Pump Aid's Elephant Pump:

Clean, safe water is a scarce resource in Africa, so Pump Aid (a charity formed by three teachers living and working in rural Zimbabwe) is helping communities throughout that country and Malawi install its efficient, easy-to-construct Elephant water pump....[More]

Pump Aid's Elephant Pump:

Clean, safe water is a scarce resource in Africa, so Pump Aid (a charity formed by three teachers living and working in rural Zimbabwe) is helping communities throughout that country and Malawi install its efficient, easy-to-construct Elephant water pump. The device, which takes about four hours to assemble, can draw water from a well as deep as 164 feet (50 meters) and produce 33.8 fluid ounces (one liter) of water every second. The pump gets water from the well using a loop of nylon rope--with washers attached about every 28 inches (70 centimeters)--threaded over an axle. As the axle is turned (either by hand or foot pedals) the rope and washers lift water up a PVC pipe to the surface. The pump and well are completely enclosed in concrete to keep the water from being contaminated by insects, animals or people. Price tag: about $740 for materials and installation.

PumpAid also offers the Elephant Toilet, an outhouse sans plumbing that can be constructed using a slab of concrete and other readily available materials for about $30.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Image courtesy of Pump Aid

Vestergaard Frandsen Group's LifeStraw:

LifeStraw is a powder blue plastic tube--in fact far thicker than an ordinary straw--that contains filters that clears typhoid-, cholera- and diarrhea-causing microorganisms from water, making it potable....[More]

Vestergaard Frandsen Group's LifeStraw:

LifeStraw is a powder blue plastic tube--in fact far thicker than an ordinary straw--that contains filters that clears typhoid-, cholera- and diarrhea-causing microorganisms from water, making it potable. At less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) long, the device can filter up to 185 gallons (700 liters) of water a year before it needs to be replaced, estimated to be enough to meet the annual needs of a single person. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers tested the device's performance in water containing Escherichia coli B and Enterococcus faecalis bacteria, the MS2 coliphage virus as well as iodine and silver. The device, which Scientific American.com first wrote about in February, does not filter out heavy metals such as lead, iron or arsenic nor does it remove diarrhea-causing parasites like cryptosporidium or giardia. The price tag for LifeStraw is $5.50 per unit with a minimum order of 1,000 units. (The price drops when larger volumes are purchased).

A related product, the LifeStraw Family, operates on basically the same technology but is designed for home use and will purify around 4,750 gallons (18,000 liters) of water--or enough to meet the needs of a typical family for three years before being replaced. This version of LifeStraw sells for $25 per unit with a minimum order of 500.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Image courtesy of Vestergaard Frandsen Group

Vestergaard Frandsen Group's ZeroFly and PermaNet:

ZeroFly is a sheet of plastic laminated with insecticide that can be used to create temporary shelter for refugees and other displaced individuals while reducing the risk of diseases such as malaria that are spread by mosquitoes....[More]

Vestergaard Frandsen Group's ZeroFly and PermaNet:

ZeroFly is a sheet of plastic laminated with insecticide that can be used to create temporary shelter for refugees and other displaced individuals while reducing the risk of diseases such as malaria that are spread by mosquitoes. Pricing is not available because it must be custom ordered depending on an aid organization's needs.

PermaNet (not pictured) is an insecticide-treated curtain used to keep disease-carrying insects out of more permanent dwellings and is priced at about $5.50 per net.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Image courtesy of Vestergaard Frandsen Group

Kennedy & Violich Architecture, Ltd.'s Portable Light Reading Mat:

This invention is a luminous reading mat ( still in prototype phase ) that integrates high brightness solid-state lighting (HBLEDs) and flexible photovoltaic (solar cell) technology in a textile that weighs less than eight ounces (227 grams)....[More]

Kennedy & Violich Architecture, Ltd.'s Portable Light Reading Mat:

This invention is a luminous reading mat (still in prototype phase) that integrates high brightness solid-state lighting (HBLEDs) and flexible photovoltaic (solar cell) technology in a textile that weighs less than eight ounces (227 grams). With no heavy or breakable glass parts, the mat can be rolled or folded for shipping or transport and is easily carried on the body in clothing or equipment. The mat is a fully self-contained and renewable light engine powered by flexible photovoltaic panels that produce up to 12 volts of DC electrical power and 160 lumens of light in five hours of charge time. By day, users can harvest and store electrical energy from sunlight. At night, the mat emits up to four hours of white, digital light. Pricing is not available.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Image courtesy of Kennedy & Violich Architecture, Ltd.

SunNight Solar Enterprises Corp.'s BoGo Light:

The BoGo Lights are solar-powered LED flashlights with photovoltaic panels that gather energy during the day and store that energy in the flashlight's battery for use at night....[More]

SunNight Solar Enterprises Corp.'s BoGo Light:

The BoGo Lights are solar-powered LED flashlights with photovoltaic panels that gather energy during the day and store that energy in the flashlight's battery for use at night. Each eight-hour charge will deliver between four and six hours of continuous light. The company estimates that each flashlight's battery can be charged and recharged for up to two years before it needs to be replaced. Under SunNight's purchase program, when someone living in the U.S. buys an SL-1 or SL-2, a second light is donated to any of a number of nonprofit aid organizations worldwide. Price tag is $39 for the SL-1 and $49 for the SL-2.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Image courtesy of SunNight Solar Enterprises Corp.

Motor Development International's compressed-air vehicle:

The car runs on a rear-mounted six-cylinder engine powered by electronically injected compressed air . (It can achieve 75 horsepower and can get the car up to a top speed of 96 miles, or 154.5 kilometers, per hour.) Designed to seat six and get 106 miles (170.6 kilometers) per gallon, the car weighs 1,874 pounds (850 kilograms)....[More]

Motor Development International's compressed-air vehicle:

The car runs on a rear-mounted six-cylinder engine powered by electronically injected compressed air. (It can achieve 75 horsepower and can get the car up to a top speed of 96 miles, or 154.5 kilometers, per hour.) Designed to seat six and get 106 miles (170.6 kilometers) per gallon, the car weighs 1,874 pounds (850 kilograms). The buggy's technology has been licensed by Tata Motors to make air vehicles in India. MDI has also paired with Zero Pollution Motors in New Paltz, N.Y., to make a similar vehicle available to U.S. consumers by 2010. Price tag: expected to be about $18,000.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Image courtesy of MDI

IDEO's Aquaduct water filtration bicycle:

The Aquaduct is a pedal-powered bicycle designed to transport, filter and store water in the developing world. As the rider pedals, a pump attached to the pedal crank draws water from a large holding tank through a carbon filter, depositing it in a smaller clean-water reservoir located hear the handlebars....[More]

IDEO's Aquaduct water filtration bicycle:

The Aquaduct is a pedal-powered bicycle designed to transport, filter and store water in the developing world. As the rider pedals, a pump attached to the pedal crank draws water from a large holding tank through a carbon filter, depositing it in a smaller clean-water reservoir located hear the handlebars. Filtration pedaling can be done at home (in stationary mode) or on the road. The clean tank is removable and enclosed sealed for contamination-free home storage and use.

The Aquaduct, still in the prototype phase, in January won the Innovate or Die Pedal-Powered Machine contest hosted by Google; Specialized Bicycle Components in Morgan Hill, Calif.; and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, a San Francisco-based advertising agency. The bicycle is not generally available and there is no pricing information.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Image courtesy of Team Aqua