Bringing Energy Home in The Third World With New Technologies

When we think of third world countries, we have to remember that this is not one country, but many countries; in fact, most countries around the world. They are made up of people struggling to raise their families, work, and basically survive, on a day to day basis.

We often lose sight of who and what they are, and think that their problems are just too big for us to do anything about. The reality is that their problems are the same as ours, just on a smaller scale. By focusing on their basic needs, we can help give them the tools they need to help them, help themselves.

Since many of these people are isolated, they will never be a part of any national grid until their community grows to any respectable size, but without power, how are they to grow?

This is all changing now; as people from the wealthier countries are becoming more and more socially conscience about who and what we are. We are beginning to see how we can and should make the effort to literally, change their world.

Water

Imagine not being able to use indoor plumbing, and toileting facilities. No shower, no commode, no sink, and if you want water you have to walk 2-5 miles just to get 1-2 buckets of it. The same water that animals live in, and is breeding parasites that microbiologists haven’t even discovered yet.

Take it one step further and imagine that this is the only water that you have to drink, bathe, feed your animals, and to irrigate your fields; and your fields are the only source of food you have.

This is reality for most of the people around the world. However, Pump Aid is making efforts to change all that. They are installing water pumps in some of the most remote parts of Africa, and giving new life to Spirit, soul and body of the residents there. [1]

Energy is Life

Afghanistan is mostly mountainous; the perfect location for solar and wind generation. By combining these 2; and rebuilding the current national grid system to supply electricity across the major cities, the people of Afghanistan are moving forward by leaps and bounds. With the help of US Army Engineers, they are learning several new ways to provide the power, education and jobs they desperately need to grow and maintain stability to their lives. [2]

Bio Gas Digesters

Most of the people around the world don’t have access to grocery stores, so they have to farm their own food. Chicken, pigs, and cattle are bred to basically try and feed their owners, and maybe a little more to sell for a meager profit. But with the help of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), many of these farmers are now discovering that the manure from these animals can be as profitable; if not more than the price of their meat.

By loading any biodegradable waste into a digester, this waste can in about 3-4 weeks produce enough methane gas to run all the electrical needs of their farm, and then some. After manure is processed for methane, the remaining fertilizer is much richer in nutrients that the original waste, providing a more concentrated source for their fields. Women and children are also healthier because they are not breathing the ash and soot produced by wood fires. There seems to be no downside to the expanding use of bio gas in third world countries, and they are certainly benefiting from it in countless ways.

Some of these remote farmers have decided to stop rustling cattle altogether, and start farming energy. They can now simply wash their waste into an underground pit, sit back and wait. The only real labor involved is to clean out these digesters every 60-90 days, and spread the residual waste on their fields. Once a farm has energy, their world begins to drastically change by opening doors they didn’t even know were there. Instead of incurring daily expenses, they are now generating daily profits. The results from this shift in paradigm are something that we are all anxious to see. [3]

Light, Wind and Water

What can you do if you live in a mountainous community, miles from any major city with little to no resources to generate a living? What if you had to live there because your government was corrupt, and you were fleeing from oppression? What do you do? You would farm energy. Collecting solar and wind energy could not be easier in the mountains of Afghanistan.

There are large plateaus at 15,000 to 20,000 feet that funnel the wind across them, bringing wind speed up to 40-50 mph+, 24/7. These wind turbines enable the people there to tap into huge reservoirs of water that will literally transform the regions within weeks. All it takes is a few ambitious people.

Add to this the generosity of companies such as Solar Aid, and SESA, that are empowering underprivileged communities with small scale solar panels, and you have a burgeoning economy on your hands.

Residents in these parts of the country are gaining valuable resources that will enable then to establish communities, gain education and training, and help each other get self sufficient. After centuries of political oppression, they are now acquiring the very thing they need most- energy. [4][5]

Electricity Producing Merry-go-Round

One group of Missionaries from Brigham Young University has found a way for small, local communities in Ghana to generate their own electricity, apart from any national grid, by modifying a children’s merry-go-round.

A company named SPAN Pumps in India is producing mechanical merry-go-rounds that create about 8 amperes of electricity during normal use. This amount of electricity doesn’t sound like much, but it accounts for about 30% of the total energy used at Brigham Young’s missionary center, while solar power provides the rest. Now that they have the merry-go-round, they have no reoccurring costs associated with electricity, and the children have somewhere safe to play. The curators are also finding that the next generation of kids are becoming very energy aware, and looking for other ways to generate this valuable commodity.

The more they use it, the more they come to depend on it. The more they depend on it, the more willing they are to do something about getting more of it, thus spawning industry and commerce.

Because centers like these are usually the only buildings in their communities with electricity at night, they tend to draw others to them. These Centers now offer many social events, evening classes, and a safe haven for people to gather at while helping to raise money that will offset costs.

So even though 8 amperes doesn’t sound like a lot, it is the beginning of something much larger in the small towns of Ghana. [6]

Play Pumps

By harnessing the energy of children, Play Pumps International is teaming with the Case Foundation and Water for People, to bring water pumps to the most remote parts of Africa.

By the end of 2010, they expect to have installed 4000 pumps into the communities of Kenya in order to provide clean, safe drinking water to thousands of people who might otherwise never know this luxury.

It is estimated that as much as 80% of all infectious diseases are water borne; and as many as 6,000 people die everyday as a result of using it. The only water many of these people ever get access to is a few miles away, and is shared with animals, and subjected to draught.

