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Help for the Third World

Enersol provides solar electric units to run pumps on village water wells.

One out of every three human beings lives without electricity. Most are in isolated, rural communities located beyond the established electrical infrastructure. In the Dominican Republic, for example, as many as 1 million people are thought to be affected. In Honduras, the number is closer to 3 million, a majority of the rural population. No electricity means less socioeconomic development, a low standard of living, less education and jeopardy to the health of community residents.

Founded in 1984, Enersol is a non-profit charitable organization developing and introducing sustainable energy solutions for rural communities through clean, renewable solar energy for health and education applications in Latin America. Enersol also is committed to demonstrating that it is possible to improve the quality of life in rural areas of developing nations around the world.

Currently, 34 percent of rural Hondurans and 54 percent of rural Dominicans do not have convenient access to a clean and reliable water source. As a result, many suffer from malnutrition, which blocks physical and intellectual development and makes them more susceptible to other potentially fatal infectious diseases such as cholera, typhoid or shigellosis.

Through Enersol's AguaSol program, community water pumps are installed in locations where residents previously had to walk long distances to gather water from contaminated sources. Solar modules, installed with the help of community residents, power electric motors that pump clean water to a convenient, central location. Upon completion of a project installation, Enersol's technicians provide training to local technicians and community organizations to ensure that the system is maintained and sustainable by that community. Enersol has completed 17 AguaSol projects in Latin America.

Enersol-provided, solar-run notebook computers bring high-tech education to Third World students.

In its EduSol program, Enersol brings solar modules and laptop computers to selected rural schools in unelectrified regions, providing access to resources that increase educational and employment opportunities for the children who participate.

Students involved in EduSol programs learn basic keyboard and mouse skills, become familiar with a variety of computer programs, play educational CD-ROM games in Spanish and gain access to reference resources such as CD-ROM based encyclopedias. Three EduSol schools now have wireless connections to the internet and EduSol hopes to connect every project site to the internet. Enersol has completed 16 EduSol projects in Latin America.

For more information about these innovative solar programs, go to www.enersol.org.

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The thing that is incredible is life itself. Why should we be here in this sun-illuminated universe? Why should there be green earth under our feet?
-- Edwin Markham

No New Questions
Send questions! Do you have a question about any aspect of solar energy or other renewables? Send it to SUN-Enews here.

Previous Question
Q1, Volume I, Issue 9
I am looking for information on purchasing a photovoltaic system with which I can experiment around my house. I have tried several websites and have been unsuccessful.
-- David Perez, Chicago, IL

A1.1, I.9
I appreciate your interest in photovoltaic systems. There are several companies from whom you can purchase photovoltaic systems; I own one of them. Each company offers varying levels of service and varying product lines depending on their market focus. My company, Solar Summit, offers great service and will do its best to provide you the system you need. Look forward to hearing from you.
-- Dave Eveland, MSME, Solar Summit, www.solarsummit.com

A1.2, I.9
While your question has very simple solutions, photovoltaics experienced tremendous refinement in the last 30 years. Your options are almost limitless. Let's start by stating what the system should do. Power a toy? Power a house and possibly sell the excess power back to your power company? Are you looking for new materials or are previously used components at discount sufficient? We can design exactly what you need; the variables are the size, operating voltage and, consequently, cost.
-- Jerry Kubias, Aquarius Enterprises, Vail, AZ

A1.3, I.9
This stuff is available in many places. Since we are located in the Chicago area, you are welcome to contact us via our website (www.homestead-specialities.com) and explain what your interests are.
-- Jim Hartley, Homestead Specialties, hspec@homestead-specialties.com

An Additional Angle
(More on Triangular PV modules for Geodesic Domes and Geodesic Structures)
Geodesic structures—composed of hundreds and thousands of triangles—are not always domes (whose facets, of course, face in every direction). Many geodesic structures are rectangular or square in shape, and other imaginative shapes—including flat and sloping walls and flat roofs. These non-dome geodesic structures therefore include numerous south-, southwest-, and southeast-facing sides that, fitted with multitudinous triangular photovoltaic modules, would every day churn out many kilowatts of efficient solar electricity.
-- Gregory Wright, SUN Utility Network, Inc., Los Angeles, www.SunUtility.com

Editor's note: See Gregory Wright's suggestion for a Solar Retrofit Architecture Contest, below.

And a Response on Architecture
It is true that the Sharp triangular panels possibly will be out by August, but these will be right-angle panels to be used to fill in the right-angle gaps with hips and valleys. Aren't the dome angles different? With a little bit of patience, I believe that you will see custom solar shapes become a very normal part of homes in the future, and though you lose some efficiency by not being always at the optimum solar exposure, to me that is no different from someone using an older refrigerator that is less efficient or only changing half their incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescents, or refusing to cut down that favorite tree that shades their panels in the late afternoon.

