[Peripherals] Alternitive Power for Developing Countries

[Caryl Bigenho]

Hi Arjun,  Javier, and others

You guys are amazing. You have some great ideas and a lot of really good info.  I will be leaving Southern California in about 2 weeks and will then spend 4 months in rural Montana where there are lots of folks with good, creative ideas for "making do."  We even have things like blacksmith shops (unheard of in SoCal).  I intend to "pick the brains" of some of my neighbors to see what kinds of suggestions they may have for us.

Here are some random thoughts so far...

***Here in the USA you can buy used alternators from salvage yards sell for as low as $18.  Average $35-45. Perhaps there is a way some could be shipped inexpensively to other countries for re-making into something that would work for OLPC.

***There are quite a few folks around the country working on small wind generators as a hobby.  What is the wind situation in India and Peru?  It really doesn't take much (in fact, there can be too much wind).  Perhaps we can tap into some of their ideas.  There are even workshops on alternative energy for developing nations one can attend...for a rather large price.  

My 91-year-old step-mom who passed away last month used to tell us about the windmills that powered their farm in South Dakota when she was growing up.  They used a large bank of storage batteries. 

***Someone mentioned the idea of removable rechargable, replacable batteries in a holder that would fit in the XO.  This would make charging easier because the laptop and its charger wouldn't need to be there. It would be small and light.

***A very small, lightweight holder for the current battery while it was being charged would be a nice alternative to a big car-type battery for storage.  With that, some of the other human powered options might be feasible. 

***Possibly a generator on a bicycle would be feasible it could be used when a person was riding it around anyway.

***I seems like our best bet would be to have ways of generating power that would not require folks to do anything physical that they wouldn't ordinarily do anyway. The only exception would be something like Javier's spinning wheel mechanism or my proposed sewing machine treadle that the child using the XO could power while using it.

***Building things of wood in the USA is very expensive.  Peru is rich in that type of resource so it would probably work better there.  Here, using recycled stuff is pretty popular (a friend of mine is making a garage door from old plastic bottles and used cardboard).

***I think the more ideas we can come up with and try the better!

Caryl
Southern California (soon to be Montana)


    
  
  
  





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