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Meet Mini-Grids — the Clean Energy Solution Bringing Power to Millions | Tombo Banda | TED

Hundreds of millions of people lack access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa, relying on highly polluting diesel and firewood for power and light. Working to brighten the future in her home country of Malawi and beyond, energy access innovator Tombo Banda makes the case for mini-grids — localized energy systems powered by solar energy that…

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Hundreds of millions of people lack access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa, relying on highly polluting diesel and firewood for power and light. Working to brighten the future in her home country of Malawi and beyond, energy access innovator Tombo Banda makes the case for mini-grids — localized energy systems powered by solar energy that are quick and cheap to deploy — and shares ideas for making them more profitable and scalable.

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48 Comments

48 Comments

  1. @Car_Fanatic

    March 18, 2024 at 9:17 am

    Solar is an overpriced scam. And even when it’s deployed cheaply. It makes the company owning it money with maintenance and breakdown issues.

    If solar companies had morals and ethics and sold properly made quality products at a low price. Solar could be a solution

    All this video is, is a PR marketing video for Solar companies. It’s not about helping Africa

    Don’t believe me, research Solar scams in the US. Ignore the financial loan, never own part of the scandal, that won’t apply to Africa, check the other issues

    Ciao

  2. @howtoitall76

    March 18, 2024 at 9:19 am

    Algo

  3. @odetecatarinachaves1368

    March 18, 2024 at 9:19 am

    Sem tradução 😢

  4. @JohnnyPeacenic

    March 18, 2024 at 9:20 am

    Thats not how it works. You give people electricity and they will use more and more.

  5. @tomasotreasaigh111

    March 18, 2024 at 9:27 am

    So they can cut down trees but can’t figure out what planting one is about? Guess what trees do apart from kindling and firewood… SCRUB CARBON DIOXIDE FROM THE AIR!!
    The hustle is real.

    • @dondoodat

      March 18, 2024 at 9:52 am

      When you’re on the edge of survival you need firewood TODAY.

      You’re not concerned with buying, planting and fetching water for a tree you won’t live long enough to benefit from.

    • @tomasotreasaigh111

      March 18, 2024 at 10:32 am

      @@dondoodat
      So a tree won’t grow on the spot where the tree you just cut down grew? Great logic.

    • @dondoodat

      March 18, 2024 at 10:35 am

      @@tomasotreasaigh111

      As you know, I didn’t say that.

    • @tomasotreasaigh111

      March 18, 2024 at 10:49 am

      @@dondoodat
      My point was, who fetched water for the tree that was cut down, or was it just lucky to be in a spot where a tree will grow? All it takes is some seeds and you can forget about it, or am I not aware of regional problems?

  6. @milonjano

    March 18, 2024 at 9:37 am

    bs

    • @Randomness662

      March 18, 2024 at 10:01 am

      no one’s gonna take your freedom, truck, or guns away. grow up

    • @dh6140

      March 18, 2024 at 10:37 am

      @@Randomness662your not implying something are you. Condescending

  7. @TegridyGenetics

    March 18, 2024 at 9:54 am

    Oh look dei making its way into a Ted talk

    • @tomasotreasaigh111

      March 18, 2024 at 10:57 am

      TotalEquityDiversity Ted? Sounds inclusive 🤟🤣👈

    • @AfroNewYorker88

      March 18, 2024 at 11:02 am

      As a black man, I second this. This smells like the mother WEF-ers behind these “clean energy” and the surge of climate protests.

    • @OlqdbplO

      March 18, 2024 at 11:10 am

      Please enlighten me, as to what exactly about this TED talk has anything to do with dei?

  8. @HomesteadEngineering

    March 18, 2024 at 10:03 am

    I have a 13kW DIY battery backed solar power system that runs just my house and cost $26k US. You said you can power 200 homes and 20 businesses with 50kW. Wow, that got my attention. So your not talking AC/Heat appliances and such but just basic LED lights and some phone charging type stuff. OK… Wait-what…. Mind blown…

    • @newmoneyedvts

      March 18, 2024 at 10:10 am

      You’re on point

    • @cameronjohnson1971

      March 18, 2024 at 12:02 pm

      Bruv, how many people do you think use an AC in subsaharan Africa?

    • @newmoneyedvts

      March 18, 2024 at 12:06 pm

      @@cameronjohnson1971 🤣🤣🤣🤣 oh my God, you see this is the reason I love technology so much because it could actually create life where there is nothing

    • @mbergamin16

      March 18, 2024 at 12:24 pm

      If all they are looking to do is run a few led lights and run USB chargers you can do that with potatoes if you wanted to 😂

    • @newmoneyedvts

      March 18, 2024 at 12:27 pm

      @@mbergamin16 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 or even with potatoes chips

  9. @Randomness662

    March 18, 2024 at 10:11 am

    she killed it with that southern accent lol, that was way too good

  10. @christiansoldier1547

    March 18, 2024 at 11:06 am

    An inverted water wheel does not need to be near a water source. Uses no fuel at all. And is scaleable from house use to neighborhood use, depending on the size you make it.

    • @tomasotreasaigh111

      March 18, 2024 at 11:43 am

      I tried to look one up, no joy. Can you explain a bit more so I can refine my search? Thanks.

