Scrappy American Trailer

I suppose that I may be a little different, because when I see problems that really bother me (even the huge ones), I start doing something about it. Why am I this way, who knows? Maybe I watched too much A-Team as a child. (Country falling apart...time to weld something...sounds reasonable).

Anyways, when my son was born I decided to hell with the future this country was cornering his generation into. It is hard, and useless to lay blame (unless it is an exercise in identifying opportunities to improve). However, if I don"t do what I can to correct it, I know I can't avoid blaming myself. I also know that any expectation that the answers will come from Washington would mean that I am participating in a massive exercise in delusional thinking (this delusion even outranks the idea that I could somehow turn the tide).

So, what I am really hoping to accomplish is to demonstrate to my son that even the toughest problems must be faced, and that I will do what I can to create a future he can be proud of. I also believe that we have greater tools now than ever before, and making positive change from the bottom up is more possible now than ever.

So...I decided I am going to see if others want to do something about it...like I do. A big part of the plan is getting young people involved in reclaiming their future. I think this is an important part of maturing, and when it gets denied...oh, the bad things start stacking. I am going to do it by giving them opportunity. Paid opportunity. Resume opportunity. Experience opportunity. Competitive opportunity. And we will be delivering this message on college campuses in the spring semester with this trailer:
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It needs wheels (which will be delayed because I am getting them from Worksman, and the storm takes precedence), brakes (which integrate with my trike braking system, and initiate first), work on the chopped dry erase board, and some finishing touches. It has some...uh...flair already.


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This guy even made it into the slide out table top. A super hornet if I ever met one, just above the flag and the twin towers.
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I even have an electric motor. I know it is technically not correct. I didn't know at the time. I intend to wind some copper on it, and being wrong will help identify who has brains in this dept., and give something to talk about when lost for words.
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Now this trailer is heavy, 97 kg without the wheels and brakes. It has poor wind performance with that sail of a dry-erase board. It will even get heavier because I am using it to distribute three ring binders with our message. The binders come from shuttered factories. There is almost never any incentive to try and save a bunch of lightly used binders, so, unfortunately, it is a seemingly renewable resource. If people want to give great, but if not, even better. They are going back into work instead of a dumpster. These are the real American binders. With protective plastic sheeets, and other organizational doodads... stuff that might provide life altering organizing momentum in the right student.

The binders are only one part of generating funds for sponsoring paid internships. Professors seem to like the idea, they have suggested class competitions in areas we are interested in developing, with selected candidates receiving an intership. We know that when students are allowed to work on things which they are passionate about, that it is likely to result in a win for everybody involved. We have a whole model for creating internships on campuses, and I will lay it out in upcoming threads. Speaking with individuals from other universities, we are pretty confident that our model is easily spread with little risk, and some substantial paybacks.

I hope you like this trailer, or will when it is done. It is made completely from free materials (aside from the wheels which are on order, epoxy, an RFID reader and tabs, and the stainless steel hardware). The RFID came from an instructable, and allows us to show (as yet unmade) videos created for this project when certain parts are moved. The weight and handling disadvantages are built into it by design. I am trying to make a trike which can haul some heavy loads, and achieve decent handling, a tall order, but hey swing for the fences. A terrible handling trailer is perfect for my needs. I have been working on another trailer which will have design accomodations, derived from testing with this trailer. I even built a brake light/(soon to be turn signal) bar which is easily moved between trailers.

Hey, wish me luck!