We are finding that the losses aren't as great as once believed, and even inefficiently placed solar often is better than the alternative—though the highest efficiency should always be promoted as the first consideration.
-- Mary Hamilton, member, Solar Plexus, LLC, Missoula, MT, www.solarplexus1.com

PV Resource for Sherry
I just read your article in the SUN-Enews ["Primitive but Effective," SUN-E Profile, Vol. I, Issue 9]. Nice article. I just wanted to let Sherry Cristiaens know about my company in case she and Steve need any PV system support. You can check out our web page at www.energyconcepts.net. Basically, we provide PV and wind-energy systems support including design, installation, and maintenance. We are located just north of Las Vegas, NM and we do work in Ribera. We also provide electrical contracting services. Thanks again for the article.
-- Cary Lane, Energy Concepts, Sapello, NM, cary@energyconcepts.net

Solar Decathlon
I am a new reader of the SUN-Enews e-newsletter: great gab. Hey, check out some interesting ways to implement appropriate technology, such as the University of Texas at Austin's entry into this year's Solar Decathlon. See the website at www.popularhydronics.com.
-- Bobby G, bobbyg@bio-radiant.com

Solar Retrofit Architecture Contest?
I propose a design competition whose purpose is to encourage the design and installation—in architecturally creative and attractive ways—of solar energy technologies (solar photovoltaics in particular) on existing large-scale buildings: a Solar Retrofit Architecture Design Competition that might be sponsored by the American Institute of Architecture, the American (or the International) Solar Energy Society, the Solar Energy Industries Association, the United States Department of Energy (perhaps as a project of the DOE's Solar Decathlon competition) and/or one or more schools of architecture.

It is fair to say there is little time to lose in promoting this, and quite a number of other ideas that collectively will create the new sustainable civilization we humans had better put together, soon, on this beleaguered planet!
-- Gregory Wright, communications director, SUN Utility Network, Los Angeles, CA

We have put Gregory Wright's longer discussion of his proposal on our website. Click here to read his article, and then tell us what you think.

Keep it coming!
To send us SUN-E feedback, click here.

Renewable Energy Conference
The sixth annual Colorado Renewable Energy Conference (CREC) will be June 27-29 in Montrose, CO. More than 51 exhibitors and/or sponsors are on board already. Workshops are available Friday, June 27 on Energy-10 to PV system design. Go to http://www.cres-energy.org/conference/index.html for registration information and a program.

For more renewable energy news, go to Other Renewables here.

UK Releases Solar Project Funds
A solar-powered gas station and what will be the largest planned solar power installation in the UK are among the 21 projects to receive funding from the United Kingdom's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The DTI announced the appropriation of £2 million (US$3.3 million) for new solar energy projects spread throughout the country.

"Solar power is an increasingly important part of the renewable energy revolution," said UK Energy Minister Brian Wilson. "It is a clean and low-impact source of energy that is making a valuable contribution to reducing our carbon dioxide emissions."

The funding is part of the DTI's £20 million (US$33 million) Photovoltaic Major Demonstration Program. The 21 projects, which are spread geographically from the Western Isles to Cornwall and from London to Llannelli, are the fourth set of proposals approved since the program began in 2002.

ReCharge Expo Set Sept. 12-13
The ReCharge Energy Expo and Conference is a two-day event Sept. 12-13 to promote energy efficiency and renewable-energy products and innovations and educate consumers. The event will include two full days of displays, demonstrations and discussions designed to promote the use and advancement of clean energy in the tri-state (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, USA) region. At this one-stop venue, consumers can learn about clean energy technologies, the availability of grants, loans and other financial incentives, and shop from among the clean energy solutions showcased by participating exhibitors and sponsors.

To download a .pdf of the ReCharge Expo brochure, click here.

To send solar energy news, click here.

Renewable Energy Initiative Begins in Africa
A new global initiative launched at last year's World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), began a four-month series of consultations with its partners with a recent meeting in Nairobi. The mission is to facilitate the integration of renewable energy technologies throughout the world. REEEP, whose development phase is being sponsored by the United Kingdom (UK) government, aims to provide an open and flexible framework within which partners can take joint actions to promote the uptake of sustainable energy.

"The partnership will focus on the state-of-the-art policies for power sector reform and build on best regulatory practice to promote distributed energy systems," said Bill Rammell, UK Foreign Office Minister responsible for environment policy. "It also will focus on innovative new financing mechanisms € to increase investment in renewable and energy efficiency systems."

