Euro Zero to Euro Hero.

The departure deadline of August the 15th which I rashly set last week in a bid to chivvy everyone along is now looking flaky again!

I got a lot done before leaving the workshop on Middle Farm, but there are still plenty of jobs that need finishing up, and some might not get done until we are underway.

Most things are fitted to the bus, but hardly anything is actually commissioned and working yet.

In a way this isn't critical to the departure, because we can set a lot of these things up along the journey.

My big concern is the tank. I've had no way to check if it has any leaks, and won't know until we fill it. I have a plastic welding kit ready to plug any leaks but at this stage the tank can't be removed or replaced so it will have to be repaired if it does have a problem.

Likewise for Oilybits plumbing system which as of this weekend is all installed, but for a few hose-clips and drain hoses. We won't know if there are any weeping joints until it's working.

The solar system is all installed but again not wired up and I have just now ordered the mother of all batteries (200Ah, and weighs almost 70kg). I'm fretting about the current demands on the cabling I have salvaged from an office refurb, and am waiting to hear back from John an electrician friend (who is also preparing a bicycle for me made out of salvaged spare parts he has lying around) about current rating on this cable I have.

The hydrogen generator is also installed, but until I have power from the PV cells, I can't hook it up, and until I have the thermostatic cut out switch I ordered from an EBayer in China 3 weeks ago, I'm worried about overloading it and setting fire to the bus.

I spoke to Euro Tunnel this week and hopefully they will take us across the channel, although obviously they are concerned about the fuel tanks and hydrogen. I joked that the composting toilet is more of a bio-hazard, misjudging how seriously they take safety and probably blew our chances using the tunnel. Its a pity because it's powered by French Nuclear electricity so has a low carbon footprint and would be a help in keeping our impact down. We'll find out this week.

Meanwhile, Wayne and Adam have been doing an amazing job of servicing the bus. In their old haulage yard they have steadily worked their way through everything - a list longer than first expected - to prepare it for MOT testing. They've fitted a particulate filter which takes the emissions from Pre-Euro rating (ie Euro 0) to Euro 4, (a brand new bus is currently Euro 5). Not bad for a 20 year old bus. With a few more modifications they could bring it up to Euro 6!

They are also servicing the gearbox oil with a synthetic oil that will increase efficiency and adding a dosing pump for a Platinum based fuel additive (1 part in 3000) that reduces emissions and improves efficiency. Seeing the work these guys do has been the most inspiring part of the project so far because it shows that you can turn old vehicles into really green vehicles.

If the work takes longer to do than planned, then so be it, and we'll leave later than planned. That's all. I have to keep reminding myself that if this happens, it's no big deal, and everyone will understand.

Deadline.

I'm a bit fused by the build. The process is classic organic itterative design; try it, realise it would be better another way and take it all apart again.

Only 14 days to go before the bus and I are evicted. It's been on a friends farmyard for far too long. And now that I am working on it full time the weather is slowing progress.

On good days I've been able to get lots done, especially with Esther helping. She;s back down here next weekend. We've got all the body work panels on apart from one which I left open so we could pass big stuff in and out of the vehicle (and another one where the window frame is now too small for the glass after welding the frame). Inside I've used the non-itch insulation to fill the cavity, and ply to board up the inside. I've been learning my way with some of the power tools, so some of my right angles are hit and miss.

Today I made a great discovery, with the silicon gun you can stop it spurting out excess after you finish by releasing the pressure on the spring. I'm sure anyone that's used a silicon gun knows this, but its so satisfying not to be wasting loads of silicon.

Today was a big milestone. The tank went into place. I've built the frame work for the bed above it which hinges up so I can access the tank for trouble shooting. I just hope it all stays screwed together. I've used parts from 3 different single beds to make a double. - all fished out of skips.

The now oversize window is being ground down, although this can make toughened glass shatter. Fingers crossed it works, and that it's then the right size.

I still have to put on the skirts, wheel arches, solar panels, fit kitchen area, composting toilet, plumb it, electrify it all, and get the engine running again.

Good news is that Wayne Bint, who owns a bus garage and previously worked for Mercedes for years has agreed to help get the bus through it's MOT, fit a particulate filter, and get be a spares basket of used parts. Brilliant.

Homefield School Genesis

I was invited as the guest of honour to Homefield Preparatory School in South London. What a great school, and some very smart kids. I was honoured to meet most of them as I presented prizes for sport and academic achievement.

While planning the talk, I developed a couple of ideas for involving the children from this, and hopefully many other schools in the project.

Firstly I’d like the children to help me with researching energy projects along the route. I’d like them to find schemes around the world where energy is being generated in a sustainable (or unsustainable) way that I can visit and document with video and images. Also I’d like to send me questions for me to find out about the energy being generated.

On a practical point, we’ll find a way of always having our immediate destination listed on the website as well as our current location to limit the geographical scope of their research. And I will produce some simple lesson plans for teachers to help them structure the research.

Then if I’m able to visit and find out the answers I’ll post the answers back to the site with video.

Secondly, I’d like kids to take the Biotruck Pledge, and tell me about their carbon saving. Again through the expedition site and external sites, kids (and adults) will be able to calculate their footprint saving and post it on the web.

At the end of the expedition we’ll total up the CO2 saving from all our followers.

Based on the response from Homefield School, where the idea was very warmly welcomed, I think this could be a really exciting aspect of the project.

The end of CAS

My involvement in the Catlin Arctic Survey has to come the end. After going in to advise about a webcasting system, I then became the Science Project Co-ordinator, and just before the end, because it’s all been such a success, I decided to give myself a promotion to the Science Project Director.

I got the opportunity to meet and learn from the worlds leading sea ice scientists.

I’ve now facilitated ongoing development of the data collected by the survey by Cambridge University, in collaboration with WWF, and after this Biotruck Expedition I hope to go back to the join the team.

I’ve never had the opportunity to work with such a bright, motivated and talented team as Simon, Chip, Dom, Becks, and Gaby, and I really want to go back to working with them when I return to the UK.

www.biotruckexpedition.com

This blog is now on the website's holding page: www.biotruckexpedition.com

More developments of the site will be happening over the next 2 weeks.

Do something clever with your rubbish, - The New Biotruck Pledge

Each of the sustainably fuelled expeditions I've done in the past have had a pledge that people have signed up to as a sign of support.

Take the new Biotruck Pledge;

"If these wombles make it past my country in a scrap-yard bus running on rubbish, I'll do something clever with my waste, and the energy I use."

Comment here to tell us what you'll do, or what you've done and where you are.

Education For All

I met with Neil last month and have been meaning to post about this since then.

Neil's company refurbishes schools, and rather than landfill all the old furniture, fittings computers, Neil has established a charity to warehouse them and then container them out to schools in the developing world on request.


When a school closes for refurbishment, the resources which were perfectly fit for purpose one minute, are suddenly classed as waste, and go from being an asset to a burden.

Neil's enterprising project works on an amazing scale. www.educationforall.com