0:00:00.640,0:00:01.855 In terms of invention, 0:00:01.880,0:00:04.738 I'd like to tell you the tale[br]of one of my favorite projects. 0:00:04.762,0:00:08.055 I think it's one of the most exciting[br]that I'm working on, 0:00:08.080,0:00:09.800 but I think it's also the simplest. 0:00:10.160,0:00:14.616 It's a project that has the potential[br]to make a huge impact around the world. 0:00:14.640,0:00:18.056 It addresses one of the biggest[br]health issues on the planet, 0:00:18.080,0:00:21.092 the number one cause of death[br]in children under five. 0:00:21.640,0:00:22.840 Which is ...? 0:00:23.680,0:00:26.760 Water-borne diseases?[br]Diarrhea? Malnutrition? 0:00:27.200,0:00:28.400 No. 0:00:28.880,0:00:32.496 It's breathing the smoke[br]from indoor cooking fires -- 0:00:32.520,0:00:35.280 acute respiratory infections[br]caused by this. 0:00:36.040,0:00:37.240 Can you believe that? 0:00:37.880,0:00:41.136 I find this shocking[br]and somewhat appalling. 0:00:41.160,0:00:43.776 Can't we make[br]cleaner burning cooking fuels? 0:00:43.800,0:00:45.736 Can't we make better stoves? 0:00:45.760,0:00:49.776 How is it that this can lead[br]to over two million deaths every year? 0:00:49.800,0:00:54.136 I know Bill Joy was talking to you[br]about the wonders of carbon nanotubes, 0:00:54.160,0:00:57.976 so I'm going to talk to you[br]about the wonders of carbon macro-tubes, 0:00:58.000,0:00:59.216 which is charcoal. 0:00:59.240,0:01:01.216 (Laughter) 0:01:01.240,0:01:03.416 So this is a picture of rural Haiti. 0:01:03.440,0:01:06.736 Haiti is now 98 percent deforested. 0:01:06.760,0:01:09.856 You'll see scenes like this[br]all over the island. 0:01:09.880,0:01:12.656 It leads to all sorts[br]of environmental problems 0:01:12.680,0:01:16.936 and problems that affect people[br]throughout the nation. 0:01:16.960,0:01:19.016 A couple years ago[br]there was severe flooding 0:01:19.040,0:01:20.660 that led to thousands of deaths -- 0:01:20.684,0:01:22.616 that's directly attributable to the fact 0:01:22.640,0:01:25.616 that there are no trees on the hills[br]to stabilize the soil. 0:01:25.640,0:01:26.896 So the rains come -- 0:01:26.920,0:01:29.360 they go down the rivers[br]and the flooding happens. 0:01:30.440,0:01:33.896 Now one of the reasons[br]why there are so few trees is this: 0:01:33.920,0:01:35.296 people need to cook, 0:01:35.320,0:01:39.416 and they harvest wood[br]and they make charcoal in order to do it. 0:01:39.440,0:01:42.345 It's not that people are ignorant[br]to the environmental damage. 0:01:42.369,0:01:44.989 They know perfectly well,[br]but they have no other choice. 0:01:45.013,0:01:47.016 Fossil fuels are not available, 0:01:47.040,0:01:51.936 and solar energy doesn't cook the way[br]that they like their food prepared. 0:01:51.960,0:01:54.096 And so this is what they do. 0:01:54.120,0:01:58.296 You'll find families like this who go out[br]into the forest to find a tree, 0:01:58.320,0:02:01.200 cut it down and make charcoal out of it. 0:02:02.440,0:02:03.656 So not surprisingly, 0:02:03.680,0:02:08.479 there's a lot of effort that's been done[br]to look at alternative cooking fuels. 0:02:09.360,0:02:12.416 About four years ago, I took[br]a team of students down to Haiti 0:02:12.440,0:02:14.856 and we worked with[br]Peace Corps volunteers there. 0:02:14.880,0:02:16.296 This is one such volunteer 0:02:16.320,0:02:19.936 and this is a device that he had built[br]in the village where he worked. 