William’s Windmill



William’s Windmill, originally uploaded by whiteafrican.

Inspiring, innovative and representative of what Africa’s future holds.

William Kamkwamba is a 19 year old Malawian who built his first windmill at 14. Here he is, pictured just this last week doing some work on his windmill near his home.

The propellers are made of plastic pipes supported by sticks to that they should not bend when the wind is strong and placed almost vertical to the direction the winds is coming.

Unlike in most windmills where the propellers directly turn the spindle connected to the turbines directly, William added pulleys to his machine to increase speed thereby generating more energy.

There are three pulleys and the last is connected to a bicycle wheel. When this wheel turns it turns a dynamo which in turn generates electricity.

Read his blog for inspiring stories about making things work in rural Africa!

Read more on William’s Windmill blog in Malawi.

11 comments for this post.

Comment from Nigerian Blogs Aggregator
2 September 2010 - 6:41 am - :

“William Kamkwamba is a 19 year old Malawian who built his first windmill at 14. Here he is, pictured just this last week doing some work on his windmill near his home.” – Erik, AfriGadget William: The windmill now powers lights for 3 rooms and a light over our porch outside. I also use it to power my family’s two radios. I also can charge mobile phones that the neighbors have. William Kamkwamba

“William Kamkwamba is a 19 year old Malawian who built his first windmill at 14. Here he is, pictured just this last week doing some work on his windmill near his home.” – Erik, AfriGadget William: The windmill now powers lights for 3 rooms and a light over our porch outside. I also use it to power my family’s two radios. I also can charge mobile phones that the neighbors have. William Kamkwamba

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Comment from Editor’s Pick: William’s Windmill - AfricanLoft
25 June 2007 - 9:05 am - :

[...] he is, pictured just this last week doing some work on his windmill near his home.” – Erik, AfriGadget William: The windmill now powers lights for 3 rooms and a light over our porch outside. I also use [...]

Comment from Editor’s Pick: William’s Windmill - AfricanLoft
25 June 2007 - 9:05 am - :

[...] he is, pictured just this last week doing some work on his windmill near his home.” – Erik, AfriGadget William: The windmill now powers lights for 3 rooms and a light over our porch outside. I also use [...]

Comment from Hugg /
25 June 2007 - 1:52 pm - :

[...] Williams Windmill posted by Odziz 38 minutes ago view profile William Kamkwamba is a 19 year old Malawian who built his first windmill at 14. Here he is, pictured just this last week doing some work on his windmill near his home. The propellers are made of plastic pipes supported by sticks to that they should not bend when the wind is strong and placed almost vertical to the direction the winds is coming. Unlike in most windmills where the propellers directly turn the spindle connected to the turbines directly, William added pulleys to his machine to increase speed thereby generating more energy. There are three pulleys and the last is connected to a bicycle wheel. When this wheel turns it turns a dynamo which in turn generates electricity. Read his blog for inspiring stories about making things work in rural Africa! Read more on Williams Windmill blog in Malawi. comment | tags: windmill malawi all | Add this link to… Add to: del.icio.us | my favorites / bookmarks | [...]

[...] Williams Windmill posted by Odziz 38 minutes ago view profile William Kamkwamba is a 19 year old Malawian who built his first windmill at 14. Here he is, pictured just this last week doing some work on his windmill near his home. The propellers are made of plastic pipes supported by sticks to that they should not bend when the wind is strong and placed almost vertical to the direction the winds is coming. Unlike in most windmills where the propellers directly turn the spindle connected to the turbines directly, William added pulleys to his machine to increase speed thereby generating more energy. There are three pulleys and the last is connected to a bicycle wheel. When this wheel turns it turns a dynamo which in turn generates electricity. Read his blog for inspiring stories about making things work in rural Africa! Read more on Williams Windmill blog in Malawi. comment | tags: windmill malawi all | Add this link to… Add to: del.icio.us | my favorites / bookmarks | [...]

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Comment from Lars Neyer
27 June 2007 - 3:17 pm - :

Hi;

AfriGadget can now be accessed on mobile phones by entering the address ‘clfy.net/afri’ in the phone’s webrowser.

Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Best regards,
Lars Meyer
Creator of CELLIFY

Comment from Erik
28 June 2007 - 9:21 am - :

Lars, thanks for setting that up. I’m going to go give it a try.

Comment from StumbleUpon » Your page is now on StumbleUpon!
24 July 2007 - 10:14 am - :

[...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]

[...] Your page is on StumbleUpon [...]

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Comment from William Kamkwamba - Dogpile Web Search
30 November 2007 - 2:29 pm - :

[...] from spare parts, … http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/153 [Found on Google, Yahoo! Search] 5. William’s Windmill — AfriGadget Archive William Kamkwamba is a 19 year old Malawian who built his first windmill at 14. Here he is, [...]

[...] from spare parts, … http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/153 [Found on Google, Yahoo! Search] 5. William’s Windmill — AfriGadget Archive William Kamkwamba is a 19 year old Malawian who built his first windmill at 14. Here he is, [...]

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Comment from AfriGadget: African tinkerers make strange but effective use of technology
16 January 2008 - 12:55 am - :

[...] poop gas generator http://www.afrigadget.com/2007/06/25/williams-windmill/another windmillhttp://www.afrigadget.com/2007/07/A third windmill powers a cel phone [...]

[...] poop gas generator http://www.afrigadget.com/2007/06/25/williams-windmill/another windmillhttp://www.afrigadget.com/2007/07/A third windmill powers a cel phone [...]

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Comment from Chief Goodness › (Hand)Made in Africa
16 January 2008 - 6:31 am - :

[...] Kamkwamba shot to fame with his windmill (TED, Afrigadget), we loosely connected African ingenuity with a few more things that spin around.From DreamingSelf [...]

Comment from Globally Green Living » Blog Archive » William Kamkwamba’s Windmills
14 July 2008 - 6:28 pm - :

[...] blogger Soyapi Mumba and continued through to other blogs such as Hactivate, White African, AfriGadget and others. Emeka Okafor who is the curator of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Global [...]

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