Cheap solar cells scoop million-dollar prize

June 14, 2010 · 0 comments

[HELSINKI] A flexible solar cell that could provide cheap energy for everyone has been awarded a prize worth €800,000 million (US$970,000).

The Millennium Technology Prize, which recognises “technological innovation that is significantly improving the quality of human life today and in the future”, was awarded to inventor Michael Grätzel from the Lausanne Federal Polytechnic, Switzerland yesterday (9 June).

Michael Gratzel

“Grätzel cells are likely to have an important role in low-cost, large-scale solutions for renewable energy,” said Ainomaija Haarla, president of the Finland-based Technology Academy Foundation (TAF), which awards the prize, at the ceremony in Helsinki.

The other two laureates — awarded US$180,000 each — were Richard Friend, from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, who discovered cheap plastic electronics that can be used for more efficient solar cells; and Stephen Furber, from the UK-based University of Manchester, for his discovery of a simple, low-power microprocessor (the ARM microprocessor) that is now used in more than 90 per cent of mobile phones around the world.

“All of these [discoveries] have in a very significant way benefited the lives of millions … by promoting democracy through improving communication and by providing affordable sources of light,” said Stig Gustavson, chairman of TAF.

“I find it a great disadvantage that our political leaders take so little interest in technology in today’s world where technology plays an ever increasing role.”

Grätzel said his solar cells have many benefits and could, for example, soon be helping people in developing countries to connect to the Internet.

“I was in Tanzania last year and everyone has a mobile phone; but there’s no grid to charge them,” he said.

Candidates for the award are sought from all over the world and all fields of technology, but this year’s laureates — and all past winners since the biennial award started in 2004 — are based in Western countries.

But the testing ground and applications of these new technologies take place in the developing world, V. S. Ramamurthy, a member of the 2010 international selection committee and chairman of Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India, told SciDev.Net.

“For example, Grätzel is already working with people and organisations in developing countries, such as India, who are testing and implementing his solar cells.”

Grätzel said that “production [of these new technologies] needs to be set up in developing countries so people can benefit from it there and not just be buying Western exported technology”.

Source – SciDev

Envirofit International Quarterly Newsletter – Spring 2010

June 10, 2010 · 0 comments

Link – http://www.envirofit.org/www/files/newsletters/Spring2010_web.html

Contents

  • The importance of awareness, standards and community
  • Envirofit India sales and partnerships excelling
  • Shell Foundation IAP awareness-raising campaign
  • US Ambassador Timothy Roemer visits Envirofit India
  • Soaring global awareness of IAP and cookstoves

Namibia promotes solar stoves

June 10, 2010 · 0 comments

Namibia embraces renewable energy

WINDHOEK – Namibia is looking at solar energy as an alternative mode of fuel, as concerns over deforestation and the environment continue to mount around the world.

Speaking at the hand over of solar cookers to parents of learners from Dr Frans Aupa Indongo Primary School, Selma-Penna Utonih, Director of Energy in the Ministry of Mines and Energy, commended the school for taking the initiative.

She explained the state of affairs that currently exists regarding renewable energy in Namibia.

“The Ministry of Mines and Energy is busy with the electrification of rural areas including schools and public offices. The areas or infrastructures that are too far from the grid and which are too costly to be grid electrified will be electrified with alternative renewable energy such as solar energy technologies,” she said

She said the ministry is committed to achieving a sustainable energy future, based on policy support activities as well as a developed market place for renewable energy technologies (RET).

The aims of the energy policy include: Promotion and awareness of renewable energy (RE), providing adequate financing for RE and institutional and capacity building.

“The ministry is promoting and encouraging communities to make use of solar stoves and cookers to save firewood, electricity and other fuels. With the solar cooker, the sun will cook for you gently, it is modern and comfortable without emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and thus helps to preserve nature,” she added.

She said this method is cheap and convenient, as one would save money, time and the environment.

“Wood is used as the primary fuel for cooking in rural areas and in informal settlements. This is a major contributor to woodland depletion and as a result the ministry is also actively busy promoting fuel-efficient wood cooking stoves,” she said.

Source – New Era

Nepal – Wonder stoves end women's ordeal

June 10, 2010 · 0 comments

DUMSI: For Narimaya Darai (24) of Dumsi in Byas municipality-5, preparing food was tantamount to playing with her health.