This ingenious design for a pump allows kids to play on a merry go round and pump all the clean, fresh, drinking water these villagers need to maintain their homes and irrigate their fields. Situated just a few feet from their homes, this is to them, what the personal computer was to us just a few, short years ago; an incomprehensible world of new opportunities.

Play Pumps has managed to do what politicians and government has failed to do for the past – well, ever. [7][8]

Solar Briefcase

Even though this does not provide any commercial amount of electricity, the new solar briefcases that several manufactures’ are coming up with, will recharge a phone, or jump start a car, or better yet- keep a light source burning into the night.

Since education is such a luxury in many parts of the world, these briefcases would be able to keep power flowing to some of the poorer peoples in the earth who are fortunate enough to have a laptop, but don’t always have the wherewithal to keep it charged. A solar briefcase would allow them to extend their day, and make the most of what they have.

Many of these people have to work all day to afford the basic food and shelter, so being able to tap into the night time hours with a little light and energy would open up several doors for those that are off the grid.

They could also charge a small taser, to help protect them from what might be roaming around in the darkness of Africa. Ammunition is expensive, and in some places impossible to find, but if some of these remote, indigenous people had a small taser to defend themselves with, they might be able to protect themselves against an animal attack; a criminal attack, or even a corrupt governmental attack. The US was not meant to police the whole world; if oppressed people had a way to defend themselves, I’m sure they would.

Whatever the uses of a small source of electricity, they are a welcome addition in any world, especially when they come in a small black briefcase that can be taken with you wherever you go. [9]

Magnetic Energy

Many of you have seen the movie Hunt for Red October, with Sean Connery. Great movie, with a lot of plots, but there was one small element to it that seemed to get overlooked by many in the audience.

This was the use of magnets to propel the submarine, Red October. By using the naturally repulsive nature of magnets to spin turbines, such a system can and will create an enormous amount of energy. This technology is currently in use in the Navy, and finding its way into civilian life in more and more applications; both commercial and residential.

One of the more practical uses is with trains. A magnetic track will repel the magnetic undercarriage of the train, and literally suspend it in the air, so there is zero friction as the train is racing down the track. Since the only real force to overcome is air drag, these trains travel at unheard of speeds; anywhere from 400 to 600 mph; in realistic terms, that equates to about 20 miles in 7 minutes.

The PROS outweigh the CONS, 9:3;

PROS

There is no-none-nada; fuel consumption.
This technology has zero emissions
There is no heat generation.
These trains are very strong, and can manage commercially heavy loads.
There is no friction, or drag resistance experienced as with conventional trains.
Because of the no resistance factor, these trains can travel at speeds of up to 600 mph, with very little noise.
The only noise you hear is the sound of air rushing by.
Magnets typically have a life of between 300 and 400 years.
This technology can be supplemented with solar and wind power to create more energy than is being used by the train and its components. At speeds of 400 to 600 mph, these trains would theoretically produce way more energy than they could ever use.

CONS

Current tracks are not compatible, so new tracks will need to be designed for each location.
Due to the repelling nature of magnets, there is a certain amount of instability and vibration, but just like boats, these technologies are being developed in response to the need.
The magnetic force would make is an adverse environment to those with pacemakers, hard rives, and credit cards. However, like everything else, it is just a matter of time before developers find a way to insulate these influences, too.

Back to the Future with Magnetic Flux Generator

Australian inventor John Christy is claiming he gets 24 kilowatts per day from his magnetic flux generator, that he says will run for years. He says he uses absolutely no fuel, produces no emissions, and leaves no carbon foot print. Using magnetic repulsion technology, he has produced a generator that produces 24 kilo watts a day right in his garage! It’s obvious that Christy’s eye is on energy efficiency and energy savings.

Aluminum & Bismuth

Noah’s Ark Research Foundation founder, Doc Schwartz has been able to come up with a portable generator that can produce as much as 6000 kilo watts a day, based on the principles of electro magnetic energy.

This generator consists of 3 plates of layered aluminum & bismuth, weighing about 8 pounds. If you include the case it comes in, it weighs about 42 pounds. It has no moving parts; no byproducts, no footprint, and if you didn’t know what it was- you would think it was somebody’s tool box.

The principle of this generator is that the alternating frequency of the electrons within the Aluminum and Bismuth, create a perpetual motion that can be tapped into and channeled into raw power. Kind of like a nuclear power plant in a box, minus the heat.

They are having great successes around the world in places like Japan and the Philippines, but meeting with a lot of resistance from the established community here in the States. After all, this much power for about $500 – there has got to be something wrong with it… or is there? [10]

The most Power Source of Energy: The Brain

While there are many sources of energy available to every culture, many of the people who live there don’t know how to make good use of what they have.

There are farming communities all over the world who have been farming for generations; but they still can’t seem to eek out enough profit to provide for themselves and their communities. They may have the richest soil, and the most favorable conditions, but unless they are taught the fundamentals of organic farming, and how to make the most of their assets, there is little chance that these conditions will ever change.

Successful farms are not necessarily big farms. The Teach a Man to Fish Organization from the UK has produced a system of education that teaches the business basics of rural farming to farmers who have been farming for generations, but failed to create any quality of life for themselves of their families.

By learning these basics, and how to calculate profit margins and losses, rural farms can now convert their very poor, limited farming space into a productive, multi-tasking, profitable farm that can compete in just about any market. [11]

Sources: