[Peripherals] [Fwd: Re: [support-gang] Alternitive Power for Developing Countries]

[Edward Cherlin]

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 11:08 AM, info at olpc-peru.info
<info at olpc-peru.info> wrote:
> Edward,
>
>  Just for your info (about energy devices).
>
>  I don't know exaclty why (I have many ideas about why! (smile))... but I
> think it can be of your interest.
>
>  Javier
>
>
>
> Hello Mel and all the people on the peripherals list,
>
>  I have been discussing the issue of energy with other fellow on the OLPC.
>
>  I am honest and I speak directly all the time: I think the solar energy is
> not a realistic posibilitie in Peru: there is 100% sunny days in the Andes
> JUST 6 months in a whole year.  The worst moments are the 4 to 5 months were
> some villages (located over the 3,500 meters altitude) get 100% cloudy time,
> very cloudy, huge rainfall.  According to all the investigation that I have
> done (I can send to anyone if you are interested) the solar devices can
> provide from 5% to 20% IF there is not a sunny day.  That is a BIG problem.

That certainly does not eliminate solar from consideration entirely.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Effects-of-Clouds-on-a-Solar-Panel&id=533893
"Germany is typically a very cloudy country...In spite of its cloudy
climate, though, Germany is by far the world's biggest user of solar
panels."

Other possibilities are

*Wind
*Water
*Biofuels (ethanol, methane, biodiesel)
*Animal power
*Child power

How are the winds up there in the Andes?

Are villages located on or near mountain streams?

What do the farmers grow at altitude? Potatoes make a good fuel crop.

>  My best understanding, based on previous experience when I have work for a
> mining company is to build a mechanical device: human driven, leg driven.
> But not a bycecle.  We have built it before but it was without "cost"
> restrictions.  It is based on a spinning wheel (I have many here at my
> sight).  But when I have put "cost" as a variable to take in account then I
> have got the next ideas:
>
>  a) Using alternators, in Peru, is expensive.  Each alternator cost US$300
> aprox.
>  b) We need to import some magnets and assembly the alternator by ourselves.
> The kids on the villages can do it as part of the "experience".  We must
> provide the alternators, the copper wire, the circuit and components for the
> rectifier, and... the battery (battery is other hard issue... short live...
> expensive).  Assembly this "home made" alternator, connecting to the
> spinning wheel (that can need a double wheel or a "pulley" chain) can be an
> improvement (according to the first results that we can get).
>  c) Legs are the ones that will be used.  Not in a bycecle but on a spinning
> wheel.  It is totally possible generate enough energy for a regular laptor
> with the legs, it will be easier for the XOs.  Providing energy for the
> XServers is a totally different issue, I don't agree with the use of
> XServers.  I suggest that one of the XOs MUST behave as a Server (or the
> whole local XO network should behave as a "shared server" sharing processing
> power... but that is a bigger task).
>  d) Need more energy? Put bigger magnets or "more" copper wire.  Too heavy
> to move? Change design: move the copper wire around the magnets.  Too heavy
> yet? Use concatenated pulleys.
>  e) Cost?: import the magnets from Korea or other asian manufacturer.
>
>  In this moment I don't have the time to develop this pilots (because I work
> independently, earning bread and butter for daily living, as anyone, and my
> spare time is not good enough to attack the problem in an efficient way).
> So I am passing this info to you (and I can discuss and help more if there
> is someone interested in develop this prototypes).

I'll ask Engineers Without Borders and some other organizations.

>  If we don't get an asnwer for the energy problem then we will be delivering
> (we ARE delivering) XOs to the towns and villages that "look" poor in the
> eyes of the occidental culture but we are forgetting

No, you are forgetting that Nicholas Negroponte made it clear from the
beginning that the villages without electricity were the prime targets
for the XO, and how many people have been working to make it succeed
there.

> that in Peru the deep
> poverty is located in those 80,000 villages (5 million people) with less
> than 100 families in each villages, without electricity, less than FIVE
> HUNDRED dollars as total ANNUAL income for the family (with the work of the
> father, mother and children from 6 years old).

 There are other target countries where the annual income is even less.

-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay