A global community focused on sustainable tecnologies and lifestyles
Gracias a la Prensa Libre por sacar a la luz la situación pésima en la cual el país se encuentra:
“Unas ocho mil personas participaron en la caminata, que comenzó con una concentración en El Obelisco, a donde llegaron desde los municipios vecinos.
Después de las 8 horas enfilaron hacia la Embajada de Canadá, en la diagonal 6, zona 10, para entregar un memorial en contra de la compañía minera Goldcorp, que explota oro y plata en San Marcos, que en su opinión contamina las fuentes de agua.
Luego se dirigieron hacia la Embajada de Estados Unidos, donde el jefe de la delegación, Stephen McFarland, salió al encuentro de los manifestantes en un gesto de cortesía, pero los dirigentes alzaron la voz para reprocharle que no necesitaban hablar con él para demandar que esa nación “deje de ejercer prácticas de intromisión en el país”.
Pero el diplomático siguió caminando hacia el final de la columna donde el grupo agradeció su presencia y el diplomático les expresó que los Estados Unidos respeta la libertad de expresión y de asociación y que trata de escuchar a sus críticos y no solo a quienes lo apoyan. Agregó: Estamos trabajando arduamente con otros socios para proteger el ambiente
Poco después, en la misión diplomática de España, reclamaron por que la concesionaria Unión Fenosa, S.A. brinde un servicio de calidad y no imponga precios injustos en los 17 departamentos donde presta servicio.
A continuación, la columna siguió hasta el centro capitalino, donde demandó ante la Corte de Constitucionalidad (CC) el respeto a la consulta popular sobre proyectos mineros -que en todos los municipios donde se han celebrado desde 2005 han sido contrarios a esa actividad-, de la manera como lo establece el convenio 169 de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo.
La jornada terminó en la Plaza de la Constitución, donde los manifestantes demandaron al Gobierno acciones a favor de los campesinos, como el acceso a la tierra y el apoyo para producir, y reiteraron su rechazo a las actividades de hidroeléctricas y mineras.
Entre tanto, la marcha generó atascos a lo largo del recorrido, lo que obligó a la Policía Municipal de Tránsito (PMT) a cortar el paso en diversas calles y avenidas.”
Mantener limpio y en orden Panajachel será una “responsabilidad compartida” de vecinos, empresarios y las autoridades, según el Reglamento de Servicio Público de Limpieza, Recolección de Basura y Sanidad de ese municipio de Sololá, como parte de las medidas para mitigar los daños al Lago de Atitlán.
El reglamento, publicado este viernes establece los procedimientos para mantener el ornato en los domicilios, comercios y la vía pública.
En el caso de la vía pública, incluyendo la playa del lago, todos los vecinos, comerciantes y empresarios deberán limpiarla “diariamente”, mientras la municipalidad se encargará de recoger los desechos.
En el hogar, los vecinos están obligados a limpiar el frente de sus casas, y la basura domiciliar deberá guardarse en bolsas especiales para ese fin y deberá sacarse hasta en el momento en que el camión municipal pase por ella, servicio por el que pagarán entre Q6 y Q50.
Los hospedajes, hoteles, restaurantes, centros comerciales, edificios de apartamentos etc, están obligados a clasificar la basura y depositarla en recipientes apropiados y pagarán entre Q25 y Q1 mil por la extracción de los desechos. Lo mismo aplica para las industrias, que deberán desembolsar entre Q2 mil y Q5 mil por el servicio.
Del artículo en el sitio del Premio Goldman Ambiental:
Humberto Ríos Labrada, científico e investigador en biodiversidad, trabajó con agricultores para ampliar la diversidad de los cultivos y desarrollar sistemas agrícolas de bajos insumos, alentando el cambio en la agricultura cubana: de la químico-dependencia a la sostenibilidad.
Como coordinador del Programa de Innovación Agraria Local (PIAL) del Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Agrícolas, Ríos ahora dedica su tiempo al desarrollo del sector de agricultura sostenible en Cuba y ha participado en México en proyectos similares de biodiversidad dirigidos por campesinos Frecuentemente usa su talento musical para promover la biodiversidad, con canciones que celebran la agricultura sostenible. Recientemente, el gobierno pidió a los cubanos aumentar la producción de alimentos en todo el país para revitalizar la economía del país. Ríos ve en esto una oportunidad para expandir aún más el trabajo que realiza.
Disfruten de estos links para conscientizarse acerca de la situación que vivimos hoy, y entonces salgan a caminar por un bosque o meditar bajo un arbol 
Este planeta nos ha alimentado física y espiritualmente, y le debemos todo a nuestra Pachamama! El equipo de Quetsol estamos abrumados por la belleza de esta Tierra, su flora, fauna, y sociedades humanas. Creemos que sí podemos volver a vivir en armonía con ella, y que nosotros todos tratemos de amarla y cuidarla cada vez más.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/es/
Hace dos semanas el director Canadiense James Cameron, quien dirigió Avatar, fue invitado por un par de organizaciones ambientales de los EEUU a ir a Brasil para conocer a los caciques de las tribus Kayapó, Juruna, Xipia, y Xikrin y prestarles su carisma en su lucha en contra de la represa hidroeléctrica Belo Monte. Este artículo de Mongabay.com da una breve reseña de la gira de Sr. Cameron en Brasil y la amenaza de la represa:
Esta semana Cameron ha viajado a Brasil para una visita de tres dias a la zona del rio Xingú llamada Volta Grande, para conocer a la gente y la selva que se verán afectadas por la contrucción de la Presa Hidroeléctrica Belo Monte. La presa, criticada desde hace mucho por ambientalistas y grupos pro-derechos indígenas, destruirá 500 kilómetros cuadrados de selva virgen y provocará el desplazamiento de unas 12.000 personas.
