How Nicaraguan Villagers Built Their Own Electric Grid

http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/renewables/how-nicaraguan-villagers-built-their-own-electric-grid

by jonbaer • 11 years ago

83 17 11 years ago

spectrum.ieee.org

NeutronBoy• 11 years ago

I have nothing to add, except to say what a fantastic article!

It's so cool to see people working on things like this. In my eyes, this has a much great impact than another mobile-app-social-network-for-sharing-pictures, and is definitely something I'd like to get involved somehow at one point in my career.

agumonkey• 11 years ago

We'll have to forgive the mainstream for being mainstream and following newness like digital/web/apps as shallow and even saddening as it can be.

I too hope to see small scale 'decentralized' human effort to enhance areas this way. Even in so-called 'developed' countries, there are rural regions falling out and people are still relying on the idea of a powerful state to take care of things whereas the reality is that the energy/desire is gone and companies don't care about small markets like these. Sooner or later people will realize that they're on their own. For the better.

bcks• 11 years ago

When I visited Nicaragua 10+ years ago, I was impressed by Grupo Fenix, a mix of locals and visitors who build solar cookers and photovoltaic systems for rural communities. If you are interested in learning more or getting involved with this sort of thing, they have a volunteer program: http://www.grupofenix.org

krupt• 11 years ago

wow, Spectrum is incredibly unfriendly to viewing in a full-width browser window. I still feel a bit nauseous from having 2/3 of the screen width filled with giant distractions that pulsate and move when I accidentally mouse over them.

GeorgeHahn• 11 years ago

I've created a userstyle that makes IEEE Spectrum palatable. If you use Stylish, check it out: https://userstyles.org/styles/112927/ieee-spectrum-suckless

ghshephard2• 11 years ago

Whenever I see articles on remote electric grids, it always inspires me to (re)read this classic page: http://ludens.cl/paradise/turbine/turbine.html

Animats• 11 years ago

That's great! That's a nice little hydro plant.

ghshephard2• 11 years ago

I particularly like how he wire-wraps his own transformer. Actually, goes even further - builds his own 10 kVa wirewrapping machine, because the old one that his friend gave him as a present wasn't large enough.

I think it says something about the guy (and his friends) that his friends give him transformer wire-wrapping machines as presents.

djulius• 11 years ago

That's a great link. Thanks for sharing.

veb• 11 years ago

Wow, fantastic read! Incredible.

DanBC• 11 years ago

I love his wiring loom in the second picture. I knew as soon as I saw that that I'd love this article.

Partly because it reminded me of all the time I spent lacing similar looms. http://www.dairiki.org/hammond/cable-lacing-howto/

maxerickson• 11 years ago

Discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6895582

The comments are mostly similar to the replies here.

jacquesm2• 11 years ago

For background on the Nicaraguan 'Contras':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras

Benjamin Linder seems to have been a genuinely nice guy working to put his skills at use to really move the needle, it's a real pity he was murdered for trying to do good.

pjc50• 11 years ago

Via that link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_re... - good to see someone producing a convenient wiki list.

badlam• 11 years ago

US and USSR, wherever they went left destruction, broken societies and economies, Nicaragua, rest of Africa, Afghanistan...

ascotan• 11 years ago

For some reason I imagined a bunch of villagers holding hands in a chain while the guy on the end is touching a transformer.

How Nicaraguan Villagers Built Their Own Electric Grid

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