BBC - See-saw to power African schools

The proposed see-saw could light a classroom after five minutes

BBC has an article on using human -power to power African schools.

A young inventor is hoping to tap the unbounded energy of children in a playground to power schools in Africa.

Design student Daniel Sheridan has created a simple see-saw which generates enough electricity to light a classroom.

The device works by transferring the power, created by a child moving up and down on it, to an electricity storage unit via an underground cable.

The Coventry University student has won £5,500 in funding to develop the idea.

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Kickstart Technologies: irrigation, and cooking oil human-powered pumps

I'm a affiliate blogger for Erik Hersman's Afrigadget. I just wrote about KickStart technologies pumps used for irrigation and building construction.

From Afrigadget:

I met the managers of Kickstart technology at the recent TED Global conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Kickstart’s patented technology bridges the gap between expensive industrialize equipment used to pump, squeeze or pack and all it’s products are human powered. This is a very important feature in Africa for the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) market, because it solves the issue of energy and cost for equipment used in agriculture, and construction.

Kickstart’s most popular product is an irrigation pump that uses the stepping motion you see in a work-out gym to move water hundreds of feet to irrigate land. Kickstart also has been able to sell several thousands of these products all across Africa, and has been approach by the United Nations to sell globally.

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