Civilization has ground to a halt. The power grid has gone black, the gas pump's are all dry but your still alive, you survived the battle and are ready to live the rest of your life. Just one little problem. You like your beer cold and you want to watch your old junkyard wars video's on the TV for entertainment. The Challenge: Build a power plant that is large enough to cool your brew "Refrigeration load" and play the TV - VCR "110v AC constant frequency" that can be powered from whatever you can get off the land. Do you build a coal / wood fired boiler with a steam driven generator, do your build a wind mill, water wheel or go exotic solar powered sterling cycle generator, or just solar PV cells with lots of batteries and power inverters.

Possible alternative challenge steam driven refrigerator? Do you find an old ice box and hook it up to a generator, or do you use a sterling cycle engine in reverse as a heat pump driven by a steam engine, or maybe just the sweat of your brow via pedals. Can you get Freon from the wreckage of the old parts store or do you need to reinvent the wheel and use ammonia as in the days of old. Any way you slice it you have to rediscover the ability "Magic" of making the hot summer day's cold with an ICE COOLED drink without the infrastructure and support that we all take for granted in today's society.

-- Tom Bixby (Tabbix@hotmail.com), February 13, 2001