GRND Lab

http://www.grndlab.com/

Built solar system developed and installed in southern Kenya to provide power for the new Living with Lions research camp. (see 'work' link)

DIY Solar video kit

http://solarvideokit.wordpress.com/

Tilting at windmills: the boy who harnessed the wind

Malawian teenager William Kamkwamba built a generator out of a bicycle and tractor fan. Now he's lauded by environmentalists. more

Kenyans invent bike phone charger

Two Kenyan university students invent a device that allows bicycle riders to charge their mobile phones. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/8166196.stm

How I built my family a windmill

See William Kamkwamba in an acclaimed TED talk here. Visit the project web site.

Renewable energy in Kenya

The United Nations International Development Organisation (Unido) is calling on communities without access to electricity to submit renewable energy production proposals for funding. Details here.

Unido has also created 'energy kiosks,' one of which is on the slopes of Mt. Kenya, though there have been some problems with vandalism. Details here.

Universal Science Bench

Portable teaching tool using solar and wind for powering local experiments. Details here

A bag full of sunshine

Energy: A combination of flexible solar cells and low-energy lighting provides a way to bring electric light to isolated communities

story

Electricity in Africa: The dark continent

Few Africans in rural areas have access to electricity. Connecting them to national grids will be slow and expensive. Yet Lilliputian windmills, water mills, solar panels and biomass furnaces could have a big collective impact. The cost of lighting a shack takes 10% of income in the poorest households and the kerosene lamps are highly polluting. In response, the World Bank has rolled out “Lighting Africa”, an ambitious effort to get 250m of the poorest Africans on clean-energy lighting by 2030....

Aggreko, a company based in Scotland, is the world's biggest supplier of temporary electricity in the shape of back-up generators. It meets up to 50% of Uganda's power needs, and 10% of those of Kenya and Tanzania....

Other remedies for Africa's power shortages are more familiar but just as urgent: more efficient appliances, such as LED lighting

Source: Economist

What can you do? Give the gift of light.

bikejus

Bicycle + DC motor + inverter. Details here.

Workshop on Ubiquitous Sustainability: Technologies for Green Values

Workshop in Conjunction with the Ninth International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp 2007)

Gamos

"Gamos is a small but influential company working with the social factors surrounding development interventions, organisational development, technology use and transfer."

See reports on:
- mobile phone use
- water
- energy
- ICT use
- agriculture

William Kamkwamba's Malawi Windmill Blog

Inspiring and ongoing story of a young man's self-built windmill for home energy in Malawi. He learnt how from a book borrowed from the local library (read about it here).

Biofuels: Think Outside The Barrel

Google TechTalks March 29, 2006 - Vinod Khosla, visited Google to deliver a tech talk about the emergence of ethanol as a viable, market ready, and competitive source of renewable energy.

Solar power links

Free DIY small solar panel & light

Boiling Point household energy journal contains numerous articles on solar (and other low cost power), and on Kenya

Nairobi solar startups:
Kibera Community Youth Project
Fomax

Other end of the spectrum:
PowerFilm - rollable and foldable (and pricey) PV panels
Laptop chargers

sensors -> mobile phone

Mobile phone network looks like the best communication option for sending/receiving data in a remote location. This page describes interfacing a microcontroller with a Nokia phone. A challenge, however, would be keeping a battery charged via solar panel. Power requirements for the microcontroller/sensors will be low (~5V) and may be able to run off of the same panel used by the phone; microcontrollers can usually withstand up to 12VDC. Heat of course would be an issue...

RAFT - Renewable Energies, Agriculture/Aquaculture Assemblies, Fresh water production and Trade/technology)

RAFT - Project Africa aims to 'get our projects and plans to the general public as well as government officials, other N.G.Os and people who have access, influence and financial capital'

Plans include:
- Growing and processing Jatropha (RAFT - Biodiesel programme)
- Renewable Energy and Fresh Water Development

RAFT has several members in Kenya

Growing energy solutions

D1 Oils plc is a UK-based global producer of biodiesel. We are building a global supply chain and network that is sustainable and delivers value from “earth-to-engine”. Our operations cover agronomy, refining and trading. We are pioneering the science, planting and production of inedible vegetable oils; we design, build, own, operate and market biodiesel refineries; and we source, transport and trade seeds and seedlings, seedcake, crude vegetable oils and biodiesel. Our vision is to be the world’s leading biodiesel business.

Bringing Clean Water to Africa

Case Foundation report about project to bring clean water to 10 million people throughout sub-saharan africa.

Mentions the PlayPump water system "water system is a children's merry-go-round attached to a water pump that provides easy access to clean drinking water for schools and communities in Africa. This innovative design operates like a windmill turned on its side. As children play and the merry-go-round turns, the water is pumped into an above-ground storage tank and later accessed by means of a simple tap. " Click for more.

Also, the Kickstart hand/hip pumps and a link to the "Innovations in Water, Sanitation and Energy Services for Poor People" webcast, which includes video presentations of new water projects and interviews with developers of innovative water solutions.

UNDP Kenya's Growing Sustainable Business

"The GSB initiative in Kenya is actively facilitating innovative enterprise solutions to poverty in a variety of sectors. " For an up-to-date list of projects see the GSB Kenya page.

This site has been updated recently and the Freeplay sustainable energy and Farmer Information DRUMNET projects are now listed as past projects.

A current project of potential interest is the Celtel Kenya project: "With only 5 million out of 36 million Kenyans on a cellphone network, there is a vast potential market of Bottom of the Pyramid consumers who still lack telephony. By creating a broad network of independent community payphone entrepreneurs, Celtel can tap into this as yet unreached market". Download project document