Being able to drink clean water and eat fresh foods are luxuries in some third world countries, so inventors worldwide have come up with a few inventions that aim to improve their way of living. Continue reading to see five of the most innovative.
5. Hippo Water Roller
Americans also take for granted how easy it is for us to get clean water just by turning on a faucet. That’s not the case in many African countries, but an invention called the Hippo-Roller is changing the way African women transport water. Instead of carrying 10 gallon jugs on their heads, women are able to roll 25 gallons of water with much greater ease.
The aim of the Hippo Water Roller Project is to reduce the number of people without adequate access to water by 1% = 10 million people. So far rollers have been distributed to 21 African countries as well as India, Mexico and South America.
4. PeePoo Bag
It looks like a plastic bag, but in fact the PeePoo is a single-use biodegradable toilet for the developing world. After it is used, the bag is knotted and then buried or sold back to the manufacturer. A lining of urea crystals in the bag helps transform the waste into fertilizer.
The promotional blurb for Peepoobag, a new self-sanitizing, single-use, biodegradable container for human waste, is as dramatic as it is straightforward: “2.6 billion people just got their own toilet,” declares the website of Peepoople. The number refers to how many people on this planet lack access to basic sanitation – not just a toilet but even a simple latrine. This deficiency leads to water contamination from feces, which contain viruses, bacteria, worms and parasites. One child in the world perishes every 15 seconds due to tainted water.
3. LifeStraw
LifeStraw is a personal, low-cost water purification tool with a life time of 700 liters – approximately one year of water consumption for one person. Positive test results have been achieved on tap, turbid and saline water against common waterborne bacteria such as Salmonella, Shigella, Enterococcus and Staphylococcu.
Each LifeStraw lasts for one person’s annual needs of clean water – a simple straw costing a few dollars will ensure that one at-risk person will not die for a year – now that’s a donation we can all make with a serious kicker!This LifeStraw was designed with special emphasize on avoiding any moving parts, as a sealed unit with no replaceable spare parts, and avoiding the use of electricity, which does not exist in many areas in the 3rd world.
2. Solar Light
It is a simple bottle bulb, usually a 1 liter soda bottle that is filled with a solution of purified water and bleach. The bottle is inserted halfway through a hole drilled in the metal roof and its sides are sealed. The whole deal looks like a bulb through a sunroof and provides a good amount of light by deflecting sunlight into gloomy interiors.
The chlorine and bleach “poisons” the water to keep molds from developing so the solution can last up to five years. The clear and purified water helps disperse the light through refraction, so the light is not concentrated. It only costs $2-3 to make a solar bottle bulb that is bringing light to dark homes.
1. OLPC XO-3 $100 Tablet
XO-3 is the upcoming planned tablet/e-book reader that is intended to be developed under the One Laptop per Child initiative. It will have a tablet computer form factor over the canceled dual-screen design concept of the XO-2. The inner workings are those of the XO 1.75 [1] together with the same ARM processor.
The XO-3 will feature an 8-inch 4:3 1024 x 768-resolution display and use a Marvell Technology Group Marvell Armada PXA618 SoC. The XO-3 will feature innovative charging options such as a hand crank or a solar panel. The XO-3 tablet is planned to be released in 2012 for a target price below $100.
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