TEDGlobal 2007
William Kamkwamba: How I built a windmill
William Kamkwamba explique comment construire une éolienne.
Filmed:
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Lorsqu'il avait seulement 14 ans, l'inventeur malawien William Kamlwamba à construit pour sa famille un moulin à vent générant de l'électricité à partir de pièces détachées, en travaillant sur la base de plans généraux trouvé dans un livre à la bibliothèque.
William Kamkwamba - Inventor
To power his family's home, young William Kamkwamba built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap -- starting him on a journey detailed in the book and film "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind." Full bio
To power his family's home, young William Kamkwamba built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap -- starting him on a journey detailed in the book and film "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind." Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:29
Chris Anderson: William, hi. Good to see you.
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Chris Anderson : William, bonjour. Content de te voir.
00:31
William Kamkwamba: Thanks.
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William Kamkwamba : Merci.
00:32
CA: So, we've got a picture, I think? Where is this?
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CA : Alors, on a une photo, je pense ? Où est-ce?
00:37
WK: This is my home. This is where I live.
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WK : C’est chez moi. C’est là où j’habite.
00:41
CA: Where? What country?
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CA : Où ça ? Dans quel pays ?
00:43
WK: In Malawi, Kasungu. In Kasungu. Yeah, Mala.
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WK : Au Malawi, Kasungu. A Kasungu. Mala.
00:46
CA: OK. Now, you're 19 now?
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CA : OK. Désormais, tu as 19 ans, c’est ça ?
00:49
WK: Yeah. I'm 19 years now.
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WK : Oui. J’ai 19 ans maintenant.
00:51
CA: Five years ago you had an idea. What was that?
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CA : Il y a 5 ans tu as eu une idée. Qu’est-ce que c’était ?
00:54
WK: I wanted to make a windmill.
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WK : Faire une éolienne.
00:56
CA: A windmill?
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CA : Une éolienne ?
00:57
WK: Yeah.
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WK : Oui.
00:58
CA: What, to power -- for lighting and stuff?
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CA : Et pour -- quoi -- alimenter quoi -- pour l’éclairage, tout ça ?
01:02
WK: Yeah.
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WK : Voilà.
01:04
CA: So what did you do? How did you realize that?
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CA : Donc tu as fait quoi ? Comment est-ce que tu as construit ça ?
01:07
WK: After I dropped out of school, I went to library,
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WK : Après l’école, je suis allé à la bibliothèque,
01:11
and I read a book that would -- "Using Energy,"
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et j’ai lu un livre -- " Utiliser l’énergie ",
01:15
and I get information about doing the mill.
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et j’ai trouvé des informations sur le moulin.
01:18
And I tried, and I made it.
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Et j’ai essayé et je l’ai fait.
01:20
(Applause)
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(Applaudissements)
01:30
CA: So you copied -- you exactly copied the design in the book.
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CA : Donc tu as copié -- tu as fait la copie exacte du modèle du livre.
01:34
WK: Ah, no. I just --
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WK : Ah, non. J’ai juste --
01:36
CA: What happened?
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CA : Que s’est-il passé ?
01:38
WK: In fact, a design of the windmill that was in the book,
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WK : En fait, dans le dessin de l’éolienne dans le livre,
01:42
it has got four -- ah -- three blades,
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elle avait 4 -- heu -- 3 pales,
01:46
and mine has got four blades.
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et la mienne en a 4.
01:49
CA: The book had three, yours had four.
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CA : Dans le livre il y en avait 3, la tienne en a 4.
01:51
WK: Yeah.
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WK : Oui.
01:52
CA: And you made it out of what?
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CA : Et tu l’as faite à partir de quoi ?
01:54
WK: I made four blades, just because I want to increase power.
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WK : J’ai fait 4 pales, juste parce que je voulais plus de puissance.
01:59
CA: OK.
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CA : OK.
02:00
WK: Yeah.
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WK : Voilà.
02:01
CA: You tested three, and found that four worked better?
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CA : Tu as testé avec 3, et tu as vu qu’avec 4 ça marchait mieux, c’est ça ?
02:03
WK: Yeah. I test.
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WK : Oui, j’ai fait le test.
02:05
CA: And what did you make the windmill out of?
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CA : Et en quoi as-tu fait l’éolienne ?
02:08
What materials did you use?
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Qu’as-tu -- les matériaux que tu as utilisés ?
02:10
WK: I use a bicycle frame, and a pulley, and plastic pipe, what then pulls --
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WK : J’ai utilisé un cadre de vélo, une poulie, un tube en plastique, qui ensuite pousse --
02:16
CA: Do we have a picture of that? Can we have the next slide?
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CA : On a une image de ça ? On peut passer à l’image suivante ?
02:19
WK: Yeah. The windmill.
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WK : Voilà. L’éolienne.
02:21
CA: And so, and that windmill, what -- it worked?
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CA : Et donc, et cette éolienne, ça -- ça a marché ?
02:25
WK: When the wind blows, it rotates and generates.
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WK : Quand le vent souffle, ça tourne et ça fait du courant.