“Para la gente que vive en las riberas del rio, tal y como han hecho durante miles de años, el daño producido (por la presa) destruirá su modo de vida,” dijo Cameron en una conferencia de presa después de su viaje, según la agencia EFE. Pidió a la administración de Lula en Brasil que reconsidere su decisión de construir la presa.
“Cuando los buenos líderes se aplican para solucionar un problema, siempre se encuentra otra solución,” añadió Cameron.
Y aquí el director y una de las protagonistas de Avatar, Sigourney Weaver, nos dan inspiración para este Día de la Tierra:
Este jueves, 22 de abril 2010, es el día internacional de la Tierra. Como mencionó la opinión en La Prensa Libre este sábado pasado, esta linda Guatemala ha sido lastimada y dañada por el descuido de sus habitantes y también por los intereses de compañías privadas que se enriquecen de las industrias extractivas de minería y petróleo. Nosotros todos tenemos la responsabilidad de hacernos conscientes de la situación en la cual nos encontramos y de allí tratar de mejorar nuestras relaciones con el planeta que nos da aliento y vida. Por todo el mundo y por todo Guatemala, ciudádanos están organizando eventos para toda la semana en los cuales harán limpiezas de las calles, plantarán árboles, y manifestarán para los gobiernos y la compañías responsabilizarse por el medio ambiente.
Aquí en Guateamala habrá varias celebraciones y manifestaciones para enfrentar los múltiples problemas ambientales del país. Nosotros, el equipo de Quetsol, estaremos apoyando a Amigos del Lago a hacer una limpieza de basura en las calles de San Lucas Tolimán este sábado, 24 de abril 2010. Aun si usted no tiene la posibilidad de dejar su trabajo o transportarse hasta un lugar donde haya un evento para celebrar el día de la tierra, lo puede celebrar usted mismo por meditar tan sólo unos minutos en la riqueza infinita que le ha dado este planeta y cómo usted lo puede cuidar y enriquecer para mostrarle su gratitud.
Otras organizaciones de interés para el día de la Tierra en Guatemala:
Expedición Atitlán – Expedición Atitlán 2010
Things to check out on this sunny Sunday:
1. Solar Power in Paradise:
2. The Economist’s “Growing Pains” – On Solar Growth
Solar energy is popular because it is clean and abundant. The problem is that it remains expensive. According to recent calculations by the International Energy Agency, power from photovoltaic systems (solar cells) costs $200-600 a megawatt-hour, depending on the efficiency of the installation and the discount rate applied to future output. That compares with $50-70 per MWh for onshore wind power in America, by the IEA’s reckoning, and even lower prices for power from fossil fuels, unless taxes on greenhouse-gas emissions are included. The costs of solar are dropping; in some sunny places it may, in a few years, be possible to get solar electricity as cheaply from a set of panels as from the grid, and later on for solar to compete with conventional ways of putting electricity into the grid. But for the moment there would be no significant market for solar cells were it not for government subsidies.
Given that there are subsidies of various sorts in various places, some of which have been very generous, there is a market, and a fast-growing one. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a research firm, there will be demand for 10.5 gigawatts of new photovoltaic-energy systems in 2010, up from just 1.7GW in 2006. The consistent engine of growth over those four years has been Germany’s feed-in tariffs, a guaranteed price for solar power that makes every panel installed in the country a profitable investment, at the expense of electricity consumers. For a fair part of that time, global supply was only just keeping up with demand, and prices for solar modules—the assemblies of cells that you might put on a roof, in a field or on a patch of desert—stayed fairly stable.
…The utility market also serves to highlight the flaws and expense of solar power. A typical utility-scale installation produces power at only a fifth of its maximum capacity, thanks to clouds, night-time, dirty panels and so on. To replace a one-gigawatt coal plant running at 70% of capacity with solar panels would require about half of the 6GW installed worldwide last year.
This is one of the arguments for looking instead at another solar technology, solar thermal, which uses mirrors to concentrate heat, produce steam and thus drive turbines. Efficient solar-thermal plants can in principle be built on the same sort of scale as gas-fired power stations, a few hundred megawatts at a time. Such big plants are harder to finance than small photovoltaic installations, and require more planning permissions and infrastructure, such as transmission lines. But they produce a lot of power. Brightsource Energy, based in California, recently received government loan guarantees for a project in the Mojave desert which, if completed, could deliver more power than all the photovoltaic cells installed in America last year.
Last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine featured “Building a Green Economy” by Paul Krugman which offers a strong review of the current scientific and economic debate over global climate change and how to mitigate anthropogenic sources of atmospheric contamination. The economic focus runs through the progenitor of the concept of economic externalities, Arthur Cecil Pigou, for whom the Pigovian Tax is named. Krugman goes on to invoke the work of renowned modern economists Martin Weitzman and Nicholas Stern (author of the 2006 “Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change”) in making his own argument for aggressive policy alternatives in the short term as opposed to a gradual “climate-policy ramp” which would apply a lower price to carbon emissions under a national or supranational regulatory scheme.
All of this heated academic debate comes in the face of market action to make the green economy tangible. A recent article from Bloomberg announced some impressive statistics on the maturing of the global renewable energy game, including the following:
Anthropogenic CO2 emissions must be stabilized and reduced through implementation of policy incentives, technological innovation, and altruistic behavioral modification; this is the course that human civilization must take, and sooner rather than later, if we are to leave our progeny a planet worth inhabiting.
Thanks to this article from MIT’s Technology Review, we have become aware of the world’s most recent attempt at energy/water alchemy: the Al-Khafji concentrated solar photovoltaic desalination plant being engineed by the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. Saudi Arabia is engaged in an epic game of chicken with dwindling groundwater sources and currently has the world’s largest installed capacity for water desalination. The articles “Peak Water in Saudi Arabia” by Ugo Bardi, and “Water Demand Management in Saudi Arabia” by Walid A. Abderrahman give a good overview of the nation’s profligate use of ground water resources for subsidized agriculture, as well as the recovery/production curve of water for underground aquifers and current desalination plants. As the Technology Review article notes, the primary goal of the new solar powered plant is to reduce the cost of desalination in the long run:
The plant will use a new kind of concentrated solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and new water-filtration technology, which KACST developed with IBM. When completed at the end of 2012, the plant will produce 30,000 cubic meters of desalinated water per day to meet the needs of 100,000 people.
KACST’s main goal is to reduce the cost of desalinating water. Half of the operating cost of a desalination plant currently comes from energy use, and most current plants run on fossil fuels. Depending on the price of fuel, producing a cubic meter now takes between 40 and 90 cents.
Reducing cost isn’t the only reason that people have dreamed of coupling renewable energy with desalination for decades, says Lisa Henthorne, a director at the International Desalination Association. “Anything we can do to lower this cost over time or reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with that power is a good thing,” Henthorne says. “This is truly a demonstration in order to work out the bugs, to see if the technologies can work well together.”
While the new concentrated PV technology might generate affordable electricity, solar power still costs more than fossil fuels in many parts of the world. But even with those high costs, using it to power desalination makes sense, Henthorne says. “You’re not doing it because it’s the cheaper thing to do right now, but it would be the cheapest thing down the road.”
Whether the plant will live up to its expectations is anyone’s guess. While it is a noble idea, the Al-Khafji plant may be the latest in a long string of expensive failures, as noted in “Desalination – Energy Down the Drain” by Debbie Cook:
Electricity consumption of various California water sources
The story of desalinated water has been largely one of unkept promises. Tampa Bay is a typical case. In 1999 Tampa Bay Water received a binding commitment for water at $557/AF. By 2004 costs were updated to $827. By 2008, after a month of operation, it was estimated the wholesale cost to be $1100/AF. Even if this were an inclusive accounting, there are two factors that work in Tampa’s favor: the salinity of the source water and their electricity rate. Both are critical to calculating water costs.
In 2003, Water International estimated that 44% of the cost of desalination was the energy component. But whose energy costs were they using, Florida or California? Or maybe Saudi Arabia? In 2002, Oil and Gas Journal ran a story on desalination facilities in Saudi Arabia. They reported construction costs of 30 facilities at $20 billion, $4 billion for operations and maintenance, and water at $1356/AF. While there are differences between the thermal process used in Saudi Arabia and the reverse osmosis projects in the U.S., the cost of natural gas in Saudi Arabia at that time was 75¢/Mcf—a fraction of what we pay in the U.S.
California’s checkered history with ocean desalination is equally unhelpful. Of those projects that have operated, the following costs have been reported:
- Gaviota Oil and Gas Processing Plant: $4000/AF
- Santa Catalina Island (built and operated by Southern California Edison): $2000/AF
- U.S. Navy, San Nicolas Island: $6000/AF
- PG&E Diablo Canyon Power Plant: $2000
- City of Moro Bay: $1,750/AF
The City of Santa Barbara built a plant in the 1990s but never operated it. The Yuma Desalting Plant may be the biggest white elephant in the world. At the time it was built in the late 1980’s, it was the world’s largest reverse osmosis plant capable of desalting 72 million gallons per day. The $245 million project was constructed to comply with the 1944 treaty with Mexico to reduce salinity of Colorado River water from 2900 ppm to 115 ppm. The estimated cost of operations and management was $24 – $29 million per year. I’m told it has never operated except for tests.
This paltry record coupled with a lack of transparency in the industry keeps everyone guessing. It is difficult to challenge the wildly optimistic numbers that are perpetually paraded out at public meetings and in the press. Environmental documents can sometimes fill in a few blanks. The Huntington Beach EIR states that the Poseidon project will require 5476 kWh/AF. If Poseidon were paying a Florida rate of 4.5¢/kWh the cost of electricity alone would be $246/AF. If they paid what the average Californian pays (which includes bond repayment for the 2001 energy crisis)—12¢/kWh—their electricity costs alone would be $657/AF. Poseidon stated at one of the Task Force meetings that it was planning on electricity at 6¢/kWh—a rate that is not available to any industrial user in the state. With those kinds of savings they could perhaps purchase enough lobbying to get special dispensation.
As Debbie ends her article, “We are rapidly approaching the time when we will not have enough money to throw at our problems. We may be there now or we may be able to squeak out a few more stranded assets before our future catches up with our present. I’m betting on business as usual.”
For more on solar powered water desalination check out “Solving Our Water Problems – Desalination Using Solar Thermal Power” by Big Gav via The Oil Drum.
