by Karen Rowan; extra reporting by Andrew Grant

Who knew that providing energy and water for all could be a matter of foot cranks and dirt power?

  A garden hose, a tin can, duct tape, metal piping, kitchen cleaner, and gasoline: That is all television icon MacGyver needed to make a flame-thrower to ward off a swarm of killer ants. In the real world, technologies that are affordable and practical are not so simple to create, but they can make a huge impact on people's lives. Instead of calling on complex solutions (reliant on engines and imported resources) for low-tech problems (such as cooking and lighting), some researchers are now developing what they call "confluent" technologies—ones that are effective, affordable, and sustainable for use in the developing world. Here's a look at the latest breakthroughs:

by Mason Inman

Rural families can slash their energy costs, improve their health and help preserve local forests by harvesting natural gas from rotting manure, researchers argue.

They say the use of biogas plants, which store the decomposing manure and capture the natural gas it releases, could improve rural farmers' livelihoods, while protecting the environment.

By Alexis Madrigal

EWB-SF’s Malcolm Knapp and Heather Fleming with low-cost turbine that they helped design. It will be tested in Quetzaltenango this spring. Photo courtesy Jim Merithew/Wired.com

A group of volunteer engineers are finishing the design for a home-brewed wind turbine that will bring electricity to off-the-grid Guatemalan villages by this summer.

After the U.S. engineers finish the design, local workers in the town of Quetzaltenango will manufacture the small-scale turbine. It will produce 10-15 watts of electricity, enough to charge a 12-volt battery that can power simple devices like LED lights.

by John Barrie

The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group is a new type of charity. They incubate sustainable businesses that tackle some of the world's most pressing social, economic and environmental needs by using smart sustainable technologies. Their founder and Executive Director, Peter Haas, took a few minutes to answer some questions from EcoGeek.

by Wayne Ma

The tech world is misunderstanding the concept of appropriate technology for developing nations as “low-tech,” leaders in the growing field of practical invention said today at the 2007 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Conference. In fact, the panelists agreed, it’s likely more difficult to design these technologies for rich, technologically-developed countries, which don't have to worry about limited resources.

By Meredith Rahman

 Weston - Every morning Carolina wakes up in a sleepy daze and walks on the soft dirt of her kitchen floor, compacted by generations of use. Thick smoke fills the room as kindling begins to burn on the stove. From dawn until dusk, 365 days a year, this smoke infests the room.

Written by The Naib

When I stumbled upon Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, I knew right away that they were doing something special. There unique approach to creating positive change involves long term commitments to the community; I was especially impressed with their commitment to green technology. I was lucky enough to be able to get Peter Haas, the founder and Executive Director of the AIDG, to take some time out of his very busy schedule to answer ten questions for The Sietch.

Day to Day,  Many of Guatemala's rural indigenous communities lack infrastructure basics such as clean drinking water, sanitation and electricity.

A group of American eco-engineers in the United States from the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group is working with a number of Mayan villages to change that.

Salon's How the World Works Blog

by Andrew Leonard 

The Internet facilitates many kinds of behavior, but shines at one thing above all else: If you need to find a manual to figure out how to reprogram a remote control, or set a function on your bike computer, or put together a Lego set, the Internet is so helpful it makes Prometheus look like a miser. Manuals, how-to instructions, spare part catalogs -- no matter how obscure, no matter how out of date (or how cutting edge), they all live forever on the Net.

I was thinking this, yet again, this morning, as I scrolled through a 30-page PDF file containing exquisitely specific instructions on how to build a biodigester septic tank that transforms pig [waste] into organic fertilizer and cooking gas. Not that I'm planning to install one myself in my backyard anytime soon, but I just feel happy knowing that should I ever need to, the information is handily available. Just as I am delighted to learn that using a laser printer, the right paper, a sheet of copper and a clothes iron, I can make my own printed circuit boards.

