Saul Griffith is an inventor. He’s changed the world, but you won’t see his inventions going out into space or being adopted by Google.

He focusses on materials which benefit the community – inventions for the developing world, or to create sustainability.

Saul is most-known for creating an inexpensive technique for making prescription eyeglasses, Wikipedia shares. The project is touted as becoming one of the leading solutions for developing nations for those persons in need of eyesight correction.

Saul’s innovations span industrial design, technology, and science education – but one of his real passions is energy and sustainability.

In fact, Saul initiated the project design for a hand-held human-powered generator, which has the potential significantly to improve access to electronic devices such as laptops and water purifiers throughout the world.

One of Saul’s interests is looking at kites which tap into wind-energy, to power boats, but also drawing on this power to run all our energy needs. Saul’s TED talk on kites tapping into wind energy shares the project that his company Makani Power has been working on: giant kite turbines that create surprising amounts of clean, renewable energy.

“We still have an energy crisis, and now we have a climate crisis as well. You know, so humans generate about 12 trillion watts, or 12 terawatts, from fossil fuels. And Al Gore has spoken to why we need to hit one of these targets, and in reality what that means is in the next 30 to 40 years, we have to make 10 trillion watts or more of new clean energy, somehow.” Saul explains in the talk.

“Wind is the second-largest renewable resource after solar: 3600 terawatts, more than enough to supply humanity 200 times over. The majority of it is in the higher altitudes, above 300 feet, where we don’t have a technology as yet to get there.”

At the 2009 Live Futures Festival, Saul Griffith will be speaking about the future of energy and sharing what real-world tangible things we can do to reduce energy consumption and boost sustainable energy practices.

His keynote presentation looking at our world, the energy we could be harnessing and how preserving our planet really is in our hands.

See Saul Griffith at Live Futures 2020 in 2009.
1.30pm, in E Block of COFA UNSW, room EG02.

___________________________________

References:
http://www.ted.com/talks/saul_griffith_on_kites_as_the_future_of_renewable_energy.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Griffith
http://www.ted.com/talks/saul_griffith_on_everyday_inventions.html
http://www.ted.com/speakers/saul_griffith.html
http://www.howtoons.com/

This post is tagged energy, environment, inventor, power, Saul Griffiths, solar, sustainability, USA, wind