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Positive News was handed the guardianship of Global Village News and Resources in summer of 2004. Although we would like to continue to make the archives available to subscribers and readers we would like to point out that stories published prior to issue 89 were not under our editorial guidance and would like to make a distinction that these are not necessarily a reflection of the current opinions of our editorial team. Producing Energy Could Be Child's Play USA - It may not solve the world's energy problem but it certainly a lot saner than invading Iraq, and no one can deny it's novelty. Some would call it 'child's play.' An engineering professor at the University of Michigan's Flint campus has come up with an idea to collect the energy of children having fun to generate electricity for remote Third World schools. With an estimated 40 percent of the world's population without reliable access to electricity, Dr. Raj Pandian's idea to harness energy from playground equipment -- teeter-totters, merry-go-rounds, swing sets and the like -- is simple, inexpensive and badly needed. And it works. Pandian has developed working models of his equipment in the Robotics and Mechatronics Laboratory at U-M Flint. Mechatronics is not a misspelling: It's a contraction of the words mechanical and electronic. In this case, the mechanical part comes from the repetitive movement of the playground equipment and the electronics from the means by which energy is stored in batteries. Pandian isn't suggesting that children should be put to work to power entire villages. He merely wants to collect the energy released during the normal boisterous activity of kids having fun and use it to support activities of the village school, often the center of life in isolated communities. His playground power-generating idea is being patented, and he hopes to talk with humanitarian aid groups and other such organizations about sending working units overseas. It's the latest in a series of projects from various groups and antipoverty organizations that would tap into people power to provide electricity to remote areas of developing countries. The Jhai Foundation (www.jhai.org) a San Francisco aid organization
started by Vietnam War veteran Lee Thorn, has developed a computer that
can be powered by a bicycle. The computer then connects to the Internet
through a radio network that works much like the so-called Wi-Fi
wireless networks that have become so popular in many U.S. businesses
and homes. The system also enables long-isolated villages to make phone
calls using Internet-based voice technologies. Using Pandian's modified playground gear during a typical day, several children taking turns and just playing as they do in any school yard should be able to generate about the same amount of power as is stored in 1,000 regular-sized AA batteries. That's enough to illuminate light bulbs, power radios, sewing machines and all sorts of things that will provide education and training, and improve the quality of life in rural areas. While technology has made great strides in developing solar and wind-powered generators, Pandian says the cost of installing them is far beyond the means of the 50 percent of the world's population that earns an average of about $2 a day. According to the Intermediate Technology Development Group (www.itdg.org) a London-based humanitarian agency dedicated to using technology to fight poverty around the world, the number of people without electricity has been increasing during the past two decades and will grow by 25 percent in the next 20 years if current trends continue. The playground power generating equipment isn't Pandian's only low-cost renewable energy idea. Last year, he and his engineering students built a tiny working model of a hydroelectric power generator for the Flint River. He is continuing research into how the lessons learned in that project can also be applied to help in Third World countries. (by mike Wendland, Detroit Free Press.) |