Cheryl B. Scaparrotta

The idea came to Weston native Peter Haas on a pig farm in Cuba. Haas was studying urban agriculture while traveling on a U.S. Department of Treasury permit, and this was the first farm he visited. He was surprised to learn that the farmer had installed a “biodigester” (a mechanism that collects animal waste and, through a process, promotes a controlled buildup of methane gas for heating, cooking, and lighting) built by his nephew, to treat pig excrement. The organic fertilizer generated by the biodigester enhanced the farm’s productivity. And amazingly, the farm was relatively clean, operated efficiently, and lacked the typical foul odor one would expect from a pig farm. The well was also clean and the kitchen was spotless, thanks to the biogas stove.

By Habib Rahman

Weston - Last Sunday, Peter Haas, a lifelong Weston resident and co-founder of AIDG, presented one vision of empowering the world’s poor by developing economically viable environmentally friendly businesses in the developing world. It has successfully established several renewable energy projects in Guatemala and, contingent on funding, is hoping to start similar operations in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. AIDG was founded in 2004 by Peter Haas and his friend Benny Lee, also a Weston resident. Two other lifelong Weston friends joined the board of directors – Adam Hyde and Grey Lee.

AIDG’s mission is simple – empower the poor in developing countries by creating indigenous small self-sustaining businesses that generate green energy. To this end, they have interns and volunteers, primarily students from top colleges like Berkeley, MIT and Stanford, work with local villagers, helping develop renewable energy plants.This summer a group of 10 Weston High School students and two chaperone teachers will go on a Teco-Tour to Guatemala under the auspices of AIDG. The students will travel through the country and work on renewable energy projects with local villagers. The operations are by design small and have to be affordable to locals, most of whom live on less than $2 a day.

"Our goal is to transform society one village at a time," Haas said.

by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg

In the developed world, we perceive renewable energy technologies as the means of moving us away from pollution-spewing sources of electricity generation. In many parts of the developing world, though, renewables often provide the most efficient means of producing power in places that have never had it. In the Comunidad Nueva Alianza, a small village in El Palmar, Guatemala, the recent installation of a micro-hydro system now provides electricity to 40 households for the first time ever.

When one isolated village in Guatemala decided to wire itself for electricity for the very first time, they decided to step out of the past and go straight to the future with renewable energy. They were able to do it with the help of Xela Teco and the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group. Xela Teco installs and repairs sustainable power generators in rural Guatemalan communities that otherwise couldn't afford electricity. The company specializes in hydroelectric systems and biodigesters that turn animal waste into methane gas to fuel stoves. Many Guatemalan villages are too small to build power plants and too remote to establish transmission lines. That's where Xela Teco comes in. With support from the U.S.-based AIDG, Xela Teco uses local expertise to service the technologies that can deliver water, electricity and heat without harming the environment. In one village near El Palmar, Xela Teco recently installed a solar water heater and a complete micro-hydroelectric system. Forty families there can now enjoy electricity in their homes for the very first time. Amazing considering some villagers make as little as $2 a day. They are showing the rest of us that you don't have to have the green to go green on energy.

Original article can be found clicking here.

G4B's Monthly CSReport ~ Issue Twenty-Nine 

by Alexander Görlach

www.aidg.org stands for everything Club of Pioneers believes in: a sustainable and fair future for everybody on this planet. We see in the discussions about global warming and climate change often a very self-centrated point of view. There might be a slight tendency to lower the efforts if one own's country seems not to be affected that much.

To www.aidg.org it is clear that we all have to stand united and build a future for everybody - for example by working on it that each and every one has access to clean water.

The organisation offers internships for those who want to take a stance by acting, working for a sustainable future.

The original blog post is available at:

http://www.clubofpioneers.com/blog/alexs-blog/2/comments/114/

by John Barrie 

I follow the work of the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) pretty closely. Through education and business development AIDG promotes sustainable technologies that improve the quality of life in developing countries.  AIDG has identified several sustainable technologies that can be made locally, with local “eco-engineers”. One technology AIDG is promoting in Guatemala is the use of Biodigesters.