We at Quetsol have never been fans of doubt, and as is the nature of a startup company we receive heavy doses of doubt from family, friends, colleagues, peers, and even complete strangers who ask us what we do. Can low-income families afford your products? Why wouldn’t they spend that money on something else? What about your competitors? Can you trust the Chinese? The questions go on ad infinitum. Doubt does serve to temper a tendency toward hubris in an entrepreneur, but we remedy this doubt with our certitude that our solar home systems are affordable, desirable, better and cheaper than the competition, reliable, and durable. We believe that corporations should be obligated to contribute real value to society and that they should have a vanguard role in mitigating and reversing the global environmental crisis. That being said, the most rewarding part of our work is when we visit our clients in the remote areas of Guatemala where the wooden posts bearing electric lines leading to the Unión Fenosa and INDE electrical substations do not reach.
When we meet with a community (who contact us) each side goes through their litany of questions – we ask: how much do you spend on candles, wood, kerosene, diesel fuel for generators per day? How many communities are there around here without electricity? Have you heard of solar power before, or does anyone in the community have a system currently? Are you affiliated with a credit cooperative or a microfinance institution? They ask: how many hours does it last? What’s the lifetime of the system? How many different cell phone battery adapters are there? How long does it take to charge? What about during the rainy season? And so it goes until everyone’s favorite part of our presentation: the comparison. From our last visits this past weekend to a communities in Baja Verapaz and Izabal we heard that the average family burns two candles per night at a cost of 1.5 Quetzales (~21 cents) to illuminate their home, adding up to 90 Quetzales (~$11.25) per month. Our systems provide 50 times more lumens than a candle or kerosene lamp and cost 80 Quetzals per month on a 2 year financing plan, or 1,600 Quetzales cash. All it takes is a brief glance at the comparison below to know what the smart decision is:
A Quetsol no nos gusta la duda, y por la naturaleza de ser una empresa nueva nosotros recibimos grandes dósis de duda de nuestra familia, amigos, colegas, pares, y hasta desconocidos que nos preguntan qué hacemos. ¿Pueden las familias de bajos recursos comprar estos productos? ¿Porqué no gastarían el dinero en otra cosa? ¿Tienen ustedes competencia? ¿Pueden confiar en los chinos? Las preguntas siguen ad infinitum. La duda sirve para atenuar la tendencia a la sobre-confianza en un empresario, sin embargo nosotros remediamos esta duda con nuestra certeza que nuestros sistemas solares para casas son accesibles, fiables, durables, deseables, mejores y más baratos que nuestra competencia. Creemos que las corporaciones deben de estar obligadas a aportar valor real a la sociedad y que deben tener un papel en la vanguardia en la lucha para mitigar e invertir la crisis global del medio ambiente. Una vez dicho lo anterior, lo más gratificante de nuestro trabajo son las visitas a nuestros clientes en las áreas remotas de Guatemala donde no alcanzan los postes de madera que llevan las líneas eléctricas que conducen a las subestaciones de Unión Fenosa y el INDE.
Cuando nos reunimos con una comunidad (quiénes nos contactan a nosotros) cada partido hace una letanía de preguntas – nosotros preguntamos: ¿cuánto gastan ustedes al día en candelas, leña, queroseno, o combustible diesel? ¿Cuántas aldeas hay por aquí que no cuentan con servicio de electricidad? ¿Ustedes ya han sabido de la electricidad solar antes, o hay alguien en la comunidad que tenga un sistema ya? Ustedes son afiliados de alguna cooperativa de crédito o institución de micro-créditos? Ellos preguntan: ¿Cuántas horas dura? ¿Cuánto es el tiempo de vida del sistema? ¿Cuántos adaptadores de celulares tiene? ¿Cuánto tiempo se requiere para cargar? ¿Y durante la temporada lluviosa? Así continua hasta que lleguemos a la parte de la presentación que más les gusta a todos: la comparación. De nuestras últimas dos visitas a comunidades en los departamentos de Baja Verapaz y Izabal supimos que la familia promedia de estas comunidades queman dos candelas por noche con una cuesta de 1.5 Quetzales (~21 centavos) para iluminar su casa, el cual suma alrededor de 90 Quetzales (~$11.25) por mes. Nuestros sistemas proveen 50 veces más lumens que una candela o lámpara de kerosena y cuestan 80 Quetzales por mes (con financiamiento) o 1,600 Quetzales al contado. Sólo se necesita ver una breve comparación para saber cuál es la decisión inteligente:
Today Bloomberg ran a story titled “Solar Prospectors Chase Italian, Israeli ‘Gold Mines’ “ which traces the correlated development of solar manufacturing and power plant installation with government subsidies. It notes the market response to government policies which establish price premiums (“feed in tariffs”) for solar photovoltaic power plants, sometimes more than quadruple the price per kilowatt-hour for gas and coal generation:
The solar industry is “built on subsidies,” said James Britland, an alternative energy analyst at Allianz RCM in London. “This is a non-competitive industry that has to be subsidized.” The investment rush has a downside and can lead to a boom- and-bust cycle as seen in Spain’s collapse of solar-panel installations, Phoenix Solar AG Chief Executive Andreas Haenel said. “Markets that explode make politicians nervous,” he said in a March 3 interview. “I don’t like gold mines and gold rushes because they can come back like a boomerang and destroy the whole market.”
The last quote is a fresh reminder of the effects of irrational exuberance in all energy markets, most marked in the oil and natural gas markets in the past 3 years (not to mention the obvious political tension currently caused by gold’s astronomic increases). Nevertheless, in forecasting long term growth of alternative energy all it takes is a quick glance at the supply (production/new discoveries) and demand curves of fossil fuels and minerals to see that there will continue to be mostly upward price pressure on brown fuels (especially given recent threats and projections of new and higher government taxes) and increasingly downward pressure on green fuels.
