Here’s a small reason for optimism about the world’s future, in the form of a CNET News story about two guys in Silicon Valley voluntarily using their technical know-how and business savvy to help the poorest among us in developing countries:
The technical concept behind the Green Wi-Fi network is fairly simple. Each node in the network consists of a battery-powered router and a solar panel to charge the battery. The nodes are mounted on rooftops, and the network’s Wi-Fi signals are transferred over a grid using a wireless network standard known as 802.11b/g.
The first seed money has arrived, enough to produce and test prototype nodes. It came from the One Laptop Per Child initiative (OLPC), which aims to construct a $100 laptop to be distributed to children in developing countries. OLPC showed immediate interest in the Wi-Fi initiative, Pomerleau said.
“We’ve heard that the strongest criticism they get when they evangelize their laptop is ‘What do you do about the network?’ If you have a computer but no Internet, you can play games and do spreadsheets, but accessing the world’s information is really where the value is.”
The two men decided that Wi-Fi technology would make the most sense, since it is standardized, relatively inexpensive and simple to deploy. The trick to operating a Wi-Fi system in many developing countries is to find a consistent source of electrical power. But while billions of people don’t have reliable electricity, most of the developing world doesn’t lack sunlight.
Closing the digital divide with solar Wi-Fi | CNET News.com.
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