Empower Playgrounds

Empower Playgrounds Inc.
Motto Lighting the World with Recess
Formation March 2007
Type Nonprofit Organization
Headquarters Provo, Utah
Location
Official language
 English
Key people
 Ben Markham (engineer) (founder, president)
Website

Empower Playgrounds, Inc. is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) public charity that has developed electricity-generating playground equipment for use in rural third-world communities with low rates of rural electrification.[1] The chartiy works in predominantly subsistence agriculture communities, where children often work on family farms until sundown; and their schools and homes are not equipped with electricity, making it difficult for children to do homework or develop study habits.

History

EPI was founded in 2007 by retired chemical engineer and Vice-President of Engineering at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, Ben Markham. While living in Ghana, Markham observed darkness of rural homes and school classrooms, and scarcity of play equipment in schoolyards.

With help from Brigham Young University, playground equipment that generates electricity from children's play was created.[2] The concept was field tested and improved in Ghana in 2008. Kweku Anno converted the design to used locally-available materials After school selection involving EPI social scientists and the Ghanaian ministry of Education, Anno Engineering manufactured and installed the systems.

Initially, EPI hand-modified LED camping lanterns so they could be recharged by the EPI system. In 2009, Energizer became a sponsor for EPI, donating their development of a smart LED lantern specifically designed for the EPI service.[3] The smart lantern has a computer chip that manages the charging of the custom battery pack and the operation of the LED lights, which provides lighting equivalent to a 25 watt light bulb for over 40 hours per charge. Lantern life is expected to be around 5 years. In 2009–2010, EPI began including science kits with its playground equipment.

As of January 2016, EPI power-generating play equipment is functioning successfully in sixteen rural schools, reaching around 3,000 students, including some on a rural island off Ghana. EPI intends to improve and extend its playground equipment and science curriculum, and to expand its opeartions outside Ghana.

Products and services

Children at recess in Ghana on Playworld Systems Inc. MGR.

The EPI system currently includes a power generating merry-go-round; glider swing and other equipment are currently being field tested. The merry-go-round is attached to a generation train with a hub bearing. A drive shaft from the hub connects to a helical gearbox operating as a speed-increaser. The high-speed output shaft then turns a magnet windmill generator with around 70% efficiency. The electricity generated by the merry-go-round and all other play equipment in the EPI system is carried to a power enclosure[4] where it is converted to direct current and used to charge a battery. In the enclosure, a MPPT (maximum power point tracking) power controller manages the charging and discharging of the storage batteries, protecting against drainage and ensuring long battery life. A thirty-watt solar panel is also connect to the power enclosure to prevent battery discharging during school breaks. The panel provides about 20% of the total system energy when school is in session.

Children in Ghana study with EPI lanterns.

Energizer Battery Corporation, an EPI sponsor, has developed and currently supplies LED lanterns for use in EPI systems. This custom-designed lantern has a nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack capable of providing children's studies with over 40 hours of bright light between recharges. A chip manages recharging from the large storage battery and power to the LED bulbs. Lighting equivalent to a 25 watt light bulb with an expected service life greater than five years.

Education

Without much access to government-provided electricity or school supplies, the teaching of science within rural villages is often abstract or theoretical. This makes it difficult for children to learn basic concepts as foundations of further learning.

In 2009, an EPI intern traveled to Ghana for three months to meet with the Ghanaian Ministry of Education, elementary education developers, and the students and teachers of rural villages to assess which needs were not being met. It was decided that EPI playground equipment could work for teaching general mechanics, physics, energy transfer, and other basic principles of science for instance demonstrating the conversion of power to electricity.[5]

In the spring of 2010, two more interns from EPI traveled to Ghana to test the science kits and train teachers to use them. The average cost of an EPI system, which includes school selection, manufacturing costs, shipping fees, science lab, teacher training, and installation, is 7000 USD.

In mid-2010, EPI began its scholarship program for promising young children that attend EPI-sponsored rural schools, and who have benefited from the EPI equipment. With the help of this scholarship, one student from rural Ghana is now attending high school, an opportunity not available otherwise.

Notes

  1. ↑ Alliance for Rural Electrification. "Alliance for Rural Electrification: Why Renewables?". Ruralelec.org. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  2. ↑ Archived October 3, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Archived August 6, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Archived August 11, 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ as quoted in Article from The Statesman, 15 Aug. 2008

References

External links

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