Unfortunately the article references only the southern United States as the world’s dream market for solar pv power plants. Granted California’s Assembly Bills 32, 510, and 920 (which have attracted increasing numbers of Chinese manufacturers to establish manufacturing capacity in the state) as well as the EPA’s recent move to declare carbon dioxide a threat to public health, combined with the optimal combination of intense incident solar radiation and urban hubs, analysts are quite right to be enthusiastic about the region’s potential:
The real opportunity for solar investors will come when the sunnier U.S. states offer bigger incentives, said Matthew Page, who manages about $50 million in alternative-energy shares at Guinness Atkinson Asset Management in London. “We’re all waiting for the U.S. to take off,” he said.
While the southwestern region of the United States is indeed an attractive area of high growth potential, we see equal potential in other regions with large deserts, urban hubs, robust economies, and/or political sensitivity to environmental concerns (e.g. Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico).
1. Grid connections turn slum communities into legal, paying customers using community organizing, technological innovation, and complementary business lines. These enterprises, in Sudan, Colombia, or Argentina, are economically viable without subsidies and very attractive to their customers. With some work to overcome hesitations from utilities and slum dwellers, grid connections could reach more of the 1b people currently living in slums.2. Devices such as solar lanterns and efficient biomass cookstoves provide energy for lighting and cooking and are affordable to the poorest of the poor. Both solar lantern and cookstove enterprises demonstrate high potential for profitability, and are receiving social venture capital. Growth goals are ambitious and entrepreneurs expect significant scale over the coming years.3. Solar home systems (SHS) provide electricity for households and home-based entrepreneurs with a stand-alone solar photovoltaic panel wired into lamps and a plug. SHS enterprises have demonstrated profitability, but are vulnerable to the expectation of free help from governments and the swings in input prices that have characterized the solar PV market. SHS entrepreneurs expect strong growth, and are working to reduce complexity in their operating models.4. Rural cooperatives take the challenge of providing sustainable power supply and create income generation opportunities that increase people’s ability to pay for the electricity generated. Such models are technologically neutral as they can use biomass gasification, wind, or hydro. But rural cooperatives require local maintenance and administration and often an effort to set up local enterprises to use the increased power supply. Economic viability is possible in theory but remains an unmet challenge. Expanding rural cooperatives requires complex relationships between governments, enterprises, and communities.
The following article, Greening Deserts for Carbon Credits, over at Renewable Energy World touches on some of the most important points as we look towards creating a more sustainable civilization. As we all know, over-grazing, over-plowing, and overall deficient farming practices all over the world have resulted in desertification: what used to be lush, productive land is turned into a barren “wasteland”. The argument for stopping and even reversing this process goes beyond the simple self-centered attitude that deserts are useless to us; desertification greatly disrupts the immediate and surrounding ecosystems and the whole balance of life.
Naturally, the benefits of healthy and productive ecosystems cannot be overstated. However, one specific benefit is highlighted in the article: carbon sequestration. Dr. Rattan Lal of Ohio State University estimates that potential use of economical carbon sequestration may be up to 1.1 billion tons a year for the next 50 years, enough to reduce atmospheric CO2 by 50 ppm by 2100. A very interesting project in China is highlighted as a potential means of economically reversing desertification. Farmers there are growing sand willow in appropriately-developed farm, which they sell for income. The economic benefits of this have attracted many other farmers to do the same. Once the pastures and the trees provide shade from the harsh desert winds, the microclimate changes. This allows other species to move in and replenish the land. There are even plans to build a Solar PV plant to extract electricity from incident solar radiation in the desert and use the sand willow biomass to generate electricity when the sun does not provide enough.
To us this is sounds like a very simple and positive solution. Lately, it seems that the solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems are actually quite simple and economical, the barrier is in cultural adoption of new habits or alien devices, not to mention entrenched business interests that stand to lose market share as clean energy technology becomes more widespread. Let’s hope we can agree to get to work together on these sooner rather than later.
Here is the article again, very recommended.
Greetings to all our visitors from across the globe. We wanted to officially announce our 2010 Summer Intern Program and invite any interested parties to read the program description below and contact us for more information. Please see our previous post for images of our headquarters. Also, feel free to share this info with anyone you think might be interested and qualified!
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QUETSOL 2010 SUMMER INTERN PROGRAM (SIP)
www.quetsol.com www.quetsollife.org http://twitter.com/Quetsol
GENERAL PRINCIPLES:
- We hate waste. As a group QUETSOL staff and participants in the SIP will constantly work to optimize all processes. This includes from all site waste management, energy generation, conservation, internal logistics and all around way-of-life. All relevant things will be quantified and optimized. Our intent is to build sustainability, and eliminating waste –be it refuse, paper, water, money, or energy lost as heat – is the first necessary step.
- We operate in a doacracy. Whatever needs to get done will get done, by someone. You will be expected to carry your own weight; if you don’t, well, everybody will notice. The QUETSOL 2010 SIP will provide ample enough projects, opportunities, tasks and overall general experiences to have everybody engaged at all times.
- We are driven by our love for the Earth and its Peoples. Our efforts are geared to using technology wisely to solve many of the grave problems that afflict our dear planet and all societies that dwell on it. As we treat Gaia, Gaia treats us.
