About Rob.. | ||||||||||
Click on any underlined text for web-Links | ||||||||||
Rob started the first jack-o-lantern recycling effort for soup kitchens. | ||||||||||
ROBERT MATTHIES is an innovator with an interest in renewable energy and sustainable living. He started Angels on Ebikes which delivered food to Union Gospel Mission using bikes with trailers, demonstrating the viability of non-fossil-burning vehicles. Angels on Ebikes collected shipments that were too small for truck-based organizations to pick up. Then, there's the Kyoto Bike Discounts. Did you know that Vancouver has many shops and restaurants that offer discounts to cycling customers, that, in turn, helps keep cars off the road? This discount program for cyclists was another one of Kyoto Bob. Vancouver Cllr. Raymond Louie endorsed this Kyoto Discount Program on Shaw TV. Cllr. Ladner and Cllr. Woodsworth also approved of it. More recently, Matthies provided fairs and festivals in GVRD with solar-powered bubble machines, allowing kids to create bubble-beards, along with solar-powered cooling caps. Rob's unique "grey day" solar-powered bubble machines surprised people at an ICBC company picnic, because these bubble machines spewed bubbles despite clouds, rain showers, and tall, sunlight-blocking trees. He did this with a special circuit for photovoltaic panels, which also charged batteries for Christmas lights, even in our relatively sunless region of BC. Rob also started the Vancouver Amateur Inventors & Gadgeteers group. This group's meetings resulted in the development of the Anti-Aggression Traffic-Calming Light used by cyclists to avoid accidents. Another light-based device was used to create the crow-free zone at Mt. Pleasant's Guelph Park. Crows carry the West Nile Virus. Other birds damage property. This device was a result of a special crow-training light discussed at this group's forums. (Crows are considered a vector for bird flu, Salmonella, and West Nile Virus.) Matthies operates Solar Powered Roadshow which brings solar powered bubble machines to charity runs, and festivals. The road show also offers educational workshops (including one on the baffling Stirling engine) sustainability-science magic acts, and creates innovative events involving including an ebike show and jack-o-lantern recycling for Kingsgate Mall. Gifted kids competed at the Electric Pumpkin Drag Race at Harbour Centre Mall, a unique event Matthies created. He has also assisted in Junkology classes. Matthies holds a BA and believes that wind, water/waves could also be developed into an energy source, especially in our own city, "Raincouver". Rob went on TV to show an amazing rain cape. Recently, some of Rob's students made the evening news, when they did what most people consider doubly-impossible, in renewable energy. They even made solar ovens. His sustainable-energy workshop students seem to have fun while they learn. Rob taught gifted kids, too, at Osler School, as well as ocean wave energy. For his community, Rob used his umbrella repair kits to repair damaged umbrellas for "Out of the Rain", a charity fundraiser for the homeless. Rob has been using elecric bikes longer than most people in Vancouver, according to a Vancouver Sun journalist. Thus, his real-world experience is useful to consumers considering purchasing ebikes for the first time. The media usually cover Rob's solar devices at events. Thus, the fair or festival aqquires positive publicity efforlessly. If you're from Vancouver, you know about leaky condo problems. Rob held a forum where he showed how anybody can diagnose leaky condos with a simple device, thereby avoiding a real-estate nightmare, as many buyers have blundered into. He also taught people at workshops how to diagnose dangerous, aluminum or loose wiring in homes by using adjustment-free thermal scanners. |
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