Business Insider
Hannah Herbst designed an ocean probe capable of powering desalination pumps in third-world countries.
15-year-old Hannah Herbst wants to bring renewable energy to developing countries, and is very close to doing just that.
The teen, from Boca Raton, Florida, was inspired by her 9-year-old pen pal in Ethiopia who has limited access to electricity. She told Business Insider: “I can’t even imagine a day without electricity.”
For this year’s Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge, Hannah worked tirelessly to design a probe which can generate power and fresh water by harvesting it from ocean currents.
The recently-designed energy probe is made of recycled materials and costs just $12. It consists of a 3D-printed propeller, connected by a pulley inside a plastic PVC pipe to a hydroelectric generator, which converts the mechanical movement of ocean currents to usable electricity.
FastcoExist
When Herbst tested the device in the Boca Raton Intracoastal Waterway, where the current comes in from the Atlantic Ocean, she was able to power a set of LED lights.
If the design were scaled up, she calculated, enough electricity could be produced to charge three car batteries at once in less than an hour. That’s enough energy to power saltwater desalination pumps to provide a source of fresh water for developing countries!
It could also power blood centrifuges for medical use, or coastal beacons for ship navigation.
The Plaid Zebra
This design won Hannah the title of “America’s Top Young Scientists” and $25,000 at the competition at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Her mentor for the project was 3M corporate scientist Jeffrey Emslander, whose research has helped the company reduce its emissions and produce its products using less energy. They are pictured together below.
Business Insider
The inspiring young teen intends to donate some of the new winnings to her Ethiopian pen pal, and toward a new building at her school. The rest will go into her college fund, she said.
Hannah also plans to keep working with her 3M mentor to improve her ocean energy device, and eventually deploy it in developing countries. When it is ready to share, she plans on making her finalized design open-source so that it is available to underdeveloped communities for free.
Herbst told FastCompany: “Everybody in the world can have access to the materials list and the data I got—everything you need to make this device. I really want to help my pen pal. I can’t imagine a day without energy in my life.”
What are your thoughts? Comment below and share this news!
Source: True Activist
Related:
- Longest Floating Structure In History Sets Out To Clean The Ocean In 2016!
- 20 Year Old Claims He Can Rid the World’s Oceans Of Plastic
- Adidas Creates Sneakers That Are Made Entirely from Ocean Trash
- This Gorgeous Power Plant Will Use Ocean Tides To Power 155K Homes
- Young Sisters Make $650,000 Selling Origami And Use It To Build Wells All Over The World
- 60 Minutes On This Bicycle Can Power Your Home For 24 Hours!
- This Billionaire is Giving Away 99% Of His Wealth, Funding Hi-Tech Sustainable Inventions for the Financially Weak
- Tesla’s $3,500 Powerwall Will Let Households Run Entirely On Solar Energy!
- Nigerians Are Building Fireproof, Bulletproof, And Eco-Friendly Homes With Plastic Bottles And Mud
- Fungus Discovered in Rainforest Capable Of Eating Plastic Pollution
- Water Nest 100: An Eco-Friendly, Solar-Powered Home Made With Near 100% Recycled Materials
- 10 Reasons Why EarthShips Are Awesome
- Meet The Woman Building Stunning Sustainable Homes From Bamboo
- Man Builds Fairy Tale Home for His Family – Total Cost £3,000
- Man Builds His Dream Mini-Home In Only Six Weeks For $9,000
- How To Build a 400 Square Foot Solar Powered Off Grid Cabin for $2,000
- This Is The Pallet Emergency Home. It Can Be Built In 1 Day With Only Basic Tools
- A 31 Year Old Was Sick Of Expensive Rent And High Costs. What He Did Took Guts… But Look Inside
- Sick Of Paying Rent? Just Build Your Own Tiny Palace, Like These Guys Did
- 3D Printing: 2,500 Ft² House PRINTED in 20 Hours
- This Billionaire is Giving Away 99% Of His Wealth, Funding Hi-Tech Sustainable Inventions for the Financially Weak
- Paradise or Oblivion (Documentary) - The Venus Project
- Netherlands Is The 1st Country To Open A Solar Road For Public Use
- The Netherlands Will Become the First Country to Pave Its Roads with Recycled Plastic
- UK About To Test Roads That Charge Electric Cars As They Drive
- Germany’s first waste-free supermarket about to open its doors
- Russian Physicists Launch Campaign To Rebuild Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower And Power The World
- Rapper Akon Opens Academy to Provide Solar Power to 600 Million Africans
- Non-Profit Organization Brings Free Solar Energy To The People Of Gaza
Great result as for the 9th grader!
ReplyDeleteI mean that is not a breakthrough in science but still is a good result. Did you know about the best data rooms? If you didn't, I could provide you with all necessary information.