Solar Power isn't Feasible!

Solar Power isn't Feasible!
This cartoon was on the cover of the book "SolarGas" by David Hoye. It echoes the Sharp Solar slogan "Last time I checked nobody owned the sun!"

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Text of Solar CITIES presentation at the launch of National Geographic Araby at the Mena House in Cairo, September 28, 2010

دكتور توماس هنري رسام كلهين :

مساء الخير. أنا دكتور توماس هنري رسام كلهين .

وأود أيضا أن اقدم لكم فريق المدن الشمسية ، زوجتي الدكتورة سيبيل كلهين ، مصطفى حسين من الدرب الأحمر ،حنا فتحي من مجتمع الزبالين منشية ناصر ، عمر ناجي من الدقي ، والدكتور صلاح عرفة من الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة
،
Good Evening. I am Dr. Thomas Henry Rassam Culhane.

I would also like to introduce to you our Solar CITIES team, my wife Dr. Sybille Culhane, Mustafa Hussein from Darb Al Ahmar, Hanna Fathy from Manshiyet Nasser’s Zabaleen community, Omar Nagy from Dokki, and Dr. Salah Arafa from AUC.

في عام 1982 بوصفها المرحلة الجامعية قضيت سنة كطالب من جامعة هارفارد كجزأ من برننامج التبادل الطلابي في الخارج الذين يدرسون في الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة واكتشفت مقالة راعة بالمكتبة عن اعادة تدوير نفايات الزبالين من منشية ناصر التي تحول ما يصل الى 85 ٪ من النفايات في المدينة إلى مواد مربحة و هم الأكثر نجاحا في إعادة التدوير علي مستوي العالم

In 1982 as an undergraduate I spent my junior year abroad from Harvard University studying at AUC and discovered a National Geographic Magazine in the library that had a beautiful article on the ingenuity of the Zabaleen trash recyclers of Manshiet Nasser who are among the most successful recyclers in the world, turning as much as 85% of the city’s waste into profitable materials.

وكانت مقالة مجلة ناشيونال جيوغرافيك تنص ، علي ان المشكلة في، النفايات العضوية كان من الصعب جدا اعادة تدويرها عندما تمتزج مع البلاستيك والزجاج والمعادن ، التي تشكل الجزء الأكبر من حجم النفايات الحديثة. وكما هو معتاد تحدثت ناشيونال جيوغرافيك عن نفس المشكلة ، عن مشاكل الطاقة العالمية ، ومشاكل المياه وربطها بالتدهور البيئي
.
The problem, the article stated, was that organic wastes were very hard to recycle when they are mixed with the plastic and glass and metal that form the bulk of the modern waste stream. And as is usual for National Geographic, the same issue talked about our global energy problems and water problems and linked them to environmental degradation.

لأن كل شهر تصدر مجلة ناشيونال جيوغرافيك التي تقدم مجموعة واسعة من المواضيع، استخدمت المجلة منذ الطفولة باعتبارها أساس تعليمي ، دربني على التفكير بصورة شمولية ورؤية الصلات القائمة بين حياتنا البرية ، وتاريخ البشرية ، ومكاننا في الاقتصاد العالمي والنظم الإيكولوجية.
.
Because every issue of National Geographic provided such a wide range of topics I have used the magazine since childhood as the foundation of my education; it trained me to think holistically and to see the linkages between our wildlife, the history of humanity, and our place in the global economy and ecosystem.
ناشيونال جيوغرافيك ، منذ فترة طويلة قبل ولادتي ، كانت دائما رائدة في التعليم البيئي.
لذلك عندما عدت إلى القاهرة بعد 20 عاما لإنهاء دكتوراه في دراسات التخطيط العمراني من خلال منحة دراسية للصحة البيئية ، شجعني ذلك علي متابعة ما تعلمته من ناشيونال جيوغرافيك عن طريق العمل في منشأة ناصر لمعرفة ما إذا كان بامكاني المساعدة في حل بعض مشاكل التنمية الحضرية المذكورة في المجلة

National Geographic, since long before I was born, has always been a leader in environmental education So when I returned to Cairo 20 years later to finish my Ph.D. studies in Urban Planning on an environmental health scholarship I felt inspired to follow up on what I learned from National Geographic by working in Manshiyet Nasser to see if I couldn’t help solve some of the urban development problems mentioned in the articles.

انا و زوجتي أخذنا شقة في الدرب الاحمر ، المجتمع المجاور لمنشية ناصر و في كثير من الأحيان ،قطعت المياه والكهرباء.

To do so, my wife and I took an apartment in the neighboring community of Darb Al Ahmar.where water and electricity were frequently cut.

العمل مع معلمي الأستاذ الدكتور صلاح عرفة ، الخبير في مجال الطاقة الشمسية بالجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة ، ومع مصطفى حسين الذي كان مدربا للترميم بمشروع الآغا خان وهو ابن نجار في الدرب الأحمر و حنا فتحي من المجتمع الزبالين ، فاكتشفنا سويا كيفية بناء نظم تسخين المياه بالطاقة الشمسية من المواد المحلية والمعاد تدويرها بتكلفة منخفضة ، بحيث يستطيع الناس تحسين الصحة والنظافة في المنطقة
.
Working with my mentor professor, Dr. Salah Arafa , AUC’s solar energy expert, and with Mustafa Hussein, the son of a carpenter in Darb Al Ahmar who was a trainer for the Aga Khan renovation project, and Hanna Fathy who was a recycler in the Zabaleen community, we figured out first how to build our own low cost solar hot water systems and biogas systems from local and recycled materials, so that people could improve health and hygiene in their area.


مصطفي حسين:

لقد كنا دائما منتبهين إلى التكنولوجيات كما هو مبين في المجلة ، مثل لوحة شمسية قابلة للطي وهذا شاحن الهاتف الخليوي ، و زجاجة المياه هذه ال"منقذة للحياة" من خلال تنقية المياه الملوثة و تحويلها إلى مياه شرب ، ونأتي بعد ذلك بهذه التكنولوجيات إلى الأماكن التي نعمل بها
.
Mustafa Hussein:
We’ve always paid attention to technologies shown in the magazine, like this foldable solar panel and cell phone charger, and this Life Saver water purification bottle that turns contaminated water into drinking water, and the "Insinkerator" Food Waste Disposer that eliminates the problem of organic garbage contaminating our communities, and we then bring these technologies to the places we work.
عمار ناجي:

و عندما اكتشفنا من ناشيونال جيوغرافيك ما كان يجري في الهند من أجل حل مشاكل التنمية ، سافرنا إلى مدينة صغيرة بالقرب من مومباي وتعلمنا كيفية بناء وحدة الغاز الحيوي للاسر الحضرية التي تحول القمامة المنزلية في المطبخ الي غاز للطهي والكهرباء.عندما استخدمناه مع طاحونة بقايا طعام المطبخ هذه ، تعلمنا أن النفايات العضوية لكل عائلة يمكن ان تنتج ما يصل الى ساعتين من غاز الطهي والأسمدة النظيفة كل يوم ، مما يجعل منازلنا تساهم في إيجاد حلول لمدننا بدلا من المشاكل.

