Smart thinking
One man's trash is another's treasure - so the saying goes. Michael Lawley's EcoInnovation business started, literally, on rubbish.
The Taranaki-based renewable energy business began when a friend asked Englishman Michael to build him a water wheel to generate electricity.
The first place he began the search for a generator was the local dump. While fossicking he stumbled across a Fisher and Paykel Smart Drive washing machine.
His engineering mind clicked into action and the idea for a water turbine evolved.
"The Smart Drive is quite unique. Any motor can be used as a generator but the Smart Drive has permanent magnets, it doesn't have a gear box, it's direct driven which means they can pack a punch at low speeds - it's a good low speed generator," says the inventor.
The former automotive design engineer (and more recently WITT tutor) conducted a survey, putting the Smart Drive through its paces.
"I spent 200 hours collecting data on how much power it put out at different speeds and how effectively it would convert mechanical energy into electrical energy."
Recycling waste
Searching local dumps was time consuming so Michael approached Fisher and Paykel who were happy to sell him parts from production line waste and recycled trade-ins.
Every month a truck laden with parts arrives at the Lawley home on Kent Road.
"Our property is slowly sinking in them!"
The company now employs three staff and makes three main renewable energy products using Smart Drive parts: the Pelton water micro turbine, the larger Turbo water turbine and a wind turbine. While turbines are nothing new, it's the Smart Drive technology that makes EcoInnovation's products unique.
EcoInnovation also manufacture bicycle generators (for the exercise fanatic - generate electricity while you get fit!) and several other sideline products including photovoltaic cells and solar panels as well as providing consulting services and holding renewable energy seminars.
EcoInnovation is big on recycling, and uses renewable energy produced onsite to manufacture its products. Recycling and using the plastic washing machine parts also cuts down on cost. "We believe in recycling and we practice what we preach!"
Hydro generation
The Pelton turbine, which makes electricity from water, is the company's biggest seller.
An average energy efficient home (without electric hot water and using LPG cooking) can run on 250 - 400 watts of continuous generation.
"A small hydro station the size of a suitcase can produce up to 48 watts and will generate all the power a house needs," says Michael.
Hydro generation works by channelling pressurized water through a turbine, the turbine turns a shaft that rotates a series of magnets past copper coils in the generator to create electricity. The water then returns to the river and the electricity is directed up a cable to a series of batteries where it is stored for use.
If you've got running water with a good fall on your property, you could install your very own hydro station and set up for a total cost of between $6,000 - $12,000.
Hydro systems are the most cost effective. But if you don't happen to have a stream running through your property wind and solar energy are, a slightly more expensive, option says Michael.
Smart thinking goes global
Since the company began two years ago, two thirds of its business has been done over seas.
"We've sent products off to the UK, Ireland... USA... Greenland, Iceland..."
More recently EcoInnovation has been approached to help set up a hydro scheme in a Vanuatu fishing village.
"They're in a situation where they have no electricity, therefore no way of refrigerating their catch. They have to go fishing every day - no matter what the weather. A small hydro scheme will allow them to run refrigeration units, not have to go fishing every day, and even maybe allow them to trade."
EcoInnovation supplies many developing countries with parts - encouraging local labour to construct the turbines and housing cases, effectively lowering costs and providing employment.
A New Zealand-based project will hook up a far north community to electricity.
"It's a marae that's never had electricity before. It's not very often you come across a New Zealand community that has never had power before. Simple day-to-day life is more difficult without electricity. At the moment they have to drive out of the area to get access to a freezer. Fresh food that isn't refrigerated doesn't last very long. Life is completely different when you don't have 24-hour a day access to power."
Rather than separate hydro stations for each home, it's more cost effective for the community to have a central area that will be hooked up to electricity and have washing machines, freezers, irons, TV's and other appliances for people to use.
In Taranaki the company has installed New Zealand's first grid intertied wind, hydro and photovoltaic system at Pioneer Village near Stratford. It allows the village to use power from the grid as needed.
Another project was replacing the water wheel at the Pukeiti Rhododendron Trust - it's used for pumping water at the moment but has the potential to generate electricity.
Michael is keen to introduce educational products for children. "A little turbine they can hook up to the outside tap and maybe run a light bulb from."
It's a great way of introducing children to renewable energy and the environmental implications of other forms of electricity generation.
A renewable future?
In New Zealand around one in one thousand homes are run on renewable energy of some form - considering the resources on our doorstep it's a low number says Michael.
Many of EcoInnovations customers are those in remote areas where connecting to the national grid would be expensive. For others, using renewable energy is a personal statement. Michael predicts that as power prices increase and renewable energy installation costs fall, more homes will consider the move.
"There's going to come a time when people will have the chance to generate their own power - at the moment they don't because they don't know anybody who does. If their neighbour was utilising renewable energy then they'd be more likely to."
Walking the talk
Renewable energy is not just a business for Michael Lawley - it's a way of life.
When it comes to renewable energy - Michael and his family walk the talk. From the eco-friendly home using mainly recycled products to the electric car (an ex-ECNZ vehicle it can travel 50km on one charge) the recycled vat used as a hot tub and the solar hot water panels on the roof - it's obvious this family are environmentally friendly.
Eco-friendly: the Lawley family home was built utilising recycled products and uses renewable energy.
The house, an eco-efficient backpackers and the workshop are nestled at the 'toes' of Mount Taranaki, on a hill halfway up the Kent Road.
Wind turbines turn lazily in a waft of air, a frog croaks in a pond, a small white goat munches grass along the driveway and a waterwheel makes faint sloshing noises as it turns.