William Kamkwamba: How I built a windmill
Summary
TLDRIn this TED Talk, 19-year-old William Kamkwamba from Malawi shares his inspiring journey of building a windmill at age 14 to provide electricity for his family's home. Using materials like a bicycle frame and a plastic pipe, he crafted a four-blade windmill that generated 12 watts of power, enough to light four bulbs and power two radios. Despite dropping out of school, he was driven by a book from the library to harness energy. His next ambition is to construct a larger windmill to pump water for irrigation, potentially benefiting his entire village. Kamkwamba seeks assistance with materials to realize this dream and expresses his ongoing passion for working in energy.
Takeaways
- 🌍 William Kamkwamba is from Malawi, Kasungu.
- 🎓 At the age of 19, he had already built a windmill.
- 📚 He got the idea to build a windmill after reading a book from the library titled 'Using Energy'.
- 🔧 His first windmill had four blades, compared to the three-bladed design in the book, to increase power.
- 🔩 He constructed the windmill using a bicycle frame, a pulley, and a plastic pipe.
- ⚙️ The windmill generated 12 watts of electricity, enough to power four light bulbs and two radios.
- 👨👩👧👦 His parents were impressed with his achievement.
- 💡 William's next goal was to build a larger windmill to pump water for irrigation.
- 🌱 The new windmill was expected to produce more than 20 watts of power, benefiting the entire village.
- 🤝 He sought help at TED to acquire materials and support for his energy projects.
- 🔭 William aspires to continue working in the field of energy.
Q & A
Where is William Kamkwamba from?
-William Kamkwamba is from Malawi, specifically from Kasungu.
How old is William Kamkwamba in the script?
-William Kamkwamba is 19 years old in the script.
What was William's idea when he was younger?
-William's idea was to make a windmill.
What was the purpose of the windmill William wanted to build?
-The purpose of the windmill was to generate electricity for lighting and other uses.
How did William learn about building a windmill?
-William learned about building a windmill from a book titled 'Using Energy' that he read at the library after dropping out of school.
What was unique about the design of William's windmill compared to the one in the book?
-The design in the book had three blades, but William's windmill had four blades to increase power.
What materials did William use to construct his windmill?
-William used a bicycle frame, a pulley, and a plastic pipe to construct his windmill.
How much electricity did William's windmill generate?
-William's windmill generated 12 watts of electricity.
What could the electricity generated by the windmill power?
-The electricity generated could power four bulbs and two radios.
What was the reaction of William's parents to his windmill project?
-William's parents were impressed with his windmill project.
What is William's next goal regarding windmill construction?
-William's next goal is to build a larger windmill to pump water for irrigation of crops, which would produce more than 20 watts.
How does William hope to achieve his next windmill project?
-William hopes to achieve his next windmill project with the help of people at TED who might be able to provide materials.
What are William's future aspirations in the field of energy?
-William aspires to continue working in the field of energy.
Outlines
🌐 William Kamkwamba's Windmill Invention
In this TED Talk, Chris Anderson interviews William Kamkwamba, a 19-year-old from Malawi. William shares his story of how he built a windmill at the age of 14 using a bicycle frame, a pulley, and a plastic pipe. He was inspired by a book he read at the library titled 'Using Energy.' His windmill has four blades, which he designed to increase power output compared to the three-blade design in the book. The windmill generates 12 watts of electricity, enough to power four light bulbs and two radios in his home. William's parents are shown in a picture holding a radio, indicating their support and amazement at his accomplishment. William expresses his desire to build a larger windmill capable of pumping water for irrigation, which would produce more than 20 watts of power. He seeks assistance with materials to realize this dream and envisions a future working in the field of energy.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Windmill
💡Malawi
💡Innovation
💡Resourcefulness
💡Education
💡Sustainability
💡Energy
💡Irrigation
💡Materials
💡Community
💡Dream
Highlights
William Kamkwamba introduces his home in Malawi, Kasungu.
At 19 years old, William shares his idea of building a windmill at the age of 14.
William's windmill was intended to provide lighting and power.
After dropping out of school, William found inspiration in a book called 'Using Energy'.
He successfully built his first windmill using scrap materials.
William's windmill design has four blades, differing from the book's three-blade design.
The four-blade design was chosen to increase power output.
Materials used for the windmill included a bicycle frame, a pulley, and a plastic pipe.
The windmill generated 12 watts of electricity, enough to power four bulbs and two radios.
William's parents are shown holding a radio, impressed by their son's invention.
William aspires to build another windmill for water pumping and crop irrigation.
The next windmill is planned to be larger, producing more than 20 watts.
William envisions the new windmill providing irrigation for the entire village.
He seeks help at TED to acquire materials for his next project.
William expresses his ongoing interest in working with energy.
Chris Anderson honors William's presence at the TED conference.
Transcripts
Chris Anderson: William, hi. Good to see you.
William Kamkwamba: Thanks.
CA: So, we've got a picture, I think? Where is this?
WK: This is my home. This is where I live.
CA: Where? What country?
WK: In Malawi, Kasungu. In Kasungu. Yeah, Mala.
CA: OK. Now, you're 19 now?
WK: Yeah. I'm 19 years now.
CA: Five years ago you had an idea. What was that?
WK: I wanted to make a windmill.
CA: A windmill?
WK: Yeah.
CA: What, to power -- for lighting and stuff?
WK: Yeah.
CA: So what did you do? How did you realize that?
WK: After I dropped out of school, I went to library,
and I read a book that would -- "Using Energy,"
and I get information about doing the mill.
And I tried, and I made it.
(Applause)
CA: So you copied -- you exactly copied the design in the book.
WK: Ah, no. I just --
CA: What happened?
WK: In fact, a design of the windmill that was in the book,
it has got four -- ah -- three blades,
and mine has got four blades.
CA: The book had three, yours had four.
WK: Yeah.
CA: And you made it out of what?
WK: I made four blades, just because I want to increase power.
CA: OK.
WK: Yeah.
CA: You tested three, and found that four worked better?
WK: Yeah. I test.
CA: And what did you make the windmill out of?
What materials did you use?
WK: I use a bicycle frame, and a pulley, and plastic pipe, what then pulls --
CA: Do we have a picture of that? Can we have the next slide?
WK: Yeah. The windmill.
CA: And so, and that windmill, what -- it worked?
WK: When the wind blows, it rotates and generates.
CA: How much electricity?
WK: 12 watts.
CA: And so, that lit a light for the house? How many lights?
WK: Four bulbs and two radios.
CA: Wow.
WK: Yeah.
(Applause) CA: Next slide --
so who's that?
WK: This is my parents, holding the radio.
CA: So what did they make of -- that you were 14, 15 at the time --
what did they make of this? They were impressed?
WK: Yeah.
CA: And so what's your -- what are you going to do with this?
WK: Um --
CA: What do you -- I mean -- do you want to build another one?
WK: Yeah, I want to build another one --
to pump water and irrigation for crops.
CA: So this one would have to be bigger?
WK: Yeah.
CA: How big?
WK: I think it will produce more than 20 the watts.
CA: So that would produce irrigation for the entire village?
WK: Yeah.
CA: Wow. And so you're talking to people here at TED
to get people who might be able to help in some way
to realize this dream?
WK: Yeah, if they can help me with materials, yeah.
CA: And as you think of your life going forward,
you're 19 now,
do you picture continuing with this dream of working in energy?
WK: Yeah. I'm still thinking to work on energy.
CA: Wow. William, it's a real honor to have you at the TED conference.
Thank you so much for coming.
WK: Thank you.
(Applause)
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