Shawn Frayne’s Windbelt is generating real excitement and resonance with its award Popular Mechanics’ yearly Breakthrough Conference. Humdinger Wind, motto “wind energy reinvented” with CEO Shawn Frayne, offers up some interesting ‘coming soon’ developments. In a very (VERY) brief page, humdinger developer kits, the company (Frayne?) promises:
“your very own Windbelt in a box, for schools, researchers, and independents … Coming soon!”
To provide a little more information on the development process and motivating path:
Shawn Frayne, a member of a team from MIT and Petite Anse [Haiti] working in the area, recognized that instead of kerosene lamps, white LEDs powered by a very inexpensive wind generator might be able to better light homes and schools in the area. However, when Shawn tried to design this affordable, turbine-based wind generator, he hit a brick wall: turbine technology is too inefficient at these scales to be a viable option.
In other words, the key challenge was micro-power turbine sets.
Frayne’s claim is that for $1-5 the Windbelt can provide a generator that “can power two white LEDs and a radio” that “can be manufactured in Haiti”.
While the power for “two white LEDs” might not go too far in a McMansion, they could provide revolutionary change for places like rural Haiti households.
And, well, another Humdinger motto that is one for all EcoGeeks to embrace:
Harder problems = Better inventions
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1 Energy COOL: An echo of Humming Wind? // May 17, 2009 at 8:37 pm
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