Another fun part of sponsoring projects/internships will be having beer cans discarded at the football games picking up the tab. I will be using this trailer at our local university football games to pick up cans left from tailgating. My son and I have been picking up cans after the games to evaluate how many are getting tossed. The police and grounds crew wait for us to finish because it saves them work. At our first football game, I picked up 582 cans. We keep a large dog cage to hold the cans, and that one game day filled the cage to the half way mark. That dog cage, when it is full, is worth $28 scrap.
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My son doesn't actually pick up the cans (if I can help it), but he is an excellent spotter, and talking with everyone either really gets him going or turns him completely bashful. He does however, insist on some handling after some hosing. These photos capture the man in action:


Now, I didn't begin picking up the cans until the end of the game, so the pattern was an undisturbed sample of behavior. I did not go in the trash, but I know there are likely 100+ cans in the trash. On campus, people have grown increasingly receptive, although they don't know our full agenda. They have been saving cans, throwing them in the yard, and giving us microwaves (I want the transformers). There are six home games, and with projected patterns of monetary giving and an expected increase in levels of can donations, we think that we can easily raise $300+ to sponsor an internship on the campus. That is about the right amount for the next small step.

Oh, and this is for my daughter in the future, you know you are the secret weapon. Dropping the lovely sixty megaton baby smile is my daughter.


I love imagining people enjoying a good game, and helping sponsor some good schoolwork at the same time. Go Team!

*edit space - I am going to reserve this space for some can related statistics as they develop.
The dog cage is filled at 1525+/- cans.
Football games.....................Stadium.........Campus......Total
10/13/12 homecoming...............335..............247..........582
11/14/12 last home game...........607..............117*.........724
*came back early - potty break
Weekends:....35.....55.....54.....74......109........Avg. 65.4
Current revenues:
10/25/2012.....$28
11/21/2012.....$34
I will run actual statistics when I have more data. I have a small sample size, but I have experience with small sample statistical analysis. Unfortunately, until some of the perturbations work out of the system, there is little value in what I have here to act as a predictor. There are 5 home games this year, if campus produces at the levels I am seeing, that would be a full dog cage every other game. This is without disclosing what I am doing. However, thus far the numbers are not looking very convincing. Optimistically, the campus could produce at a level of one cage per game, so, $140 from cans looks realistic during football season. If I get support from the greek system this could double. At that point it would be realistic. An internship must be paid at Ball State, and with minumum wage at $7.25, $300 would mean ~41 hrs. Perhaps enough time for some small projects, and establishing that it could serve as a baseline for funding.

Interesting. But, what is it? I applaud your efforts, but am confused as to what you are doing. Simple explanation for us dumshits is needed.

Thanks Dogman! My posting efforts were interrupted, sorry. Both my kids had fevers a day ago, but they developed some rash that my wife believes is chickenpox last night. So, unfortunately, I will have to go sparse on details.

I don't have much to contribute about ebikes, because I am a newb (maybe later?). However, I hope this will do something for spreading ebikes on campus (all boats rise kind of thing).

One thing I do know something about is energy. I had a start in energy with directional drilling experience. I think there is a limit to how much fracking can help. We have already reached the point where the cost of drilling, and the depression of natural gas prices has forced the slowdown of drilling (not a shirnking, just a slowdown in expansion, and it has not slowed signing of contracts!). You can grow corn on every square inch of usable land in the US, but it would just drive corn prices so low that nobody makes a profit. It becomes uneconomical, same goes for gas, and we are at this point already.

In my view the best way to raise economic competitiveness in this country is through cheap energy prices. Picking winners and losers is dicey territory at best. People will gasp, "what about global warming?" Well, the science is there, or if you have some alternative view it is not there. Causation matters, but is not the reason I see for moving to renewables. I like argumennts that you cannot argue against. Weather is changing. Look outside. To say that it isn't means you have an agenda. Arguing over cause...fine..but arguing that it is happening is incontrovertible. We as a society must prepare for far more weather related events. Having a system with distributed generation from renewables, storage (I know keep reading), and smarter management systems will save us billions if these events keep happening. Renewables make long-term economic sense. So...how do we get past their short term economic disadvantages?