0:02:19.960,0:02:22.616 And the idea was[br]that you could take waste paper; 0:02:22.640,0:02:23.856 you could compress it 0:02:23.880,0:02:26.536 and make briquettes[br]that could be used for fuel. 0:02:26.560,0:02:28.576 But this device was very slow. 0:02:28.600,0:02:31.696 So our engineering students[br]went to work on it 0:02:31.720,0:02:33.816 and with some very simple changes, 0:02:33.840,0:02:36.896 they were able to triple[br]the throughput of this device. 0:02:36.920,0:02:39.456 So you could imagine[br]they were very excited about it. 0:02:39.480,0:02:43.280 And they took the briquettes back to MIT[br]so that they could test them. 0:02:44.000,0:02:48.256 And one of the things[br]that they found was they didn't burn. 0:02:48.280,0:02:51.056 So it was a little[br]discouraging to the students. 0:02:51.080,0:02:52.616 (Laughter) 0:02:52.640,0:02:55.016 And in fact, if you look closely, 0:02:55.040,0:02:57.640 right here you can see[br]it says, "US Peace Corps." 0:02:58.640,0:03:02.456 As it turns out, there actually wasn't[br]any waste paper in this village. 0:03:02.480,0:03:05.696 And while it was a good use[br]of government paperwork 0:03:05.720,0:03:08.625 for this volunteer to bring it[br]back with him to his village, 0:03:08.649,0:03:10.736 it was 800 kilometers away. 0:03:10.760,0:03:13.656 And so we thought perhaps[br]there might be a better way 0:03:13.680,0:03:15.880 to come up with[br]an alternative cooking fuel. 0:03:16.640,0:03:18.896 What we wanted to do[br]is we wanted to make a fuel 0:03:18.920,0:03:22.256 that used something that was[br]readily available on the local level. 0:03:22.280,0:03:24.056 You see these all over Haiti as well. 0:03:24.080,0:03:25.816 They're small-scale sugar mills. 0:03:25.840,0:03:27.336 And the waste product from them 0:03:27.360,0:03:29.776 after you extract the juice[br]from the sugarcane 0:03:29.800,0:03:31.336 is called "bagasse." 0:03:31.360,0:03:32.576 It has no other use. 0:03:32.600,0:03:35.896 It has no nutritional value,[br]so they don't feed it to the animals. 0:03:35.920,0:03:39.960 It just sits in a pile near the sugar mill[br]until eventually they burn it. 0:03:41.040,0:03:43.336 What we wanted to do was[br]we wanted to find a way 0:03:43.360,0:03:46.336 to harness this waste resource[br]and turn it into a fuel 0:03:46.360,0:03:49.336 that would be something[br]that people could easily cook with, 0:03:49.360,0:03:50.600 something like charcoal. 0:03:51.600,0:03:53.216 So over the next couple of years, 0:03:53.240,0:03:56.896 students and I worked[br]to develop a process. 0:03:56.920,0:04:00.736 So you start with the bagasse,[br]and then you take a very simple kiln 0:04:00.760,0:04:03.936 that you can make out of[br]a waste fifty five-gallon oil drum. 0:04:03.960,0:04:06.256 After some time, after setting it on fire, 0:04:06.280,0:04:10.256 you seal it to restrict the oxygen[br]that goes into the kiln, 0:04:10.280,0:04:13.280 and then you end up[br]with this carbonized material here. 0:04:14.080,0:04:15.656 However, you can't burn this. 0:04:15.680,0:04:20.375 It's too fine and it burns too quickly[br]to be useful for cooking. 0:04:20.399,0:04:24.656 So we had to try to find a way[br]to form it into useful briquettes. 0:04:24.680,0:04:28.096 And conveniently,[br]one of my students was from Ghana, 0:04:28.120,0:04:31.454 and he remembered a dish his mom[br]used to make for him called "kokonte," 0:04:31.478,0:04:34.936 which is a very sticky porridge[br]made out of the cassava root. 0:04:34.960,0:04:36.536 And so what we did was we looked, 0:04:36.560,0:04:39.656 and we found that cassava[br]is indeed grown in Haiti, 0:04:39.680,0:04:41.816 under the name of "manioc." 0:04:41.840,0:04:43.793 In fact, it's grown all over the world -- 0:04:43.817,0:04:46.896 yucca, tapioca, manioc, cassava,[br]it's all the same thing -- 0:04:46.920,0:04:49.016 a very starchy root vegetable. 0:04:49.040,0:04:52.256 And you can make a very thick,[br]sticky porridge out of it, 0:04:52.280,0:04:56.416 which you can use to bind together[br]the charcoal briquettes. 0:04:56.440,0:04:59.616 So we did this. We went down to Haiti. 0:04:59.640,0:05:02.296 These are the graduates[br]of the first Ecole de Charbon, 0:05:02.320,0:05:04.016 or Charcoal Institute. 0:05:04.040,0:05:05.256 And these -- 0:05:05.280,0:05:06.496 (Laughter) 0:05:06.520,0:05:12.496 That's right. So I'm actually[br]an instructor at MIT as well as CIT. 0:05:12.520,0:05:14.600 And these are the briquettes that we made. 0:05:16.040,0:05:18.440 Now I'm going to take you[br]to a different continent. 0:05:19.320,0:05:20.536 This is India 0:05:20.560,0:05:23.776 and this is the most commonly used[br]cooking fuel in India. 0:05:23.800,0:05:25.176 It's cow dung. 0:05:25.200,0:05:29.376 And more than in Haiti,[br]this produces really smoky fires, 0:05:29.400,0:05:31.856 and this is where you see[br]the health impacts 0:05:31.880,0:05:35.960 of cooking with cow dung[br]and biomass as a fuel. 0:05:36.600,0:05:38.816 Kids and women[br]are especially affected by it, 0:05:38.840,0:05:41.976 because they're the ones[br]who are around the cooking fires. 0:05:42.000,0:05:43.216 So we wanted to see 0:05:43.240,0:05:46.736 if we could introduce[br]this charcoal-making technology there. 0:05:46.760,0:05:49.176 Well, unfortunately,[br]they didn't have sugarcane 0:05:49.200,0:05:50.581 and they didn't have cassava, 0:05:50.605,0:05:51.805 but that didn't stop us. 0:05:52.400,0:05:56.216 What we did was we found what were[br]the locally available sources of biomass. 0:05:56.240,0:05:59.616 And there was wheat straw[br]and there was rice straw in this area. 0:05:59.640,0:06:03.256 And what we could use as a binder[br]was actually small amounts of cow manure, 0:06:03.280,0:06:05.520 which they used ordinarily for their fuel. 0:06:06.960,0:06:09.136 And we did side-by-side tests, 0:06:09.160,0:06:11.736 and here you can see[br]the charcoal briquettes 0:06:11.760,0:06:12.976 and here the cow dung. 0:06:13.000,0:06:16.256 And you can see that it's a lot cleaner[br]burning of a cooking fuel. 0:06:16.280,0:06:18.856 And in fact, it heats the water[br]a lot more quickly. 0:06:18.880,0:06:21.176 And so we were very happy, thus far. 0:06:21.200,0:06:22.896 But one of the things that we found 0:06:22.920,0:06:25.736 was when we did side-by-side[br]comparisons with wood charcoal, 0:06:25.760,0:06:27.376 it didn't burn as long. 0:06:27.400,0:06:29.305 And the briquettes crumbled a little bit 0:06:29.329,0:06:32.496 and we lost energy as they fell apart[br]as they were cooking. 0:06:32.520,0:06:35.736 So we wanted to try to find a way[br]to make a stronger briquette 0:06:35.760,0:06:39.360 so that we could compete with[br]wood charcoal in the markets in Haiti. 0:06:40.320,0:06:42.336 So we went back to MIT, 0:06:42.360,0:06:44.576 we took out the Instron machine 0:06:44.600,0:06:47.296 and we figured out[br]what sort of forces you needed 0:06:47.320,0:06:49.416 in order to compress[br]a briquette to the level 0:06:49.440,0:06:52.298 that you actually are getting[br]improved performance out of it? 0:06:52.960,0:06:56.256 And at the same time that we had[br]students in the lab looking at this, 0:06:56.280,0:07:03.216 we also had community partners in Haiti[br]working to develop the process, 0:07:03.240,0:07:08.240 to improve it and make it more accessible[br]to people in the villages there. 