Renewable Energy: The Earlier the Better

For more developed countries, alternative/renewable energy is used in hopes of combating oil prices as market uncertainty continues, among other reasons. However, in under-developed countries, alternative/renewable energy means much more. And most importantly, offering renewable energy education at an early age can produce lasting results.

Rhode Island teen Alex Lin, after reading a Wall Street Journal article discussing environmental concerns, led his student community service organization to oversee the recycling of 300,000 pounds of e-waste. The 16-year old also successfully lobbied the Rhode Island state legislature to pass a statewide bill banning the dumping of e-waste, created media centers in developing countries using refurbished computers, secured grants to fund the projects, and created a national public service announcement on the issue.

Lin has used refurbished computers to create media centers in places like Cameroon and Sri Lanka. He said, “To date, we have sent out over 60 computers in seven media centers to countries such as Cameroon, Kenya, Mexico, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines.” He hopes that the media centers will become a tool educating others on sustainability.

Similar to Lin, Alternative Energy Africa featured a story on a Malawian teen who educated himself on wind energy. William Kamkwamba took action into his own hands in order to bring electricity to his village by building windmills from junk. After being unable to continue his education because of the high cost, he frequented the local library where he taught himself how to construct a windmill to generate electricity and pump water.

With only 2% of the entire population, Africa must rely more on alternative and renewable energy schemes in order to have basic necessities. Kamkwamba’s 12-watt windmill soon served his village by powering cell phones. He later installed a solar-powered mechanical pump, donated by well-wishers, above a borehole, adding water storage tanks and bringing the first potable water source to the entire region around his village. "I want to help my country and apply the knowledge I’ve learned," he said. "I feel there’s lots of work to be done."

As there is a difference in the reasons as to why Lin and Kamkwamba took up their causes, the end result is still of great importance. Others are realizing the need to teach youth more about renewable energy, such as Lego. The building block that everyone remembers as a child has created a renewable energy add-on set that is combined with the customized activity pack allowing students to explore renewable energy sources. Lego said in a release, “Students will experiment using energy from their own bodies and the three main energy sources – solar, wind, and water – to generate, store, and use power.”

Other ways of getting children on board has New York-based designer and manufacturer of electrical playground systems Saber Technical installing playground equipment such as a merry-go-round that’s intended to pump well water. The spinning motion of the machine will send power into an alternator which then transfers an electric current directly to a sump pump. The sump pump pushes the water through underground pipes into a holding tank which is mounted on top of a tower. Alternately, the electricity can also be stored in cells and backed up by solar-powered generators that can be used for indoor and outdoor lighting.

While several private schools in the US are using the Saber Tech playground equipment, Tanzania was scheduled to try out the system at a school with over 600 students. The Sinai School in Babati has students walking two miles daily in order to access clean drinking water. The new playground is anticipated to pump clean drinking water as well as have enough stored electricity to power classrooms. “They haven’t got running water at the school,” explains Clive Shiret of the Livingstone Tanzania Trust, a relief organization. “They haven’t got any sanitary facilities. So this will enable us to do some great work with making the whole place more hygienic and basically extending the kids’ lives.”

“It’s all about bottling their energy,” said Saber Tech’s CEO Karen Cavanagh. “But most of all I want these kids to know that it is their energy that will solve problems. The system they play on every single day is the same system that the same types of kids use across the globe.”

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