S.T.E.V.E.N. Foundation Newsletter 1993


Solar Technology and Energy for Vital Economic Needs

S.T.E.V.E.N. Foundation,
Ithaca, New York, USA
Tel/Fax (607) 257 7109
 
 

Joint Project With SEMTA of Bolivia

   During most of the month of January Steve Vanek of the STEVEN foundation was in La Paz, Bolivia for a joint project with the Bolivian organization SEMTA (Multiple Service in Appropriate Technologies). For over ten years SEMTA has worked to develop intermediate technologies for basic needs. They are also working with peasant communities in the dry Pacajes region of western Bolivia, in a project to increase the profitability and sustainability of agriculture in the region.
   The STEVEN work with SEMTA focused on introducing the hydraulic deep-well pump for use by SEMTA's research and production workshop. We built prototypes of a hydraulic hand-pump, and spent most of the project working on ways to link SEN4TA's extensive experience with windmills to the hydraulic pump technology. This was more challenging than originally thought, among other problems, the windmills were turning too fast for the membrane and the hydraulic system to keep pace. The interesting physics problem posed by the Windmill-Hydraulic pump had not been fully solved when Steve left Bolivia, but since then, technicians at SEMTA have made some necessary modifications. They recently installed a large Windmill-Hydraulic system in an 18-meter deep well in the region of Santa Cruz, and it is functioning well, giving about 1.5 liters per stroke for a community irrigation project. We at STEVEN are excited because this will give the hydraulic pump its first long-term durability test in a real situation. Another windmill-hydraulic pump is planned for installation in a community on the Bolivian Altiplano, and the hydraulic pump technology will be included in a windmill technology workshop to be given by SEMTA for members of communities and other organizations. The windmill and pump installations are paid for by the communities over time.
 

Round-the-world tour for S.T.E.V.E.N.


Cathy Johnson and Francis Vanek recently completed a trip around the world in which they undertook several projects for the S.T.EV.EN. Foundation. They left Ithaca in January with a big roll of mirrorized plastic to distribute with planned stops in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and India, but they also discovered some new contacts on the road.
Permaculture Asia Ltd., a new NGO in the Hong Kong area which works both with development groups in neighboring countries and corporate environmental campaigns locally, hosted Francis and Cathy for three weeks. During this time they organized two weekend workshops on the S.T.E.V.EN. box cooker and ten-dollar pump respectively. Representatives from Oxfam, CEDAT (Philippines), and other groups attended, so we hope that through them the skills acquired can spread to other countries.
   Permaculture Asia has recently started up an organic farming community on rural Lamma Island where they will exhibit the prototypes built.  The group built these contraptions almost entirely from discarded construction material found in the vicinity, showcasing how a growing, dynamic city can reuse scraps instead of dumping them in a landfill or the ocean.
   Next on the tour was a stop at the University of Science Malaysia campus in the city of lpoh, not too far from Kuala Lumpur. There, Dr. B.S. Chittadwadgi had constructed several parabolic trough collectors as part of a solar research project, working with correspondence from S.T.E.V.F-N. Both sides gained from the visit: Francis was able to give advice about how to install a tracking system on the collectors and our foundation learned how Dr. Chittawadgi adapted the design to his needs and available materials. The precision of their work was impressive! The group at USM aims to drive a small
turbine taken from a discarded steam locomotive, so we are watching how they will increase the pressure and output of the collector. Also, since we cooperated on budding the collectors at USM without sending a teaching mission, working with Dr. Chittawadgi has tested the effectiveness of our technical documentation, and we received some feedback about how to make our written material more 'user friendly.'
   In between Hong Kong and Malaysia, Francis and Cathy looped through China and the Himalayan Region.  In Cbengdu, Sechuan Province, P.R.C., they discovered a municipal agency, DCAST, which implements biogas generators and conducts an annual intensive course on the subject for delegates from many countries. In Lhasa, Tibet, they scrounged a cardboard box from a tea-stall, paper fruit wrappings from a sidewalk vendor, a pane of glass from an abandoned display case, and built a S.T.E.V.F-N. cooker with Mylar brought from the states which cooked bread-pudding in the blazing Tibetan sun (they gave the oven to a local acquaintance before leaving, hoping he would copy it.). In Kathmandu they came across a small workshop welding solar water heaters and arranged to have some solar handbooks sent there from the U.S.
   Cathy and Francis made a last stop at the Ananda Nagar project of the Ananda Marga society in rural West Bengal, India. There Amal Perkins of Ithaca, a good friend of the foundation, had built a collector and hydraulic pump during a three-week workshop in the summer of 1992. Unfortunately, a severe storm in April of this year destroyed the collector and severely damaged much of the other equipment, so the construction could not be continued. However, Francis did deliver a lecture on the "Fundamentals of Solar Energy” at the technical school located on the 160 sq.km. property, and both sides brainstormed about how to stormproof the S.T.E.V.EN. collector. We hope to build a prototype of such an extra-strength collector sometime in the future.
   Along with many photographs, Cathy and Francis documented what they saw with a camcorder, and the footage may be useful in future years for making promotional and instructional tapes about the foundation.
 

