Wind-Up Wonder

How old-fashioned low-technology saves lives in the developing world

July/August 2002 Issue

By Andy Steiner

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In the Western world, we’re so wired to cell phones, laptops, and disk players that the electronic din drowns out just about everything else. But there are parts of the world where electronic technology is so precious that one transistor radio can literally mean the difference between life and death. For rural Africans, a radio report on AIDS prevention basics could be a lifesaver, as could a community cell phone for Indian families in a flood-ravaged village. But the very parts of the world that could benefit most from electronic technology are the ones that are least likely to have access to it. A big part of the problem is electrical power. While the West is tangled in wires connecting everyone to everything, people in the poorest parts of the world may still need to walk miles just to reach the nearest electrical outlet. Batteries are expensive and hard to find—and they wear out.A simple but effective answer to this problem is self-powered technology: flashlights, radios, cell phones, and even computers that use muscle and mechanical power instead of electrical input. Thanks to recent advances in this technology, people the world over may soon be turning on even when they can’t plug in. In certain parts of the globe, the result would be nothing short of miraculous."Access to communications can have far-reaching effects on people’s lives," says Kate Raworth, co-author of the 2001 United Nations Human Development Report, in New Scientist (Sept. 8, 2001). "And wind-up technology offers the possibility of moving forward without having to supply electricity to rural areas."Contemporary advances in wind-up technology began some 10 years ago, when British inventor Trevor Baylis, inspired by a television report on the spread of AIDS in rural Africa, developed a wind-up radio that could play for more than eight minutes after 30 seconds of winding. A certain number of the low-cost radios, originally manufactured by the Freeplay Energy company, were sold in Africa, according to New Scientist, but the devices soon became a novelty hit with Western consumers.

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