DIVISIONS:
Engineering (9 members)
There will be a variety of ongoing engineering work throughout the summer. Some stand-alone projects will be completed, and other work will be speculative R&D, which may or may not result in patents. Individuals within the engineering group will have ample freedom to choose amongst the variety of tasks going on simultaneously, but we will ensure that everything gets completed as a group. You will have the tools and materials necessary to accomplish these tasks, as well as some flexibility in budgeting additional material as it becomes necessary. Projects might be completed faster than we expect, and might lead to other projects, etc. In general, we will try to accomplish as much as possible. As a sample of the projects currently in mind:
- Reverse engineer all of our product line, which is currently manufactured in China (we have their consent). Our systems are currently mostly photovoltaic, some eolic. We will create a DETAILED map of how to manufacture them, with an emphasis on process optimization. This will allow us to calculate the price of manufacturing locally.
- We will also adapt existing products and design better prototypes. As a simple case in point: one of our lighting products is made by an American company based in China and is effective, durable, practical and cheap; however, the background right around the LED lights is white plastic. We have mentioned to them that you could greatly boost lumens by having a reflective surface instead. They claim that it would be too strong. We disagree and we hope to prove it by building a better one.
- The batteries in many of our systems are not necessarily optimal. We will determine the best battery system for a variety of products and determine the local availability and/or economic cost of importing.
- Develop alternative ways to achieve the same functionality and durability of our products, but perhaps with better, more robust, or cheaper systems.
- By mid-summer, we will be testing solar-powered internet transmitters and relay stations with a large bandwidth transmission radius of 100km. We intend to make Late Atitlán fully free WIFI. Once the system has been tested adequately, we will then commercialize it on a mass scale. During the summer, members of the engineering team will be responsible for any technical troubleshooting with the system alongside QUETSOL staff. They will also participate in the quantification of test results.
- Conduct pheasibility studies on a large-scale photovoltaic plant in Guatemala’s deserts.
- Develop all-new technologies and systems altogether. This will not be restricted to photovoltaics and or eolic. Basically ANYTHING GOES, as long as it is under the purview of our intent to build a model of SUSTAINABILITY. This includes, but is not limited to, energy generation, transportation, efficiency, storage, waste disposal, water treatment, etc. If an individual or group of individuals within the engineering team wishes to undertake such a project, they must first consult with QUETSOL staff.
Legal (2 members)
Interns in the legal division will participate in a variety of tasks in domestic and international jurisdictions. In particular, strong emphasis will be placed on the intellectual property side as we expect some patents to arise from the SIP, as well as ongoing patent work that QUETSOL has already begun. Other relevant issues will revolve around the establishment of QUETSOL subsidiaries in other Central and Latin American countries. As part of the legal team you will be interfacing with QUETSOL legal counsel. You will also be doing a lot of research on your own, on a variety of topics that might include, but not be limited to, the following law branches: environmental, labor, education, taxes, insurance, etc.
Media (1 member)
The media intern will be an integral part of our marketing efforts, nationally and abroad. QUETSOL will feature a multi-channel media and educational campaign that targets both our customer demographic, but also other corporate, governmental or civil entities. We believe that at QUETSOL we have a very creative and unique approach to marketing and media, as well of intimate experience with local and global media amongst our staff. Tasks will include interfacing with local media, production/handling of marketing material, participation in the creation of educational campaign and strategies, extensive use of social networking (both real and online). This candidate must be able to speak fluent Spanish.
Applicable/desirable skills and qualifications:
We prefer individuals who treat work as creative playtime, and who enjoying creatively playing with solar photovoltaic cells, LED lights, cellular phones, agricultural irrigation systems, water purification systems, battery/electrical storage systems, hydroelectric and wind turbine generators, waste water treatment, and organic/ecological agriculture. Backgrounds in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, renewable energy, international development, carbon finance, and business administration are all ideal.
Ideal candidates would be fluent/bilingual in at least two of the following languages: English, Spanish, Tz’utujil, Kaqchikel, K’iche, Mandarin, or Hebrew. Depending on other skills and assets we will consider monolingual applicants.
*Important note*
Quetsol is a for-profit model and will maintain ownership of all intellectual property produced by interns in the program. Contact Quetsol if you have any questions.
We may offer the potential of future employment for interns, and at the very least will provide letters of recommendation to students that complete the program.
Timeline:
The dates for the summer internship program are flexible, but in general we expect to have participants arrive and depart more or less according to the standard summer vacation of sponsoring academic institutions (e.g. MIT affiliates would arrive between May 24th and June 7th and depart sometime before fall classes begin – Aug/Sept). Obviously both Quetsol and interns benefit from longer participant stays, that being said we are amenable to shorter stays (no less than 28 days) if you believe that you can accomplish productive work in that time frame.
Location/arriving/living situation/logistics:
Our headquarters is in Panajachel, Guatemala on the shores of the beautiful but imperiled Lago de Atitlán. We may be able to offer free accommodation (perhaps greatly subsidized, no more than $65 per month) and some communal meals, though interns would have to purchase/prepare their own food. If participants do not wish to stay at our headquarters, we can provide recommendations for home-stays with local families or other mid-term living arrangements. We recognize that Guatemala is an attractive destination that abounds in cultural and historical sites of interest; therefore we understand and encourage participants to make brief excursions throughout the country throughout their stay. We also may arrange SIP group bonding excursions such as kayaking, volcano trekking, and other exciting adventures!
APPLY:
- Please send a CV to tono@quetsol.com
- We will respond to all participants and set up a phone interview, ideally via Skype.