0:07:09.160,0:07:10.376 And after some time, 0:07:10.400,0:07:15.216 we developed a low-cost press[br]that allows you to produce charcoal, 0:07:15.240,0:07:17.920 which actually now burns not only -- 0:07:18.642,0:07:21.960 actually, it burns longer,[br]cleaner than wood charcoal. 0:07:22.400,0:07:24.936 So now we're in a situation[br]where we have a product, 0:07:24.960,0:07:29.256 which is actually better than what[br]you can buy in Haiti in the marketplace, 0:07:29.280,0:07:32.000 which is a very wonderful place to be. 0:07:33.960,0:07:38.696 In Haiti alone, about 30 million trees[br]are cut down every year. 0:07:38.720,0:07:41.216 There's a possibility[br]of this being implemented 0:07:41.240,0:07:43.536 and saving a good portion of those. 0:07:43.560,0:07:49.976 In addition, the revenue generated[br]from that charcoal is 260 million dollars. 0:07:50.000,0:07:52.536 That's an awful lot[br]for a country like Haiti -- 0:07:52.560,0:07:54.416 with a population of eight million 0:07:54.440,0:07:57.640 and an average income[br]of less than 400 dollars. 0:07:58.680,0:08:02.536 So this is where we're also moving ahead[br]with our charcoal project. 0:08:02.560,0:08:05.216 And one of the things[br]that I think is also interesting, 0:08:05.240,0:08:09.536 is I have a friend up at UC Berkeley[br]who's been doing risk analysis. 0:08:09.560,0:08:12.616 And he's looked at the problem[br]of the health impacts 0:08:12.640,0:08:14.736 of burning wood versus charcoal. 0:08:14.760,0:08:18.856 And he's found that worldwide,[br]you could prevent a million deaths 0:08:18.880,0:08:21.856 switching from wood[br]to charcoal as a cooking fuel. 0:08:21.880,0:08:23.096 That's remarkable, 0:08:23.120,0:08:26.576 but up until now, there weren't ways[br]to do it without cutting down trees. 0:08:26.600,0:08:27.816 But now we have a way 0:08:27.840,0:08:31.520 that's using an agricultural[br]waste material to create a cooking fuel. 0:08:31.960,0:08:33.976 One of the really exciting things, though, 0:08:34.000,0:08:37.572 is something that came out of the trip[br]that I took to Ghana just last month. 0:08:37.596,0:08:41.015 And I think it's the coolest thing, 0:08:41.039,0:08:43.279 and it's even lower tech[br]than what you just saw, 0:08:43.303,0:08:45.336 if you can imagine such a thing. 0:08:45.360,0:08:46.576 Here it is. 0:08:46.600,0:08:47.800 So what is this? 0:08:48.480,0:08:51.056 This is corncobs turned into charcoal. 0:08:51.080,0:08:54.223 And the beauty of this is[br]that you don't need to form briquettes -- 0:08:54.247,0:08:55.576 it comes ready made. 0:08:55.600,0:08:58.456 This is my $100 laptop, right here. 0:08:58.480,0:09:01.496 And actually, like Nick,[br]I brought samples. 0:09:01.520,0:09:03.736 (Laughter) 0:09:03.760,0:09:05.520 So we can pass these around. 0:09:07.520,0:09:11.604 They're fully functional,[br]field-tested, ready to roll out. 0:09:11.628,0:09:13.334 (Laughter) 0:09:15.520,0:09:17.016 And I think one of the things 0:09:17.040,0:09:21.256 which is also remarkable[br]about this technology, 0:09:21.280,0:09:24.056 is that the technology[br]transfer is so easy. 0:09:24.080,0:09:26.216 Compared to the sugarcane charcoal, 0:09:26.240,0:09:29.056 where we have to teach people[br]how to form it into briquettes 0:09:29.080,0:09:31.496 and you have the extra step[br]of cooking the binder, 0:09:31.520,0:09:33.096 this comes pre-briquetted. 