Planet Mechanics

Meet Dick Strawbridge & Jem Stansfield – two eco-engineers who travel around the U.K. & Europe, using ingenuity, resourcefulness & humour to help people lower their energy consumption.

Dick Strawbridge and Jem Stansfield bring their unique brand of eco-engineering to a farm in Devon in southwest England.

In Water War, Dick and Jem must make England’s most remote youth hostel completely energy self-sufficient. With the only reliable energy source miles away, the pair must use only the natural resources found in the valley to help power this hostel. But where will Dick and Jem find enough energy to generate enough electricity to keep the hostel up and running? Setting out with two very different game plans, Dick looks to generate energy from a local stream while Jem searches for enough wind power to create a high-powered wind turbine. Jem must create wind turbine blades that are each just over one metre long, and perfectly aerodynamic and identical. With Jem’s wind turbine almost complete, Dick must haul 27 reels of heavy-duty fire hose up the mountain to trap power from a waterfall that is nearly one kilometre away from the hostel. By week’s end, they have built a fully functioning and de-mountable Wind Turbine – and a compact Cross Flow Water Turbine. But, will either eco-friendly solution generate enough electricity to keep the Black Sail hostel open?