Este será un post corto con una serie de imágenes de la sede de QUETSOL, con oficinas, vivienda, talleres y jardines donde desarrollaremos modelos de sustentabilidad a través de la tecnologia apropiada. Serán de particular interés a las personas que estén interesadas en participar en nuestro Programa de Internos de Verano 2010.
This will be a brief post with a series of images of QUETSOL headquarters, featuring offices, living space, work shops and gardens, where we will be developing models of sustainability through appropriate technology. These will be of special interest to those people that are interested in our 2010 Summer Intern Program.
Este video nos impactó bastante ya que trata de un granjero costarricense que decide cambiar el modelo de su negocio de producir leche a cultivar verduras orgánicas después de que su hermano se murió de un cáncer gástrico. La agricultura es una actividad humana que contribuye más a la contaminación y degradación del medio ambiente, incluso en términos de emisiónes de gases de efecto invernadero, que el transporte.
La agricultura industrial basada en un uso intensivo de químicos degrada el suelo y destruye los recursos que son fundamentales para la fijación de carbono, como los bosques y el resto de ecosistemas. Las mayores emisiones directas de la agricultura se deben al sobre-uso de fertilizantes, a la destrucción de ecosistemas para obtención de nuevas tierras, a la degradación de los suelos y al modelo de ganadería intensiva. La contribución total de la agricultura al cambio climático, incluyendo la deforestación y otros cambios de uso del suelo, se estima en 8,5 a 16,5 mil millones de toneladas de CO2 equivalente (entre 17 y 32% de todas las emisiones de GEI producidas por el ser humano).
Uno de los mayores problemas de la agricultura industrial es el uso masivo de fertilizantes. Más del 50% de todos los fertilizantes aplicados a los suelos se dispersa en el aire o acaba en los cursos de agua. Uno de los GEI más potentes es el óxido nitroso (N2O), con un potencial de producción de calentamiento global unas 296 veces mayor que el CO2. El empleo masivo de fertilizantes y las emisiones resultantes de N2O representan el mayor porcentaje de contribución agraria al cambio climático: el equivalente a 2,1 mil millones de toneladas de CO2 cada año. Además, la producción de fertilizantes, que es energéticamente muy demandante, suma otros 410 millones de toneladas equivalentes de CO2.
Cuando uno entra a un hospital o un centro de salud rural, la primer cosa que se ve es el afiche de pesticidas y los síntomas de envenenamiento. Ya es tiempo de recalcular nuestros modelos y costumbres de producción agrícola y empezar de nuevo a cultivar nuestra comida con los insumos que el padre de Sr. Varela mencionó, “Dios, naturaleza, y hombre.”
This article from Cleantechies.com highlights some of the juiciest tidbits from the recent Solar Electric Utility conference in San Francisco and corroborates other trend-watchers who say that smaller, distributed projects will help drive growth in the solar photovoltaic sector:
…Panelists echoed [the] observation toward smaller-scale, distributed generation projects in the range of two to 20 megawatts. These projects are on the rise compared to utility-scale projects because they are faster to approve, have high profitability, have shorter connection and permitting reviews, and have increased flexibility…
Overall, the speakers were optimistic for the future growth of distributed and utility-scale solar. “I think PV will grow faster than almost anyone in this room would believe,” said Rogol. In 2004 the global market was less than 1 gigawatt. This figure has grown to 12 gigawatts in 2009, and Rogal predicts a potential for 46 gigawatts by 2012.
PHOTON Consulting’s research also forecasts, “The U.S. is a one-terawatt industry and this is 25 percent larger than all of Europe combined. It is a massive, massive market.” Rogol was specifically positive about the opportunity for solar at the utility level, saying, “We believe the utility segment will fuel future growth. Two years ago, utility-scale solar was non-existent. We believe utility-scale solar can be as much as 50 percent of the total market.”
A recent analysis from the California Public Utilities Commission on the implementation of the state’s 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) outlines the challenges facing the achievement of current goals for 2020, as well as the cost forecasts for a business-as-usual model in which utilities would continue to generate an average of 40% of their electricity from natural gas fired plants:
A 33% RPS is projected to require almost a tripling of renewable electricity, and nearly a doubling of new transmission lines. The 33% RPS Reference Case is projected to require an additional 75 TWh of renewable electricity, or nearly a tripling compared to the 27 TWh of delivered renewable electricity generated at the end of 2007. It is also projected to require seven new transmission lines to deliver the additional 75 TWh of electricity.
Even if California makes no further investments in renewable energy (the all-gas scenario), the analysis projects that average statewide electricity costs per kilowatt hour will rise by 16.7% in 2020 compared to 2008 in real terms. This increase results from the need to maintain and replace aging transmission and distribution infrastructure, anticipated investments in advanced metering infrastructure and other smart grid capabilities, the cost of repowering or replacing generators to comply with once-through cooling regulations, and the cost of procuring new conventional generating resources to meet load growth.
Another article from MIT’s Technology Review suggests that robust growth rates (between 25-40%) in the United States’ solar PV market in 2009 demonstrate a maturing of the market which is now increasingly being driven by a number of factors that make the technology enticing to middle-class homeowners and utilities, postulating that:
The growth had several likely causes, including decreasing prices for solar panels and installation costs, as well as increasing state incentives, which can make solar far more attractive. According to Harry Fleming, the CEO of Acro Energy Technologies in Oakdale, CA, these changes mean that the cost of a typical five-kilowatt rooftop solar system has dropped from $22,000 after state incentives are applied ($40,000 without them) to $16,000 in the last 18 months. Prices are expected to fall to $13,000 by the end of the year ($25,000 without incentives). “This is going to make solar a middle-class product,” he says…
Another key could be solar projects undertaken by utilities. Efird says that a small change in the tax code has allowed utilities to take a tax credit for solar investment. After that, “we began to see, really for the first time, utilities starting to get interested in solar as a way of generating wholesale electricity that they could then resell.” His company has done demonstration projects in the past, he says, “but we’ve never looked at the utility sector and said that’s a market in itself.” About a third of the new installations next year could come from utilities.
