Amy Smith: Simple designs to save a life
エイミー・スミス:生活を支える仕組み
Amy Smith designs cheap, practical fixes for tough problems in developing countries. Among her many accomplishments, the MIT engineer received a MacArthur "genius" grant in 2004 and was the first woman to win the Lemelson-MIT Prize for turning her ideas into inventions. Full bio
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特別な思い入れのある
of one of my favorite projects.
させて頂きます
that I'm working on,
最もワクワクするもので
影響をもたらすかもしれません
to make a huge impact around the world.
のひとつについての取り組みです
health issues on the planet,
死に至らしめる1番の原因は
in children under five.
下痢や栄養失調でしょうか?
Diarrhea? Malnutrition?
室内での調理からでる煙による
from indoor cooking fires --
みなさん、信じられますか?
caused by this.
愕然としました
and somewhat appalling.
作り出せないものでしょうか?
cleaner burning cooking fuels?
開発できないでしょうか?
引き起こすのでしょう?
to over two million deaths every year?
の不思議について
about the wonders of carbon nanotubes,
大きなチューブについて
about the wonders of carbon macro-tubes,
お話したいと思います
98%の森林が伐採されました
ハイチではよく目にします
all over the island.
を引き起こします
of environmental problems
悪影響をもたらします
throughout the nation.
there was severe flooding
to stabilize the soil.
洪水を起こすのです
and the flooding happens.
きた原因の1つに
why there are so few trees is this:
その為に
and they make charcoal in order to do it.
無頓着だからではありません
to the environmental damage.
ただ他の選択肢がないのが現状です
but they have no other choice.
簡単に手に入りませんし
することもできません
that they like their food prepared.
出会うことは珍しくありません
into the forest to find a tree,
木を切り倒し 木炭を作るのです
代替燃料を探すため
to look at alternative cooking fuels.
引き連れて ハイチへ向かい
a team of students down to Haiti
と共に活動しました
Peace Corps volunteers there.
こんなボランティアがいました
in the village where he worked.
彼が作った装置です
that you could take waste paper;
塊を作ることですが
that could be used for fuel.
とても動作が遅かったのです
went to work on it
the throughput of this device.
they were very excited about it.
容易に想像できるでしょう
MITに持ち帰りました
so that they could test them.
この塊は燃えませんでした
that they found was they didn't burn.
discouraging to the students.
ここに見えると思いますが
it says, "US Peace Corps."
古紙は存在しませんでした
any waste paper in this village.
アメリカ政府の書類(古紙)の
of government paperwork
back with him to his village,
(笑い)
村から800キロも離れていました
there might be a better way
an alternative cooking fuel.
必要性を感じました
is we wanted to make a fuel
readily available on the local level.
使った燃料の生成です
小規模の砂糖精製工場です
“バガス”と呼ばれてます
from the sugarcane
栄養素も残っていませんので
so they don't feed it to the animals.
until eventually they burn it.
ただただ山積みになっています
we wanted to find a way
and turn it into a fuel
簡単に調理できる燃料に
that people could easily cook with,
生まれ変えることでした
to develop a process.
and then you take a very simple kiln
シンプルな窯を使いました
a waste fifty five-gallon oil drum.
that goes into the kiln,
入らないよう密閉します
with this carbonized material here.
燃料として使えません
to be useful for cooking.
調理には向いていませんでした
to form it into useful briquettes.
ひとりガーナ出身者がおり
one of my students was from Ghana,
昔つくった料理を覚えていました
used to make for him called "kokonte,"
made out of the cassava root.
キャッサバイモの根が原料でした
is indeed grown in Haiti,
されていることを突き止めました
世界中どこでも栽培されてました
キャッサバイモ すべて同じものです
it's all the same thing --
粘り気のあるお粥を作れますし
sticky porridge out of it,
カスをしっかり接着することもできます
the charcoal briquettes.
そして直ぐにハイチへ飛び発ちました
of the first Ecole de Charbon,
そして ー
実は CIT でも教鞭を執っています
an instructor at MIT as well as CIT.
ここはインドです
to a different continent.
調理用燃料 牛の糞です
cooking fuel in India.
けむたい煙をだすんです
this produces really smoky fires,
として調理をすることで
the health impacts
and biomass as a fuel.
ご理解いただけると思います
影響を受けやすいです
are especially affected by it,
who are around the cooking fires.
火の側にいるからです
this charcoal-making technology there.
確かめたかったんです
they didn't have sugarcane
しかし私たちも諦めませんでした
(バイオマス)について調査しました
the locally available sources of biomass.
稲わらもみつかりました
and there was rice straw in this area.
was actually small amounts of cow manure,
インドでは燃料代わりでしたね
the charcoal briquettes
これは牛の糞です
burning of a cooking fuel.
きれいなことがお分かり頂けるでしょう
a lot more quickly.
comparisons with wood charcoal,
そして塊は少し脆く 調理中にも
も分かりました
as they were cooking.
木炭にも負けない
to make a stronger briquette
wood charcoal in the markets in Haiti.
作る方法をみつけたかった
実験機を使って
燃料の塊を作るための
what sort of forces you needed
a briquette to the level
improved performance out of it?
それと平行作業で
students in the lab looking at this,
プロセス改善に努め
working to develop the process,
できるようにしました
to people in the villages there.