Update from the yard

   Over the past year the S.T.E.V.E.N. Foundation has both improved the technologies on display in the backyard at the Vaneks and added some new ones. We aim to create a research park where prototypes of the technologies not only exist but can also be easily and clearly demonstrated to visitors. With help from friends, Steve Vanek dug a shallow well for more realls6c experimenta6on, and we now use the well to demonstrate the hydraulic pump. Steam generated with the working S'xl2' trough collector can run either the steam engine or the pendulum pump. We also have a baking oven on display, and a few times when visitors came on a sunny day this summer, they could sample some of our solar cooking and bread-baking after seeing the pendulum pump, steam engine, and hydraulic pump demonstrated.
   Based on the design problem we uncovered in the Bolivia mission (see article on SEMTA), we have developed a double-piston hydraulic pump where the pumping load
acts throughout the cycle of handle motion. This prevents the pump from working too quickly. Inspired by the enthusiasm we have encountered for solar refrigerators, we have continued experimenting with our refrigerator design.  After last year's combination oven/refrigerator, we returned to a separate refrigerator to concentrate more closely on studying the properties of refrigeration. So far our new design has yielded some ice but not attained the output predicted by our calculation, so our research will continue.
   In other local news, Michael Horigan, Cathy Johnson, and Francis Vanek transported several prototypes to the Permaculture conference in Jaffrey, NH last October, and gave a slide-show and lecture. This spring Jaroslav taught a course with several Cornell students, some of whom helped to build the latest experimental refrigerator.
   Important technology update: over the past two or three years we have restocked our supply of mirrorized plastic with a non-adhesive version which required a separate agent to make it adhere to a surface. Unfortunately, we have received reports and ourselves discovered that with the bearing grease we had suggested, bubbles can form under the plastic, reducing reflectivity. Right now we are experimenting with vacuum grease, as recommended to us by the maker of the plastic. If you are currently working with this plastic, you may want to either reglue it with the vacuum grease or else trying an adhesive of your own choosing
 

AND NOW, A WORD ABOUT OUR MANUALS.

   We want to remind everyone of their availability--simple instructions and illustrations that could help anyone or any group with a little hands-on ability get started with the S.T.E.V.E.N. technologies. Manuals presently exist for the following devices: solar collector and boiler, S.T.E.V.E.N. solar oven; steam engine; solar surface pump; vacuum hand pump (the "ten dollar pump") in Spanish; and hydraulic pump, in English or Spanish.
   To gain some financing for our ongoing work, we do need to ask a contribution for any of the manuals. We now propose a sliding scale of anything between $5, $10, or $20, depending on your ability to support our work, for each manual requested. For those on very tight budgets or doing philanthropic work we would consider waiving the contribution in return for a report about how the manual was used and any results from the construction of a S.T.E.V.E.N. technology. The solar oven instruction, which is rather brief, we offer at a special "bargain" rate of $3. At the same time, we remind you that the S.T.E.V.E.N. Foundation is tax-exempt, and thus that your donations are tax-deductible. Let us hear from you, and we’ll have the manual(s) off to you with as quick- a turn-around as we can manage!
 
 

A comment about appropriate technology

   While visiting Ananda Nagar in India recently, I wanted to build a solar box oven and kicked myself for not having brought any Mylar along. So I was amazed to find that the Solar Energy research center there had used a quite similar product in some other oven prototypes they had on display. "Where can you get that material?," I wondered. "Oh, at any market in Calcutta," was the usual reply.
   The point was well taken.  In our work with appropriate technology we usually think of locally available materials in developing countries as the scrap metal plastic, wood, and rubber that can be salvaged. But many of these countries are rapidly industrializing. Even though the typical citizen may continue to face poverty and lack of opportunities, companies around her or him turn out new products that may be of use not only to high-tech manufacturers but on the small scale as well: plastic in India, mirror-plated steel for solar applications in China, and more and better hand tools all over the world.  We have always favored a flexible approach to selecting materials and following design guidelines with the S.T.E.V.E.N. technologies, but we want to learn more about manufactured materials available in developing countries. If you have any suggestions, please write to us. - F.V.
Editor's note: In this issue of the newsletter we are experimenting with expanding the focus beyond reporting about what we've been up to, into the area of exploring relevant issues in the field. Feel free to submit your own comments and letters to the newsletter. Time goes by from one issue to the next - we wish we could put out more but rest assured, if you send in a short article we will include it in the next mailing, whenever that is.

Uploaded January 7, 2002, by Francis Vanek.
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