It is now obvious to most of the world that life is not good for everyone, that basic needs aren’t being met for a large portion of the human population. For instance, about 4.3 billion people on the planet live in poverty, about 783 million people don’t have access to clean drinking water and about 1.2 billion people lack electricity. Solving all of these problems will be difficult, but not impossible and some folks are attempting to tackle them one at a time. To get electricity to those 1.2 billion people, for example, RS Components, Allied Electronics, and international development charity Practical Action are hosting a two-day hackathon to get affordable and easy to produce electricity generators those living in poverty around the world. Among the participants competing at Power Hack will be none other than the founder of the RepRap 3D printing movement, Adrian Bowyer.
Power Hack, taking place from December 9-10 at Google’s UK offices, will see designers, engineers, and other industry leaders using RS and Allied’s suite of rapid prototyping and 3D printing tools (DesignSpark Mechanical, DesignSpark PCB and RS Toolbox) to produce low-cost electricity solutions to problems outlined by Practical Action. Alongside RepRapPro’s Adrian Bowyer, participants will include Ortis Deley, co-host of The Gadget Show, as well as Jude Pullen, from Design Modelling, Matt Johnson, co-founder of a number of electricity-related businesses.
Ortis Deley, also a long-time supporter of Practical Action, said of the event, “Using innovative technology to solve problems of this nature is fantastic on a number of levels. I am personally very excited by the opportunity that Power Hack presents for aiding poorer areas across the world and to see what will result from it and wish all involved the very best.”
RS Components’ Head of Technical Marketing, Mark Cundle, added, “Practical Action have given a real focal point for the Power Hack, which will help our teams of engineers get right to the heart of this critical global problem. It’s going to be very interesting to see what the engineers create with our suite of rapid prototyping tools over the two days. Hopefully there will be some true innovation in the area of domestic electricity generation, which could make a real difference to people’s lives around the world. If the prototypes from the Power Hack challenge were to reach a single village and enable communities to teach others how to utilise the benefits resulting from electricity generation, then this is going to be a powerful innovation. We’re really looking forward to seeing the end results.”
It will be exciting to see what this talented crew is able to come up with next week. It will be even more exciting to see if, how, and when these domestic electricity generators will actually begin helping the electrically impoverished around the world. The event will be live streamed at RS’ DesignSpark website, so stay tuned to see how things turn out.
