Monday, October 20, 2008

Microbes for Off-the-Grid Electricity

Here's a post about a company - Lebone Solutions - which aims to use microbial fuel cells to provide power to Africans who are off the grid. Could be a move in the right direction:

Lebônê Solutions, a startup based in Cambridge, MA, aims to use microbial fuel cells to provide power to Africans who are off the grid. In some parts of Africa, a small amount of energy is enough for a few hours of lamp light in the evening, or for powering the ubiquitous cell phones--something that some residents will walk five hours to a generator to do, says Aviva Presser, a cofounder of Lebônê. The company is made up largely of Harvard University alumni and current Harvard students originally from African countries.

With funding from the Harvard Institute for Global Health, the team has recently completed a pilot study in Tanzania, where members brought six basic microbial fuel cells and taught residents how to use them. The team organized village meetings where team member and Tanzanian native Stephen Lwendo explained how to make the fuel cells...

...In some parts of Africa, only a small amount of energy is enough for a few hours of lamp light in the evening, or for powering the ubiquitous cell phones--something that some residents will walk five hours to a generator to do.


Read more at - 'Microbes for Off-the-Grid Electricity'

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