Aishwarya Solar Lamps

Hyderabad is a city thriving from India’s rapid economic expansion, but not everyone is feeling the benefit. Thousands of slum dwellers still live without energy and are forced to depend on kerosene lamps. Reliable lighting may seem a long way off but a new mini solar lantern may be the answer.

Noble Energy Solar Technology (NEST) brings solar lamps to remote off the grid areas of India. Just thirty US dollars, most people can afford the lamp and there is an installment scheme for those who can’t.

Powered by a solar panel which generates four hours of light, the lantern is designed to replace the potentially deadly kerosene lamp. They are the brainchild of Dharmappa Barki who, at the age of nine, witnessed the tragic death of his baby cousin from burns caused by a fallen kerosene lamp. He ended up naming his invention after Aishwarya Ray, India’s Miss World and rising Bollywood star. He says both carry beauty and brains.

Having light makes an enormous difference to everyday life in the village of Padmarantanda, particularly at mealtimes. There are fewer insects crawling into the food and the increased light keeps nuisance pigs away from crops.

In other villages, the lanterns help women process food products, such as gum, at night. Children also benefit from the lamps as they are now able to read without fear of fumes or fire.

Back at the NEST plant in Hyderabad, orders are pouring in. Over 100,000 solar panels are manufactured each year at the factory. The mini lantern will soon be shining its light across the world as NEST has just received an order for a million and a half units from South Africa. They’ve also developed a lantern with a built-in radio, a solar powered fan and a mini solar desk lamp. And the idea has just won an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy.

Barki knows that the award is a sign of greater things to come. "It is a recognition for our work that is not just in one village, that is global phenomenon that is taking place."

Green with Envy

Motorbikes are dirty and noisy but they're a practical transport solution in congested cities around the world and a lifeline for those in remote rural locations. Used for urgent deliveries, getting to work or getting produce to market, a bike is hard to beat wherever you are.

Now a prototype using a new energy source is set to change the image of the motorcycle – and offers a glimpse into a clean, green future of power.

The ENV, or envy, bike is powered by an electric motor but without a heavy battery or charging from the grid. The power is delivered by a state of the art hydrogen fuel cell.

Fuel cells use the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity – the only waste product is pure water vapour. The fuel cell used in the ENV, known as the core, is the product of 15 years of research. It produces one kilowatt of power.

With a top speed of around 80 kilometres per hour and a range between fill ups of around 160 kilometres under city conditions, the ENV could be a practical solution to the pollution problem, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

But it’s filling up that currently represents the greatest barrier to fuel cell technology. Hydrogen may be the most abundant element in the universe, but not in the average filling station. It’s believed that technology will soon allow anyone to extract hydrogen fuel from organic matter, or biomass.

Shoebox sized hydrogen generators can make bio fuels from wheat and other crops. Creating technology that is also compatible with liquid hydrocarbons or alcohols is the way to go. If and when these technologies appear on the market, the ENV bike and the fuel cell revolution will be well and truly underway.

Like Cooking with Gas

Rwanda is a beautiful country with a troubled past. Following the 1994 genocide, thousands are in prison serving sentences or awaiting trial.

Yet with the prisons designed for far fewer inmates, the infrastructure is under great pressure. Access to clean water, disposing of sewage and deforestation are some of the main problems.

With some of Rwanda’s prisons holding five times the intended number of inmates, it’s not surprising that the original septic tanks and settling pools were unable to cope. The appearance and stench was just the beginning of the problem. More serious was the danger to the environment from contamination of the water courses and deforestation caused by huge demand for fuelwood.

Faced with these threats, the Kigali Institute of Science & Technology – KIST – developed a way to convert the human sewage to biogas, thus cleaning up the waste hygienically and creating a sustainable energy source. Natural fertiliser is a bonus by-product. The idea has won KIST an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy.

