Lightest Electric Mobility Scooter Program In India

We have spent the best part of 2006 designing and developing the lightest handicapped mobility scooter in the world. It is electric and can run up to ten hours on a single battery charge. It easily and quickly folded up and fits into the trunk area of the smallest cars. We are currently negotiating with over six hundred malls in India to either sell or use this unit. There are optional solar charging units and also on board the automobile charging units. This scooter weighs about 35 pounds. We will be looking for dealers in Europe and the Americas. Mass production starts in December 2006
For more information please contact: info@chinadepot.com

Building The Solar Micro Home by Walt Barrett

We have started what is rapidly becoming a very successful campaign to gather free recyclable building materials for our project. The Solar Micro Home will be a totally off the grid design with full solar power, passive solar heating, composting toilet, solar hot water heating, solar water pump, solar lighting etc., and a back up dual fuel waste vegetable oil/ wood fire fired space heater.
It is amazing to see the amount of free building materials and tempered glass door panels etc. That you can gather just by putting the word out. I have also been tipped off by a friend of mine who is a construction worker that every week he sees container loads of all kinds of surplus building products being sent of to landfill. Many of these products were the wrong size, or too many pieces were ordered and the workers just want the stuff out of the way in a hurry! I got eight full sheets of plywood free from him the other day just for the asking. They were in a dumpster at $32.00 a sheet if we had to buy them! I also got about $100.00 worth of treated 4 x 4's and decking from another guy the same way.
We salvage tempered glass door panels, and each one of them makes up a 4' x 8' piece of passive solar wall for the Micro Home with minimum use of wood for framing. I also believe we can now salvage the double glass pieces that have become fogged by air and moisture leakage. I will try the process as soon as I get a glass door panel that is fogged. It is important to note that all of this glass is tempered like the glass in automobiles and is much safer to use.
For those of you who are not yet familiar with the term Micro Home, it is just as the name implies, a very small home. There are many excellent examples with photos on the great web site www.inhabitat.com . I visit this site on a daily basis and also have all of their new postings e-mail to me, as you can too, and that includes our blog too if you are interested.
Since the Micro Homes have caught my interest I have made an in depth study of the subject, and it is actually possible for a semi handy person, who is willing to learn, to build one of these tiny homes practically for free by using my methods above. To me, this is a very exciting idea. There are many simple small building construction books in the libraries etSo so the information is free for the taking.
I was brought up in a 20' x 24' two story home myself.
There were three of us, and we all had our space, and got along fine. These homes are cheaper to build, cheaper to heat and cheaper to maintain. The one problem that we are up against in our area is that the land is more expensive to buy than the cost of building the Micro Home itself. Land that is off the power grid should be cheaper and we need to find some!
Some of the sizes we are considering are 8'x12', 10'x10', 12'x20'. If you build the units 10' high there is plenty of room up top for a sleeping loft etc. The ceiling under the loft space can be as low a seven feet to gain the extra head room in the sleeping loft. Sleeping lofts will not usually work for the elderly, but still make excellent storage spaces. You can easily go up another story on the same footprint if necessary. This is easy when you using free materials etc.
Only a certain type of individual will choose to live permanently in a Micro home, but these homes make excellent summer camps too.
If you are looking for a chance to get into a business of your own this may be a good business to consider. Personally, after we complete our studies here on the subject we may set up a production line to produce these homes in Prefab and in Kit form. They are also an excellent vehicle for our solar energy products that we are selling world wide on our web sites www.chinadcdepot.com and www.solar100.com. We will be looking for dealers.
We invite you to send your comments, questions, and criticisms to: CEO@CHINADEPOT.COM and please tell your friends about this blog.
Thanks,
Walt
Walter H. Barrett is the CEO of A to Z Global Marketing Inc. in Rhode Island, USA, India, and China.

The Lowest Cost Solar Water Pumping Kit by Walt Barrett

We are currently packaging a very low cost solar water pumping kit. It will provide up to 100 gallons per hour and works down to a depth of 230 feet. The basic kit sells for $895.00 plus shipping, and consists of the pump, a special controller that allows the pump to be more efficient, and a 64 watt solar power module. No batteries are required due to the use of the linear current booster controller. This kit may be viewed along with full specifications at www.solar100.com
We also offer at additional cost a float switch for non pressurized tanks, and a wiring and connector kit. All spare parts are available from our company and are all made in North America. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me by e-mail.
We would appreciate it if you would pass along the links to our blogs to as many people as possible. We also need your comments -- good or bad. We do ,however, remove comments advertising products without our permission.
Thanks,
Walt