    • @christiansoldier1547

      March 18, 2024 at 12:21 pm

      @@tomasotreasaigh111
      New invention not patented and cannot be legally patented by anyone because it was described in detail on a radio station twice. So when an idea for and invention is told over the airwaves to a multitude of people, it becomes unpatentable.
      But to understand what it is, first understand the physics of a water wheel. And overshot water wheel takes on water from overhead into it’s troughs and the weight of the water on one side of the wheel causes it to turn. The axle then produces large amounts of torque to do different kinds of mechanical powered work.
      A cubic foot of water weighs about 62 pounds.
      Ok so now let’s invert the elements.
      Make a wheel that has bellows bags around it. And we’ll put it into a tank of water. The bags on the left have air that’s lifting and the bags on the right side of the wheel are locked shut. The bag at 12 o’clock position gets it’s air squeezed out and sent through a pipe to quickly and inefficiently you the bag at the 6 o’clock position. After transferring the air, the bag gets locked shut and remains locked till about the 5 o’clock position. Air has the same lifting strength as water has for gravitational weight dropping. One cubic foot of air has the lifting strength of 62 pounds. So a 12 foot diameter wheel with 3 cubic feet airbags from 7-11 o’clock positions are 930 pounds of lift strength on one side of the wheel. That’s more than sufficient to send the one at the top of the wheel through the squeeze chute on top. Each bellows bag has a pipe connecting with the adjacent bellows bag at the other’s side of the wheel so the top bag gets squeezed out and locked and the air is sending back to the bottom of the wheel to start all over again.
      It’s actually pretty simple we’re using air to lift with instead of using water as weight to drop with. Since both has the same amount of strength to rotate the wheel. But air can be transferred faster and more efficiently than water due to its mass and weight. The transfer comes from a two rails that slowly getting closer to the wheel and the top of the bellows bags have a hard plate with rollers on them that rotates through the squeeze chute.

  11. @keithnance4209

    March 18, 2024 at 11:42 am

    “Government has competing priorities…”. Root cause of your problems right there…

  12. @straighttalk2069

    March 18, 2024 at 12:02 pm

    This was a great talk by a very intelligent lady highlighting a marvelous low cost method of increasing access to electricity.

  13. @KevinVanGelder

    March 18, 2024 at 12:12 pm

    STOP WITH THE CLIMATE SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    • @divinesitcom9118

      March 20, 2024 at 9:30 am

      The cyclone she mentioned? Are hurricanes, in your mind, not real?

    • @KevinVanGelder

      March 20, 2024 at 10:04 am

      @@divinesitcom9118 global temperatures have always fluctuated, it’s not significantly impacted by human activity. The climate scam is an attempt to steal money from poor people to make rich people more wealthy.

  14. @Crystal-nv4jt

    March 18, 2024 at 12:38 pm

    Thank you for this ted talk! I really hope that solar power will become more and more mainstream like tvs did in the US. 🙂 i know ill be working to advocate for it and learn more

  15. @Crystal-nv4jt

    March 18, 2024 at 12:42 pm

    Also Tombo Banda did a great job presenting her case

  16. @andycordy5190

    March 18, 2024 at 1:50 pm

    The magic of electricity in areas where it is new means all the benefits of economical users for whom it is a precious resource and not something to be taken for granted. Great work.

  17. @PaulADAigle

    March 18, 2024 at 2:10 pm

    I don’t get why the rich aren’t supplying mini-grids all the time.

    • @myparceltape1169

      March 18, 2024 at 5:38 pm

      In 2011 a man told the bus passenger squeezed up next to him what he had been up to the previous evening and night.
      After a few hours he noticed that the sun had climbed well above the horizon and said,
      “That’s good, my wife will be charging the phone now. I must give her a call”.
      Then he carried on with his escapades in the city.

    • @PaulADAigle

      March 18, 2024 at 6:08 pm

      @@myparceltape1169 None of that made any sense.

    • @myparceltape1169

      March 18, 2024 at 6:36 pm

      @@PaulADAigle rich has got nothing to do with it.
      The system was in Kenya long before that. As for Malawi, it was waiting for a local businessman to take it up. Maybe having half a dozen cattle would be enough capital that he wouldn’t need a loan.

      It used to be pointed out to workers unions that if they didn’t dream they would never learn what they could get.

    • @PaulADAigle

      March 18, 2024 at 6:44 pm

      @@myparceltape1169 None of that fits what I’m talking about. I’m saying, “Why aren’t the rich stepping up and showing their humanity by actually helping people while making money.”. The rich take take take, and the rest of us sit in the ruins and wonder why.

  18. @notapplicable-zn9us

    March 18, 2024 at 2:28 pm

    An Awesome presentation

  19. @monal83022

    March 18, 2024 at 3:08 pm

    Great talk! I like the idea of mini-grids and I hope that there will be funding to allow the people of Africa a chance to succeed. Thank you for explaining, I love it when educated people share their ideas. There are way too many loud-mouthed uneducated people on YT.

  20. @myparceltape1169

    March 18, 2024 at 5:35 pm

    In 2011 a man told the bus passenger squeezed up next to him what he had been up to the previous evening and night.
    After a few hours he noticed that the sun had climbed well above the horizon and said,
    “That’s good, my wife will be charging the phone now. I must give her a call”.

    Then he carried on with his escapades in the city.

  21. @MW-vw7ng

    March 18, 2024 at 6:12 pm

    Check out Solarium Express InC

  22. @agathasteacoffeehaus1038

    March 18, 2024 at 7:32 pm

    I agree with her opinion. Thank you, I shared~

  23. @timkiemdautu

    March 18, 2024 at 7:38 pm

    Glad to see this video. I love you guys.❤❤❤

  24. @chelseashurmantine8153

    March 18, 2024 at 9:05 pm

    Yes as soon as I learned of these about 10 months ago I was like “These will save the world!!!”

  25. @chelseashurmantine8153

    March 18, 2024 at 9:14 pm

    The title is confusing. “Meet mini grids” you already put “meet” in the thumbnail

  26. @villagecpa

    March 18, 2024 at 11:04 pm

    What a joke!

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