Omar Nagy:

But when we discovered from National Geographic what was being done in India to solve development problems, we traveled to a small city near Mumbai and learned how to build urban household biogas digestors that turn household kitchen garbage into cooking gas and electricity. Coupled with a kitchen food waste grinder like this Insinkerator Evolution model that Thomas is holding, we learned that each family’s organic wastes can actually produce up to 2 hours of clean cooking gas and fertilizer every day, making our homes contributors to solutions for our cities rather than problems.

مصطفي حسين :

استخدمنا كدليل من ناشيونال جيوغرافيك فكرة من قصة كانت بالصفحة الرآيسية " الحفاظ علي الطاقة -- يبدأ في المنزل" ، وتحقيق انه يمكن لكل واحد منا الاستفادة من موارد وفيرة -- مثل أشعة الشمس والقمامة -- لحل مشاكل الطاقة والمياه ومشاكل النفايات في مجتمعاتنا ومنازلنا ، ويمكن أن نتحمل بعض من اعباء التنمية المستدامة من الوكالات الدولية و الحكومية ، وتجميع الناس في المجتمع المدني للمساعدة في خلق مستقبل مشرق لتحسين مصر وأفريقيا والشرق الأوسط
.
We used as our guide an idea from National Geographic’s cover story “Energy – It starts at Home”, realizing that if each of us could make use of abundant but wasted resources – like sunlight and garbage – to solve energy, water and waste problems in our own communities and homes, we could take some of the burden of sustainable development off of government and international agencies and bring people together in civil society to assist in creating a clean bright future for Egypt, Africa and the Middle East.

هنا نشاهد صورة فريق عمل المدن الشمسية لبناء السخانات الشمسية لحمام عمومي تاريخي في أبو حريبة في مجتمعي الدرب الاحمر.

Here you see a picture of our team building solar hot water heaters for the ancient public bath at Abu Hureyba in my community.


مؤخرا ، ناشيونال جيوغرافيك كرمت عملنا عن طريق اعطانا منحة "مستكشف الناشئة". هذه المنحة لنشر التكنولوجيات البسيطة
" اعملها بايدك" لأجزاء أخرى من العالم. اخترنا مواقعنا عن طريق الاتصال بالناس والمنظمات التي علمنا عنها من خلال المجلة. سافرنا إلى فلسطين ونيجيريا لبناء نظم هناك ، ثم حصلنا على منحة لاحضار حنا فتحي ، إلى كينيا وبوروندي ، وتنزانيا ورواندا و هو زميل مشروع المدن الشمسية من حي الزبالين
.
Recently, National Geographic honored our work by giving us an Emerging Explorer’s grant to spread these simple do-it-yourself technologies to other parts of the world. We picked our locations by contacting people and organizations we learned about through the magazine. We traveled to Palestine and Nigeria to build systems there, and then received a grant to bring Hanna Fathy, our Solar CITIES associate from Hayya Zabaleen to Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda.


حنا فتحي:


في البلدان الأفريقية الأخرى شاركنا الابتكارات التكنولوجية المصرية مع الأفارقة الآخرين وبنينا وحدة الغاز الحيوي مع مخرجي الافلام من ناشيونال جيوغرافيك ، ديريك وبيفرلي جوبير وقبيلة الماساي ، و في نفس الوقت مع جريس جوبو في معهد جين غودال بحيث أن ما ابتكرناه في القاهرة لتحويل النفايات الى طاقة نظيفة.
ليس فقط لتحسين الصحة وأنماط حياة الأسر في جميع أنحاء القارة ولكن ايضا يمكن تطبيقها لوقف إزالة الغابات وحماية الشمبانزي والغوريلا والأسود والفيلة وغيرها من الحيوانات البرية التي نراها في ناشيونال جيوغرافيك ، ونريد أن نرى استمرار وجودها في أفريقيا إلى الأبد. وهذه هي الطريقة التي ساعدتنا بها ناشيونال جيوغرافيك لادخال تغييرات إيجابية حقيقية في بيوتنا و بلداننا
.
Hanna Fathy:
In the other African countries we shared Egyptian technological innovations with other Africans and we built biodigestors with the National Geographic film-makers, Dereck and Beverly Joubert and the Masai tribe , and with Grace Gobbo at the Jane Goodall Institute so that what we innovate in Cairo to turn wastes into clean energy can not only improve the health and lifestyles of families around the continent but can be applied to stop deforestation and protect the chimpanzees, gorillas, lions, elephants and other wildlife that we see in National Geographic, and want to see continuing to exist in Africa into perpetuity. It is in this way that National Geographic has blessed us to make real positive changes in our homes and countries.

دكتور صلاح عارفة:

وبما أن المجلة ستكون متاحة باللغة العربية سنتمكن من ايصال العمل الرائع الذي نقم به الي كل القرآ باللغة العربية ، ونحن علي ثقة من قدرة الجيل الجديد علي ريادة المنتقة.

Now that the magazine will be available in Arabic and the wonderful work being done here will be told by Arabic speakers ourselves, we know that the new generation will quickly become the leaders of an ever brighter, healthier and happier region.

وفي الختام نود أن نقدم هدية من ايمرسون للالكترونيات شريك ناشيونال جيوغرافيك ، لحنا و صباح فتحي -- والهدية هي عبارة عن جهاز لطحن نفايات الطعم insinkerator لمطبخهم في منشأة ناصر لاستخدامه فيتحويل نفاياتهم العضوية الي غاز حيوي و ذلك بهدف استمرار مسيرة ابقآ القاهرة نظيفة وجميلة دآما

In closing we would like to present a gift on behalf of National Geographic and Emerson Electronics to Hanna and Sabah Fathy – an Insinkerator food disposal unit for their kitchen in Manshiyet Nasser that they can use to quickly and efficiently turn their organic wastes into food for their home biogas digestors and continue the revolution to help Cairo remain clean and beautiful into perpetuity.
دكتور توماس هنري رسام كلهين :
شكرا لك لناشيونال جيوغرافيك ، وشركة أبو ظبي وسائل الإعلام وإلى الشعب المصري ، لدعوتنا للمشاركة عملنا والرؤى معكم!

Dr. T.H. Culhane:

Thank you to National Geographic, the Abu Dhabi Media Company and to the Egyptian people, for inviting us to share our work and visions with you!











Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Repurposing grain silos as biogas digesters: Advantages and Disadvantages



In our quest to find ways to enable local people to use local materials, recycle available resources and re-purpose found items into functional renewable energy systems we are now curious to explore the advantages and disadvantages of turning grain silos into biogas digesters.

While we were touring His Excellency former President Obasanjo's farms in Abeokuta and Ogun State in Nigeria, and discussing with him and his people how we might work together to transform the Obasanjo farm wastes (particularly chicken manure and chicken slaughter waste) into value added products (among them fuel and fertilizer), we took these pictures of the steel grain silos scattered about his broiler farm in between the hedgerows of teak (Tectona grandis) trees, papaya trees and cassava.



