Emerging Technologies

Where there is a will there’s water and electricity

By Brij ⋅ February 18, 2006 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Billions and billions of dollars have been pledged and pillaged but Indian government is still not able to provide water and electricity to all it’s citizens. World famous innovator Dean Kamen thinks this problem can be solved without any big bang approach. Creator of Segway scooter has come up with two innovative prototypes. Machine to generate clean water and cow-dung driven power generating machine. Rumous has it that the technology behind this is all based on Stirling Engine.

Now Dean Kamen is partnering with Grameen Foundation to commercialize this  innovation. Though there are economical challenges but solving water problem will be a breakthrough applicable to urban settings as well.

Kamen’s goal is to produce machines that cost $1,000 to $2,000 each. That’s a far cry from the $100,000 that each hand-machined prototype cost to build.

Genius lies in stating problem differently:

A satellite picture of the earth at night shows swaths of darkness across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. For the people living there, a simple light bulb would mean an extension of both their productivity and their leisure times.

Project of this type needs all the support it can get. Let there be clean water and clean energy for all.