0:09:33.120,0:09:36.073 And this is about the most exciting[br]thing in my life right now, 0:09:36.097,0:09:39.296 which is perhaps[br]a sad commentary on my life. 0:09:39.320,0:09:41.576 (Laughter) 0:09:41.600,0:09:44.136 But once you see it,[br]like you guys in the front row -- 0:09:44.160,0:09:45.376 All right, yeah, OK. 0:09:45.400,0:09:46.616 So anyway -- 0:09:46.640,0:09:48.656 (Laughter) 0:09:48.680,0:09:49.896 Here it is. 0:09:49.920,0:09:52.376 And this is, I think, a perfect example 0:09:52.400,0:09:57.616 of what Robert Wright was talking about[br]in those non-zero-sum things. 0:09:57.640,0:10:00.136 So not only do you have health benefits, 0:10:00.160,0:10:02.296 you have environmental benefits. 0:10:02.320,0:10:06.136 But this is one[br]of the incredibly rare situations 0:10:06.160,0:10:08.496 where you also have economic benefits. 0:10:08.520,0:10:11.576 People can make their own cooking fuel[br]from waste products. 0:10:11.600,0:10:13.616 They can generate income from this. 0:10:13.640,0:10:16.776 They can save the money[br]that they were going to spend on charcoal 0:10:16.800,0:10:19.277 and they can produce excess[br]and sell it in the market 0:10:19.301,0:10:21.256 to people who aren't making their own. 0:10:21.280,0:10:23.576 It's really rare[br]that you don't have trade-offs 0:10:23.600,0:10:26.816 between health and economics,[br]or environment and economics. 0:10:26.840,0:10:30.576 So this is a project[br]that I just find extremely exciting 0:10:30.600,0:10:36.000 and I'm really looking forward[br]to see where it takes us. 0:10:38.120,0:10:41.616 So when we talk about, now,[br]the future we will create, 0:10:41.640,0:10:43.656 one of the things[br]that I think is necessary 0:10:43.680,0:10:47.640 is to have a very clear vision[br]of the world that we live in. 0:10:48.160,0:10:50.946 And now, I don't actually mean[br]the world that we live in. 0:10:51.920,0:10:56.016 I mean the world where women[br]spend two to three hours everyday 0:10:56.040,0:10:58.480 grinding grain for their families to eat. 0:10:59.960,0:11:02.336 I mean the world[br]where advanced building materials 0:11:02.360,0:11:05.776 means cement roofing tiles[br]that are made by hand, 0:11:05.800,0:11:07.936 and where, when you work 10 hours a day, 0:11:07.960,0:11:10.800 you're still only earning[br]60 dollars in a month. 0:11:12.320,0:11:13.536 I mean the world 0:11:13.560,0:11:19.760 where women and children spend[br]40 billion hours a year fetching water. 0:11:20.520,0:11:24.256 That's as if the entire workforce[br]of the state of California 0:11:24.280,0:11:28.776 worked full time for a year[br]doing nothing but fetching water. 0:11:28.800,0:11:33.136 It's a place where,[br]for example, if this were India, 0:11:33.160,0:11:35.600 in this room, only three of us[br]would have a car. 0:11:36.360,0:11:37.576 If this were Afghanistan, 0:11:37.600,0:11:41.216 only one person in this room[br]would know how the use the Internet. 0:11:41.240,0:11:42.440 If this were Zambia -- 0:11:43.520,0:11:46.216 300 of you would be farmers, 0:11:46.240,0:11:49.376 100 of you would have AIDS or HIV. 0:11:49.400,0:11:53.240 And more than half of you would be living[br]on less than a dollar a day. 0:11:54.280,0:11:59.016 These are the issues that we[br]need to come up with solutions for. 0:11:59.040,0:12:02.896 These are the issues that[br]we need to be training our engineers, 0:12:02.920,0:12:06.360 our designers, our business people,[br]our entrepreneurs to be facing. 0:12:07.280,0:12:09.976 These are the solutions[br]that we need to find. 0:12:10.000,0:12:16.176 I have a few areas that I believe[br]are especially important that we address. 