The GEK project turns 2 this June. To celebrate, we’re having a workshop on the anniversary weekend, as well as a sale to make it easier for you to get all the latest equipment. Info on the June workshop is here: http://www.gekgasifier.com/forums/showthread.php?t=348. Info on the sale is below.
When we started this two years ago little did we know how many people were actually ready to get heir hands dirty with DIY gasification equipment. To date we’ve built 180 GEKs, and had the pleasure of sending them to interesting people like yourself all over the world. In return you’ve done many interesting things with them– things which have educated us and refined the design in ways no amount of stealth shop work could ever have achieved. The GEK is now road tested and refined in response to real world use. The map of where GEKs are in the world is here: http://bit.ly/aO8Lfg
These iterative improvements through an open design process has led to a mature biomass power generation system that is now ready for regular daily use. This is not simply a demo video or highly controlled in-house run. Rather, the GEK is now a well characterized system known to produce quality gas on regular wood chip fuel, and do so for hours on end, no tending hands required. It has been a great pleasure running the TOTTI Power Pallets around the shop and finally having to do nothing but add fuel and watch the automated systems work. We’ve now completed the full system from common wood chips in to electricity out– and still at the personal power price point of $1-2/watt.
Here’s the Power Pallet we’ve been working on in the shop for the last couple weeks. This is now on a plane to Eastern Europe. Notice we’ve changed the engine / genhead orientation to an offset inline arrangement, and added a more beefy C channel skid frame. The GCU has simliarly been relocated and other parts reoriented for more efficient wiring, plumbing and general access.
The Sale Specifics
For our two year anniversary we’d like to make the 200 GEKs made mark. We are currently 20 units away from this. Thus we’re offering the following promotions for the month of May to tempt those of you who have yet to get a GEK at your site.
– $1,000 off: Fully automated Power Pallet
– $750 off: Manual Power Pallet
– $500 off: Level IV GEK with all Hot TOTTI heat recycling add-ons (pyrocoil and auger feed drying bucket)
– $100 off: Basic Level IV GEK kit.
More info on these items is in the GEK store here: http://www.gekgasifier.com/gasification-store/. You can find us to go through more of the details of your application at gek@allpowerlabs.org.
International Biomass Conference and Expo (in Minneapolis, USA)
We’re here for the show this week. We have a booth near the food and internet lounge, so we’re easy to find. If any of you are here, please stop by and see us.
That’s Rachael and Abram keeping a watch on the locals. I think one of them is about to tell the onlookers that we’re also having a Show Special on the Power Pallets. Buy the automated Power Pallet and get a free Gasifier Control Unit (GCU) upgrade from the half fill to the full fill version. This is on top of the $1000 off for the anniversary sale. This upgrade is good for you too for orders placed during show time (until the end of tomorrow).
The half fill GCU is more than enough i/o for the automation needs. But if one wants extra expansion capability for auxillary systems, research projects or other elaborations, the extra i/o is nice. Info on the different versions of the GCU is here: http://gekgasifier.pbworks.com/Gasifier-Control-Unit
BEK Biochar Multi-mode Pyrolysis Unit.
We finally got a reasonable gallery posted of the BEK Biochar unit. See here: http://www.gekgasifier.com/wpgallery/bek-biochar-v1-0/ . We now have these biochar research and testing units in production in small numbers. Basic info on the BEK is here: http://www.gekgasifier.com/reactor-options/pyrolysis-biochar/ Write us for more details if you’re interested.
That’s it for now. Thank you all again for being part of this adventure. It has been tremendously rewarding working with many of you in such a wide variety of contexts over the last two years. I look forward to seeing many of you at our workshop in June.
Thank you,
Jim
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Jim Mason
Website: http://www.whatiamupto.com
Current Projects:
– Gasifier Experimenters Kit (the GEK): http://www.gekgasifier.com
– Escape from Berkeley alt fuels vehicle race: www.escapefromberkeley.com
– ALL Power Labs on Twitter: http://twitter.com/allpowerlabs
– Shipyard Announce list: http://lists.spaceship.com/listinfo.cgi/icp-spaceship.com