Dean Kamen aims to clean water, generate electricity with Slingshot machine
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 23rd 2008 6:02PM
posted April 23rd 2008 6:02PM
This one has been making the rounds for a little while now (including a recent appearance on The Colbert Report, viewable after the break), but it hasn't received anything near Segway-like coverage, which is all the more curious given that it's potentially a far more important device. Dubbed the Slingshot, Dean Kamen's latest creation promises to do nothing short of producing clean water from virtually any liquid source (without filters) and generate enough electricity to power about 70 energy efficient light bulbs. What's more, Kamen estimates that the machines would cost between $1,000 and $2,000 which, given the number of people a single one is likely to help, is certainly quite the bargain.
My friends dad used to make solar powered vapor distillers like 20 years ago. I'd make one myself but I don't have a yard to put it it. It's a pretty simple concept:
http://www.solaqua.com/
http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/surv/sstill.htm
http://www.solaqua.com/solstilbas.html
These devices will most certainly lead to population explosions in some of the most war-prone, ecologically sensitive, and socially unstable regions in the world. Further food shortages, deforestation, and loss of flora and fauna are guaranteed to follow, not to mention an explosion in the number of people who will grow up to inevitably wish for and work toward the destruction of the Western world. There are so many horrible diseases we don't know how to cure, and people waste time and money trying to help Africans boil their water. This ranks right up their with the Gates Foundation's movement to inoculate the 3rd world.
I wonder why they will inevitably wish for and work toward the destruction of the Western world? Do you think it might be because rich people in the Western world have been burning raping and pillaging the rest of the world for the past few thousand years?
Yup - sucks to be them. Too bad they didn't invent algebra, representative republics, the laws of thermodynamics or any of the other things that have allowed the Western thought to dominate the planet.
It takes undeveloped societies centuries to fully develop. Just because you provide populations with clean water doesn't mean they'll make the jump from the neolithic age to 21st century in a generation. They WILL go through a population explosion first, and the results of that will be unsustainable. Lets devote resources that are going to have a real and positive impact on the environment, not cast it into further peril.
It's an interesting device. If I understand the basic principle -- the contaminated water is evaporated leaving the impurities behind at the origin. The clean water vapor condenses and is funneled to a clean storage container.
Am I close?
Based on what I've seen, it's an interesting blend of engineering. It would be interesting to see if it can address the problems of contaminated water in developing countries.
Sure there are other options -- using solar heat for direct water purification. It would be interesting to see solar heat used to power that Stirling generator.
Wouldn't direct solar heat be more efficient than trying to convert the solar rays into electricity? It seems like you get a little of both with Kamen's device.
And for naysayers, potable water is going to be a huge problem. I'm amazed at the wide swathes of water that are shipped from Northern California to Southern California each year. That lifeline appears to be increasingly at risk.
Anyway, Kamen's project is not the first solution, but it is intriguing.
Even tough it looks really nice, I'm still not buying it...
Kamen is trying to sell it of as a wonder-machine that fixes everything "for free". He forgets to mention that it will still need a steady fuel supply to keep it running. Using cow dung sounds nice in theory, but you will need shitloads (pun intended) to get the same efficiancy as when you would be using a fossile fuel generator to power the machine.
Where would all that cow dung come from? I'm really thinking that people in third world countries would rather eat most of their food, instead of giving it to their kettle, in hope of a larger "shit-production".
Cutting down trees would ofcourse be a perfectly acceptable alternative...
As MadMike pointed out, the idea of using solar cells to power the machine (in Western countries!) sounds nice, but is really economic nonsense. If you would just sell your excess of electricity, you would save more money, with which you can buy clean water from a large company. Large scale water cleaning will always be cheaper than personal solutions.
Secondly, the idea of solving 50% of the worlds disease is, 1: incorrect and 2: would cause an even bigger problem.
50% of the worlds diseases come from polluted water he says. He did forget to mention that 90-95% of those diseases are caused by virii or other micro-organisnms, that could be destroyed by simply boiling the water. That would take a lot less cow dung to do... If educating these people already fails, why would a 100k personal machine (powered by solar cells, or wind energy) do the trick instantly?
My second point would be the issue that a lot of you already said, the growth of the world population. We are now already over our limits, and adding 5 billion more people would drasticly change well, everything. Even though it might seem like a perfect idea to save the third world, this would probably cause even more problems.
The solution lies in the Western world imo. We have the power, the resources, not yet the political will but that might come, to change OUR part of the world. If we could make sure that our ecological footprint drasticly decreases, our energy sources become renewable, etc... This would reduce the stress on earth in a way bigger way then by helping the third world to develop.
When the stress on earth will be reduced, it will leave a bigger margin to those pieces of the world that need it more: the Third World.
We can then focus on solving that problem, in a decent fashion, and not by dropping "great new western technology" on their heads, and hoping for the best.
A couple of remarks to the posts of A.C.E.R.,
1, I'm quite happy being a racist elitist western fuck, if that helps me solve our problems first, and then helps me solve theirs later, in a responsible way. As Lloyd replyed, the only elitist fuck around here are you, by thinking that giving technology to "the ignorant" will solve all your problems. The Greek found that out 2600 years ago (Prometheus), perhaps you could do that to?
2, "Even more pathetic than somebody who misspells pathetic!"
It probably never crossed your racist elitist western mind that 80% of the worlds population doesn't speak english as their native language? I don't speak english at home, but I'm still trying to write my opinions, in a decent fashion, and don't resolve to ignorant "flame wars" like you.
You are making WAY too much sense. Clearly you must be (insert demagogic insult here).
The host is a fuc*$n di&k to this great inventor.
Yes. That's the one of the main features of "The Colbert Report" -- comedian Steven Colbert plays a blowhard conservative TV show host.
He's trying to score some laughs while interviewing the guests. He's been known to rankle liberal guests by asking if the current Iraq war is a great war or the greatest war.
Dean Kamen looks like the G-Man from HL.
Poor african nations will hate this device because the dictators that run them and their white euro/american collaborators do not want an empowered independent populace. They've kept african people poor and on the brink of total war for a century despite the massive inherent wealth in natural resources and lush forests.
Kamen, watch your back, you are going to be going up against big boys who have a lot of money to lose if your invention takes off.
The government can add these to Medical Ships as part of a disaster relief program, while our doctors go out to help the affected they could have engineers setting these up to bring the locals fresh drinking water for situations like Katrina and the 04 tsunami.
I could see the ships hold containing tens of these that could be set up and monitored in localized areas.
Let's be fair: no device is more important than the Segway.
I think people mentioning that wind or solar would be able to do the job is simply pointing out that this invention is mostly pointless. Not to mention how many times the excellent point was mentioned about people using less energy to boil the water or using inexpensive and more plentiful water filters or non biological contaminants. I do like his wheel chair invention and his insulin device, I work in a hospital and see them all the time. But everything else of his *that I know of* is a waste of time and money.
How many Courics would it take to generate one Kilowatt of power?
That could be alot of P.F. Changs!!
i love dean hes one of my all time favorite humans. no shit if these things where on a shelf some where id go buy one today ive got the extra 2000 laying around and it sure would beat out the 330 $ electric bill i just paid AND id have some extra clean water to drink geeze the world should smarten up and listen to this man
If you drink only distilled water you die. take note.
I am surprised.
No one has mentioned that some pollutants have a lower heat of vaporization than water.
They too will end up in the collecting tube of the condenser. Therefore his claims that ANYTHING can be cleaned out of the water is a falsehood.
A whiskey powered cell-phone?
Hells no!
Can you imagine the damn thing calling all your ex (boy/girl) friends at 2 in the morning all by itself?