Headache, dizziness and eyesore were common, thanks to the smoke emanating from a traditional stove. The good news now: Her health woes have gone with the installation of improved stove in her house.

Like Narimaya, Madhumaya too is heaving a sigh of relief. Dizziness, headache and eyesore have become a thing of the past after she switched to improved stove.

“Improved stove has improved our health,” say housewives in unison, thanking the Regional Alternative Energy Service Centre for installing improved stoves in 10 households with help from the Rural Empowerment Society Tanahun (REST).

According to Sarita Gurung, chairperson, REST, the improved stove programme began in 2006/07.

Alternative energy engineer Pawan Acharya says around 10,000 improved stoves have been installed in Tanahun, Lamjung, Gorkha and Nawalparasi and an improved stove drive has been launched in Byas municipality and 23 VDCs in Tanahun.

REST field coordinator Padamraj Khanal says improved stove can be built with soil, bricks and rods for Rs 300. “The improved stove has become popular among rural folks because it does not cause health hazards. Besides, it can be installed in a single day,” says REST’s assistant accountant Eliza Gurung. Improved stove has benefited students too.

“My children can now focus more on their studies as improved stove saves their time,” maintains Khadak Bahadur Darai. According to engineer Acharya, improved stove has been a real boon for rural folks as it reduces firewood consumption and health hazards.

Source – Himalayan Times

Ethiopia – WFP, German Bank to Promote Energy Effecient Stoves

June 7, 2010 · 0 comments

June 5, 2010 — The World Food Program (WFP) and German Development Bank (KfW) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding at German House to raise funds for climate change initiatives while at the same time promoting fuel-efficient stoves in Ethiopia, reports the Ethiopian Reporter. The agreement also promotes cooperation in the field of the clean development mechanism within the framework of Kyoto.

The program will use revenues from carbon credits to boost the installation of fuel efficient cooking stoves for 200,000 households at the cost of 4 million dollars. WFP, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, is going to manage the distribution of the stoves. KfW supports the settling up of the clean development mechanism and provides technical advice. So far, KfW has supported more than 20 of these programmes worldwide, three of them in Africa, Dr. Ronald Steyer, the country director told, journalists.

Under the umbrella of WFP, to-date, 4,500 fuel-efficient stoves have been installed in food insecure households participating in the environmental rehabilitation project. The installation was made in four regions of the country- Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP), Amhara and Tigray regional states.

Source – http://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?Page=heads&NewsID=2364

WFP stoves program in Uganda

June 7, 2010 · 0 comments

Safe stoves to help women in Karamoja

Due to the destruction of the Environment in Karamoja, World Food Programme (WFP) has come up with an initiative of introducing the modern technology of cooking by using the energy safe stoves which will help the Karimojong women to reduce burden of going to the bush looking for fire wood and cutting down the trees.

The programme will help Karimojong women as looking for firewood from forests and bushes is dangerous; women sometimes try to cook with very little fuel, resulting in eating undercooked food.

Looking at Karamoja generally, the region is highly insecure and chronically poor. Most of the time, it is women and children who face a constant risk of violence when they collect firewood to cook food. But the fuel-efficient stoves, built from mud, can help while also lessening pressure on the environment.

Ms Joyce Nachap, a resident of Irriir Sub County in Moroto district and one of the Karimojong women who have used the stoves, says it has relieved her of looking for firewood.

She says when she began using stoves, it seemed difficult because she had never seen such kind of the stoves in her life and even in Karamoja, but later got used to the situation.

“Since I begun using these stoves in January, I have only visited the bush twice unlike in the past when I could visit the forest six times a week,” She says.

Ms Nachap adds that she can only use four pieces of firewood for preparing her meals a day yet she could use one bundle of fire wood in two days.

Also, Ms Jessica Nakut, the beneficiary of the programme explained that by using these new stoves, it has helped them prevent their children, especially girls and women from sexual abuse such as rape, beating and murder when they are going to the bush looking for firewood.

Ms Nakut says she lost her first daughter to the cattle raiders when she had gone to look for firewood in the bush; she was also raped and thereafter shot dead. “I really like this programme, we didn’t know about this idea. If we had known this earlier, we would have not lost our children to the bushes,” she says.

However, Ms Nakut says not all women are benefiting from this sort of stove, many are still venturing into the bush on a daily basis to meet their cooking needs, running the risk of being beaten, raped and at times killed by cattle raiders.