Between now and September this year, the REEEP Secretariat, which currently is based in the UK, is convening a series of high-level regional consultation meetings with partners in east, west and southern Africa, south and southeast Asia, central and eastern Europe, North America, Latin America and China.

The Nairobi-based African Energy Policy Research Network (AFREPEN) is the REEEP's representative in east Africa. It is hosting the two-day REEEP meeting in Nairobi's UN Complex. Government officials, representatives of electricity utilities, electricity regulatory agencies, NGOs, the private sector and financing organizations from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Mauritius will focus on proven renewable energy and efficiency technologies and policies that deliver jobs and clean energy at low cost.

"REEEP will give access to as broad a range of experiences as possible so that energy policy makers can see that low-risk, sustainable energy solutions are available," said AFREPEN director Stephen Karekezi. "In eastern Africa, we aim to increase the uptake of renewable energy and energy efficiency by stressing their economic benefits such as job creation, lower energy costs and import bills."

According to Karekezi, one of the principal objectives of the meeting is to establish a REEEP network of sustainable energy regulators who can work together to increase the capacity of renewable or energy-efficient systems (REES) in the region. He said the best energy technologies for east Africa included co-generation, geothermal energy, solar water heaters and other energy-efficient systems.

To submit solar political news or opinion pieces, click here.

Experience Solar Culture in Nicaragua
Grupo Fenix invites interested parties to participate directly in an 11-day workshop/tour in which participants learn about solar energy systems, study applications specific to central America, visit renewable energy installations and install a PV lighting system in a rural village.

The program includes recreational and cultural activities as well as excursions. The next 10-day workshop is Aug. 5-15, but another session is planned for January 2004. The January course will be taught in English (although Spanish ability greatly enhances your experience of Nicaragua). The cost of the entire trip, excluding airfare and airport expenses, is $850 per person, which includes a $200 subsidy towards solar equipment for the village where students work. Another $100 goes to improvement funds in the barrio and villages areas where Fenix is working. The extra cost for staying on longer should amount to around $25 per day, depending on the type of activities and accommodations.

Americans don't often think twice about turning on the light switch. But for more than 60 percent of Nicaragua's rural population, this is not even possible; they have no electricity. Grupo Fenix was started in 1996 by a group of enthusiastic engineering students and Prof. Susan Kinne at the National Engineering University (Universidad Nacional de Ingeneria or UNI). They chose the name "Grupo Fenix" after the mythical bird of Egyptian sun worship, the Phoenix, which is forever renewed. This was a perfect symbol for a group focused on researching and promoting the use of renewable energy sources. It also expressed the hope of these young Nicaraguans that their poor, strife-torn country would rise from the ashes of war and build an enlightened society. Kinne contacted Richard Komp, PhD. in Maine. Dr. Komp had been a proponent of solar energy since the 1960s and continues this passion as the president of the Maine Solar Energy Association and of his small company, SunWatt Corp. Komp, a chief technical adviser, will lead the January workshop. For more information on this work, go to www.grupofenix.org.

Costa Rica Workshop
Solar Energy International is offering a opportunity to study solar energy technology in the natural setting of Costa Rica. The workshop will be at Rancho Mastatal, Costa Rica, Feb. 16-21, 2004. The tuition is US$600. This workshop will be open to only 20 students, so early registration is recommended.

The six-day workshop will include classroom sessions and labs, and will have a strong hands-on component. The workshop will focus on three main areas: solar electricity, solar hot water and solar cooking.

There also will be survey coverage of wind and hydroelectric systems, and the social and financial issues surrounding renewable energy in the developing world. The focus will be on simple systems that work in the real world conditions in less-developed countries. For more information or to register, go to www.solarenergy.org.

Solar Glossary
A short list of common terms:
Passive solar—Harvesting the sun's radiant heat through greenhouse windows, Trombe walls, transpired solar walls, brick floors and other non-electric uses.

Solar hot water—Sometimes called solar thermal; usually involves storing solar energy in a heat storage device to heat water for household or commercial use. It also can be used to heat a home through baseboard radiators or embedded floor tubing, as well as to heat and cool swimming pools.

Solar electric—Using the sun's energy to run electrical systems, excluding electric heating elements.

Grid-tied and off the grid—Remaining on the electric grid after converting to a solar-electric system is called "grid-tied." A solar electric system that stands alone and is not connected to the electric utility is considered "off the grid."

