Cheap Savonius Wind Turbine

[goesh]

This is good stuff - lets not forget solar cooking boxes either , essentially a box lined with tin foil set in the sun - the literature says they really work. 3rd world women spend alot of time scrounging fire wood and alot of trees are taken down too. a couple hours away from scrounging fire wood = a bigger garden and more food for the family.

[J Wolfsberger]

This is pretty cool. It's also cheap enough they could build a series-parallel array and generate some respectable voltage and current.

Along those lines, here's a link for a scratch built solar power system: How To Build a Solar Generator

[jcustis]

This is good stuff - lets not forget solar cooking boxes either , essentially a box lined with tin foil set in the sun - the literature says they really work. 3rd world women spend alot of time scrounging fire wood and alot of trees are taken down too. a couple hours away from scrounging fire wood = a bigger garden and more food for the family.

Does anyone have more information related to this solar cooking box?

[davidbfpo]

Jon,

Not solar boxes, although I have read something about them; uodate, the BBC had this 2009 item: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7991654.stm.

Try this UK-based alternative technology charity: www.PracticalAction.org

I think they are the leaders in the field of low-tech answers.

[Dayuhan]

I worked with solar cookers once upon a time and it was difficult to get people to adopt. There's a huge cultural conservatism attached to cooking ad food; it's hard to get people to use different cooking techniques. I suppose that would vary according to the existing cooking culture and scarcity of fuel in any given environment.

This one really works:

http://www.fogquest.org/

Not the single sole solution for everywhere (nothing is) but where conditions are right it's brilliant.

This one:

http://www.biosandfilter.org/biosandfilter/

is another really useful water technology with potential for application in disaster relief or refugee situations. I've built some of these, it's not hard to do and people catch on really fast; they actually get used. That's key... if you track down glorious appropriate tech projects a few years later, a distressingly large number have been discarded.

I admit to a bias toward water supply as an intervention point: it's basic, it's obvious, the payoff is immediate and dramatic, and people get it... if Nelson would have had "want of frigates" stamped on his heart in the event of his demise, anyone who's been in the relief business would have "want of clean water" stamped on theirs. The combination of cheap wind or solar power, batteries, and LED lights is pretty cool, though...

[JMA]

I worked with solar cookers once upon a time and it was difficult to get people to adopt. There's a huge cultural conservatism attached to cooking ad food; it's hard to get people to use different cooking techniques. I suppose that would vary according to the existing cooking culture and scarcity of fuel in any given environment.

This one really works:

http://www.fogquest.org/

Not the single sole solution for everywhere (nothing is) but where conditions are right it's brilliant.

This one:

http://www.biosandfilter.org/biosandfilter/

is another really useful water technology with potential for application in disaster relief or refugee situations. I've built some of these, it's not hard to do and people catch on really fast; they actually get used. That's key... if you track down glorious appropriate tech projects a few years later, a distressingly large number have been discarded.

I admit to a bias toward water supply as an intervention point: it's basic, it's obvious, the payoff is immediate and dramatic, and people get it... if Nelson would have had "want of frigates" stamped on his heart in the event of his demise, anyone who's been in the relief business would have "want of clean water" stamped on theirs. The combination of cheap wind or solar power, batteries, and LED lights is pretty cool, though...

Not sure how many here follow the action on TED.com but I saw this presentation there on water purification and was impressed. It seems to be a bit of a commercial plug for the product but it certainly has a military application.

Water filter

I am not connected in any way to this product.

[M-A Lagrange]

Well, I did work with solar cooking too in Chad. Chad seems to be the best place in the world to develop solar energy (360 of sun/year, average 48 degree celcius...).
Unfortunately we came to the same conclusion than Dayuhan.
One of the difficulties we faced was that it was changing women habits and children integration into the family.
I know, sound pretty much like a stupid scholar stuff but in fact, now I see it as obvious.
Coocking activity is not restricted to the act of preparation and putting stuff in the pot. It is also an exchange and learning time between mother and daughter, between women... Coocking activity starts with collecting water, fire wood and end up with women gathering together in a non men accessible space to exchange about their life, their difficulties...
In Somalia I had the same experience. The coocks in our camp, 2 young women, were taking the advantage of the kitchen men exclusion to listen to hardcore gangsta rap, comment on young men... Basically doing all what their families, elders and religious leaders forbide them to do.
What we did in the Chadian refugees camps was to provide special firedevice with estremely small entry to fuel them with wood. This had the advantage to reduce wood consuption (like divide it by 5 to 10) and as it was just a way to prepare the fire pit, it was sustainable (Was mostly working with nomads from Dafur stuck in a refugee camp).

For the wind mills in South america, I am less doubtful. And it looks like a good idea. But be carefull of the effect on small trade like charcoal and firewood. But I must say that I have no experience of South America, not even put a feet their for vacations.

[JMA]

Not sure how many here follow the action on TED.com but I saw this presentation there on water purification and was impressed. It seems to be a bit of a commercial plug for the product but it certainly has a military application.

Water filter

I am not connected in any way to this product.

Pakistan: Well if someone had acted and got some of this stuff into the emergency equipment warehouses...

Lifesaver bottle

Again: I am not connected with this product in any way.