It started in Cyangugu where there were about seven thousand prisoners but now seven prisons are included. Ainea Kimaro was the engineer who designed the system. He explains that fresh material from the toilet moves through a drainage system into an enclosure free of oxygen. A bacteria inside is what then produces the gas in this anaerobic system.

Once the biogas plants are up and running they require little maintenance and should last for over twenty years. The biogas produced is used to power stoves and provide manure for crops like bananas and coffee. In the grounds of Cyangugu they’ve also used the manure to create beautiful gardens.

Not only is the gas clean, free and a renewable energy source, it is reducing the pressure on wood for fuel. In the prisons where KIST has installed biogas, 60% less wood is used for fuel. And more importantly, it is extremely transferable; Biogas installations can also work in schools, hospitals and refugees camps.

To ensure that the KIST project is sustainable, the knowledge of the systems needs to be shared. Once individuals learn how to develop biogas plants, it is a viable option for private enterprise and many plants using human as well as livestock waste can be used to produce this clean energy.

Fat Chance

Motherwell in Scotland has the world’s largest waste oil biodiesel plant, designed to turn old cooking oil into diesel fuel. This plant is set to produce 50 million litres of the liquid gold every year. It is a simple chemical process, but one that’s never been carried out on this scale.

Using vegetable oils to make diesel fuel is not new, but using waste oil from the catering industry has the extra benefit of getting rid of troublesome waste while creating greener fuel.

Three years ago, Hands On visited a pilot project that produced diesel fuel from 138,000 litres of waste oil and fat from the fryers and rotisseries in ASDA supermarkets. This solution taps into the 90 million litres of waste oil and fat produced in the UK every year.

A relatively small plant filters and refines waste oil to produce a fuel that can be put straight into an unmodified diesel engine. The latest development is Argent Energy’s state of the art plant in Scotland, big enough to process half of all the waste oil collected in Britain.

At the heart of the process is a simple chemical reaction using methanol. Part of the advantage is that each of the by-products has a use. All aspects of the plant are constantly monitored from the control room as the reaction takes place. The fuel is then taken to a refinery where it is blended with ordinary diesel, improving its combustion efficiency.

A biodiesel plant of this scale is a major step towards making biodiesel a mainstream fuel of the future, helping to cut harmful emissions.

Not Justa Stove

Nestled in a valley lies Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. Drawn by the hope of work, it attracts a constant flood of people tired of trying to scratch a living from the land. Yet with nearly one million inhabitants, the city’s natural resources are under threat as never before.

Recognising that the demand for wood needed to fuel the traditional stoves was on the verge of creating an environmental disaster, the Honduras Association for Development - ARDESA - approached Trees Water & People, a not for profit group specialising in forestry protection. Reducing deforestation wasn’t their only aim as the open cooking fires are also a serious health hazard.

Tests using filters were conducted in local homes to determine the amount of toxic smoke in kitchens. The results showed that women and children are inhaling toxins equivalent to smoking two packets of cigarettes a day, potentially causing respiratory illnesses such as asthma.

Dona Justa was one of the pioneers who trialled the new fuel-efficient stove which has been named after her. Cutting back dramatically on emissions means the kitchen is nearly smoke-free while the Justa hotplate is ideal for tortilla production.

Cheap locally available materials - bricks, cement, clay or sometimes ceramics - are all that’s needed to make the stove. Special features include the L-shaped combustion chamber which sits on top of the foundation and is back-filled with ash to help trap the heat and, in turn, save on wood. Another is the chimney which removes 95% of the toxic smoke.

The new stove saves time as many dishes can be cooked at once. It also saves money as less fuel wood is used. So far 2,500 stoves have been built in Honduras and demand is so great that technicians are being trained in mass production.

An Ashden Award winning micro-enterprise project produces a variety of stoves, costing from between eight and sixty US dollars. Credit is available for people who can not afford to pay.

So what does Dona Justa think about the new stoves? She says, "For me this is wonderful. I am so happy. I believe it’s not just me but many families."