Interestingly, if you look at the top of the grain silo, above the conical bottom, it bears a nice similarity to the aspect of some typical commercial biogas facilities, such as these from the Alten Group (a German-Ukranian company) in Azerbajian.


Of course we know from our experiences touring commercial digesters here in NRW in Germany (such as those built by PlanET biogas) that a convex or cylindrical or dome shaped top is the right geometry for build up and release of the biogas itself, so if the grain silo can be made gas tight it will work perfectly well from that regard.




The question is about the conical bottom with the apex pointing downward. What advantages or disadvantages would that pose to the formation of proper bacterial sludge granules? The design for a grain silo is obviously for gravity funneling of the grain out. In the case of a biogas digester we are not interested in releasing anything from the bottom (except during the rare cleaning times). The question is really what effect the cone will have on the bacteria.

Interestingly, however, when we visited Blue Marble Energy in Seattle to see their biogas operation, we learned that they are now using stainless steel for all their digestors and that they have the same shape as Obasanjo's grain silos. The key (though I have yet to confirm this) may be in the use of a technique called the "Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket"



More and more it appears that a modified upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, called an "induced blanket reactor (IBR)" may be the way to go for our Botswana project with the Jouberts (who want to build out of stainless steel) and with Obsanjo in Nigeria as well as elsewhere .
These quotes from a 2010 article in BioCycle magazine (the information source on composting and recycling wastes) called Anaerobic Digestion For Smaller Dairies :: BioCycle, Advancing Composting, Organics Recycling Renewable Energy make a case for IBR and UASB:

"The IBR naturally forms a thickened area of sludge in the lower
portion of the tank that contains high concentrations of bacteria.
Bacteria in this sludge blanket digest the manure (or other feedstock -- TH ), forming biogas.
Biogas attaches to the solids, causing the material to float up through the sludge blanket in the tank.

Near the top of the tank is a submerged septum or partition that
provides a means of separating the gas from the solids. An opening in
the center of the cone shaped septum allows the biogas to rise and exit
out the top of the vessel. The solids tend to sink back down the tank
after the gas is knocked off. Effluent also passes through the opening
in the septum and exits the tank via a pipe located above the septum.

The system does not employ any mechanical or hydraulic mixing. If the tank is mixed, the bacteria gets flushed out with the effluent, Watts explains. Not mixing the tank results in more bacteria per cubic foot."


This "Up-flow Sludge Blanket Filtration" system bears investigation. I don't fully understand it yet, but it seems to make sense, allowing aerobic and anaerobic processes to occur in the same unit at lower cost and with lower space requirements. The Covido system also makes use of Upflow Sludge Blanket Filtration (Ecofluid USBF process), and describes an innovative way of designing with conical shapes to allow both aerobic and anaerobic processes to occur (similar to Dr. Martin Denecke's patented 3A three-phase system for winning biogas from all substrates, including ligno-cellulose, but occurring in one small chamber).


My hunch, though I'm not an engineer (my masters and doctorate degrees are in Urban Planning) is that the geometry of the downward pointing cone may provide some benefits. I'm imagining, for one thing, that the fact that an inverted cone has most of its surface area on top and very little on the bottom will provide a temperature advantage for the bacteria -- the coldest water will sink to the apex. The top of the cone, where most of the exposed sludge granules will be relative to the food input, will be in a warmer zone.

Furthermore, the apex should be highly anoxic and somewhat protected from changes in water chemistry above, perhaps acting as a reservoir for bacteria during times of stress. By piping the feedstock slurry with a pipe buried half-way into the apex, whenever feeding occurs it could "thrust" the granules up so that they mix with the food, but then settle again by gravity into the apex.

Another advantage of the grain silo apex is that it offers a much smaller surface area to the outside in the coldest areas (the bottom) but can simultaneously be heated from that very apex without having to use a lot of heating coils. In fact there are a lot of ways such a digester could be heated:

1) heating coils wrapped around the apex of the cone and the cone itself
2) Painting the cone and the entire silo black and placing with best solar exposure
3) Focusing a concentrated solar thermal dish on the apex of the cone (see Gadhia Solar's large parabolic solar cookers, used all over India, for an idea of what I'm talking about)
4) Building a fire right under the apex of the cone

In all cases the concentrated heat would accrue on the smaller surface area of the cone and, since heat travels upward by convection, more efficiently heat the entire vessel.

The most exciting possibility that using a grain silo as a biodigester permits is the use of the Jean Pain method of Compost Heat:

One could pack compost (leaves, grass, wood-chips, rice straw etc.) around the cone from the apex to the part where the cylinder begins, and use compost heat a la the "Jean Pain Method" to heat up the biogas digestor. Because of the conical shape it would be much easier to stack and then to replace that compost when its calorific value is spent.

The grain silo's metal construction would still allow the cylindrical and top conical portions to be painted black and used to help heat the chamber via solar radiation.

From a first glance, then, retrofitting a grain silo to serve as a biogas digester may turn out to be a wise idea. We have yet to determine the costs (used steel grain silos in France seem to cost about 600 Euro according to Agrifaires.de ; we need to work out the possible plumbing and sealing and access difficulties, but it will be worth while finding out.



If anybody reading this has experience or suggestions, please do let us know!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Building the "Nigeria of our Dreams"

In 2007 at the first international Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) conference, held in Toronto, Canada, the Nigerian Minister for Information and Communications, Mr. Frank Nweke Jr. called on all Nigerians to join hands and work together to "build a Nigeria of their dreams". The conference was themed around "Awakening The Tiger in the Heart of Africa - The Role of the Diaspora in Socio-Economic Development of Nigeria", and it attracted Nigerian professionals from all over the world. According to news reports,

"The conference enjoyed the support of Nigerian, United States and Canadian Governments, Ministries, parastatals and Agencies, Universities, private and public corporations in Nigeria, USA, Canada and elsewhere, as well as private individuals."

While we were staying with His Excellency former President Obasanjo (who served his country from 1999 through 2007) during the last week of August, building renewable energy capacity and biodigestors in Abeokuta (including one connected to an Insinkerator in the President's own kitchen) we discussed with the esteemed Nigerian leader the Solar CITIES concept for awakening another tiger of human potential to help the motherland: involving German government agencies, businesses and citizens to help us support, train and mobilize the vast pool of German-Nigerian workers who are currently underemployed or inefficiently deployed in their new country of residence.

Obasanjo, who in his post-political era supports himself through his visionary poultry, ostrich, emu, forest snail, tilapia and catfish farms, as well as afforestation projects with commercial plantations of teak, oil palm and many other valuable but underutilized African plant and animal species (including the delicious grass cutter rodent,Thryonomys, "the other white meat") informed us after we toured his agro-business holdings that he had pioneered the concept of NIDO and its sister organization, the Nigerian National Volunteer Service (NNVS, dedicated to harnessing "the services of Nigerian experts, both retirees and active agents at home and abroad, for the development of the nation") during the early years of his tenure as President, dedicating himself to turning what had been a "brain drain" into a "brain gain". He said, "In fact that is how I got my former minister of finance, a Nigerian who had been living in the U.S.".

