Jeremy gave a quick pointer to SkyBuilt Power's Mobile Power Station (MPS), and it really does look like a WorldChanger's dream: combining modular solar panels, wind microturbines, batteries, and plug-ins for fuel cells and biofuel-friendly diesel engines, the MPS can generate a constant 150 kilowatts, can operate both off-grid and in parallel with grid power, is rugged enough to be dropped via parachute, and requires so little maintenance that a solar/wind unit has been operating continuously without being touched for over a year.
The MPS and the inevitable competitors will see abundant use in the post-Katrina era. But thinking of the MPS solely in terms of stand-alone power misses its greater potential. The MPS is the final component needed to create the distributed disaster response kit. If we put the pieces together, we could have a system that provides both short-term and long-term support for a disaster-struck community's power, water and communication.
We've covered a number of the other components before, and they're worth linking to again:
Alex's Beyond Relief essay covered in some detail just how and why we need to rethink the way we engage in disaster and emergency relief efforts.
I'm less enthusiastic about the fact that the CIA has invested in SkyBuilt Power, however.
That the US government would be interested in such a system is hardly surprising -- the field applications for military units are fairly obvious. And an investment by In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture capital arm, doesn't necessarily mean anything more than the government wanting to make sure that the company continues to operate. But the reputation and history of the CIA is such that many of the groups and places most apt to need a system like this are likely to resist the offer simply due to the CIA's involvement. How do you think the residents of the areas hit by the massive earthquake in Pakistan earlier this month would respond to discovering that the odd-looking box plugged into the hospital and water pumps was "built by" the CIA, for example?
Even though the CIA/In-Q-Tel investment is likely to be essentially innocuous, amounting to little more than a regular client for specialized versions, it will probably be enough to trigger suspicion in many around the world. If so, it's unfortunate; the MPS is in many respects something right out of a WorldChanging post, and there are many places around the world where such a system would be transformative.
SkyBuilt, in their material about the MPS, draws an analogy with the PC as a platform. The open architecture makes is possible for other vendors to build add-on components, confident that they'll work together properly. If we're lucky, the MPS will have another parallel to the PC world in the near future: the open architecture will mean that clones and work-alikes and more feature-rich competitors (or at least competitors without the CIA baggage) will spring up all over.
