LIFE CABLE _ CONTRIBUTE !

Low-cost optimal hi-tech solution to bring everything necessary to a living unit. _CONTRIBUTE !_

Step 1 CONTRIBUTE !

if we devellop this multi-purpose cable, we devellop a service. This service can be organised by citizen in a non-profit mind orientation (local first, global than, convince your neighbourhood), we could provide LIFE CABLE as the cheapeast ever all energy provider : the lagest the network would be the cheapest the service would be : LIFE CABLE would be a distribution foundation and an open project such as wikipedia, it's design quality and commercial growth would be enhanced continuously by users community.

It's just a concept for now, it will need to be legally determined and protected for it to remain unlabelled in the public domain ... Please be carefull while spreading this concept (don't talk to fat businessman before it's all cleared up, it wouldn't work anyway ...)

I just bought http://www.lifecable.org as a first contribution to the project.

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE !

inspired by Tetsuo Harada "Earth Weaving", after the pure water project success.

Comments

[Marcos]

Hm, what happens when somebody puts a shovel through this thing? A fountain of electrified, flaming water? =:-o

It sounds pretty ambitious. You want to redesign/combine several technologies and the economy? All via one multi-conduit? Why not take one element, get good at that, then proceed? I don't mean to be a wet blanket here, but it seems like you're biting off way more than you can chew. People are having trouble (see the Full Belly group on this site) , IMO, in large part due to over-ambitious thinking that is not necessarily appropriate to the environment.

Static has a point; there are some pretty good, time-tested reasons why utilities are kept separate from one another. That's not to say there isn't room for improvement. Plumbing has not changed all that much since the Romans invented it.

[CedTheRex]

I don't see any other utility for a life cable :

[static]

Respectfully this isn't the best forum in discussing a concept. Have you given any thought to starting a Yahoo group or some other flavor of an email reflector? How but a FAQ somewhere? I'm not clear if you are promoting a cable, a distribution system, or both. I hate being the one bring it up, there are codes to deal with. The National Electric Code specifies a minimum spacing between power conductors, and signal conductors, not to mention them occupying the same raceway. another mentioned waste disposal, there are codes specifying how far waste should be kept from potable water. I believe there is a lot of homework to be done. I agree one way or the other, the way we do things will be changing dramatically, and we are very late in planning for it. S.

[MDude]

I'm pretty confident that keeping different utilities seperate would be the cheaper, more stable and easier option. With this design, if one of the cables fail, the whole cable fails. If I want everything together, I'd just get a large pipe and run all the other pipes, lines, and cables through it. Then, if one breaks, I just pull it out and replace it.

[ari.patrick]

I think you have a valid point. I see no benefit to combining multiple cables into one, other than for ease of installation. If anyone has arguments, I would be more than happy to hear them. I will keep an eye on this project.

[cesar harada]

EXELLENT ! you are totally right, the cable should be easily reparable ! The problem i have encountered when electric or water pipe breaks is to locate the problem ... mmm ... i don't know enough about it but ... some conductive cables have a resistance relative to their length, we could use this type of cable to track where the cable has a problem ? For the price thing, i have no idea ... mmm ....

[zachninme]

Electricity + Water doesn't mix, if the coating breaks It doesn't help that you have air in the equation, which could harbor gas or other explosives

[srainsdon]

im sorry to be posting so much i just keep coming up with ideas what if we used Antarctica as a possible testing ground for putting this in space.

[srainsdon]

also we should make a new licensing system like the one Linux is under where ever thing that is based on this life cable is "open source"

[srainsdon]

what if you used the water to provide power as in hydro you pump the water from somewhere it turns a turbine and provides power you could use waste the same way just a different turbine

[Scrupulous]

Cesar, this is a great project. At first, I thought this was for home wiring. One of the primary factors in choosing what should be included and how, is it's overall suitability against sabotage. Unfortunately, in this day and age, it is conceivable that there would be elements of civilization that would oppose this endeavor. All this means is that you would want to allow for that, and design a system that can withstand intentional damage. One way is to plan for the line to work in broken segments just as well as it would in a single contiguous form. This may limit the types of things it carries, and it may be all you can do. Another factor in determining what to carry would be how you might use the structure of the line in ways that may not have been considered before. I have some ideas on that. But first, I'd like to hear how you would have the economic backing generated for a project of this magnitude, without the provisions for financial gain.