According to the article, Nigeria: Turning the ‘Brain Drain’ into ‘Brain Gain’, Looking to the Diaspora for help in national development. by Obi. O. Akwani


"In July 2005, the first of an annual Science and Technology Conference between Nigerians in the Diaspora and those at home designed to map out the modalities of the ‘brain gain’ project, took place in Abuja. President Obasanjo described the conference as a “first step toward a national objective [of harnessing the talents of Nigerians in the Diaspora] as the engine of change and accelerated development in Nigeria.” During that conference, Obasanjo declared July 25 to be Diaspora Day in Nigeria. It is a day for all Nigerians to remember and appreciate the contributions of their expatriate nationals in the country’s development. The first Diaspora Day anniversary was celebrated on July 25, 2006 in conjunction with the three-day Science and Technology Conference for that year. The 200 registered Nigerian expatriates who attended the 2006 conference was more than double the 76 Nigerians from the Diaspora that attended the first conference in 2005. The emphasis on science and technology is a recognition of the need for Nigeria to begin now to “revolutionize its science and technology infrastructure [as the key] to the future.” "

But where NIDO has focused on bringing Nigeria's educational high achievers and/or their ideas back home (in the U.S. alone there are estimated to be about 20,000 Nigerian expatriot doctors), the vast majority of the nearly 17 million Nigerians living abroad (including the Nigerian majority of the estimated 300,000 Africans living in Germany) are not able to fully participate in returning gains to either their host country or their country of origin. This is particularly due to a lack of high-value skill building opportunities for the underemployed in the countries where many Nigerians live as immigrants, and a lack of articulation between emerging sectors of the new global economy and the available labor pool.

For example, Germany is a worldwide leader in renewable energy technologies and the green economy. But on the NIDO-Germany e.V. website the German-Nigerian community addresses the problem of bringing reliable alternative energy to Nigeria, where it is so desperately needed, stating in the article "Problems with implementing alternative energy projects in Nigeria" that the major reason for the disconnect is a lack of trained workers who can assist with implementation.

Given that there is a dearth of "green collar workers" throughout the world it is not surprising that there is a lack of people with renewable energy or sustainable development experience in any subset of a population. But the shortage is particularly acute among immigrants, usually because they have little or no access to the few privileged centers of education and businesses that are forging new paths toward sustainability.

And yet these are the very people who need this training most, because most of the immigrants to Europe and the United States come from southern regions that are simultaneously blessed with the greatest potential for using solar, wind, groundsource, geothermal and biomass energy supplies and yet cursed with the greatest environmental challenges.

Curiously there are very few, if any, mechanisms for tapping the human potential of the immigrant populations of the world to address environmental problems, often the very problems (resource scarcity, service disruptions, air, water and food poisoning and pollution, economic difficulties) that exacerbated the conflicts that lead to the diasporas in the first place. And yet immigrants from countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central America and Asia understand the need for environmental technologies and solutions like no other.

When the German Job Center trains unemployed immigrants to use the internet to search for work, they coach them in the use of "Berufenet.arbeitsagenture.de" the Bundesagentur fur Arbeit, but in my research I discovered that they either don't introduce them to or even actively discourage them from looking into the field of "Entwicklungsherfer/in", claiming that to be a development worker one needs to have completed the standard University Ausbildung, which is not available to immigrants.

Yet a look at the real qualifications listed on the website reveals a profile that is much more suited to, say, an immigrant from Africa than a German national born and raised in Europe. Here is what the website reveals:

Arbeitsbedingungen

Die Arbeitssituation von Entwicklungshelfern und -helferinnen ist sehr unterschiedlich. Die eigentliche Arbeit führen sie im Rahmen allgemeiner Vorgaben weitgehend selbstständig durch, wobei sie einen großen Gestaltungsspielraum haben. Neben fundiertem Fachwissen sollten Entwicklungshelfer/innen über Sprachkenntnisse z.B. in Englisch, Französisch, Spanisch oder Portugiesisch verfügen. Toleranz und Offenheit gegenüber anderen Kulturen, Einfühlungsvermögen und die Bereitschaft, sich auf andere Kulturen, Sitten und Gebräuche einzulassen, sind für diesen Beruf ein absolutes Muss. Notwendig sind auch körperliche wie seelische Belastbarkeit sowie ein hohes Maß an Flexibilität.
Die Arbeitsgegenstände und -mittel von Entwicklungshelfern und -helferinnen hängen von den konkreten Berufen ab, welche sie im Entwicklungsland ausüben. Jedoch ist die technische Ausrüstung meist nicht mit dem im Heimatland üblichen Standard zu vergleichen.
Entwicklungshelfer/innen arbeiten bei ihren eigentlichen Tätigkeiten allein oder im Team. Während ihres Einsatzes im Entwicklungsland haben sie zahlreiche Kontakte zu den Mitarbeitern und Mitarbeiterinnen der jeweiligen einheimischen Träger sowie zur dortigen Bevölkerung. Die Arbeitszeiten von Entwicklungshelfern und -helferinnen entsprechen in den meisten Gastländern denen in Europa. Je nach Arbeitsplatz ist jedoch die Bereitschaft zur flexiblen Anwendung der Vorschriften vonnöten.

Aufgaben und Tätigkeiten

Entwicklungshelfer/innen kommen aus unterschiedlichen Ausgangsberufen, beispielsweise aus der Land- oder Forstwirtschaft, aus dem Gesundheitswesen oder aus technisch-handwerklichen Berufen. Die Projekte, in denen Entwicklungshelfer/innen tätig sind, sind so unterschiedlich wie die Probleme der Entwicklungsländer selbst. So schulen sie etwa einheimische Handwerker im Bau von Solaröfen oder hinsichtlich einer effizienten Abwasserreinigung. Sie beraten beim Aufbau von Kleinbetrieben, vermitteln Kenntnisse zur Gewinnung und Verarbeitung lokaler Materialen oder schulen Verwaltungskräfte. Auch in der Stadt- und Raumplanung oder in der Frauenförderung können sie tätig sein. Bei ihren Projekten übernehmen Entwicklungshelfer/innen auch Verwaltungsarbeiten. Die Mittelabrechnung, das Schreiben von Berichten und Maßnahmeanträgen gehört ebenfalls zu ihren Aufgaben.

Arbeitsbedingungen im Einzelnen


  • Arbeit mit technischen Geräten, Maschinen und Anlagen (abhängig vom ausgeübten Beruf; technische Ausrüstung jedoch meist nicht mit dem in der Bundesrepublik üblichen Stand zu vergleichen)

  • Handarbeit (je nach Tätigkeit und Einsatzgebiet)

  • Arbeit auf Baustellen (je nach Tätigkeit und Einsatzgebiet)

  • Arbeit im Freien (je nach Tätigkeit und Einsatzgebiet)

  • Arbeit in Büroräumen (z.B. selbst Verwaltungsarbeiten übernehmen)

  • Arbeit in Unterrichts-/Schulungsräumen (z.B. Verwaltungskräfte schulen)

  • Arbeit in Werkstätten, Werk-/Produktionshallen (je nach Einsatzart)

  • Arbeit bei Kälte, Hitze, Nässe, Feuchtigkeit, Zugluft (In den meisten tropischen Ländern herrscht z.B. ein für Deutsche ungewohntes Klima.)

