A zero km wind turbine built from scrap. In Kenya, where over 80% of Kenyan residents, or around 30 million people, do not have access to electricity, a company is rolling out DIY e-waste wind power. In fact, this is the project of Access: energy, the energy division of Access: collective, which deals with the development of East Africa and wants to spread the use of mini wind turbines.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
A zero km wind turbine built from scrap. In Kenya, where over 80% of the population, or around 30 million people, do not have access to electricity, a company is spreading wind power DIY made with e-waste. In fact, this is the project of Access: energy, the energy division of Access: collective, which deals with the development of East Africa and wants to spread the use of mini wind turbines.
How? Giving the population the technical knowledge to build their own wind turbines starting from scrap metal, automobile parts and electronic waste. In developing countries, wind energy is still too little used. Above all the fault of the prohibitive costs, which often lead to prefer photovoltaic panels imported from abroad. This is what prompted Access: Energy to develop a different approach, providing Kenyans with energy from a self-produced trubine.
The device is called Night Heron Turbine and produces electricity at a cost of two or three times lower than equivalent power photovoltaic solar panels. It is capable of generating enough power for 50 rural dwellings (about 2,5 kWh per day), and, above all, it can be built with locally sourced materials.
The uses are practically endless, allowing people to charge mobile phones from home, giving clinics enough energy to keep machines running or providing non-polluting, kerosene-free light to children who want to study.
Teaching locals how to build turbines not only promotes clean energy and energy independence, but also creates skilled jobs. "60% of Kenyans have a cell phone, but only 16% of them have electricity in their home, which is just crazy," said founder Harrison Leaf. These applications generally have very low power, but their social and economic impact is high. If you don't have these things, you risk being left behind. So, in the information age, an element of strong social equity is precisely electricity".
Roberta Ragni
Read also:
- DIY Home Wind: Students make wind turbines from scrap materials
- Domestic wind: how to make a do-it-yourself turbine at home
- The electric generator that goes to urine invented by 4 African girls
