Look at a Picture, Make a Windmill [VIDEOS]

December 30th, 2010 by Zachary Shahan

I know, we normally focus on the most efficient or biggest windmills or other clean energy technologies here on Cleantechnica, but this is a story I couldn’t pass up.

I think it’s better just to watch these videos to learn more, but for a brief intro, here’s the story:

William Kamkwamba dropped out of high school when much of his village (Malawi) was facing famine and starvation. Not satisfied to live such a simple life, he thought it made sense to take advantage of the great wind resources of the village. He went to the library and found a some physics books he liked as well as a book called “Using Energy” that included pictures of windmills. Unfortunately, it didn’t give clear instructions on how to build one and he didn’t know English that well at the time anyway. (Note: he had never used the internet at that time either and didn’t have access to it there.) William found materials at a scrap yard to build the windmill with and built it. Oh yeah, William was 14 years old at this time.

Anyway, watch the videos for more.

The Story:

William’s first time at TED (from his first trip away from his village):

William’s second time at TED:

h/t Climate Crocks

Keep up to date with all the hottest cleantech news by subscribing to our (free) cleantech newsletter, or keep an eye on sector-specific news by getting our (also free) solar energy newsletter, electric vehicle newsletter, or wind energy newsletter.

Tags: Africa, Malawi, moving windwills, TED, William Kamkwamba, windmills

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.