We let them compete. I arrived at this argument when I bought some cookies from some neighborhood kids to support their school a few years ago. I did a little research, and only 10% of that money actually makes it to the school. $15 became $1.50. Other programs reach a little higher but they are all pretty abyssmal in their numbers (unless it is a bunch of cookies baked by a generous mother). So, my thought was why are we forcing solar to compete against coal? We know that there are lots of revenue and grid stabilizing potential with it so...Why not let it compete against these school fundraisers. This is America after all, surely the home of free trade (ha ha). Why not just cut out the middlemen in the school fundraising. Just give the $1.50, with the knowledge that the entire amount would go to the school as the solar energy paybacks dictate. Now a 10% return becomes a 100%, and a $15 dollar shakedown becomes a $1.50 shakedown (more in line with what everyone can afford). So, I have been putting together a program to provide additional revenue streams for schools with solar energy. I have been working through the legal, and numerous other aspects of our program for the past three years.

Now, lots of little holes sink a ship just as sure as one big gash. So, I was worried about placing these installations on schools, because I remember being school age, and all the trouble that can come with that. However, a program came in under Obama which opened up military installations for development. They did all of the difficult studies to account for feasibility, which is where a huge level of cost, and where lots of NIMBY not in my back yard legal problems can arise. So, there are huge tracts of well-suited land already available, identified, and legally vetted. There are easy power purchase agreements to be had. So, one of the biggest hurdles have already been crossed.

The major issues we see remaining are issues of fairness, and achieving public confidence. The way we are going to achieve public confidence is by laying out goals and achieving them, and by creating a level of transparency which I believe is unparalleled. This involves systems, and we are only at the beginning of establishing these. We are working through the 501c3 process, and our not-for-profit element will develop an ongoing working relationship with a for-profit business. By saying it will be for profit does not mean that it will get rich off of this. It is largely a legal delineation which is necessary to insure that all power producers/service providers, etc. are working on a level playing field, and that if something goes wrong, there is some skin in the game and we can be sued and held financially acountable just like the next guy. Establishing confidence will be the hard won part. That is also why our on campus programs will be so crucial. As more students recieve internships/special projects, and achievements mount, this will open us up in other areas. We also find that recent high school grads have the greatest levels of current connections within a school system, and a real strong desire to see things done in their schools, so that is where we are focusing.

Fairness is a far more tricky pickle. We are a long way from having these problems be our most pressing problems, but we have been researching our options anyways. I, of course, look at these problems as an opportunity to achieve some engineering/mechanical advantage. My solution is this: I want people who donate money to be able to dictate where their money goes. This only seems fair that you should be able to support those you love. I will not give this up. However, there are two solutions I have arrived at which I hope will strengthen the equity children deserve. First, money which is not earmarked for any particular school system will go to offset inborn economic advantages enjoyed by various schools. Identifying who should get these discretionary funds is the tricky part. We want a formula, and we do not have one yet. We have an educator from Franklin, TN who has offered to write to the people with the Columbia University Campaign for Educational Equity to seek their advice on these matters. The other area which we are looking for as a method for achieving equity has been an area of great research and pretty intensive time commitments from me. As schools begin participating, we would like to place something on the school identifying their participation which would be viewable from google earth. We think that this would be both a source of pride, and as we develop further options, a reflection of the interests of the children. Because part of the money which we raise, we aregoing to allow the students themselves to dictate what programs it will be spent on. We find kids usually represent some of the best of us, when they speak to problems together. One program which I would like to see children choose is one I wrote to Maria Skyllas-Kazacos about on May 7 of this year. Here is some of the introductory text:
Greetings,

I am considering the value of the vanadium redox flow battery for use in disaster response scenarios, in which regular power infrastructure is compromised.

In particular, I am interested in coupling this technology with intermodal shipping container standards to maximize transport, off-loading efficiencies, and provide a platform for serial modification for medical response, supply distribution, temporary shelter, and other emergency needs. It seems in this context, the low energy density could provide an advantage over typical diesel, LNG generators if the generator housing itself (say 3-5 containers) could provide suitable, customizable, immediate application to one of the other emergency response primary objectives.

