|
|
CETEE: |
|||
|
'Electrickery' |
||||
|
|
Electrickery:
Discover the Magic of Electronics & Electricity. Proposals
for a Electrical & Electronic Recycling |
|||
|
|
Electrickery
Purpose: The primary purpose of Electrickery is to create a UK nationwide network of Youth training Centres to ‘invite’ the errant youth to participate, experience and learn about the fascinating world of electronics, electro mechanics, robotics and much more, in an exciting, informal education-training environment. Electrickery Synopsis: The
initial proposal of ‘Electrickery’ is to set up local Centres,
possibly in medium to large sized Industrial Units, to ‘entice’ errant
juveniles off the street, into a new, exciting and innovative
electro-mechanical training scheme, utilising scrap electro-mechanical
appliances; washing machines, TVs etc, to form teams to build
‘Robo-Wars’ styled machines-projects. This
will not only provide the errant youth with something exciting to do,
other than vandalising cars and phone boxes, but will also offer training
(by stealth, without it being initially obvious) in a wide range of
electro-mechanical, science disciplines, which can be used in their future
employment prospects. Electrical Appliances & Waste Disposal: Modern
society relies heavily on electricity and electrical appliances, despite
this it is absolutely amazing that a staggeringly high proportion of the
population know absolutely nothing about electricity. Most people are
afraid of electricity, admittedly mains electricity can be a very
dangerous energy source, but most of this fear is born out of ignorance
and misunderstanding. The same misunderstanding also causes the general
public to be very wasteful in their use of electricity and disposal of
electrical appliances. Safer
low voltage domestic energy supply: This
brings us to serious environmental issues such as: Why should we need to
use the highly dangerous, highly inefficient 240-volt CGE (Centrally
Generated Electricity) at all? Most domestic and light industrial users
could easily adopt the low voltage 12 or 24 volt system as used on ships,
boats and caravans. All electronic appliances; TVs, radios, digital
equipment, even electronically controlled washing machines must
‘step-down’ the mains voltage to about 12 volts DC. This need to
convert the current is one of the biggest causes of poor energy efficiency
in most electrical goods. Energy
Efficiency: The low voltage system is a lot more energy efficient, safer and self sustainable. Many households that have recently installed ‘Photovoltaic’ solar panels and find they can generate enough electricity for their own use and actually sell a surplus of electricity back to the energy companies. Education,
Research & Employment: Despite
the over abundant use of electricity in ever aspect of our modern society,
there is a serious lack of information and informal education in the area
of electrical energy. As more and more people become aware of the
advantages of adopting the low voltage energy system, a new, exciting and
lucrative market will develop that will provide vast education,
research and employment opportunities for many. It is not necessary to
try to change the electricity supply system, by gradually introducing the
low voltage concept through education and domestic and light industrial
modification, to run in conjunction with mains supply, the public will
rapidly arrive at their own conclusions as to which is the better,
cheaper, safer and more energy efficient. Such ‘informal’ education
will also help people in general to have a far better understanding of
energy and environmental efficiency. National
Network: The main purpose of this proposal is to create a nationwide network of ‘Youth Endeavour’ education and research centres to raise the interest, motivate and enthuse juveniles and adults to become involved in this vast potential market. Due to the lack of primary academic achievement and social restrictions, most individuals, at whom this project is aimed, will not normally have the opportunity to learn more about electricity and electronics. Electrical
Waste Recycling and Education: The very basis of this proposal is to take scrap electrical and electronic appliances and allow juveniles and adults to ‘mess around’ with this technology, under safe supervision, to develop an interest in this technology in an ‘informal’ educational environment. North
Leatherhead. (Original Proposal Dec 2005) The proposal is to set up a pilot scheme, preferably in a relatively ‘deprived’ area (ie. North Leatherhead). I have concentrated on North Leatherhead for a number of reasons: North
Leatherhead, or ‘Leatherhead Common’ is a relatively deprived area in
the middle of the very affluent ‘Stockbroker belt’. The North
Leatherhead residential area was set up in the 1950s & 60s to
accommodate the overspill from London. The area now suffers from petty
youth vandalism, graffiti, dumped cars etc, very similar to many deprived
inner city areas. This vandalism also spills over and affects the
surrounding affluent areas and has proved to be a great inconvenience and
annoyance to Mole Valley DC and its more affluent residence As well as the youth, there are also many adults, of all ages, and both sexes, who are very interested to learn more about electricity & electronics but have been denied the opportunity due to past failings in the government and education system. In the past and under the current education and training regime, if any individual wishes to study electrical engineering they must first demonstrate that they have a good grasp of mathematics and physics, this tends to frighten off many a young ‘would be engineer’. Raising
