Now here's the "reuse" part of the recycling circle. Kid in Malawi creates his own windmill for wind generating to power lights, water pump and other electronics by creating his own windmill out of scrap parts, including making blades from PVC pipe. Here's an excerpt from the story:
The plan was to attach blades to the back axle of a bicycle and generate electricity through a bike dynamo. When the wind blew the blades, the sprocket and bike chain would spin the bike wheel, which would charge the dynamo and send a current through wire to the house. For windmill blades, Kamkwamba slit a bathhouse PVC pipe in two, then heated the pieces over hot coals to press the curled edges flat. To bore holes into the blades, he stuck a nail through half a corn cob, heated the metal red and twisted it through the blades. It took three hours to repeatedly heat the nail and bore the needed holes. He then attached the long plastic blades to the shorter metal blades of a large tractor fan found in a dumpyard, and stripped out the piston from a large shock absorber to serve as the windmill shaft. To secure the plastic blades to the metal ones, he used proper nuts and bolts. But standing in for washers were 16 Carlsberg beer bottle caps, collected from outside the Ofesi Boozing Centre.Read more about it in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Pretty creative, eh? It's amazing what someone can accomplish with some creativity and inventiveness.
