source Ecology is Network of Farmers, Engineers, and Supporters Building the Global Village Construction Set.

The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts.

The goal of Open Source Ecology is to create an open source economy – an efficient economy which increases innovation by open collaboration.

Links

Site: https://www.opensourceecology.org/ Wiki: https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@marcinose

Key Features of the GVCS

Open Source - we freely publish our 3d designs, schematics, instructional videos, budgets, and product manuals on our open source wiki and we harness open collaboration with technical contributors.
Low-Cost - The cost of making or buying our machines are, on average, 8x cheaper than buying from an Industrial Manufacturer, including an average labor cost of $15 hour for a GVCS fabricator.
Modular - Motors, parts, assemblies, and power units can interchange, where units can grouped together to diversify the functionality that is achievable from a small set of units.
User-Serviceable - Design-for-disassembly allows the user to take apart, maintain, and fix tools readily without the need to rely on expensive repairmen.
DIY - (do-it-yourself) The user gains control of designing, producing, and modifying the GVCS tool set.
Closed Loop Manufacturing - Metal is an essential component of advanced civilization, and our platform allows for recycling metal into virgin feedstock for producing further GVCS technologies - thereby allowing for cradle-to-cradle manufacturing cycles
High Performance - Performance standards must match or exceed those of industrial counterparts for the GVCS to be viable.
Flexible Fabrication - It has been demonstrated that the flexible use of generalized machinery in appropriate-scale production is a viable alternative to centralized production.
Distributive Economics - We encourage the replication of enterprises that derive from the GVCS platform as a route to truly free enterprise - along the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy.
Industrial Efficiency - In order to provide a viable choice for a resilient lifestyle, the GVCS platform matches or exceeds productivity standards of industrial counterparts.

founded 2 years ago

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Goldfishlaser@slrpnk.net

I’ve been introduced to OSE. Now what do we talk about? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 2 years ago by meyotch@slrpnk.net to c/open_source_ecology@slrpnk.net

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Really it’s an amazing project and the linked resources are great at explaining what Open Source Ecology is. Thank you for introducing it.

What, specifically, is this community for? What are the parameters of the conversations you want to encourage? I suppose I’m looking for some idea of community mission statement. Is that something we can have a conversation about?

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[–] meyotch@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Thanks for the reply. I really hope this community takes off over time. I dearly love these topics, so I’ll definitely be watching and contributing when I can.

My latest personal obsession is low-power solar and designing energy harvesting circuits using supercapacitors. There are many applications where a battery isn’t strictly necessary.

For instance a stock pond aeration system or running a vent fan could all happen while the sun is shining. Intermittent operations would still achieve the stated purpose and reduce system complexity. Supercapacitors also last longer than batteries and are cheaper.

I’ve been using the latest LLM systems to talk over my circuit designs. It’s like having a stoned expert to talk design issues over with. I prototype the real circuit on a breadboard and give the AI my circuit in the form of a netlist. It can help me tweak circuit behavior and choose appropriate resistance values, as an example.

I mention this because one of the challenges with ecological thinking is developing that “systems thinking”. Having a somewhat intelligent partner to talk about a system (a circuit with 10 interconnected components in this case, but it works for any other system too) really helps one to intuitively understand the overall system function.

I hope for the same from this community. Over time I hope we can build a really cool discussion group where we can help each other understand the complex world we live in. Hearing other perspectives is absolutely invaluable when trying to understand complexity.

[–] WaterbelowSoluphigh@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What you are doing sounds super interesting! I'm currently saving up to purchase some Arduino hardware and some various sensors for mixing nutrients and monitoring my condo lettuce-factory, lol. The idea of using low voltage solar with super conductors is a great idea.

Any vids you would recommend I watch to start learning?

[–] meyotch@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 years ago

YouTube video

This one is pretty close to the project I'm working on. I just got my parts in the mail yesterday and won't have a lot of time to put it into practice till the weekend. I'll post something here when I get a more finished version. Right now it works, but it runs ragged, so I'm adding a comparator IC and a transistor to provide a clean voltage cutoff.

Always happy to talk electronics! The super capacitors are a great thing to know about because there are a lot of applications that don't need to run 24/7. My 750ml aquarium will do just fine being only aerated during daylight hours, for instance. A vent for a shed could operate the same way too.