[fegundez1]

why are there no solar cells?this will answer your power and heat problems.also you can use your waste to make power and heat there are companies that do it now in US.

[Wade Tarzia]

This could be aimed at NASA for new constructions in space; the cable could be easily routed to areas to provide immediate life support and communicatiions during, say, a construction phase (here it might be a temporary installation). For emergencies, the cable could be used with quick-connect features on pressure bulkheads to quickly restore the same to damaged areas.

[robodud3]

you could pump the air and water as one and like as water vapor and then when it gets to the hous or city of unit wtv you could make a box that condenses the water and lets the air out

[dataphool]

Then you will have to provide lots of power; cheaper over most of the world to vent it outside. Dump it. (CO2 and H2O and CO) We will want O2, Pipe in H2o to drink, heat H2O to wash in. clean our clothes and dishes. Maybe we should plan on provide an environment on the moon.

[TheSaneOne]

I am not sure about the "air" cable, do you mean something like heated/cooled air? Also, the network and audio could be combined under a "data" group. Then, television cable, internet access, telephone, etc... would be under one cable (this is becoming standard now anyway) reffered to as "data". Also, what are the plans for waste? A waste line would be real hard to maintain with health in mind, all sorts of problems just run through my mind. The last thing is, what about propane/LP/natural gas or whatever? I personally like electricity for most things, but these fuels are often cheaper than electricity. I have read books that talk about a standardized junction box that the city installs on the home owners property. Maybe you could sketch out plans for a community (housing type project) that utilized some such cable?

[dataphool]

Yes, unless you heat the air on site, over much of the world you will have to provide heat, or a means the heat for the domicile. Say anywhere north of 25 N latitude. I don't know where south of the equator. With electricity, you export your pollution but you can hydro generated some places, you provide for lots of users at once. Note that hydro power is expensive to startup cost and distribution. oil requires oxygen at the site and has to be delivered to the site by truck or pipe line and that's expensive. coal is cheap if you can mine it; expensive if you don't live PA or other mining areas. You must provide O2 wood is free if you have 25 Ha wood lot, lots of time, and free chainsaws, oil, gas, etc. % expensive if you don't. Its renewable, but you still have to transport it. And the O2 steam is free if you live in right place (like Iceland or Colorado) otherwise you have to burn something to make it. To recap, there is no such thing as free lunch! How do we provide for it!

[cesar harada]

AIR = no, i mean just breathable air. Norms for air quality do exist, air can be enhanced, filtered and in some health purpose this will be usefull. Electricity or gaz can hit or cool air. I wonder if the size of the input and output of air should be different ? Pressure ? A filter should be there as well : imagine a house with no dust !
GAZ = is also probably necessary... and cheaper as you mentionned.
DATA = right. I heard fiber optic is expensive, but it would be the optimal solution hhuh ? Maybe even a small diameter would be enough for an individual house ...
GARBAGE = oh of course hahaha ! i forgot ! ok, mmm ... maybe the hardest. What do you think of the toilets destroyers, you know in some toilets, there is a mecanical blender or chemicals to prepare waste to fluidification ... i have to study how it works, maybe it's a good solution for "regular" item in particular organic waste.

The more I think about all the transformations necessary (filtering air, water, pressuring gaz, a valve and a control panel for everything) the more it seems necessary to have a furniture designed especially to host all those technologies (computer control, sounds like domotics!) => see sketch.
This furniture sounds like an energy terminal with a pump for waste maintenance....

i need to build a model of the cable and the terminal ....

[Rectifier]

As waste goes, there's a solution known as a "composting toilet" that separates solid and liquid waste, bio-degrading the solid waste (shit, organic food matter) on-site into ordinary dirt. The liquid waste (piss/dishwater/etc), for the purposes of this "cable", could be stored in a local tank and then probably pumped through a quite small-diameter tube that was part of the cable to a central facility, as it would contain no big chunks that otherwise require a large pipe.