02:30
CA: How much electricity?
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CA : Quelle quantité d’électricité ?
02:31
WK: 12 watts.
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WK : 12 Watts.
02:33
CA: And so, that lit a light for the house? How many lights?
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CA : Et donc, ça allume une ampoule pour la maison ? Combien de lumières ?
02:38
WK: Four bulbs and two radios.
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WK : 4 ampoules et 2 radios.
02:40
CA: Wow.
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CA : Waouh.
02:41
WK: Yeah.
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WK : Oui.
02:42
(Applause) CA: Next slide --
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CA : Et donc -- (Applaudissements) -- image suivante --
02:52
so who's that?
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qui est-ce ?
02:54
WK: This is my parents, holding the radio.
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WK : Ce sont mes parents, portant la radio.
02:57
CA: So what did they make of -- that you were 14, 15 at the time --
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CA : Et qu’ont-ils fait -- tu avais 14, 15 ans à l’époque --
03:01
what did they make of this? They were impressed?
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qu’en ont-ils fait ? Ils étaient impressionnés ?
03:04
WK: Yeah.
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WK : Oh oui.
03:05
CA: And so what's your -- what are you going to do with this?
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CA : Et donc quel est ton -- que vas-tu faire de tout ça ?
03:07
WK: Um --
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WK : Heu --
03:09
CA: What do you -- I mean -- do you want to build another one?
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CA : Que -- je veux dire -- tu veux en construire une autre ?
03:13
WK: Yeah, I want to build another one --
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WK : Oui, je veux en construire une autre --
03:16
to pump water and irrigation for crops.
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pour pomper l’eau et irriguer -- irriguer les cultures.
03:21
CA: So this one would have to be bigger?
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CA : Donc celle-là devra être plus grosse ?
03:23
WK: Yeah.
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WK : C’est ça.
03:24
CA: How big?
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CA : Grosse comment ?
03:25
WK: I think it will produce more than 20 the watts.
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WK : Je pense qu’elle produira plus de 20 Watts.
03:31
CA: So that would produce irrigation for the entire village?
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CA : Cela pourrait alimenter le système d’irrigation de tout le village ?
03:35
WK: Yeah.
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WK : Oui.
03:37
CA: Wow. And so you're talking to people here at TED
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CA : Waouh. Et donc tu parles aux gens ici à TED
03:40
to get people who might be able to help in some way
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pour en trouver qui pourraient t’aider d’une façon ou d’une autre --
03:44
to realize this dream?
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à réaliser ton rêve ?
03:46
WK: Yeah, if they can help me with materials, yeah.
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WK : Oui, s’ils peuvent m’aider -- avec des matériaux, voilà.
03:50
CA: And as you think of your life going forward,
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CA : Et quand tu penses à la suite, à ta vie,
03:53
you're 19 now,
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tu as 19 ans maintenant, est-ce que tu --
03:56
do you picture continuing with this dream of working in energy?
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tu t’imagines continuer avec ce rêve, travailler dans l’énergie ?
04:00
WK: Yeah. I'm still thinking to work on energy.
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WK : Oui. Je pense toujours travailler dans l’énergie.
04:05
CA: Wow. William, it's a real honor to have you at the TED conference.
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CA : Waouh. William, c’est un réel honneur de t’avoir à la conférence de TED.
04:09
Thank you so much for coming.
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Merci tellement d’être venu.
04:11
WK: Thank you.
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WK : Merci.
04:13
(Applause)
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(Applaudissements)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
William Kamkwamba - InventorTo power his family's home, young William Kamkwamba built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap -- starting him on a journey detailed in the book and film "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind."
Why you should listen
William Kamkwamba, from Malawi, is a born inventor. When he was 14, he built an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap, working from rough plans he found in a library book called Using Energy and modifying them to fit his needs. The windmill he built powers four lights and two radios in his family home.
After reading about Kamkwamba on Mike McKay's blog Hactivate (which picked up the story from a local Malawi newspaper), TEDGlobal Conference Director Emeka Okafor spent several weeks tracking him down at his home in Masitala Village, Wimbe, and invited him to attend TEDGlobal on a fellowship. Onstage, Kamkwamba talked about his invention and shared his dreams: to build a larger windmill to help with irrigation for his entire village, and to go back to school.
Following Kamkwamba's moving talk, there was an outpouring of support for him and his promising work. Members of the TED community got together to help him improve his power system (by incorporating solar energy), and further his education through school and mentorships. Subsequent projects have included clean water, malaria prevention, solar power and lighting for the six homes in his family compound; a deep-water well with a solar-powered pump for clean water; and a drip irrigation system. Kamkwamba himself returned to school, and is now attending the African Leadership Academy, a new pan-African prep school outside Johannesburg, South Africa.
Kamkwamba's story is documented in his autobiography, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope. A documentary about Kamkwamba, called William and the Windmill, won the Documentary Feature Grand Jury award at SXSW in 2013 (watch a trailer ). You can support his work and other young inventors at MovingWindmills.org.
William Kamkwamba | Speaker | TED.com