Step One: Paint

As I showed you in an earlier post, when I first got Lionel he was this weird orange color and all the beautiful chrome was painted black. After I decided I on a color to paint it (Sunburst Yellow) it was time to deconstruct!

As I would soon find out, this was the easy part. I started separating the pieces from the body. Every nut, bolt, rubber piece, etc. received a label and was put in a plastic bag for safe keeping. My boyfriend, Paxton, seasoned tinkerer and former Expert Tire employee, labeled them things like "rear fender left wing nut" whereas mine had descriptions like "stick thing to weird bolt on side." But, hey, we got there, and eventually everything was taken apart and had a legible label, at least to me.



Next, I began to prime. Primer is important because it sticks to the metal and the paint sticks to the primer. For this part, I used Rustoleum spray paint. We built a small painting station in our backyard out of old tarp and pvc pipe so that the overspray could be contained. I hung the parts from the ceiling of the tarp station using string and zip ties and began to paint!

Painting Station

I had to paint in shifts, since there was a limited amount of space to move around once there were some pieces hanging. So once the first batch was dry from a couple of coats of primer, I painted them yellow. For this section I used Paxton's paint sprayer and bought a pint of yellow paint. I mixed the paint with paint thinner to help it come out of the sprayer more smoothly.

Once they were dry enough to move, they were placed on the high-tech shed gutter hanging station, and in went the next batch. This went on for a couple of days until it was finally time to paint the body. Since the body is too heavy to hang from those strings, I hung it from a tree and put a tarp up behind it.

Next it was time to take off that awful black and red paint on the engine. I scrubbed for what felt like days with paint thinner, sand paper, dremel, or whatever else I could think of. Eventually, I got some pretty great results.

These aren't the best progress pictures but I was too focused on getting it done that I forgot to take photos. Eventually, all parts of the engine looked like the beautiful chrome you can see!

At last the paint was done! Now it's time to put it back together. This was much harder. Even though we had everything labeled, it took time to make the proper adjustments to put everything back together perfectly.

At the end of this stage it was just the body. There were no handlebars, engine, electrical, brakes, lights, etc. All that would come later. 

Running total:

PARTS
Moped	$200.00
PAINT
Primer x3	$15.00
Yellow Pint x2	$20.00
Yellow Spray Paint x2	$10.00
Paint Thinner x2	$14.00
Sand Paper	$8.00
TOTAL	$267.00

This is the cost at the end of step one. Next post, I'll show how I put the new engine on. Current status of the moped is not running unfortunately. After getting it to run for a couple of days, it died on me on my way home. I played around with it a bit and I can't figure out what's wrong. Today, I'm going to take it to Wick's Wheels, a local moped shop, and let them fix him up. I'm disappointed that I'm not able to complete this on my own, however I think the fact that I got him to start and run at all is impressive, so I'm happy with that! I'm limiting my car use to once a week, or for moped related reasons (such as taking it to the shop today). 

Hopefully it'll be running next week!

Thanks for reading!

While reading the Roseland chapter for next week I was really into all the examples of water-saving techniques that were given. One example in particular caught my attention, in which a community in Durham, Ontario installed half the homes in a new development with energy-and water-efficient appliances and fixtures, and the other half received standard installations. A comparison study done on the homes found that the energy-and water-efficient homes had a 22% reduction in water consumed, a 13% reduction in energy consumed, and a 9% reduction in natural gas consumed per day! And a 1.19 ton reduction in CO₂ emissions per year. Oh, and the appliances paid for themselves after 3.4 years (Veritec Consulting Inc., 2008 via Roseland, 81). 

So this example got me thinking that I don't actually know a lot about what is on the market for water- and energy-efficient appliances, or even how they work. And if I don't know, maybe others don't know either... So what I've decided to do this week is a survey of what's out there, how it works, and what its effect is on consumption. For the sake of the readings, I will focus on water-saving technologies.

There are two big programs in the appliance world, both sponsored by the EPA, WaterSense and ENERGYSTAR®, which have identified water-efficient appliances, fixtures, accessories, and systems that reduce consumption. These appliances have the WaterSense or ENERGYSTAR® label so consumers know they are backed by the EPA.

There is some debate about the breakdown of water consumption by appliance for indoor residential use. This chart from Winnipeg, Canada closely reflects the numbers the EPA uses  (winnipeg.ca) (epa.gov/greenhomes).

Toilets

As you can see above, toilets are the largest contributor to water consumption, accounting for a third of all water usage. In 1992, the Energy Policy Act mandated that new toilets built cannot consume more than 1.6 gallons of water per flush (epa.gov/WaterSense). Before that, toilets consumed between 3.5 and 7 gallons per flush (howstuffworks). 