SVO Vegetable Oil Diesel Fuel Components by Walt Barrett

This is just a brief reminder that ChinaDepot.com is building the components to convert diesel engines to straight vegetable oil (SVO) at our plant in India. We can also build custom parts to your requirements. We also sell commercial filtering units for filtering used or raw vegetable oil. The products are listed on our web site ChinaDepot.com including photos and drawings.
Walt

Don't Let The Energy Merchants Fool You This Time by Walt Barrett

I have spent the best part of my spare time during the past forty years working on alternate energy inventions, and running solar companies as part of my business group. If I didn't have my other companies in China and India I would have gone broke years ago! I feel obligated to warn you if you have not already realized it, that we are getting manipulated by these people more that ever and it is time to wake up and do something. Each time we have had an energy crisis starting since about 1973 when the prices rocketed into the stratosphere we have all made a major effort to conserve energy and have actually succeeded twice in the past by using solar power, wind power, small water power, passive solar heating, and growing fuel crops like vegetable oil and ethanol etc. I'm sure that there are other good ideas just "sitting" out there unused. The energy companies tell us the prices are high because "It is a supply and demand business." So every time we all got on the bandwagon and really started saving energy ,and money, of course, The prices magically came down, and they started building big cars and big homes and all of the other energy wasting trappings and practices. This time, we cannot take the bait! This time we have to keep right on conserving until it hurts. If we do not change our habits we will soon be paying six dollars a gallon for fuel oil, gasoline and diesel fuel.
If everyone only saved a gallon of fuel a day there are over a hundred million cars on the road daily. I saw another report that said two hundred million cars a day. That is a lot of fuel! We have to do everything we can possibly do to save more energy. Do not depend on the government to develop or pay for these energy saving programs. They are too busy meddling in the affairs of other countries and wasting billions of dollars on endless wars. They have no time for us. It is up to each of us to work this problem out for ourselves in our own way and hopefully at the polls in November 2006.
If the government was really interested in our welfare they would have done something about high energy costs and shortages a long time ago. They would have also put a stop to the greedy speculation that goes on daily in the energy markets. It will never happen! So please stop making unnecessary trips in your car and consider car pooling and public transportation and yes, even walking! Don't be fooled by the announcement of huge new oil field discoveries in the Gulf or anywhere else. It isn't going to help you in the long run. It will be the same thing all over again. I have been around long enough to tell you that if you want to see your energy future, then look backward into the past, for it is in the past where you will find a very clear picture of the future. Think about it!
Walt

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Free Giant Garden Composter (2)-- More Photos by Walt Barrett

These are the rest of the photos from the garden composter project. I used an old broken belt for the three leather hinges and a piece of scrap brass for the latch. The lip on the front edges of the door is from and old paint stirrer. All of the nails etc came from my junk box. WE WILL BE BUILDING A SIMPLE STAND NEXT TO ROTATE THE DRUM ON. It should be turned a full turn every day for best results.

Notice that the drum is a non returnable wire spool throw away.

This is the finished drum without the stand to turn the drum on. You could stop right there and just roll it along the ground but it will rot out faster if you do! I intend to treat the inside and put a nice coat of free paint on the outside.

Wait until you see the composting toilet I plan to build. I already have the stainless steel drum from a clothes dryer and that is the heart of the system.

Please be sure to read the First half of this post below this one.

Walt

A Free Giant Garden Composter (1) by Walt Barrett

A simple little exercise in recycling

I drilled the four corners and cut our the door with my saber saw
The tools I used
My wife Nancy and I like to garden. The soil has never been that great here in Rhode Island so we have had to compost our leaves etc. For years in order to build up the soil. My wife spotted a barrel composter in a gardening magazine and it was very nice. The only problem was it was very expensive. So now, I start searching the internet and found several others out there ranging from two hundred to four hundred dollars. That set me to thinking that a lot of folks out there in Cyberspace are retired like me and might not be able to afford that kind of money. So all this has been rolling around in the back of my head for some time now, and then it happened. I walked up the street the other day to see my buddy Steve Cote. It seems that he had found a very large wooden wire spool,and brought it home in the back of his pickup, but then decided not to use it after all. I think he was going to make a table with it, but he changed his mind. Of course, the wheels in my mind started turning again, and I was all green with envy and, lusting after that wire spool. The only thing was that in my minds eye, all I could see was a very large, free soil composter. So I asked Steve if I could have it, and the next thing I knew, he showed up at my house with it!
Well anyway, The text and photos that follow are part one of my free composter adventure. I never spent a cent on it, and I already have a bunch of free treated lumber that another neighbor gave me that he had left over from a deck job. I will make a revolving stand for it with that free treated lumber. The building of the stand will be part two. I don't have time to build the stand today and write this too.
This is the spool and the tools I used. It is 48 inches high, and 22 inches wide.
The above sequence took me less than an hour. Of course, when I am finished I will find some free wood treatment and paint for it too.
I can only fit two pictures on this page so the other two will be added separately.
Walt