There has been a lot of talk these days about the prospect of China outpacing America in the clean energy race. Due to the political stalemate in the US, a lot of clean-energy projects have been put on hold, while in China the encouragement of these technologies is starting to pay dividends. This article gives us a perspective of how might the US still play a lead role in this still-emerging market. Three factors would be key to come out the victor: 1) strong climate legislation; 2) innovation; 3) entrepeneurship. The US might have the last two in the pocket, however the first is still a far-fetched idea based on what is happening in DC. The mixed signals in Congress are not helping develop the market locally in the US, where the idea os mantaining the status quo of dirty technologies is still well accepted.
The US will need to make a long term commitment in order to fight China off. Some advances have been made, where in 2009, US wind, solar, and geothermal resources grew even through the recession, mainly driven by the $37 billion set aside as federal stimilus package aimed at green tech. The US can’t afford to avoid the opportunity of directly generating an estimated 2 million jobs by 2020 through the implementation of comprehensive and clean energy and climate protection legislation, like the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES).
The jobs won’t come unless the right signs start appearing that will start generating demand. Lower wages in China can be offset in the US by avoiding high transportation and logistics costs, which makes sense even more with large scale projects that will come in the future. Besides, most jobs are in installation and maintenance, not in production, up to 75% of them according to Greenpeace.
Techonological innovation and venture capitalism is an edge the US still has against China, however not enough to win the race. They need to start emulating countries like Spain, Denmark, and Germany where clean energy policies and incentives are already in place. The truth is, we all need the US to get in the loop!
It is with great pleasure that we announce our partnership with MIT’s Public Service Center to offer an internship program for current MIT students! Read the description for ideal candidates below and forward the link to any current students that may be interested!
http://web.mit.edu/mitpsc/showcase/opportunities/projects/quetsol.html
Quetsol.com com (Spanish only)
Quetsollife.org (Spanish/English blog)
At Quetsol our mission is to distribute and design low-cost solar photovoltaic powered LED lighting, cell phone chargers, electrical generation, and irrigation systems in order to satisfy basic energy needs for families and communities of scarce economic resources. We are a recent startup and use a for-profit model, having formally incorporated as a Sociedad Anónima (equivalent of a corporation). We have a number of channel partners including microfinance institutions for distributing and financing our products. The payback periods on our products range from 3 months to 3 years and come with guarantees of at least 5 years. Our products will help disadvantaged communities light their homes, irrigate crops, and power electronics and appliances, thereby reducing dependence on dangerous and costly kerosene lamps, candles, and diesel generators. Furthermore, we plan on creating local employment by establishing a network of local sales and maintenance agents who will be trained to install and repair our systems and will be paid generous commissions to advertise and sell our products based on a Tupperware party model. Eventually we plan on establishing a local manufacturing base for our products and we aim to design and distribute products made from locally available materials.
Our goal is to eventually become a leader on a regional and global scale in the development and implementation of clean energy technologies across a broad spectrum of demand bandwidths, while always maintaining our commitment to increasing the services and economic opportunities available to families and communities at the base of the social pyramid.
Intern projects will include but are not limited to:
Projects will be conducted at Quetsol headquarters in Panajachel, Guatemala, about 3 hours outside of the capital. Quetsol is open to having more than one intern.
We prefer individuals who treat work as creative playtime, and who enjoying creatively playing with solar photovoltaic cells, LED lights, cellular phones, agricultural irrigation systems, water purification systems, battery/electrical storage systems, hydroelectric and wind turbine generators, waste water treatment, and organic/ecological agriculture. Backgrounds in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, renewable energy, international development, carbon finance, and business administration are all ideal.
Ideal candidates would be fluent/bilingual in at least two of the following languages: English, Spanish, Tz’utujil, Kaqchikel, K’iche, Mandarin, or Hebrew. Depending on other skills and assets we will consider monolingual applicants.
*Important note*
Quetsol is a for-profit model and will maintain ownership of all intellectual property produced by interns in the program. Contact Quetsol if you have any questions.
We may offer the potential of future employment for interns, and at the very least will provide letters of recommendation to students that complete the program. We may be able to offer free accommodation, though interns would have to purchase/prepare their own food.
We prefer minimum stays of 1-3 months, the longer the better. For help with distance projects (e.g. helping us incorporate an affiliated 501(c)3 foundation in the US) we can work remotely and the time commitment is variable depending on the project.
For more information or to apply, please contact Tono Aguilar at tono@quetsol.com or on Skype at: tono.aguilar.
MIT students who develop projects around these ideas may apply for support from the Public Service Center’s Fellowships or Internships programs. Please check the program descriptions and deadlines and talk to program staff to determine which is most appropriate for your needs and project.
If you have funding from outside the PSC that enables you to work on one of this project, that’s great! However, please do let us know if you work on a project you saw advertised here, even if you don’t use our funds. And remember, the PSC staff are happy to advise on service projects even if we are not funding them ourselves.