Interest! As an electronics and computer instructor in the army in the 1960s, and in subsequent training situations, I found it far easier to teach electronics and electrical engineering by firstly providing a more interesting, practical aspects and later introducing the mathematics & physics, which then makes much more sense to the average student. It is hoped that many of the prospective students will discover a greater interest and go on to learn more about engineering especially with regards to their future employment. By using waste material as part of the training process, there are no serious consequences in the event of any inevitable mistakes. Students will also be expected to spend some time dismantling salvageable appliances into their basic material components as part of the recycling education process. Some of the waste appliances can be refurbished (with a Safety Certificate) for resale to the public and for the student’s own use. Although it is proposed to run the centre as a none-profit making organisation, many aspects of ‘commercialism’ will be applied to this recycling scheme, partly to demonstrate the ‘monetary’ value of recycling and also to make the centre pay for itself. It is hoped to form partnerships with training groups, especially with ‘Nescot’ for this initial Pilot scheme project. Many clients of Nescot are unemployed or offenders who often have serious difficulty in finding and maintaining subsequent employment for numerous social and psychological reasons. It would also make practical and commercial sense to open high profile shops attached to each centre selling ‘safety certificated’ recycled goods and appliances. The proposed Centres covering Research, production, servicing, repairs and sales would be able to offer a wide range of paid employment opportunities over a wide range of disciplines. Many individuals who have difficulty with employment could be continually monitored and offered advice and re-training to help them overcome their employment problems, rather sending them out into the wider ‘wicked’ world to fend for themselves. Exciting projects. There is a current TV show called ‘Robot or Robo-Wars’, there are many younger people who would like to get involved in this sort of project, obviously this needs workshop facilities and serious supervision. This would be one of many fantastic opportunities and attractions to get the youth off the streets and learn some engineering skills that could benefit them in later employment. I would also like to incorporate a research facility into many other aspects of recycling and environmental technology studies. I have raised considerable interest in the many environmental technology projects. The big hurdle is getting support from major sponsors such as Sony and Audi, once a major sponsor is found, other sponsors will be eager to also become involved. It is also very necessary to form Partnerships and obtain the support of many local government and NGOs to take this project forward. Other
advantages and points of interest. Youth
education. Enticing the modern
youth off of the streets into an interesting and informal educational
training facility. Research
& Education: Funding: Government
or Public Responsibility: Waste Recycling, especially Domestic waste recycling should be an individual Public Responsibility. By forming similar Private-Public run centres (as opposed to local government run public facilities), the public can be individually rewarded for their efforts in waste recycling. This is very necessary and important to raise the public interest and awareness in waste recycling. Recycled raw material can be sold back to the manufacturers, the proceeds being returned to the local recycling centre. Well run centres will flourish, poorly run centres will become obvious, demonstrating the need for reorganisation of these centres. Every local community in the UK could open similar centres. This would provide considerable employment, education and financial rewards for individual and local business efforts in ‘public waste recycling schemes’. Manual
Recycling. It is also far more educationally beneficial, ecologically acceptable and cost effective to have all domestic waste separated as it is thrown away, at source. It also makes far more commonsense for most waste appliances to be dismantled by students and employed dismantlers (Deconstructors) as part of the private-public’s environmental education and waste recycling practice. 100%
Waste Recycling. The Government needs to pay more attention and become much more involved in the waste recycling issues, especially in such areas of enforceable legislation, the compulsory purchase of reclaimed raw materials and manufacture of suitable recyclable material by manufacturers. Much more research needs to be conducted in conjunction with other countries such as Switzerland and Sweden that have very good track records in waste recycling. Commonsense
& Technology: Rejections
and Oppositions: August 2007. The local and central government’s attitude was very similar, basically that they did not want to ‘upset’ ‘big local businesses’. 2 ½ years later the local council still have not resolved the ‘North Leatherhead Problem’, so briefly entitled on the MVDC website in April 2005 for 2 weeks, before the council leaders?!? ‘insisted’ that the ‘North Leatherhead Problem’ be 'Removed' from the website. MVDC were not prepared to spend their own money in ‘solving’ the ‘North Leatherhead Problem’ and expected central government funding (Tax Payers Money) to resolve the problem. This would be very funny if it wasn’t so tragic, in its demonstration of the ‘none caring’ attitude of one of the most affluent local councils in the UK John A Webb. Dec 2005: Email copies to: Allen
Mills, Nescot, Epsom. amills@nescot.ac.uk
|
|||
|
We would like to hear your views. Please send us an email. Copyright © 2005 Global Unity. All rights reserved. |
||||