I would be pleased if you could share your thoughts.


She has agreed to work with us. However, we will likely work with people from Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, because their technology seems to be better.

So, what I am imagining is that schools which are well-heeled will have some of the money they receive in donations go towards building a system of vanadium redox flow batteries, where a primary battery will provide electrolyte which can be transported to disaster sites, and serve an intermodal system to supply power and structural elements for serving the community. We think children will want this as much as we do, and will be willing to use money earmarked for their school to help those in need due to disaster, while simultaneously strengthening the grid.

Hey, gotta go, but there is part of the plan. I have some interesting reponses and details on nearly every aspect of the plan I have laid out. Even our discussions with lawyers, educators, scientist, whatever, I am willing to put it out there. Of course, finish trailer first. 5 more full days of work, not sure when it will fit in, and I will talk with the Worksman people later to see when we may get those wheels in, but, there you have it. What we have been working on. It is so much fun...sometimes.

I see. I just wasn't clear if you were on a green energy PR effort, or just doing something fun with the kids.

Go get er done! Every grain of sand moved digs a better home for the ants. Takes lots of small individual efforts to make the big job finish.

I am pleased to revise my estimates of aluminum can recovery efforts. On track to recover upwards of $1000/semester during football season, and estimate $500/semester is easily doable in the spring. I now keep track of the numbers of bags of smashed cans, and during this last game we recovered 14 bags giving $119, and estimate that there were at least 25 bags which could easily be recovered. Now that I know a bit more about what is feasible, the first thing I am focusing on is increasing efficiency, and spreading to other campuses.

I have been building a pedicab, and I consider this to be the key to winning the future expansion I envision. First, digging in the trash is no fun, it is a bit too time intensive, and it would be a show stopper in terms of public perception, and more importantly volunteer perception. However, giving various groups of partyers bags to collect their own cans seems eminently doable. So, I am going to outfit my pedicab with one of these: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/air-raid-siren
I know people are happy to get involved, and this will help alert people of my location, and hopefully train them a la pavlov. The money I raise will first go towards an internship or competition to design and build a suitable pedicab. My design lacks reproducability, and well... engineering acumen. I am considering which university to approach. Purdue is likely to be my first choice, due to proximity and knowledge of the campus/professors. My experience tells me that people partying at these football games can be quite generous, so, giving a student a pedicab to earn money will be a major incentive for them to oversee the can collection to ensure further expansion. I will post more soon, but it is getting very exciting!

Well, I have discovered a few things. First, my estimates of the number of recoverable cans are consistently low...which is very good. Here is my son with the haul from homecoming, well part of it, excluding all the iron bits, which is probably 300 pounds:
I guess that we were still only able to get about half of the cans there... but $161 anyways. My idea of leaving bags with groups worked very well...if...I found the right girl. For some, this involves my son and daughter giving them the bags, others, learning our objectives does the trick. Even then, the girl must be of the right mind set, and the interaction needs to be just right. But...a girl with the right gravitas can induce even stone drunk dudes to fall over trying to pick up cans for her. The bags may get bottles, and plastic and every other kind of thing, but the odds are improved. Otherwise, people are not real interested in putting their cans in one place, or even thinking about it. Another thing I discovered was that by going in the morning, the clean-up crew which walks sections of the field has people on it who are happy to help. They are followed by a broom-vac, so gotta be quick. Anyways, tossing cans our way, and everything else in their trash bags is very amenable to the smarter ones, as long as it looks like you are helping them get finished sooner. I also got some interest in what we are doing from some guys in a fraternity...so, all in all a good bit of progress.

There is just so much potential in student projects. So, my first project will be a reproducible pedicab design, but speaking with professors and students from across the country is going to be the best part of this process. Who knows exactly where it will go? My son and daughter seem to enjoy it more each time, as we move to different stages, they just soak it in.