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| Night Heron Windmills being made in Kenya |
A very good
friend of mine once told me about her frustration with how so many students from
Africa or other third world countries study overseas and graduate with good degrees
but don’t take their knowledge back home to help better their nation or
community. She has decided to do something to address this issue and we at
KIRUcomics fully support her. We can’t reveal any top secret plans yet but be
on the lookout for her. She’s something special.
The reason I
bring this up is because, while I was plodding along on the internet, I came
across a company called Access:Energy. This company is just so awesome.
They remind me of why I got into engineering in the first place. Basically what
they do is use renewable energy to provide electricity for the rural off-grid
areas in east African countries like Kenya. The most innovative of their product
is the “Night Heron” which is a wind turbine made completely from scraps and
materials found in Kenya (no imported materials). Not only that but they also
work with the local community and Kenyan universities as well as Kenyan manufacturing
companies to build their devices.
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| Night Heron's installations |
As soon as I
found out about this, my first thought was I’m sure many Kenyan engineering students
could have thought of this idea and worked to deliver it, if they wanted. But unfortunately
not many students think like that anymore, they’re all in that “dog-eat-dog”
& “everyone-fend-for-themselves” mode. This is what my friend aims to
change.
Being from
an African country myself, I can testify to how unreliable electricity is in
the cities of some of our countries, so I know that the villages and rural
areas will be far worse. In Kenya, the rural areas rely on massive battery
packs, generators, kerosene and petrol for their electricity (all non renewable
sources and harmful to our environment). Access:Energy takes away all that by
providing them with a cleaner, safer and cheaper alternative. They definitely get our stamp of approval.
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| A night heron installed in a local business |
For more
information on Access energy and how they are working to improve east africa
visit their website or see sources.
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