Thursday, January 24, 2008

Aquaduct wins first prize in "Innovate Or Die" contest

Someone has managed to combine two of my biggest interests: biking and water purification.



The Aquaduct is pedal powered vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water for the developing world. A peristaltic pump attached to the pedal crank draws water from a large tank, through a filter, to a smaller clean tank. The clean tank is removable and closed for contamination-free home storage and use. A clutch engages and disengages the drive belt from the pedal crank, enabling the rider to filter the water while traveling or while stationary.

The Aquaduct is the winning entry in the Innovate or Die contest put on by Google and Specialized. The contest challenge was to build a pedal powered machine that has environmental impact. See the website www.innovate-or-die.com for more details.

The only way I can see to improve upon this would be to add a fermentation tank so that the water can be made into beer.

1 comment:

Tim said...

Maybe the best example of human ingenuity I've seen in years.