Open Source home appliances!
If you can only fund one project this year, please put this in your short list:
design and development of open source home appliances!
The first one should be a microwave oven but “most probably the next one will be a washing machine, or maybe a fridge. The point is to extend the portfolio of open source appliances.”
The goals include:
- facilitate recycling and maintenance of products, because the knowledge of how it works and how it breaks is available for everyone (Which also helps to create employment opportunities)
- create resilience and less dependence on fossil fuel value chains, by reducing the shipping of components to what is only necessary. For instance, instead of shipping a whole container of cars, parts can be shipped so that local manufacturers assemble the product.
These are the same reasons why, during the DiDIY Project, I wrote about a modular washing machine, designed to last FIFTY YEARS:
In general, recycling, repairability and resilience are among the main advantages of Digital DIY explained in the DiDIY Manual.