Needs power
The ordinary way a household turns anything: electricity in, a spinning shaft out. Recorded because six rows in this catalogue consume mechanical work and the low-tech ways of making it (a person on a pedal, a wheel in a stream) mean nothing without the thing they replace. Quiet, controllable, available on demand and about as efficient as conversion gets. It is also the most dependent: no electricity, no motion, and the winding is the one part a household cannot rewind itself.
One of 8 ways to meet Generation. Build 1/8, Upkeep 2/8, Efficiency not rated. Cost, carbon and footprint below are rated against those 8, not in absolute terms.
Every option in this sub-function, with the value on each axis and a note on what drives it (this solution highlighted):
| Solution | Build skill | Upkeep burden | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solar PV array | Intermediate | 4 | N/A |
| Small wind turbine | Intermediate | 5 | N/A |
| Micro-hydro turbine | Intermediate | 5 | N/A |
| Grid connection | Specialist | 4 | N/A |
| Pedal / hand-crank generator | Basic | 3 | N/A |
| Water motor for direct mechanical drive | Intermediate | 5 | N/A |
| Electric motor (mains or battery driven) | None | 4 | N/A |
| Small petrol or diesel engine (direct drive) | None | 7 | N/A |
Build skill and upkeep burden are proxies (lower burden = simpler to maintain); the efficiency column is this sub-function’s ranking, 1 = best. “N/A” where an axis isn’t rated here.
No build tutorial recorded yet.
No sizing or quantities: how much a technique yields, and how much a household needs, both depend on the build and the people, so the catalogue compares options rather than dimensioning them. It carries no bill of materials and no build sequence, and it is written for an oceanic, clay-soil climate (Normandy, France). Regulatory notes are indicative and need confirming locally.