Next time I’m in Orlando, I’m going to see Scott Johnson. He lives about an hour away in Daytona Beach and has developed a solar-powered Internet “hub” system (running Ubuntu GNU/Linux) that he builds to order. In the video below, he talks about the what, why and how of his system. Incredible work, and well worth watching.
GNUveau Networks builds solar-powered computer networks for remote villages from roblimo on Vimeo.
His objective is to bring computers and the Internet to places that have no connectivity, no phone service, and no electricity.
On the wiki, I was able to see that there is a SolarNetOne installation running in Katsina State University, Nigeria right now, providing wireless connectivity and “Internet Cafe” access to hundreds of people. Scott also tells me that they’re in Tunisia and Benin as well, with more requests coming all the time.
Find out more on his website at GNUveau Networks.
(h/t Christian Ledermann)
(thanks to Roblimo for getting me better embed code for the video)