WindLift Power

Keeping in line with Guy Kawasaki’s keynote at the 2007 Marketer’s Conference “The Art of Innovation”

The Art of Innovation 55:38 Guy Kawasaki at the 2007 Event Marketer Conference

The first prototype of the WindLift Pumping system was constructed for under $600 in materials, and $200 in labor over spring break. While my classmates were sipping Mai-Tais in Mexico I was freezing my ass off in 30 mph winds and 10 degree cold. It is not easy to tie knots while standing on one foot on the top rung of a step ladder when you can’t feel your fingers. Looking back on that experience I am surprised we survived without a trip in the ambulance (note to self: need liability insurance asap).

The WindLift alpha prototype consisted of:

1. Recycled swing set – Free (it cost me $70 in gas, but I was due for a visit to my mom’s anyway)
2. Ropes – $140 – 300′ of 1/8″ Samson Amsteel (rated to 1900 lbs.)
3. Pulleys – $110 from Harken – 16mm
4. 4-way fairleads – $40 from Truckspring.com
5. Kite – $250 – Slingshot b3 Trainer kite (I could have gone cheaper, but didn’t know much about traction kites back then. I also bought a 17 meter kite, but it turned out that the 3m kite was generating more than enough power to lift the weights)
6. Scrap Metal – Free – I have some friends who work in a 18-wheeler trailer shop, and we were able to build the pieces we needed out of scrap.
7. Winch – $40 boat winch from Farm and Fleet
8. Nuts, Bolts, screws, etc. – $20
7. Labor – $200 (I paid my friend Johnny a little cash to help me out since he was laid off. I was on spring break and worked for free.)

You can watch the YouTube videos of this prototype in action.

6 min YouTube Video of kids playing with WindLift

30 sec explanation of how this prototype works