Why Many Businesses Fail by Walt Barrett

We have been talking about starting a Green Energy Business and a news item on our local TV station about a local business failure this morning made me realize that it’s time to talk about the causes of the many business failures I have seen in the past fifty-five years. I will admit right from the beginning that I have also seen my own share of success and failure over these long years so I have spent my share of time living in glass houses too. It’s a hard way to learn!
I have often said that “overhead is the monster that eats businesses” and the first thing that caught my attention this morning was that the failed small business was located in an upscale mall and if that unfortunate business owner thought that he could eek out a living after paying the exorbitant rental and commission fees with the sales of the knick knack type products he was selling, he was sadly mistaken!
I have seen people with plenty of money for their startup blow it all on common mistakes like paying too much rent for an expensive store front or office, or putting too much faith in a really bad idea, and not seeking counseling from others with more experience. Of course, you still have to be very careful about advice because some people will patronize you and that can be a really bad thing. On the opposite side of that story is that about fifteen years ago I had a business partner in a video production company and he was a very astute businessman. Well one day I said to him that we should get involved with the Internet, and he laughed at me, and said, “Are you kidding? The internet will never amount to anything!” So I started China Depot on my own and he could have owned half of it. Needless to say, he is kicking his own butt now. I’m kicking my butt because the idea that I had at that time was to start a nationwide auction on the Internet that everyone could participate in. I didn’t do it because at that time I couldn’t write the software and the guys who could wanted off the wall money that I did not have at that time.
That brings up another problem. In my lifetime I have had two business partnerships and both of them ended in disaster – never again! When the going gets tough, the partners get going, and you get left holding the proverbial bag!
Another big mistake is that people invest way too much in inventory, and that is a bad mistake. People will tell you that “you can’t sell from an empty wagon” but that’s not necessarily true. In the age of the Internet there are people like us who bear the cost of warehousing inventory that you can work out of. It may cost a few dollars extra but we are bearing all the customs and storage charges etc. We still leave our dealers plenty of room for profit.
Speaking of Wagons, How about the guys that take a major portion of their seed money and buy the mega sports car or the monster SUV. Talk about counting their chickens before they are hatched. Those chickens usually end up in the slaughter house! Never borrow against your future for a frivolous item.
A proper accounting system is a major must have item. We use Quik Books and also have a CPA come in four times a year ,at least, to make sure we are keeping things straight. They also do all of our taxes. That leaves us free to concentrate on selling. I have seen too many people try to run a cash business out of their pants pocket and most of them went under. Don’t screw with your taxes! Another news item this morning was about a young man who cheated the IRS and he lost everything and got three years in the Federal Pen! This is not a good thing!
Don’t leave your business to someone else to mind for you. Absentee management stinks in my opinion. I have seen several acquaintances lose the whole business to their managers. One of them was a multi-million dollar rug cleaning business back in the days when it was profitable.
The next major big business killer is Wine, Woman, and Song. It may actually be number one. The long story short is that it’s hard to pay attention to your business if you are out playing “Pitty Patty” with the local socializers. I have seen a few really go down badly on this one, so enough said about that.
In summarizing I would like to say that if you are new to business or uncertain as to how to proceed, seek some proper counseling from several other more experienced people other than just your friends or relatives. As an example, my Mother always thought that everything I did was just wonderful and that I was always right – She was mistaken!
Even if you have been in business for quite some time but now find yourself in trouble it may be for one of the above reasons, or it could be bad customer service, and your help is killing you, or maybe you are trying to go head to head with a major chain. If you are, it's time to rethink your strategy. Find a new niche market.
The Internet has all of the combined knowledge of the world. Take advantage of it, but watch out for the phonies! Common sense and experience are the only things that count in business.
Please tell your friend’s about our blog whether you love it or hate it. We have very thick skin here!
All the best in your new business!
Walt

Starting the Micro Home

Yesterday I went over the site where we are going to build the Solar Micro Home and I measured off the work space and cleared the area of brush and weeds etc. This home is going to be movable so We will build it on leveled concrete blocks. I will post some photos as soon as the rain stops and I can take some decent ones. The next step is to lay out all the concrete blocks and get them level and square. Then we will set in the treated lumber floor joists and flooring. That will give us a nice level platform to build the walls on. I will post photos as we go along.
I accidentally deleted a readers comment this morning and if the reader wants to repost it he is more than welcome. It had to do with water heating and when I tried to comment back I lost the whole thing! We like to know that someone is reading our blog. It is ok to plug your energy products in your comments. We need all of the choices we can get when it comes to energy saving products, but please stick to energy saving products only. So please comment!
Thanks,
Walt