  • Gruppen-, Teamarbeit (z.B. im Team mit einheimischen Handwerkern zusammenarbeiten)

  • Kundenkontakt (und enger Kontakt mit der einheimischen Bevölkerung, z.B. einheimische Handwerker im Bau von Solaröfen schulen)

  • häufige Abwesenheit vom Wohnort (Tätigkeit im Ausland)

  • unregelmäßige Arbeitszeiten (abhängig vom Einsatz vor Ort)


(Here is the English translation:

Working Conditions
The work situation of aid workers and assistants is quite varied. The actual work they do in the framework of general guidelines is largely autonomous, and provide a lot of room for creativity. In addition, aid workers should have a sound knowledge of foreign languages and be able to function well in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese. Tolerance and openness towards other cultures, empathy and a willingness to engage with other cultures, customs and traditions are, for this occupation, an absolute must. It is also necessary to have physical and mental strength and a high degree of flexibility.

The work specifications and the skills needed by development workers and helpers depend on the specific tasks which are being undertaken in the developing country. However, the technical equipment one will be using should not be compared with the usual standards in the home country.

Development workers work on their activities alone or in teams. During their deployment in developing countries, they must engage in very close contact with the staff and employees of each local institution and with the local people of the country. The work of aid workers and helpers may also be to meet immigrants from the developing countries in their host countries, such as Europe. Depending on the willingness to work flexible application of rules is needed.


Tasks and activities

Development workers come from different starting professions, such as from agriculture or forestry, the health services or from technical and craft occupations. The projects in which development workers are active in are as different as the problems of the developing countries themselves. For example, they might train some local artisans in the construction of solar ovens or i. They might advise in setting up small businesses, provide knowledge to extract and process local materials, or assist local school administrators. They can also be active in the urban and country planning or in women's issues. In their projects, Development workers take an active role in administrative support.. They help raise funds, and the writing of reports and requests for action can also be part of their duties.


Working conditions in detail

* Working with technical equipment, machinery and equipment (depending on the type of professional, technical equipment, however, can not be compared with the most common found in the Federal Republic of Germany)

* Supplies (depending on activity and application)

* Work on construction sites (depending on activity and application)

*Work outdoors (depending on activity and application)

* Work in offices (eg take even administrative work)

* Work in Education-/Schoolrooms (eg administrative staff training)

* Work in workshops, Work-/Productionhalls(depending on the application)

* Work in the cold, heat, moisture, humidity, drafts (in most tropical countries, these are very unusual climates for Germans.)

* Groups, team work (eg team work with local craftsmen)

* Close contact with customers (train close to the local population, such as local craftsmen in the construction of solar ovens)
* frequent absences from home (working abroad)

* irregular hours (depending on site use)
All of us who work in so-called "third world" regions have had the experience of having to come to the aid of some well-intentioned but ill-equipped American or European "aid worker" suffering from an averse reaction to the local climate, food, or working conditions, and we have all watched in dismay as the higher salaried development specialists trundle about in their air-conditioned SUV's, make the briefest of site visits and then retire to their comfortable climate controlled offices with their backup generators, constant supplies of water, and even servant staffs.

We wonder about the ineffective use of most development funds, the lack of sustained commitment by many in our field, and the prodigious losses in time and energy dealing with miscommunication as the local languages are painstakingly mastered and cultural nuances slowly (often far too slowly) appreciated.

And we marvel and the sheer waste of resources in times of great human calamity, resources that could be better spent if development aid project heads and businesses trying to bring "green technologies" recruited not those individuals with the greatest formal education (who invariably spent most of their time getting used to -- and addicted to? -- privileged circumstances) but those individuals who have long direct and lived empathic experience with the challenges faced by their brothers and sisters in developing countries (If you think I'm being uncharacteristically harsh, check out Ivan Illich's speech "To Hell with Good Intentions").

The responses I got when I queried instructors and administrators in Germany's "Weststadt Academy" and "Haus Der Teknik" (where jobless immigrants are sent to learn the German language and culture and prepare for work skills development) were, "These people would not be suited for Development work. For one thing they lack the proper education and interest, and for another they came here to get away (one said "escape") from their countries of origin and don't want to go back."

But when I asked my unemployed and immigrant friends from the Middle East and Africa about their feelings, and showed them the pages from Berufnet most of them said, "This would be perfect for me -- I speak not only German and English but several local languages or dialects, I know my home culture, I'm comfortable working in my former homeland, and I'm enthusiastic about helping my relatives and my people. All I lack is the training in how to work with energy, water, food and waste improvement technologies."

Several said, "we would be better representatives of Germany, German companies and German science and technology, because we are part of both worlds and can build bridges of understanding. This would improve German business relations with our homelands."

In the particular case of Nigeria, there are clear benefits to training members of the German-Nigerian "working class", whether currently employed or not, in Germany's Green Tech and Clean Tech expertise. According to the Auswartiges Amt (Gerrmany's Foreign Office),

Nigeria is Germany’s second most important trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2009, Germany exported to Nigeria goods worth more than EUR 1 billion, a decline of just under 15 per cent compared with the previous year. The value of Nigerian goods imported by Germany shrank by 34 per cent, to nearly EUR 1.2 billion, after increasing by 96 per cent in 2008. The decline in exports is mainly due to Nigeria’s reduced imports of final products and finished goods, while the slump in imports is largely the result of the lower price of petroleum.
The main German exports to Nigeria are machinery, vehicles, chemical products and electrical goods.
In 2008, Germany ranked fourth as a supplier of goods to Nigeria and was the fourteenth-largest importer of Nigerian products. In Germany’s foreign trade, Nigeria ranks 61st for exports and 53rd for imports (2009).
German direct investment in Nigeria has been declining since 2001, amounting to EUR 96 million at the end of 2007 (2001: EUR 298 million).
Some 50 German companies operate in Nigeria, some with production plants, some with offices. The agreement on reciprocal investment protection and promotion, which was signed in 2000, entered into force in September 2007.
Nigeria is one of Germany’s partner countries in development cooperation. The new priority here (in Technical Cooperation) is the employment-oriented promotion of micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses in the federal states of Niger, Nasarawa and Plateau.


Since development cooperation began, Germany has pledged funds worth more than EUR 360 million to Nigeria, two-thirds of which was earmarked for Financial Cooperation and one-third for Technical Cooperation.