Mr Bai Mankay Sankoh, the officer in charge World Food Programme, Moroto, says, “A mud stove not only uses less firewood, but also retains a lot of heat, which makes cooking easier and faster.”
He adds that the WFP developed the plan after noting that many trees were destroyed and many women and children were becoming involved in violence such as rape cases in the region.
According to Mr Sankoh, there are about 1.2 million people in Karamoja surviving on WFP food. In order to cook this food, women need fuel, but this is in short supply and to find it, they sometimes have to visit dangerous environments.

Impact on environment
Fuel collection is also having a devastating impact on an already precarious environment, contributing to soil erosion, desertification and loss of grazing and cultivating environments.

“Through the Safe Access to Firewood and Alternative Energy (Safe) initiative, WFP will make sure that all women in Karamoja have access to a fuel-efficient stove. At the same time, the provision of alternative livelihood resources will decrease families’ dependency on wood fuel (firewood and charcoal) for income, and reduce the risk of negative coping mechanisms to cook food,” he says.

The district Environment officer of Moroto, Mr John Lotyang, thanked the WFP for their initiatives and says the Environment department at the district level couldn’t manage to run the programme because of the limited funds.

Source – Monitor

RTI: Research on Biomass Cook Stoves

June 4, 2010 · 0 comments

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – June 4, 2010: RTI International has launched a multidisciplinary research effort to understand and address the adverse health and environmental impacts related to the use of biomass cook stoves in developing nations.

This effort will fill some technology gaps as well as help RTI better integrate and apply the huge range of Institute technical and societal research programs, staff and skills.

As part of this program, four different research teams, funded through the RTI Fellow Program, are exploring the scientific, societal and policy challenges associated with the stoves and their use.

More than half of the world’s people cook their food and heat their homes by burning coal, wood, dung and other biomass in open fires or rudimentary stoves, most often indoors. The practice releases toxic gases and particles into confined spaces creating extremely high exposures, and adding tremendously to the greenhouse pollutant burden in the outdoor air.

The use of these stoves in the developing world represents an immensely complex problem set with huge health and climate implications, said RTI Senior Fellow Charles Rodes, Ph.D.

“The use of these stoves is one of the leading causes of child and maternal death in the developing world,” Rodes said. “On an aggregate level, the stoves are one of the largest global emitters of black carbon emissions, making them a leading greenhouse gas emission source as well.”

RTI’s four projects are diverse but integrated, addressing concerns that include the following:

  • An assessment of biomass stove use in Sri Lanka. RTI researchers, working in partnership with a researcher with the Sri Lanka National Institute of Health, will review data on respiratory diseases and characterize stove use in-country. Incorporating comparative international research, the team will develop a comprehensive profile of risk factors and stove use, drawing attention to ethnic, gender, urban, rural and district characteristics of the issue.
  • An effort to design cleaner biomass cook stoves. A cross-functional team of engineers and scientists will investigate existing stove designs and performance and explore innovative approaches toward improvements. In addition to considering overall combustion efficiency, the researchers will examine the links between stove design and operating conditions and the subsequent personal exposure concentrations.
  • Research to characterize emissions and exposure. This team will apply RTI’s 40 years of research on environmental contaminants to better understand the personal exposure and health effects of black-brown carbon emissions. The team will characterize emissions and resulting exposure using two different technologies—RTI’s MicroPEM™ and Optical Reflective Method.
  • Physical collection of dried blood spots to assess black carbon emissions. Specifically, the team will analyze blood samples for the presence and level of PAH-hemoglobin adducts, which indicate levels of black carbon exposure. This method will also use a baseline measure to assess the effectiveness of improved cook stove designs.

RTI began the “Grand Challenges” initiative last year to fund areas of research that are complex and require multidisciplinary but thoroughly integrated approaches and solutions to succeed.

“The work we are funding represents thinking at many levels,” said Lead Fellow Edo Pellizzari, Ph.D. “As part of our mission to improve the human condition, we at RTI are seeking to apply our wide-ranging scientific and policy research to real-world challenges in a manner that is culturally appropriate and sustainable.”

About RTI International

RTI International is one of the world’s leading research institutes, dedicated to improving the human condition by turning knowledge into practice. Our staff of more than 2,800 provides research and technical expertise to governments and businesses in more than 40 countries in the areas of health and pharmaceuticals, education and training, surveys and statistics, advanced technology, international development, economic and social policy, energy and the environment, and laboratory and chemistry services. For more information, visit www.rti.org.