[dataphool]

They tell me that New Yorkers don't think much of the air quality, I live in Nova Scotia so we don't worry to much about air quality, but we do worry about potable water. Cheap as gas is, it still costs a lot. A friend of mine heats his house with wood, but he's got 60 + acres of wood and lots of time every winter. Data is quite affordable, the telco is working hard to provide it everywhere here, I've got HS and I live in a small village of 600. But my wood burning friend doesn't because he lives on top of a mountain miles from here or anywhere else. Garbage is picked up by truck, every 2 weeks, a maximum of 6 bags per house hold. Makes no difference if 2 people live here or 10. :=) I cant imagine what NY, NY is like.

[Phill]

You could develop a separate type of blackwater system, perhaps getting rid of the "water" and just install a composting toilet or the like.

[teknoman]

electricity,you would have to use like no.3 or 2 cable to run a house

[dataphool]

Number 2 or 3 cable, I don't remember for sure, but that will only deliver 120 volts ac at 60 amp? It's mot very much, unless you are some type of misogynist who doesn't like women and will not have any kids.

[VIRON]

So, Cesar, you want to be the founder and first ruler of The Matrix. BUSTED!

[cesar harada]

AHAHAHA !!! did you read the text ? I just emit an idea, there will be contradictors, pushers and so on, but it's cool, because i don't think this idea belongs to me, but i think this idea needs to be protected from copyright, so my idea is to develop a technology by everyone for everyone, someone has to set a ground at some point. But I understand you are a jealous policeman. HAHAHAHAHA !!! look, apart of the power and property thing let's think of how to do it. Do you think i'd put it on instructables.com if i was so interested to make profit from it ?? hehehe ! You know not long ago internet and telephone and TV were 3 separated cables, you needed 3 contracts, now only with internet contract (which is cheaper) you get a better service, don't you think it's a good change ? So, again, let's do it like linux or wikipedia and fuck the corporate world my friend.

[VIRON]

Pardon me, I was joking about what looks to me to like a cyborg-grid service. If you want your project to pre-empt corporate control, I suggest not using the services-contracts business model. Make sure no one can meter-charge the flow of the "free beer" aspects of your system. I generally boycott services-contracts businesses, especially those that recently started selling things such as you mentioned that are already free. Examples: Wireless TV - aerial, also satellite C/Ku/FTA bands (less relevant in UK) BBS type computer nets Wireless radiotelephone (CB radio, vs. cell phones) Internetphone (now called VOIP) Water from wells and clouds, Food from the garden, Clothes from the sewing machine, etc. The majority of Virtual Reality systems are still hobby Makes. (I won't mention the VR site that charges big money for a "virtual" life.)

[ewilhelm]

Since this is a collaboration and not a finished Instructable, there's no need to publish it. People can see it in the collaboration section.

[cesar harada]

isn't it in the collaboration section ? I have made a mistake, but i don't want to loose the comments which are the most important part of it ...... what must i do ?

[ewilhelm]

When you enable collaboration in the edit menu, the Instructable is added to the collaboration section of the site, which anyone can view. So, what you're doing is fine, just leave the Instructable unpublished as a work in progress.

[dataphool]

A. How much electric power do you want to have? What is the capacity of the electric lines? (Amperes / Volts / Watts / AC / DC) How many phases? (one [in the thirties] two phases [today in most houses] three [may be necessary tomorrow] B. How much water? (Typical water lines are 25 to 35 mm diameter) C How about non-potable water (for laundry / bathing / baths) D. How about sewer? Typical sewer pipe [house to street] in North America is 100 mm E. Do we pipe in hot water from a central supply point? F. Fuel Oil? (probable 7 - 11 mm line) G. Air (straight oxygen or nitrogen mix, do we add CO2, what about traces?_ H. Telephone (fiber optic- at least 2 lines (most families have this now or maybe 3 (the next requirement) how about 4 -- home line, kids line, fax line, how about a home office for dad?) I. High Speed line for computers 10 / 100 at minimum. I am sure I have forgotten something we will all die without, of course, if I could remember it (them) I would include it. : ) we're all gonna die!!! If we're gonna do this, we have to do it right. Don't build for today, build for tomorrow.

[cesar harada]

the sketch of the terminal and the cable with a big waste output.