TAKE A BREAK: Playground is no Child's Play

When there's a major contamination anywhere in the world, it could be oil, anthrax, or even mold, there's just one company that can make easy work of the mess.

Slingerlands own Sabre Technologies.

They've done it all. From the anthrax attacks after 9-11 to a hospital fighting a persistent mold problem to homes that were coated in it after hurricane Katrina.

"We're involved in providing solutions to chemical and biological contamination."

Karen Cavanaugh, COO for Sabre, speaks with pride about her company. But for an outfit that had accomplished so much, one question remained on everyone's minds.

What would they tackle next?

A playground, of course.

But theirs wasn't just any playground.

"There's a connection between oil, water, education and playgrounds," Cavanaugh says, "that only we could probably make."

Sabre's work started in water treatment and they'd always wanted to develop something that could help deliver fresh water to people for whom it was considered a luxury. An idea that would be green and capable of perpetuating itself.

That's how the playground idea was hatched. And in 2008, they built one at the Woodland Hills Montessori School in East Greenbush with equipment capable of harnessing the energy of the children playing on it and turning it into electricity.

Lots of electricity.

"This equipment, just the merry go rounds from the design for rural places around the world, is enough energy to power a whole school for lights, charge 20 cell phones or computers a day, allow text messaging to occur between the schools, even from here to Haiti to New Orleans, so it creates a lot of energy."

They even managed to pump water. In the case of Woodland Hills, it feeds the a garden sprinkler system.

The technology is not just generating water and electricity, it's also creating a real spark in the classroom.

Maria Nieves, a teacher at Woodland Hills, says the playground is like having an interactive science experiment right in their backyard. And since it is a playground, it's fun.

"I think it's better to teach the kids," she says.

The technology is now making its way to Babati, Tanzania, where the initial motivation to bring fresh water to those who need it will be realized. And it will mean great things for the school they've chosen.

"The water well was over a mile and half away from school," Cavanaugh explains, "so you can imagine how much time and effort was spent by the kids out of the classroom walking for water."

The easier access to water will allow them to plant gardens, have running water in the bathrooms, even open a health center.

As far as Karen is concerned, Babati is just the beginning.

So is it possible for parents to get one of these playgrounds in their backyard to run their house off their rambunctious kids?

"The same thing would work. All they have to do is supply the kids."