Harnessing the Wind and Africa's future

William Kamkwamba's book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
is truly a story about hope against all odds and points to the real path and goal of development--to support and nurture the power, intellect and creativity already on the ground. You can find out more at William Kamkwamba's blog.

Here is a short video where Kamkwamba himself talks about the book and you can see video of his remarkable makeshift windmill.

A technological fix for water scarcity?

I came across an interesting video on Yahoo today about windmills that produce water mimicking rain creation. Marc Parent, the inventor, has created a windmill that produces clean water from humidity in the air. He got the idea from salvaging water from air conditioners and feeding it into a tank.

Wind turbines suck in air, and the electricity generated cools the air turning steam into water. He says it is a solution for very remote areas, and arid areas. There is already some interest from the Middle East. Each turbine can produce about 800 liters of water per day, but it is costly, as each system costs between 9 to 25,000 Euros.

A video featuring the process can be found here.

Do you think this kind of technology has a useful place in solving the water crisis facing many countries?