Dean Kamen Segues into Water and Electricity
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.18.06
Forget the side trip on the Segway, which did not revolutionize transportation and change the world. Others of Dean Kamen's inventions have, and continue to do so. In 1993 a product of the year was his water purifier; his latest idea for the third world is his stirling engine powered electricity generator that can be powered by anything, including the omnipresent cow patties in Indiia. Put them together and you could have a revolution. He has developed a microfinance model to support it and may soon be building them in a factory in Bangladesh. “If you could take all the diseases you could name, 80 percent would be wiped out if you just gave people clean water,” says Kamen. “This [water purifier] makes 1,000 liters of clean water a day, and we don’t care what goes into it. And that [power generator] makes a kilowatt off of anything that burns.” ::Business 2.0
Does the readership of this website ever groan about the ceaseless boosting of eco-capitalism? Why soes this site limit its scope so much? Why dwell on the better mousetraps of consumable goods and not shift attention towards the institutions that frame the unsustainable society we dislike? What about revolutions in thought and practice, rather than revolutionary marketing strategies for the third world? Kamen's inventions are an obvious jumping off point for discussion of eco-anarchism, eco-socialism, or any other self-sufficient/subsistent perspective movements that could be bolstered by these machines (even as contradictory as kamen's capitalism would be to these movements). talk about cool stuff!!!
At least this time around he's not pretending it's all his inventions. And if the whole project fails, that means that there will be a mess of stirling engines lying around for other people to use. I've been thinking of using a stirling engine to generate electricity from a solar water heater, but have been discouraged by the utter lack of any affordable engines to run the generator. If Deano's great leap forward™ craters, the bankruptcy sale might yield a few cheap stirling engines.
This is great work and a great risk, but one worth gambling on. I suppose it would be too much to hope for affordable treadle pumps as well. If his microfinance program works similar to others in operation in India it will be villages that make investments in these technologies, not individuals (in reference to the above eco-anarchist observation). I've read of similar startup companies in India working under the same model (September 2005 Scientific American has an article on just such a program). Also there’s a WorldChanging article from February 10th on open source microfinance software waiting to find its way into India. http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004095.html
I will buy one as soon as available. Biomass heating is far cheaper than electricity. I heat with $2.00 a bushel corn.
Ron Wagner
Where can one purchase the Dean Kamen water purificaiton system for use in the African continent? Where is the device distributed?
I am very interested in the water purifier for use in my former Peace Corps city Samangan, Afghanistan. With whom can I discuss the feasibility of using the water purifier in rural Afghan locations?
I'm very interested.