Teeter-Totter for Sustainable Living

Reader Contribution by Jessie Fetterling
Published on June 25, 2008
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 Photo by Pixabay/Antranias

Daniel Sheridan, 23, found a way to turn children’s energy into electrical power with just a teeter or totter of a board.  The student of Consumer Product Design at Coventry University in the UK invented a see-saw that generates electricity

The idea came to Sheridan while volunteering in Kenya at a school. Riding the see-saw should generate enough electricity to light a classroom for an evening after only five to 10 minutes of use.  While played on, it converts the action of the kids into electrical energy and is then transferred, using an underground cable, to a nearby classroom.

Sheridan recently won about $2,000 for the invention at the Coventry University’s Enterprise Festival, and he plans to use the money to start constructing the design with local supplies in Uganda.  Once the product is introduced to the community, they will have the opportunity to help build and install it.  Sheridan does not intend to make a profit from the product; instead, he just wants to help improve the atmosphere for those working or studying at the school where it will be installed.

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