プレス機を開発しました
that allows you to produce charcoal,
木炭に比べ さらに衛生的でした
cleaner than wood charcoal.
売買できる燃料よりも
where we have a product,
you can buy in Haiti in the marketplace,
ことに成功しました
もの木々が自然破壊されています
are cut down every year.
of this being implemented
2億6千万ドルにものぼります
from that charcoal is 260 million dollars.
for a country like Haiti --
of less than 400 dollars.
プロジェクトを推進できました
with our charcoal project.
that I think is also interesting,
リスク分析が専門の友人がいまして
who's been doing risk analysis.
of the health impacts
炭を燃やすことの
you could prevent a million deaths
変えることで100万人もの死を
to charcoal as a cooking fuel.
実に素晴らし発見ですね!
方法はありませんでした
to do it without cutting down trees.
waste material to create a cooking fuel.
作る手段があります
that I took to Ghana just last month.
のエピソードなんですが
原始的な技術で実現してました
than what you just saw,
それがこれです
トウモロコシの穂軸を炭化したものです
塊にしなくても扱える手軽さ ー
that you don't need to form briquettes --
これは私のノートパソコンですが
を持って参りました
I brought samples.
いつでも出荷できます
field-tested, ready to roll out.
about this technology,
transfer is so easy.
技術者育成が必須ですし
how to form it into briquettes
手間を必要としますが
of cooking the binder,
エキサイティングなことなんです
thing in my life right now,
寂しいコメントに聞こえますが
a sad commentary on my life.
最前列の皆さんのように
like you guys in the front row --
とにかく ー
完璧な例だと思います
in those non-zero-sum things.
of the incredibly rare situations
from waste products.
that they were going to spend on charcoal
お金を貯金に回すことができ
and sell it in the market
市場を通じて
商売ができます
環境と経済において
that you don't have trade-offs
はとても稀です
or environment and economics.
that I just find extremely exciting
とてもワクワクするだけでなく
発展できるかがとても楽しみなのです
to see where it takes us.
未来像を思い描くとき
the future we will create,
that I think is necessary
of the world that we live in.
認識することから始まります
という意味ではなく
the world that we live in.
spend two to three hours everyday
穀物を製粉するのに
ということを認識すること
先進的な建築材というのは
where advanced building materials
を意味することを認識すること
that are made by hand,
毎日10時間労働をしても
60 dollars in a month.
現実があることを認識することです
年間400億時間使っている現実があります
40 billion hours a year fetching water.
に住むすべての就労者が
of the state of California
等しい時間です
doing nothing but fetching water.
for example, if this were India,
would have a car.
を知らない世界であり
would know how the use the Internet.
300人が農家で
1日1ドル以下で生活しています
on less than a dollar a day.
"解決策"が必要なんです
need to come up with solutions for.
目を向けられるよう エンジニアや
we need to be training our engineers,
our entrepreneurs to be facing.
を教育する必要があります
いけない解決策です
that we need to find.
are especially important that we address.
して考えているのは
小規模事業の促進のための技術革新
and micro-enterprise,
今ある困難な状況から
below the poverty line
現実はできていません
養鶏などに従事したままです
basket making, poultry rearing, etc.
and new products
貧しい農家のために農作物に
technologies for poor farmers
作り出すことです
戦略の見直しをすべきです
our development strategies,
educational campaigns
ことを目指すのではなく
武装すべきです
about how we can do that effectively.
を編み出すべきです
in these communities
彼ら自身のチカラで
and the tools that they need
それが最良の解決策なのです
彼らの問題解決をしてはなりません
いま共に動かなければいけません
and we need to start doing it now.
if someone has a question --
that you've worked on.
things we're working on
water quality testing,
their own water systems,
know when they treat them, etc.
water-treatment systems.
is looking at solar water disinfection
to be able to do that.
preventing this stuff getting from scale?
or venture capitalists,
what you've got and get it to scale?
of people moving it forward.
which is very fragmented
that you use in the United States
I do what I can with the students.
go out into the field
and move it forward.
with a long time frame,
something done in a year or two years;
five or 10 years ahead.
we can move forward.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Amy Smith - inventor, engineerAmy Smith designs cheap, practical fixes for tough problems in developing countries. Among her many accomplishments, the MIT engineer received a MacArthur "genius" grant in 2004 and was the first woman to win the Lemelson-MIT Prize for turning her ideas into inventions.
Why you should listen
Mechanical engineer Amy Smith's approach to problem-solving in developing nations is refreshingly common-sense: Invent cheap, low-tech devices that use local resources, so communities can reproduce her efforts and ultimately help themselves. Smith, working with her students at MIT's D-Lab, has come up with several useful tools, including an incubator that stays warm without electricity, a simple grain mill, and a tool that converts farm waste into cleaner-burning charcoal.
The inventions have earned Smith three prestigious prizes: the B.F. Goodrich Collegiate Inventors Award, the MIT-Lemelson Prize, and a MacArthur "genius" grant. Her course, "Design for Developing Countries," is a pioneer in bringing humanitarian design into the curriculum of major institutions. Going forward, the former Peace Corps volunteer strives to do much more, bringing her inventiveness and boundless energy to bear on some of the world's most persistent problems.
Amy Smith | Speaker | TED.com