JessicaWatts
Qqgking with sewage
Problem:
Sewage from the 1,200-pupi1 Santa
Maria del Fiat school and otphanage,
perched on a cliff overlooking the
Pacific in Ecuador, flowed directly into
the ocean.
Solution:
A biodigesternow producesbiogasfor
cooking, and the school's stoves have
been modified to run on it. The system
is supplementedby manure from local
farms during school holidays.
Benefits:
. The schoolstovesnow use60 per cent
less butane.reducinggreenhousegas
emissions.
. Sewage no longer gets dumped into
the Pacific.
. The studentsat the schoolhavelearned
about alterrative energy,and have begun
educating the local community about
biogasandthe environment.
Sun in the rainforest
Problem:
Caboclo lndians in the Amazon's
Xixuair-Xiparin5 Ecological Reserve
wanted to replace kerosene,diesel and
wood with a dependable, sustainable
sourceof energythat would not damage
the forest, their most valuable asset.
Solution:
The community installedsolar panels
that now power refrigerators for medi-
cines, computersand lights for the local
school, a pump to supply freshwater and
a satellite dish that gives accessto the
Internel.
Benefits:
. Their new powersupplyis Free,clean,
healthyand reliable.
. The Internet enables them to get
medical information and education,and
opensup economicopportunities. such
as promoting ecotourism and selling
handicrafts.
Dungand water
Problem:
The people of the Kizil-Charba village,
in northern Kyrgyzstan, have too little
electricity. yet they rely on elecffic
JacquesJangoux/SilllPictures
Guus Geufts/SlillPictures
heatersin the winter, when temperatures
are around -6oC.
Solution:
Biogas digesters convert the plentiful
supply of animal dung in this agri-
cultural area into fuel for cooking,
lighting and heating. But they don't
work when cold, so the village built
a S-kilowattmicrohydro systemon the
nearby Urmaral River and attached it
to four biogas units to keep them going
in winter. In warmer weather, the
hydroelectricity is used for lighting.
Benefits:
. Twenty-two families have a more
reliable source of energy, and are less
dependenton fossil fuels and wood.
. The units produce 15,000cubic metres
of fertilizer per year, saving farmers
money on expensivechemicalnutrients.
. Drinking water quality has improved
becausedung is not left to contaminate
groundwater.
Bottlingwind power
Problem:
The 700 people who live on the remote
island of Unst, the nor-thernmost of
the Shetland Islands, spend an average
of 18 to 20 per cent of their income
on energy. mostly on heating and
transportation. The community also
needsjobs now that a Royal Air Force
PUREEnergyCentre
radar station, which employed 114
people.hasclosed.
Solution:
Localengineering graduateRossGazey
conceived of the PURE (Promoting
Unst's Renewable Energy) system, a
way to harness the area's powerful
winds and abundance of rain to split
hydrogen from water using wind-
generated electriciry(whichis alsoused
to heatand powerbuildings).Hydrogen
can be stored and used to produce
cheap, clean electricity for the cornmu-
nity and to powerzero-emission cars.
Benefits:
. The community-owned system,which
is still expanding,now provides2 per
cent of Unst's power, helping the town
to meet its own needsand lowering its
dependenceon expensivefossil fuels.
. The project has already provided
much-needed localjobs.
. PURE's hydrogen-poweredcar dem-
onstratesthe feasibility ofvehicles that
run on emissions-freefuel.
. One of the obstacles to using hy-
drogen as an alternative fue1 is that it
takes a lot of energyto extract it from
water. That's why PURE - the worid's
first off-grid, renewable hydrogen-
generating plant- holdsgreatpotential
for the future of the fuel, and could
even grow into an impoftant hydrogen-
exporting industry, which would greatly
benefit the community's economy.
Energy 77