德州大学生建造廉价棚屋

有了太阳能板，他们就可以给手机充电了。

The goal is not just to save lives, but to change them. The Institute hopes some entrepreneurs might earn some money with these ideas. One of the structures in the SMU village was built with bricks made mostly from recycled plastic bags.

研究所的目标不仅仅是拯救生命，它还希望一些企业家能够通过这些构想挣到钱。难民村里一个建筑是用主要由回收塑料袋制作的砖头建造的。

They're held together with heavy wire. Harvey Lacey, father of two college-aged sons, including one here at SMU, heard about this project and contributed his invention. It’s a heavy-duty, hand-crank compactor that anybody can use to form the big bricks he calls Ubuntu Blox.

它们被很粗的铁丝连接在一起。哈维·莱西有两个上大学的儿子，其中一个就读南部卫理公会大学。他听说这个计划后，贡献了他的发明。这是一个手动压缩机，任何人都可以用它来制作那种大砖头。

"The beautiful things about this here, these blocks right here weigh less than two pounds. They're very, very stiff, alright? These things can go for many generations of housing," says Lacey, who is giving the design of his product away. Anybody can follow his online plans to build the compactor that turns plastic bags into bricks.

莱西说：“这个发明妙就妙在，这种砖头重量不超过两磅，但是却非常结实。”莱西信任自己的产品，而且免费赠送他的设计。任何人都可以按照他在网上提供的方法制造压缩机，把塑料袋变成砖头。

On this warm day, it’s cool inside the mud-plastered Ubuntu Blox hut, thanks in part to the thick plastic insulation. Lacey says it will soon be tested by scientists for its durability and insulating properties. Kenyan architect Ronald Omyonga, visiting the global village before returning to his native Africa, says his country is full of these recyclable bags that now are trash. But with Lacey’s design, he says that litter could be transformed into safe, affordable housing. He dreams of other benefits too.

棚屋里很凉爽，这部分要归功于厚厚的塑料绝缘层。莱西说，它的耐用度和绝缘性将很快得到一些科学家的测试。肯尼亚建筑家罗纳德·奥姆永加在回国前参观了这个难民村。他说，肯尼亚到处都是被当作垃圾丢弃的的塑料袋，通过莱西的发明，可以把这些垃圾转变成安全的、廉价的住房。他还梦想能得到其它的好处。

"I look at the Harvey Lacey hut, as a means of creating jobs," says Omyonga. "And cleaning the environment, but turning waste into something that can form houses, not just for the poor."

奥姆永加说：“我把用莱西的发明建造的棚屋看作是创造就业的一个途径。清洁环境，使废物变成建造房屋的材料，这些好处不仅仅是给穷人的。”