Net metering—When you convert to solar energy and remain hooked to the larger electric utility, you have an automatic backup if your solar system does not generate as much electric power as you need to use on any given day. On the other hand, most of the time your solar system will generate more power than you are using, and will let that generation flow into the larger electric "grid." Most states now have "net metering" laws that allow you to connect your renewable energy system to the grid and bank your electrons there, literally making your meter spin backward and reducing your electric bill, often to a credit rather than a debit charge. To download a table of state net metering programs, click here.

To submit a news item or tip for people beginning to explore the world of solar energy, click here.

Solar Concentrator Technology Improves
Canadian-based Solar Hydrogen Energy Corporation (SHEC) recently unveiled its advanced solar concentrator technology, which the company said intensifies sunlight 5,000 times using a system of concentrating mirrors.

The company has been developing large-scale solar concentrator technology for the last several years. Now it says it has been able to engineer the final cost with this unit to less than one-third of that of competing systems.

The unit is akin to a smaller version of the Dish Sterling solar concentrators undergoing testing through the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Applications include heating, even in extremely cold climates; water distillation, air conditioning, electrical power generation and hydrogen production. SHEC Solar collection systems are projected to reach commercialization in 2004 with a new manufacturing facility currently being designed.

"This cost advantage makes solar collection economically viable and competitive with fossil fuels," said Tom Beck, president and CEO of the SHEC labs. "We expect to lower the cost even further in the years ahead, making renewable energy much less expensive than fossil fuels."

SHEC has been applying proprietary manufacturing processes to duplicate this price advantage on a small scale. It is difficult to get the same economies of scale when manufacturing a smaller unit; however; SHEC is coming closer to achieving this goal, according to Beck. Even on a small scale SHEC's new unit can concentrate sunlight to a very high level and efficiently collect it in an optical receiver.

To submit a news item or tip for users or providers experienced in solar energy use, click here.

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SUN-Enews has created two calendars that run in monthly segments on the website, www.SUN-Enews.com. The May calendars list (1) meetings of non-profit associations, and (2) trade shows.

To list your meeting, conference or trade show in the July 2003 calendars click here. Include the name of your association or trade show, date, meeting place (building), town and state/province/country. Also include an email contact, please. Submit July items by June 30. Thanks!

Storage Units to Incorporate Wind Energy
A compressed-air energy storage (CAES) system incorporating a number of technologies including wind power is the centerpiece of an innovative facility being contemplated by the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities (AMU). The proposal is known as the Iowa Stored Energy Plant. CAES is a technology to store energy in the form of compressed air in an underground facility for use in later generation. CAES already is in use in two other locations.

The proposed Iowa Stored Energy Plant project would make two innovations to the CAES concept. The compressed air would be stored in an underground aquifer, rather than in a cavern as in other CAES projects. And wind energy would be used to compress air, in addition to the off-peak power used elsewhere.

When generation was needed, the compressed air would be released to drive natural gas-fired combustion turbines. The compressed air would replace two-thirds of the natural gas normally used in a turbine. A separate section of the underground aquifer also would be used for storing natural gas. Gas storage would allow the facility and other gas utilities to buy natural gas when prices are lower.

Preliminary cost estimates show that a configuration of 200MW of CAES generation capacity with a 100MW wind farm is the most economical. Although wind energy is the lowest-cost new generation option available, it is not reliable by itself, according to the utilities. CAES would provide a battery for wind energy and make it a dispatchable electrical resource.

While the Iowa Stored Energy Plant proposal has incorporated wind directly into its design, it also will promote the use of wind energy in the region. CAES will be operated to follow loads and fill in where other generation is unavailable or uneconomical. Wind generation output is highly variable, but CAES can fill in the gaps for wind. This could expand the role of wind in the region's generation mix.

Study: Hydrogen Leaks Probable
Most people believe hydrogen-fueled cars are environmentally friendly because they emit only water vapor—a naturally abundant atmospheric gas. However, new research shows that leakage of the hydrogen gas that fuels such cars could cause problems for the upper atmosphere. In an article in the journal Science, researchers from the California Institute of Technology report that the leaked hydrogen gas that would inevitably result from a hydrogen economy could cause as much as a 10 percent decrease in atmospheric ozone—if it accumulates. The researchers are physics research scientist Tracey Tromp, assistant professor of geochemistry John Eiler, planetary science professor Yuk Yung, planetary science research scientist Run-Lie Shia and Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Mark Allen.

The researchers estimate that if hydrogen were to replace fossil fuel entirely, 60 to 120 trillion grams of hydrogen would be released each year into the atmosphere, assuming a 10 to 20 percent loss rate due to leakage. This is four to eight times as much hydrogen as currently is being released into the atmosphere by human activity; it would result in doubling or tripling of inputs to the atmosphere from all sources, natural or human.

To submit renewable-energy news, click here.

FYI

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