There are several options for how a toilet can lower its water consumption, so I'll highlight the common methods.

Low-Flow

Low-flow toilets use gravity or pressure-assisted mechanisms to help clear waste. The gravity style toilet is what most of us are accustomed to, where the water from the tank is dropped when you flush, causing it to flush through the bowl. The pressure-assisted toilets use a compressed pocket of air to push the waste clear (howstuffworks).

Dual Flush

Dual flush toilets have two settings - half flush and full flush - based on which button you select (these are the toilets IKEA uses). Half flush, for liquid waste, uses 0.6 gallons of water per flush, on average. Full flush, for solid waste, uses 1.6 gallons of water per flush, on average (howstuffworks). Basically, these toilets don't use a siphoning tube, which most toilets use, to suction out the waste. Instead, they have a larger hole in the bottom that allows water to more easily clear waste (howstuffworks).

Faucets and Showerheads

High-efficiency faucets can save a family 700 gallons of water per year, which is roughly enough water for 40 showers (epa.gov/watersense). WaterSense labelled faucets must have a maximum flow rate of 1.5 gallons per minute (gpm) at a pressure of 60 pounds per square inch (psi). There is also a minimum of 0.8 gpm at 20 psi to ensure quality performance (epa.gov/watersense). There are a couple different ways faucets become highly efficient.

Picture retrieved from plumbingsupply.com.
 

Aerators add air to the stream of water to increase sensation of flow and reduce splashing. Laminator flow devices force the water stream through several small openings, creating a uniform flow that reduces splashing (epa.gov/watersense).

The average showerhead has a water stream of 2.5 gpm, or 40 gallons per day for an average American family. The WaterSense label limits the stream to 2.0 gpm, but many high-efficient showerheads are lower than that (epa.gov/watersense). The high-efficient showerheads work through flow restrictors, which limit the amount of water that can flow from the head (speakmanshowers.com). These technologies also use less energy, since the hot water resources are reduced.

Washing Machines

The average washing machine uses 41 gallons of water per load - think about how much that is! High-efficiency washers use 35-50% less water and 50% less energy (epa.gov/greenhomes). High-efficiency washers don't have the traditional agitator most washers have, instead they rotate clothes clockwise and counterclockwise so that the laundry rubs against each other. This requires a different type of detergent, because the increased rubbing causes more bubbles to form and the reduced amount of water used can leave residue behind if traditional detergent is used (howstuffworks). New technology can even detect the size of the load and fabric type, and make tailored washing cycles based on that data.

Hot Water Systems

Water heating is the third largest energy expense in the average home, after space heating and cooling (epa.gov/greenhomes). Here are a few of the common ways to reduce energy consumption.

Tankless

Image retrieved from energy.gov.

Also known as demand-type or instantaneous water heaters, tankless heaters supply water only when it is needed, thereby eliminating the need for storage tanks. A heating element heats the water before it exits the faucet, as shown in the image to the right (energy.gov). 

Solar

There are different types of solar heating methods, which you can read about in detail here if you like. Essentially, each type has a solar collector and a storage tank. The solar collector is an insulated box, made of heat-retentive material, with tubes inside for water flow. The storage tank holds the water. The solar collector heats up the water from the sun and stores it in the tank. Active heaters pump the water through the tank electrically and passive heaters allow gravity or the ability for water to rise to pump the water (howstuffworks).

Congratulations! You've now got a basic understanding of the most common water-saving appliances for residential homes. I hope that wasn't too boring. 

In case it was, here's a cat gif for your patience:

Say Hello to Lionel!

For my personal project I decided to give up my car for a semester. A few days before school started up again I bought a 1986 Tomos a3 (that's a moped) and was already rebuilding it when the project was assigned. I'm proud to say tonight, almost three and a half weeks after I bought the moped, it is running! I broke it down, repainted everything, put a brand new engine in, and rewired the whole thing. Basically, I replaced everything on it except the transmission. It was a long process, but I look forward to sharing how it got from this...

to this...

 to this!

Now the hard part begins! Not using my car will be challenging, but I hope to show that people on a low income can afford cheap (and stylish!) transportation. This semester I will track my mpg, cost of maintaining, the cost and time spent of rebuilding, and test the distance one can travel on this. I also hope to discover how much it can carry. For example, if I lived in a food desert, how many trips would I need to make to the next town to get a week's worth of groceries home?

Here's a video of my partner, Paxton, riding the bike. Rudy, our dog, wants to ride too.

Oh, and his name is Lionel, because Lionel Ritchie had the number one song the year it was built, 1986. So if you see me riding around town, just say... 

My actual bumper sticker