In cognizance of these facts, Solar CITIES is now working with our Nigerian-German colleague and friend, Paul "Chido" Iwunna, a man who, like me, is married to a German national and has a beautiful daughter who is a living embodiment of the bi-cultural benefits of globalization. Chido, like many of us, thus has powerful reasons to support the economies and people of both his country of origin and his country of residence. To support his family, Chido has worked in a factory in Bochum for the past 13 years. The job involves production and assembly of wheelchairs and hospital beds, and while the products are very important, he doesn't feel he is making the best use of his talents and time on the assembly line. Chido approached Solar CITIES after a presentation we made at a Development Aid Project Fundraiser for the NGO "Chance For Growth" founded by his wife's college friend, Sven Volkmuth MD.

Since "Chance for Growth" works primarily on development projects in the Philippines, Chido asked if we couldn't do something for his home country of Nigeria, particularly since there are so many Nigerian immigrants in the NRW area of Germany. Out of this conversation came our idea of training Chido in the creation of home-scale biogas reactors, treadle pumps and solar hot water, solar electric and small wind and micro-hydro systems and visiting Nigeria to reify our connection with His Excellency Obasanjo.

German-Nigerian Solar CITIES representative Paul Chido Iwunna, married to a German, is now, after 13 years working in a medical equipment factory in Bochum, on a mission to return to his country of origin to share ideas and technologies and foster bilateral cooperation between the two parts of the world that form the heritage of his 8 year old binational daughter .

Paul Chido Iwunna (right) shares ideas with American Dr. Charisma Acey, Professor of Urban Planning at Ohio State University, who is married to a Nigerian, and Bunmi Idowu, manager of Obasanjo Farms, Ibogun. Bunmi was showing how Obasanjo has used the required quarantine space between chicken houses to grow teak trees, part of Obasanjo's plan to reforest Nigeria while reducing the incidence of disease transmission. "We've never had a worry about avian flu here" he told us.

Paul poses with Obasanjo's relatives in the humble village where the former President grew up.

After seeing the kerosene stoves that the villagers use to cook and heat water, and noting the thick black soot on the walls, Paul explains the benefits of biogas and our experience with it in Germany, and promises to bring simple and cost-effective versions of this technology to the materially poor areas of Nigeria.

Paul poses with Mrs. Obasanjo and Dr. Acey in the Obasanjo garden where Nigeria's first lady shows the edible and medicinal landscaping she has planted there.


After we shared our technical expertise with members from different communities in Nigeria and Chido demonstrated his commitment as a Solar CITIES Greentech development worker, we asked President Obasanjo if he thought we could launch an initiative similar to (or under the auspices of) NIDO and NNVS that can find ways to train Nigerian Germans in Environmental Technologies, (particularly those in need of gainful employment or who are seeking more meaningful career choices), and bring them to Nigeria to train others. His Excellency said that "providing accomodation and food would not be a problem on our end." On the other end we are proposing that the same unemployment money and training money currently paid out to underemployed Nigerians through the Job Center be used to subsidize Green Collar Job Training and then, for successful graduates of the training program, the airfare for two one month long implementation trips to Nigeria, spread out over a year. Families of the trainees would continue to receive their unemployment benefits, but rather than working at the famous but hardly edifying "1 Euro job" available to the unemployed so that they don't waste time idle while looking for better employment (usually some kind of manual labor), the trainees would be active on the ground in Nigerian slums and villages, making improvements and acting as liaisons between Germany and Nigeria.

Paul and the Solar CITIES team, T.H. and Charisma, present His Excellency and Mrs. Obasanjo with an Insinkerator Food-waste-Biofuel-feedstock converter, describing how it can be used to eliminate Nigeria's organic solid waste problem and empower families to participate in clean energy solutions and greenhouse gas reductions to stop climate change, following Germany's example of turning garbage into gas. And you thought it was just a food waste disposal?


Upon their completion of the implementation course in bilateral green technology, these Nigerian-Germans could continue working with the professional Nigerian-German Community would receive credentials and could better enter the job-pool, applying for meaningful jobs as Development Aid Specialists and representing German companies involved in bettering the Nigerian economy and environment.

Paul poses with Dr. T.H. Culhane, Dr. Charisma Acey, Balogun Olowasegun and Emmanuel Thonda of Naijatomo Holistic Waste Management Company and the students of Obasanjo's Bells School after training them in domestic biogas technology.


In this way we could waken the tigers not only in the heart of Africa but in the heart of Europe, and build not just the Nigeria of our Dreams, but the sustainable globalized world civilization of our Dreams that grants equal opportunity and liberty, and environmental justice, for all.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Cleaning Nigeria using everything AND the kitchen sink!

(Photo:The students of Bell's High School do the "Frontline SMS" logo cheer in front of their completed kitchen waste biogas digestor to share with National Geographic Emerging Explorer colleague Ken Banks, whose Frontline SMS technology is being used by Solar CITIES to help biogas users across Africa share results and innovations and troubleshoot their systems.)




A tale of two Insinkerators

Abstract:
At the end of August, 2010, Solar CITIES delivered two Insinkerators, donated to our cause by Emerson Electronics and the Insinkerator corporation, to their new homes in Nigeria.

One we placed in the kitchen sink of the visionary former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has been championing green technology and reforestation in his country and throughout Africa, and the other was given to Naijatomo Holistic Waste Management Company founder Balogun Olowusegun, who has dedicated his company to helping solve Nigeria's solid waste problem (Naijatomo means "clean nigeria").

These Insinkerator appliances were connected to home-scale kitchen-waste-to-cooking-fuel-and-fertilizer biogas systems so that all organic wastes now are used to produce useful products rather than ending up in plastic bags clogging the sewers and causing floods and health hazards.

From these small seeds we expect a new green revolution to sprout; the end result of our trip to Nigeria was President Obasanjo's announcement of the creation with us and regional experts of Africa's first "Green Economy Center", to be housed at the Presidential Library and Museum, which will work to disseminate appropriately scaled clean energy, water and waste-recycling technologies throughout Africa.

We see the Insinkerator being a key upstream component that will allow every household to participate in meaningful solutions to Africa's environmental challenges as well as to the downstream issue of mitigating climate change.

Ironically, we finished installing the Insinkerator and Nigeria's first household scale kitchen-waste-to-biogas system on August 27th, 2010, and we learned from watching a Nigerian television news report that night with His Excellency that exactly 151 years earlier, on August 27th 1859, "oil was discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania, leading to the birth of the oil age".

President Obasanjo, who has just finished building Nigeria's first large scale biogas system (2500 scm per day from corn processing wastes with Indian biofuels expert K.S. Rao at the Obasanjo factory "Temp Starch and Glucose Limited") felt it appropriate that his nation, which has received both blessings and curses because of the oil age, become Africa's leader in clean, distributed generation, renewable energy, starting with kitchen and food processing wastes. The Insinkerator technology, which is available in domestic and industrial sizes, is seen as the first step in the scale up to an efficient "biofuel" age in Africa.


