We are now at version 0.9 of the Uninhibited Solar Charger. I am now working with a select group of talented guys in Bontoc, on readying the design for community manufacture. In the Philippines, there are all these little stores where you can get your cellphones and computers fixed. The guys behind the counter are a vast untapped pool of talent. They know how to fix all sorts of gadgets and, although they might be low on electrical theory, they make up for it with creativity.
What would happen if they could put their skills to CREATING technology and products? Typically high tech manufacturing is limited to a big corporations or perilous Chinese factories that spew out toxic products that last only a few months before getting thrown. What would happen if rather than using raw resources and massive factories to make tech, we could make useful, enduring, fixable and recyclable products in VILLAGES like Bontoc using bottles and e-waste? 🙂
Why are we making these Uninhibited Chargers? For me its personal. I want to take responsibility for my own energy. We take for granted the socket on the wall. But where does that line go? To a nuclear power-plant? A giant hydro dam? A coal fired plant? I don’t want to have anything to do with that, so I designed this charger to take with me everywhere I go so I know where my power comes from.
The second is local. In the village of Sagada here, a large power company wants to come and install wind turbines on the mountain tops of our windy mountain tops. Sounds nice yeah? Until you read that they are massive towers, requiring large access roads over the local water shed and that almost all the power is to be sold away to cities. When I first started learning about this, I thought to myself, “bullshit– you could make a windturbine on your own! Heck you could probably make it from trash!” So, I decided to get creating something useful to challenge the Big Energy assumptions.
Micro Wind turbines (from upcycled computer or CD motors) are trickier than I thought. I’ve decided to focus first on getting a simple solar charger working. The circuitry and casing that we have now developed from that can carry right over to incorporating more energy harvesting into the device. Eventually, my dream is to incorporate wind, piezo and kinetic charging into the charger.
