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 * Group 1: RIP Bob Marley**


 * __ CCT333 – Design Project __**

// Louay Mayassi – 996079336 //

// Fatima Ali – 996098235 //

**__ Empowering Africa __**

**__ History __**

African countries have been struggling with the development of technology for many years. In comparison to the western world, African nations have fallen behind on education, production of goods, as well as the general development of social needs. The lack of investment on electrical energy, specifically in rural areas within African states can be directly linked to the lack of progress. With nearly 1 billion people, Africa accounts for over a sixth of the world's population, but generates only 4% of global electricity. Three-quarters of that is used by South Africa, Egypt and the other countries along the North African littoral.

**__ Problem __**

The Global Issues website, states that 1.6 billion people in the world, almost one quarter of the human population, lives without electricity. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 547 million people live without electricity (Global Issues). In the article “ ** Domestic Electricity Provision in the Democratic South Africa” ** by Daniel Malzbender, Approximately 40 % of all homes in South Africa (1998 figures – see more recent figures in chapter 4 below//)// and tens of thousands of schools and clinics are without ready access to electricity supply.

**__ Possible Solutions __**

Many African governments are looking into alternative sources of energy to make up their projected shortfalls. Hydropower is clean, from the greenhouse-gas emissions’ point of view, but it is largely dependent on building damns and finding a reliable water source. Not all regions in African have a reliable water source, especially in recent years with drought affecting sub-Saharan Africa. An easy alternative is coal, which is considered a dirty alternative due to the amount of pollution it produces. Therefore, many donors committed to cutting global carbon emissions are unlikely to favor a “dirty alternative. Additionally, only a few Africans in rural areas have access to electricity, and connecting them to national grids will be slow and expensive. Engineers think they can use the steady winds in Africa's mountain ranges for power production. And if the costs of using the sun's warmth can be reduced to 30% below its present cost, vast solar farms could offer cheap, clean energy for African cities and in doing so boost incomes in rural areas. Egypt, which relies mostly on natural gas, is looking hard at solar power. For now, the continent remains largely dependent on hydropower: 13 countries use it for 60% or more of their energy. But Africa's rain falls more variably than, say, Norway's, and its dams often operate below capacity. Still, many new dams are being planned. Ethiopia has staked its development on damming the Blue Nile and other rivers. In West Africa dams are due to be built on the Niger, the “Volta and Bandama”. Some of these projects will be held up by financial and environmental disputes, just as Uganda's 250 MW Bujagali dam on the White Nile has been. But most will get built.

**__ Our Solution __**

Unfortunately, with such significant needs required by these communities, many adults, as well as children have dedicated their lives in searching for basic needs to survive. Our plan is to create a children’s playground slide that produces and generates electricity, in order to help improve these electricity-deprived regions in Africa. We were inspired by “Empower Playgrounds”, an organization that creates playground equipment that generates electricity, as well as provide scientific education to the children using their equipment. So far, this organization has managed to create an electricity-generating merry-go-round in the country of Ghana, with future plans to set up more, including electricity-generating swings elsewhere in the region. We present a video on the small-scale initiatives taken by volunteers at reconstructing playground in poor rural villages in Thailand. We wanted to bring this ambition to the African regions, however, with the continent being in dire need of basic necessities such as medicine, food, water and electricity, not much importance or initiative is put into constructing or renovating children’s play areas. We therefore inspired to push through our idea by developing on the innovative initiative of electricity-generating playgrounds. Specifically, we have come up with a children’s playground slide design that generates electricity as kids play on it. We plan on distributing these playground equipments to schools, to provide them with better educational services.

**__ How it Works __**

Instead of featuring one flat sliding surface, our concept slide design features rollers aligned next to each other that works on a belt drive system. The roller slide operates on a rotary motor system that captures electricity from rotational motion. As the rotor spins, the magnets inside constantly change polarities from positive to negative, creating electrons. The roller slide operates on a belt drive system. Each one of the individual rollers on the slide will be connected to a central line. This line of rollers moves a belt attached to a motor at either end. As a child slides down, the rollers spin. This turns the motors, which in turn, rotate a permanent magnet windmill generator. The generated electricity is transported by underground wires to a power enclosure, transformed into direct current and stored in a battery. Our roller slide concept is not only limited to small playground slides. This design can also be applied to other playful machines and structures such as a roller coaster. Initiatives from engineers and urban designers, such as the people who created this non-electric, gravity powered roller coaster in Japan have proven that not every exciting roller coaster ride has to be powered electrically. Our roller coaster design takes this idea and incorporates the same design and technology as the roller slide. However, because of the sheer difference in size, multiple motors and rotary belts would be attached to the roller coaster, depending on its size.

**__ Our Focus __**

We have decided to focus on Belo, a village in the Cameroon, that has a population of only 8,705 people (based on 2004 statistics conducted by GeoNames Geographic database). Approximately a quarter of these residents have no access to electricity (RUDEC). We have chosen Belo because it has many organizations, one of them being RUDEC, an organization aiming to create a healthy environment for people and to create a better standard of living. We believe this organization will be willing to adopt our idea, and assist us in achieving it. Considering that Belo contains a relatively small population, and has such organizations investing their time in the area, we expect that this project will be successful, and will create a difference on a region wide basis. Therefore, we have picked Belo as our starting point, and eventually, by evaluating our success we hope to spread this technology to other areas in Africa, and possibly maybe on a global level.

**__ Funding __**

To fund such a project, finances must be generated through investors, sponsors and partners. Empower Playgrounds, Inc, the charity that created and developed the electricity-generating merry-go-round has developed many partners including Energizer Battery, Inc, Playworld Systems, Inc, Goal Zero, and Loose in the Lab. Empower Playground has created a lot of momentum since the foundation was created. They however do not possess a design similar to ours. We can approach them with our roller slide design and incorporate them into their electricity-generating playground initiative. Other organizations such as RUDEC, UNSECO among others would also be probably willing to help fund such a project. In addition, we would need the support of angel investors, entrepreneurs and philanthropists. We hope with the success of this project, Africa will no longer be the Dark Continent. We hope to improve the education of children through this technology, as well as create a better standard of living for its people.

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