Solar Technology and Energy for Vital Economic Needs
S.T.E.V.E.N. Foundation,
Ithaca, New York, USA
Tel/Fax (607) 257 7109
November 1992
GREETINGS! It has been awhile since our last newsletter in the summer of 1991, and with many of you there has been no communication meantime. We want to assure you that S.T.E.V.E.N. Foundation has not gone to sleep. We also want to let you know about a number of developments, and some others to come in 1993.
TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES. In the course of last year we have done a good
deal of research and development work in several areas--in particular 1)
a combined cooker/baking oven/refrigerator- 2) a very inexpensive
refrigerator- 3) a high-pressure water turbine for mechanical and electric
power applications. WhiIe alI of these have shown good performance, we
have not reached a stage of marketable or distributable prototypes and
drawings. But we hope to have at least some of these by spring 1993. Two
of these technologies will be finalized as a part of a course in intermediate
technology and cooperative organization at Cornell in the spring term 1993
offered by Prof. Vanek.
S-T-E-V-E.N- MANUALS- Improved manuals for construction and operation
of several of the devices have been produced end are available upon demand.
These manuals now exist for:
- the solar collector
- the steam engine
- the solar surface pump - the hydraulic pump
Further, manuals exist in Spanish for the hydraulic pump, and our vacuum
hand pump (the "ten dollar pump").
There is no fixed cost for the manuals. Rather we hope that anyone who can will make a (tax deductible) donation to S.T.E.V.E.N Foundation, in recompense and in support of our work. We invite your inquiry about the manual(s) in which you are most interested.
SOLAR TRACKERS FOR SALE- Note that a manual for the S.T.E.V.E.N. tracker for the solar collector is not on the list. We prefer to produce the solar tracker ourselves and will sell it at a price of $50. - $ 100 delivered. Orders are welcome and can be handled quickly.
FUND RAISING. In the spring of 1992 we found that our funds had shrunk to a point where technology development, communication and outreach were hampered. A number of you responded generously to our letter of appeal. We continue to be grateful for that response which has allowed us to go forward. Thank you! We remind all who may be in a position to donate that S.T.E.V.E.N. Foundation is a registered (501)(c)(3) charity under U.S. law- and that even a very small contribution is warmly appreciated and very useful.
TRAVELS IN 1991 AND 1992. In southern Chile during an interim semester, Steven Vanek built and demonstrated the S.T.E.V.E.N 'ten dollar" pump for farmers connected with the Chol-Chol Foundation, Nueva Imperial. The carnpesinos got interested and built nine more working with Steven, for a total of ten pumps. We don't have recent news but hope the pumps may be continuing in use. Because Steven visited Chile as part of his col]ege-study, all this work was accomplished at zero cost to the foundation.
Francis Vanek and Karen Cowgill made contact with the Eastern Permaculture Conference in Livingston,Tennessee, in October 1991, where Karen demonstrated our solar collector. From there they headed south to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, home of friends Mark and Laurie Klinedinst and also of a unit of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. Francis built a collector and pump at the FSC farm and began training their members-- although the weather did not cooperate for real solar tracking or pumping. The equipment was partly donated and partly funded by the FSC. Final stop on this mission for Francis Vanek was Ciudad Guzman, Mexico, to renew S.T.E.V.E.N. Foundation's collaboration with Netlacaneco, the social agency that has connected the pumping technologies with rural populations in the region.
Barry Wheeler, who has many years of appropriate experience in Togo West Africa, returned there for several months in early 1992, and introduced to a Togolese NGO some of our technologies, especially the hydraulic pump. Colleague Maggie Keenan produced video coverage of this mission, centering on the building of wood-conserving cooking stoves.
In March 1992, Jaroslay Vanek assisted by Steven Vanek undertook a mission to the southern United States. Revisiting the Southern Coops farm in Mississippi, he serviced the devices there and gave intensive training in their use to James Burkett and others of the cooperative. Then on to Florida for a workshop on S.T.E.V.E.N. Technologies at the Granary, a natural food store, in Orange Park near Jacksonville, hosted by its owner Nelson Hellmuth. Dan Hernenway of Elfin Permaculture also supported this work. A solar collector equipped with our tracker and a steam-propelled vacuum pump were set up and should be available there.
While on vacation in his old home country of Czechoslovakia in summer 1992, Vanek was in touch with members of MONDRON, a new cooperative engineering firm situated in Moravia, the central region of the country. The Mondron engineers have readily learned the hydraulic S.T.E.V.E.N. pump, and have a handsome model ready to market in their part of the world, or elsewhere. They can be contacted at: Mondron, Svedska 45 1, 74245 Fulnek, Czechoslovakia. Because of extreme difficulty of raising working capital in Czechoslovakia at present, a substantial loan was extended to the MONDRON Cooperative by the S.T.E.V.E.N. Foundation, based on funds donated to the Foundation for that purpose.
Assistance of the Mondron group made possible a test of the hydraulic pump at a depth never before realized. The experiment took place in July 1992, at the Macocha chasm or gorge, a natural wonder in central Moravia, 138 meters deep. The test was successful in alI respects except for the performance of one valve. Pumping from that very great depth thus verified the principle, so we continue to promote that device for low-cost pumping from deep levels.
During 1991-1992 we provided training in several technologies to Amal Perkins, a visiting teacher from England with strong ties to the Ananda Nagar movement in India. In August 1992 he traveled there and taught construction of our collector and steam engine to several dozen students in a technical college.
In October 1992, Francis Vanek visited the Eastern Permaculture Conference, held at Gap Mt., New Hampshire, to give a workshop on our technologies, again generating considerable interest.
FUTURE TRAVELS 1993. Steven Vanek plans to use his January break from college for a mission to La Paz, Bolivia. There he will work with members of SEMTA, an agency concerned with appropriate technologies, whose project is partly supported by the Inter-American Foundation.
We have the great pleasure to announce the marriage of Francis Vanek and Cathy Johnson, in October '92. Cathy holds a degree in communications and has experience in video production. She has already produced interesting video materials on the mission to Mexico, autumn '91, and we look forward to fine S.T.E.V.E.N. videos in the future, first of all a "how-to" on building collectors / pumps. Please write if interested.
Francis and Cathy will be making extensive travels in the winter and spring of 1993, in and Europe. After a stop in Japan, their itinerary calls for STEVEN missions in Hong Kong and India, possibly adding Pakistan. By spring and summer they expect to be in Europe. If you live anywhere near this route and would enjoy a personal visit with S.T.E.V.E.N. technologies, please contact us immediately, hopefully you can be included.