0:12:16.200,0:12:18.256 One of them is creating technologies 0:12:18.280,0:12:21.296 to promote micro-finance[br]and micro-enterprise, 0:12:21.320,0:12:24.176 so that people who are living[br]below the poverty line 0:12:24.200,0:12:25.736 can find a way to move out -- 0:12:25.760,0:12:27.141 and that they're not doing it 0:12:27.165,0:12:30.776 using the same traditional[br]basket making, poultry rearing, etc. 0:12:30.800,0:12:32.991 But there are new technologies[br]and new products 0:12:33.015,0:12:35.255 that they can make on a small scale. 0:12:35.800,0:12:37.016 The next thing I believe 0:12:37.040,0:12:41.416 is that we need to create[br]technologies for poor farmers 0:12:41.440,0:12:43.680 to add value to their own crops. 0:12:44.600,0:12:47.256 And we need to rethink[br]our development strategies, 0:12:47.280,0:12:50.536 so that we're not promoting[br]educational campaigns 0:12:50.560,0:12:52.936 to get them to stop being farmers, 0:12:52.960,0:12:55.736 but rather to stop being poor farmers. 0:12:55.760,0:12:58.593 And we need to think[br]about how we can do that effectively. 0:12:59.560,0:13:02.216 We need to work with the people[br]in these communities 0:13:02.240,0:13:05.096 and give them the resources[br]and the tools that they need 0:13:05.120,0:13:06.816 to solve their own problems. 0:13:06.840,0:13:08.221 That's the best way to do it. 0:13:08.245,0:13:10.536 We shouldn't be doing it from outside. 0:13:10.560,0:13:14.720 So we need to create this future,[br]and we need to start doing it now. 0:13:15.240,0:13:16.456 Thank you. 0:13:16.480,0:13:21.736 (Applause) 0:13:21.760,0:13:23.000 Chris Anderson: Thank you. 0:13:24.320,0:13:25.520 Stay here. 0:13:26.360,0:13:29.256 Tell us -- just while we see[br]if someone has a question -- 0:13:29.280,0:13:32.696 just tell us about one of the other things[br]that you've worked on. 0:13:32.720,0:13:35.216 Amy Smith: Some of the other[br]things we're working on 0:13:35.240,0:13:37.417 are ways to do low-cost[br]water quality testing, 0:13:37.441,0:13:40.176 so that communities can maintain[br]their own water systems, 0:13:40.200,0:13:42.915 know when they're working,[br]know when they treat them, etc. 0:13:42.939,0:13:45.576 We're also looking at low-cost[br]water-treatment systems. 0:13:45.600,0:13:48.981 One of the really exciting things[br]is looking at solar water disinfection 0:13:49.005,0:13:51.565 and improving the ability[br]to be able to do that. 0:13:52.320,0:13:56.256 CA: What's the bottleneck[br]preventing this stuff getting from scale? 0:13:56.280,0:13:59.536 Do you need to find entrepreneurs,[br]or venture capitalists, 0:13:59.560,0:14:04.416 or what do you need to take[br]what you've got and get it to scale? 0:14:04.440,0:14:07.210 AS: I think it's large numbers[br]of people moving it forward. 0:14:07.234,0:14:08.433 It's a difficult thing -- 0:14:08.457,0:14:10.464 it's a marketplace[br]which is very fragmented 0:14:10.488,0:14:12.696 and a consumer population with no income. 0:14:12.720,0:14:15.976 So you can't use the same models[br]that you use in the United States 0:14:16.000,0:14:17.536 for making things move forward. 0:14:17.560,0:14:19.576 And we're a pretty small staff, 0:14:19.600,0:14:20.816 which is me. 0:14:20.840,0:14:22.816 (Laughter) 0:14:22.840,0:14:25.079 So, you know,[br]I do what I can with the students. 0:14:25.103,0:14:27.342 We have 30 students a year[br]go out into the field 0:14:27.366,0:14:29.816 and try to implement this[br]and move it forward. 0:14:29.840,0:14:33.336 The other thing is you have to do things[br]with a long time frame, 0:14:33.360,0:14:37.296 as, you know, you can't expect to get[br]something done in a year or two years; 0:14:37.320,0:14:39.463 you have to be looking[br]five or 10 years ahead. 0:14:39.487,0:14:42.687 But I think with the vision to do that,[br]we can move forward.