Wind Power From Africa Meets Blog Power
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A teenage student in Malawi, Africa, has achieved world fame through a blog which documents his efforts to construct two home-made windmills to provide DC electricity for himself and his parents.
19 year old William Kamkwamba was shown the Internet at a technology conference in Arusha, Tanzania, last month. He was invited to the TEDGlobal conference after Malawi’s Daily Times newspaper wrote about he designed and built a windmill on his parents’ farm out of wood, scrap metal (including a bicycle) and an alternator to power a car battery.
Kamkwamba’s first windmill was at his home and generated enough power to run a small light in his room. The second windmill he built at his parents’ farmhouse, was more efficient and powerful. It provides light, and can also charge up car batteries or cell phones for people in his village.
After news about his achievements got around, Kamkwamba was invited to another TEDGlobal conference, where he presented a three-minute talk about his windmill. The delegates gave him a standing ovation.
The young Malawian was introduced to the Internet for the first time and began searching Google for the terms “windmill” and “solar energy”. He was flabbergasted at the number of search engine results pages (SERPS) returned for each enquiry.
Kamkwamba was blown away with the speed at which the Internet let him do research. “I was so excited when I first saw the Internet,” he said. “The Internet makes the exchange of information so immediate.”
The impressive thing about Kamkwamba is that he didn’t complain about having received only a partial education. He found some books and taught himself enough to “give it a go”. He didn’t whinge about he and his parents living in a place where no electricity company offered cheap and easy electrical connections. He got off his backside and took effective action. It’s a lesson we could all benefit from, if we have the right frame of mind.
You can see his website at William Kamkwamba’s Malawi Windmill Blog
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