Source – Basil & Spice

ProBEC – Improved stove market, Kinshasa, 2010

June 4, 2010 · 0 comments

STUDY ON THE MARKET POTENTIAL FOR IMPROVED COOK STOVES IN KINSHASA, DRC, April 2010. ProBEC.

Download Full-text (pdf, 1MB)

The main objective of the study was to provide essential information and data to government authorities and development partners with a view to promote and popularise the utilization of improved stoves in Kinshasa. Kinshasa has an estimated population of ten million inhabitants. Earlier studies show that the potential market for improved stoves is about 1 351 351 items that can be sold per year (Zins; Kambale‐Katahwa and CATEB). There thus is a clear economic opportunity for such stoves.

A descriptive survey was conducted in 24 municipalities in Kinshasa, both urban and rural. 5400 households were randomly selected and surveyed by a total of 24 trained interviewers. Roughly 225 households were visited in each municipality. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to collect data. Data was collected through: i) a review of strategic documents, records and papers, ii) general observation, iii) one‐on‐one interviews, iv) focus group discussions. Data was processed, tabulated, and analyzed with both Access and SPSS and the results are presented in the form of a descriptive analysis.

Within the study period, several artisans and stoves users were interviewed, and 35 people participated in three sessions of focus groups discussion. A literature review provided further information and context.

In Kinshasa, electricity is the main energy source in 58% of households, followed by kerosene (20%) then charcoal (15%) and finally wood (9%). 61% of respondents rely on traditional/classical stoves for everyday cooking. The average household size in Kinshasa ranges from six to 10 people.

Improved stoves are manufactured in different areas in Kinshasa, but the production still remains very limited. Generally, 45% of improved stoves are purchased at the place where they are manufactured, and 40% are bought by housewives from a salesperson conducting door‐to‐door sales. Thus, only 14 % of these improved stoves were found in local markets. 88% of housewives who regularly used improved stoves recognized their energy efficiency, and 85% of them noticed a decrease of nearly 25% in their domestic energy expenditure. In Kinshasa, domestic energy expenditure varies according to household size and revenue. In 52% of households, the monthly average expenditure on domestic energy was 15,000 Congolese francs (18U$). Of this, 95% represents the use of charcoal. Domestic energy amounts to between 10 and 15% of total household expenses.

Charcoal Project's interview of Dean Still – Aprovecho Research Center

June 4, 2010 · 0 comments

From: Jean Kim Chaix, jkimchaix@charcoalproject.org

I thought this interview with Dean Still from the Aprovecho Research Center might be of interest.

Dean Still

http://www.charcoalproject.org/2010/06/to-achieve-cookstove-scale-we-need-standards

What’s more important: reducing fuel consumption or reducing emissions of black carbon and other toxic gases?

The answer is, of course, both, but designing a stove that meets the highest current ratings in emissions reduction and energy consumption at a reasonable cost has so far proven elusive. Coming up with the right standards will be critical to getting cookstove projects to scale, especially since carbon-credit financing will be vital for some projects to make financial sense, says Dean Still of the Aprovecho Research Center.
—
J Kim Chaix, The Charcoal Project
charcoalproject.org – http://charcoalproject.org

China – Lead in Children’s Blood Caused by Coal-Fired Ash

June 2, 2010 · 0 comments

Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es9039665, May 18, 2010

Lead in Children’s Blood Is Mainly Caused by Coal-Fired Ash after Phasing out of Leaded Gasoline in Shanghai

Full-text: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es9039665

Feng Liang, et al. Author E-mails: zhangguilin@sinap.ac.cn; liyan@sinap.ac.cn

Lead (Pb) is a highly toxic element to the human body. After phasing out of leaded gasoline we find that the blood lead level of children strongly correlates with the lead concentration in atmospheric particles, and the latter correlates with the coal consumption instead of leaded gasoline.

Combined with the 207Pb/206Pb ratio measurements, we find that the coal consumption fly ash is a dominate source of Pb exposure to children in Shanghai, rather than vehicle exhaust, metallurgic dust, paint dust, and drinking water. Those particles are absorbed to children’s blood via breathing and digesting their deposition on ground by hand-to-mouth activities. Probably the same situation occurs in other large cities of developing countries where the structure of energy supply is mainly based on coal-combustion.

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