Night Heron Wind Turbines Made of Scraps Make Rural Kenyans Energy Independent
Posted By Tafline Laylin On February 20, 2012 @ 11:12 am In clean tech,Recycled Materials,Renewable Energy,Wind Power | 3 Comments
These amazing Night Heron wind turbines made of locally-sourced scraps give rural Kenyans a whole new lease on life. Based on Hugh Piggot’s open source design [4], the turbines are built from recycled car parts [5] and other scrap materials and cost just over $2,000 to build and install. 32 million Kenyans are unable to read at night without polluting kerosene lights or to refrigerate food and medicine – daily activities that we take for granted. These new, affordable turbines provided by Access:energy [6] have genuine potential to change that.
A division of Access: collective, Access: energy [6] invests in sustainable technologies for East Africa. The Night Heron wind turbines are what they call the first commercially viable zero-import wind turbines [7] that produce up to 2.5kWh per day. This is enough energy to power 50 rural homes. Among the first clients are a local radio station and a private client who wants to create an energy hub for his home. Night Heron wind turbines provide energy that is 2 to 3 times cheaper than energy provided by solar PV panels mostly because of inexpensive materials.
Access:energy just raised $15,000 through an Indie GoGo campaign [8] and takes pride in knowing that rather than putting a band-aid on Kenya’s energy shortage, they are empowering local people to build their own sources of energy, making them completely self-sustaining in the process. Like the first school in Nigeria built out of plastic bottles [9], this project is truly sustainable since it literally puts the power back in the locals’ hands!
+ Access:energy [6]
Via Fastco Design [10]
Article printed from Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/night-heron-wind-turbines-made-of-scraps-make-rural-kenyans-energy-independent/
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[3] Email: mailto:?subject=http://inhabitat.com/night-heron-wind-turbines-made-of-scraps-make-rural-kenyans-energy-independent/
[4] Hugh Piggot’s open source design: http://scoraigwind.co.uk/
[5] car parts: http://inhabitat.com/part-thenon-is-a-funky-california-shed-made-entirely-out-of-salvaged-car-parts/
[6] Access:energy: http://access-collective.com/energy/
[7] wind turbines: http://inhabitat.com/envision-energys-flowing-wind-turbine-headquarters-is-inspired-by-wind-energy/
[8] Indie GoGo campaign: http://www.indiegogo.com/
[9] first school in Nigeria built out of plastic bottles: http://inhabitat.com/africas-first-plastic-bottle-house-rises-in-nigeria/
[10] Fastco Design: http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679335/truly-local-power-african-wind-turbines-built-from-scrap
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