(Photo: H.E. President Obasanjo's commercial biogas reactor, built by Indian technical engineer K.S. Rao at the Temp Starch and Glucose Factory on Quarry Road in Abeokuta. Right is the digestor tank, connected via moisture traps in the piping to the factory. Left is the temporary gas storage and pressure vessel (telescoping design). Mid-picture you can see the small lube compressor that pressurizes the gas up to 3 bar for delivery to the factory boilers. The 2500 scm of biogas produced here provides 1/6th of the fuel requirements for the factory. Obasanjo is leading the country toward a clean renewable energy fueled future.)



Solar CITIES would like to thank David McNair, Kendall Christiansen, Craig Sumner, William Chris Kostman Virginia Busch and the entire Insinkerator/Emerson Electronics team for their vision, their support and help, and their belief in our Middle East/Africa mission.


(Left to right: T.H. Culhane, Mrs. Obasanjo, His Excellency President Obasanjo, Paul Chido Iwunna, Dr. Charisma Acey. Photos courtesy of Dr. Charisma Acey.)





Left to right: Dr. Moses Oyatogun, Chief Iyke, Diamond Technical Corporation, T.H. Culhane, Paul Chido Iwunna and, smiling as T.H. presents Balogun Olowusegun and Naijatomo with an Insinkerator to aid in their development of clean energy and waste management solutions for all Nigeria.



During the last week of August, 2010, Solar CITIES founder Dr. T.H. Culhane, and team and board members Paul Chido Iwunna and Dr. Charisma Acey presented His Excellency President Olusegun Obasanjo and his wife with an Insinkerator "food-waste-to-fuel-feedstock" appliance to use with the home-scale "kitchen-waste-to-biogas" digestor that we built just outside the former Nigerian leader's kitchen.

The Insinkerator unit was a gift from St. Louis, Missouri based Emerson Electronics and their Milwaukee, Wisconson based Insinkerator division.





Outside the kitchen, Obasanjo's chief engineer, Jerry, demonstrated the installation of the Insinkerator to the staff and to visitors and guests before putting the new large-diameter sink, purchased especially to fit the new appliance, into the kitchen for daily use.









Now equipped with its food-waste-to-fuel-feedstock unit, all the organic wastes flow immediately into the below ground biogas digestor that Culhane and his team built with the Obasanjo staff.





Dr. Moses Oyatogun of the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, College of Environmental Resources Management at the Abeokuta University of Agriculture explained to the former President and the crowd why he believes that Insinkerators can have a major impact all over Nigeria and the African continent (contact him at moyatogun2k@yahoo.com).





"The basic idea", Dr. Oyatogun explained, "is that food scraps contain an enormous amount of energy and all the micronutrients needed to keep the local ecology healthy, yet ironically we throw these riches away and we do so in such a way that we actually create major health problems. The Insinkerator, as a first line of ecological defense, makes it not only possible, but actually convenient for every family and household to participate in Nigeria's improvement."



His Excellency Obasanjo, himself a farmer with decades of experience in improved agro-ecology, spoke passionately about Nigeria's need to realize the benefits that can be captured from the waste streams of homes, farms and industries, and suggested that organic waste grinding technologies could be used at many different scales.





T.H. and His Excellency shared a handshake over their agreement and their conviction that food waste grinders like the Insinkerator have the potential to play a major role in helping to produce clean energy, stop deforestation and clean the streets and natural environments throughout Africa, while providing valuable fertilizer to keep the Green Revolution going, all the while providing multiple micro-economic opportunities.



Outside the Obasanjo home, led by Nigeria's first democratically elected two-term President, everyone took turns throwing various common food wastes into the Insinkerator in a dedication ceremony just before the sink was installed inside the kitchen, connected to the pipes leading to the biodigestor and commissioned.


Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo (center) drops scraps from his kitchen into his new insinkerator, a gift from Solar CITIES and Emerson Electronics/Insinkerator Corporation, at a press ceremony where he explained how food wastes in Nigeria will now go from being a problem to being a solution for a healthier, cleaner and more secure Africa.



Solar CITIES was also encouraged by His Excellency to invite Balogun Olowusegun and Immanuelle Thonda from the visionary and holistic waste management and recycling company "Naijatomo" (Clean Nigeria) to the former President's home, as well Chief Iyke from the Lagos-based Nigerian Insinkerator sales and service company Diamond Technical Corporation (contact insink2004@yahoo.co.in).





T.H., Paul and Charisma of Solar CITIES and the US based Emerson Electronics/Insinkerator Corporation present an Insinkerator as a gift to Naijatomo founders Balogun Oluwasegun (red shirt) and Immanuelle Thonda (far left) as Dr. Moses Oyatogun, director of the new Green Economy Center (Green outfit) and Chief Iyke of Diamond Technical Corporation, the Nigerian Insinkerator dealers (white shirt) share the celebration.

At the end of the day, Solar CITIES presented a second Insinkerator as a gift to Naijatomo so that they could incorporate it into their waste management system. This unit was also a gift from Emerson Electronics and Insinkerator corporation to the Solar CITIES Middle-East/Africa clean energy initiative.




A few days later Chief Ike and Dr. Moses returned to look at how the Insinkerator, now installed in the Obasanjo kitchen, connects to the home-scale biodigestor that Solar CITIES built just outside the kitchen door, discussing its benefits with Mrs. Obasanjo, who particularly wants to see these solutions implemented in such a way that they benefit women and children, who bear most of the burdens of cooking, water fetching and waste disposal.



Culhane showed Chief Iyke and guests and visitors how the Insinkerator's output can be output with a valve either directly to the common drain, or diverted to the biogas digestor, located below ground for automatic gravity feeding of the Insinkerator slurry.



Back inside the dining room, President Obasanjo called a meeting to officially launch the "Green Economy Center for Research and Development", to be housed at his new Presidential Library and Museum where all types of Environmentally sustainable technologies will be showcased so that Nigerians and other Africans, as well as visitors from all Nations, can gain firsthand experience with green solutions to ecological and economic challenges.




Solar CITIES was appointed by His Excellency to be international advisers and coordinators to the Green Economy Center, which will be registered as an NGO and housed at the Presidential Library. Dr. Moses Oyatogun, from the College of Environmental Resources Management in Abeokuta (moyatogun2k@yahoo.com) was appointed the director of the new center, and Naijatomo and Diamond Technical Company, as holistic waste management and Insinkerator-representatives and environmental consultants, were appointed to be business partners/sponsors of the NGO.

We conceive of the Insinkerator as a pivotal game changing technology that is the centerpiece of our home-scale solutions package for waste, water and energy problems.

Dr. Iyke, who has been importing, selling, installing and repairing Insinkerators since 2004, explained some of the reasons that these marvelous devices have not yet become popular in Nigeria and the rest of Africa (currently Nigeria is the only country to have a company representing the Insinkerator product line.) Among the reasons were:

1) Lack of building codes or standards that would make installation easy and inexpensive.
Currently neither the sink flanges, heights and dimensions, nor the normal piping used in Nigeria make installation of an Insinkerator a plug and play operation like it is in the U.S. Diamond Technical Company is working with the Abuja Environmental Board and has authored a bill to go before the government calling for standards that will make putting in an Insinkerator as easy as putting in a toilet (an area where there are plumbing standards in the housing code).

