One of the absolute coolest and most inspiring things that I saw at Foo Camp this weekend (amongst a massive pile of cool things that I saw), was Colin Bulthaup demonstration of his company's portable power generator:

Colin Bulthaup demonstrating a human-powered generator

This talk came quickly, at the tail end of Martin Benjamin's talk, and offered just as much hope for Africa, if not more.

The device, being built by Colin and his team at Potenco, is an extremely smart and well-engineered human-powered generator. The device is centered around a yo-yo like shape. But instead of spinning a toy, a user pulls a cord (much like starting a lawn mower), transferring energy from the human body into the device. A pulling motion was implemented instead of a crank, because it uses far more muscles in the body, and is therefore can output more energy.

Colin started his talk by mentioning that electricity, when it is available in Africa, isn't very reliable. That is why kerosene is the most popular way to get light. Not only are there some health issues with extensive use of kerosene lamps, kerosene really isn't all that cheap. This means that a renewable energy source, would not only be more economically viable, but it could potentially be healthier as well.

One interesting thing about the power generator is that its output is USB. Colin noted that USB is quickly becoming the standard for charging devices such as mobile phones. He demonstrated a light/USB hub, which can be used for simultaneously charging multiple devices.

In the above photo, Colin also demonstrated how the generator can be taken apart, in order to replace the string in case it breaks. The entire device seemed to be quite well designed. One interesting thing is that the prototypes are built with what is essentially a 3-D printer. Once development is complete, the actual generators will be built in a more traditional manufacturing process, which should get the cost way down (still not sure how cheap it will actually be when it is finished).

I think that the potential of this device to better life in Africa is simply astounding. It was great to see the demo, and I hope that the device reaches the market soon. Just as cell phones have penetrated Africa in a capitalistic way, I hope that this generator can do the same.