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AIDG News Spring 2008 [04/29/2008] |
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Happy Earth Day! We know it was officially the 22nd, but here at AIDG, we think every day should be Earth day.
There have been quite a few exciting developments in the last few months in Haiti and Guatemala that we want to share with you. We also want you to meet some of the tremendous people we get to work with every day.
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 Protesters blocked roads around the nation with burning tires.
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Food Riots in Haiti
The news this week has been filled with accounts of the rioting in Haiti due to the drastic increase in food costs this past year. Staples such as rice, beans and condensed milk have increased 50%, a phenomenon that is being seen the world over. Given that 80% of the Haiti's population live below the poverty line, the situation has made many increasingly desperate. Little to no protests occured in Northern Haiti where we are and our staff and colleagues are safe. As on April 11, there is a tentative calm in the capital.
Eyewitness accounts from around the country
Recent news reports
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AIDG & XelaTeco win contract for small-scale wind development
Xelateco has just kicked off a year long R&D contract with Humdinger Wind Energy, a winner of this past year's Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards. The contract will help develop and test the next generation of Windbelt™ for larger scale applications. The deal will build on XelaTeco's strengths in design and fabrication of low cost renewable energy systems. A separate smaller contract has been awarded by Humdinger to AIDG to architect the data collection setup and provide for data transfer from Xelateco in Guatemala to Humdinger in Hong Kong.
Learn more about the Windbelt technology.
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AIDG Milestones 2007/Goals 2008
AIDG’s second incubated business will work to address two problems
plaguing Haiti’s 2nd largest city: poor sanitation and inadequate
energy sources. The planned enterprise will empty the city’s public
latrines and turn collected waste into biogas. The fuel will be used
for electricity and cooking.
Our goals in 2008
What we did in 2007 with help from folks like you
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Haiti Update: One by one ecological toilets replace river polluting latrines in Shada
AIDG and its community partner, SOIL, recently finished 2 dry-composting community latrines in Shada. Together these systems, also known as ecosan (ecological sanitation) or urine-diverting toilets, now serve approximately 400 residents.
Continue.
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Engineers Without Borders Prototyping a Low Cost Wind Turbine at AIDG Guatemala
In spring 2007, AIDG teamed up with the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-SF) to develop a low cost windmill as part of our Project Placement Program. The goal was to provide low cost renewable electricity for LED lighting, cell phone charging, or small radio use, etc. A few weeks ago, members from EWB-SF’s Appropriate Technology Design Team came to Guatemala to build a prototype of their vertical axis design.
View Photos and Video.
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Corrina Grace
Chase Nelson |
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Meet Our Interns
Our internship program has been a tremendous part of our success in Haiti and Guatemala. Meet some of the fantastic people who make our work possible.
Meet Corrina
Corrina, a mechanical engineer, is our intern and volunteer coordinator. Her role has been to ensure that the program runs smoothly and fulfills AIDG’s goals and missions. Sadly, Corrina will be leaving us soon and heading back to Australia
Meet Chase
Chase, an environmental engineer, has been upgrading our existing biodigester designs. In late April, he will be traveling to Haiti to assist with trainings on biodigester installation in Cap Haitien.
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AIDG's Peter Haas and Catherine Laine honored as environmental activists
This past weekend, the 3rd Middlesex Area Democrats of Massachusetts recognized a number of local individuals as Environmental Activists of the Year. Peter Haas and Catherine Laine of AIDG were nominated by the Weston Town Democratic committee for their work in bringing green technologies to poor communities in Guatemala and Haiti.
Continue.
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AIDG's Environmental Education Center:
Projecto Futuros Verdes
Proyecto Futuros Verdes aims to provide an interactive environmental education center for school children in Xela, Guatemala. The Center will give general information about environmental trends in Guatemala, simple advice on how to reduce individual and family environmental impacts, and have demonstrations of appropriate technology.
Continue.
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9 goals to help alleviate poverty in Guatemala and Haiti in 2008. We need your help to achieve them all.
Together we can make a difference. |
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AIDG's original content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