2) A very high import tariff (45%) that drastically increases the retail price of the Insinkerators so that they are out of reach for most consumers. Government needs to see these appliances as a net benefit to Nigeria on many levels and remove barriers to free trade. If the terms of trade were favourable to Nigerian companies to bring them in by sea to Lagos and sell them near the true market price, Insinkerator sales from Nigeria could open up the entire African continent market, benefiting both the US and the Nigerian economies .

3) High air transportation costs because of low volume importing of the units (which weigh between 7.5 and 15 kg).
Chief Iyke lamented that there is little investment confidence in Nigeria and that it is difficult to get foreign companies to extend a credit line or ship a large quantity of units in bulk on consignment. He said that if wholesale distributors in the U.S. would develop a relationship of trust with his company and others in Nigeria and give them the same business advantages that other countries get, the Nigerian market demand would drive a very good business. Sea transport of containers with Insinkerators would bring the costs down to the point that he could offer units near the US price. Currently Diamond Technical Corp flies in small orders of units.

The prices in Nigeria, distorted by the 45% clearance tax, are currently as follows (installation costs 5,000 Naira, equivalent to $33):

Badger (0.5 HP): 49,000 Naira ( = $ 326, as compared to $89 at Home Depot in the US). Chief Iyke noted that if he got volume shipments he could cut the price in half, to 25,000 Naira ($166).

Model 55: (.55HP) 55,000 Naira (= $366)
Model 65: (.65HP) 65,000 Naira (= $433)
Model 75 (.75HP): 75,000 Naira (= $500)
Model Evolution (.75 HP): 85,000 Naira (= $566)

At these prices, roughly 365% more than the US cost, and especially relative to the Nigerian economy, Insinkerators are out of reach for all but the wealthiest in the country. Even among the wealthy they are considered a low priority luxury. For this reason we chose to install Model 55 units into both the former President's kitchen and that of Naijatomo, since this model is closer to what the consumer market may be able to afford in the near future. The Evolution models, while much more efficient, flexible in terms of feedstock (able to grind even bones, corn cobs, seeds and pits) and quiet, are out of the price range considered tolerable in the Nigerian market until volume imports create transportation economies of sacle and the clearance tax is reduced or removed. The former President's aim in having an Insinkerator and a biogas digestor in his own home is to show his commitment to what he hopes with be a popular everyman/everywoman solution to the energy and waste problems plaguing his country, so he chose to have models of these technologies that were affordable and appropriate.

One thing President Obasanjo discussed was looking into the possibility of licensing to manufacture in Nigeria itself, so that key high quality parts and essential motor control technologies could be brought into the country and assembly of the final product could be done in country. This form of quasi-import substitution would radically reduce costs until they approached US levels. The advantage would be huge volume sales (Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation whose approximately 150 million people make up 1/6th of Africa's total population) and market leadership for Insinkerator throughout the continent (the current market competitor in Nigeria is South Africa's "Sinkmaster" product line, but Chief Iyke says, "Their concept for environmental management in Africa is good, but they don't last. Insinkerator uses quality parts, and that is what we need to build consumer confidence in this unique waste disposal solution.")

Chief Iyke showed the Insinkerator promotional video to the Obasanjo Green Economy Group and later we had him show it to Dr. Sowole, medical director of the Sacred Heart hospital where we were building another biodigestor that the materially poor could use and learn from. Dr. Sowole loved the concept but commented "I hope we will see black faces in these promotions". Culhane assured them that Insinkerator already had literature in many languages (including Arabic) and Chief Iyke informed the hospital that Diamond Technical Corp had already filmed and was in production of a food disposer video featuring Nigerian talent. The key factors in launching the public awareness campaign would be clean energy, reduced reliance on forest-derived fuels (90% of the deforestation and consequent habitat loss in Nigeria is due to wood being felled for direct fuel or charcoal, with attendant respiratory risks compounding the soil erosion and biodiversity loss threats) and the diminishing of foul plastic bag wastes acting as breeding sites for pathogenic bacteria. The Insinkerator/Biogas solution thus fits into both environmental and public health campaigns.

"What we need now", our colleagues in Nigeria told us , is for the American and European companies to trust us and invest in us as individuals fighting on the same team and help us grow the Insinkerator and household/community/municipal biogas markets; right now many people mistrust Nigeria because of the bad press we get relating to internet scams and such but they shouldn't. Countries can't be bad; individuals can, but our countries are made up of many individuals, good and bad, and we who are working hard on making Nigeria and the world a better place need to work together."


Culhane explains the biology of methanogenesis to the students of Obasanjo's Bell's Secondary School. Solar CITIES believes that women in particular have the right to become stewards of the primary energy, water and waste recycling technologies used in a household since most consumption and production occurs in the kitchens and bathrooms, which are traditionally female domains.
Balogun Olowasegun of Naijatomo Holistic Waste Management company, addresses the teachers and the press, explaining how point-source separation of organic and inorganic wastes (made even more convenient by an Insinkerator) can lead to immediate clean air/water/and land benefits for Nigeria.
Culhane explains to the press that Solar CITIES has built 4 digestors in Abeokuta, one at His Excellency Obasanjo's home, one here at the Bells School, one by the kitchen of University Professor and Green Economy Center director Moses Oyatogun, and one at the Sacred Heart Hospital where all sectors of society can see it functioning. In addition Naijatomo is building one, and two Insinkerators have been installed to effortlessly feed the biodigestors.

Building an ARTI INDIA style Biogas Digestor at Belles Secondary School in Nigeria

Culhane learned how to build ARTI style biodigestors from Dr. Anand Karve in Pune India, and has made simple modifications to suit local conditions and budgets. Here a 2" rather than 4" feedpipe is being installed to keep costs low. The slurry put out by an insinkerator is small enough in particulate sizes to permit smaller and less expensive piping.
This finished above ground 2000 liter biogas reactor outside the school cafeteria is merely in need of an industrial sized Insinkerator to turn all of the schools' wastes into feedstock slurry. In the meantime, students pound the food in water with a large traditional African wooden mortar and pestle.





Solar CITIES and Naijatomo finish the training with the Bell's school science students.



Jimo (Obasanjo staff driving pool), a teacher from the Bell's school, the head plumber/mechanic for the Bell's school, Balogun Oluwasegun from Naijatomo, Dr. T.H. Culhane and Dr. Charisma Acey from Solar CITIES and Emmanuelle Thonde from Naijatomo flank the new teaching digestor at the Bell's school.

The students of Bell's High School do the "Frontline SMS" logo cheer to share with National Geographic Emerging Explorer colleague Ken Banks, whose Frontline SMS technology is being used by Solar CITIES to help biogas users across Africa share results and innovations and troubleshoot their systems.


Dr. Charisma Acey and Dr. T.H. Culhane pose in front of our third of four biodigestors that we trained our colleagues to build in NIgeria; this one is behind the kitchen at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Abeokuta, where all social classes have access to it and can learn from it.