This story reminds me of the Chinese dude who was able to make a solar water heater for his mother-in-law out of beer bottles. A fellow in London spent all of his $37 to make a wind turbine. He used:

  1. a bike frame and bearings,
  2. a Vespa magneto
  3. a Ford Fiesta battery

all found in a dumpster or in the skips if you are a Londoner.

The DIY wind turbine is not extremely powerful, just 11.3 watts, but at the same time the money spent are little. The creator, Max, wants developing countries to know they can build turbines, too, because he thinks they can build it for even lower.

I have a better idea. Since we in the developed countries have more junk, why don’t we use junk to make turbines and give the good stuff to the less developed countries? How about that for an idea? Secondly, can you imagine lots of car batteries in dumpsters, in a developing country? I don’t!

Why is it that the two-thirds of the world always has to make do while those of us in the, um, richer countries get to create more and more scrap? Something is wrong with this picture, no?

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