Re: [GKD] RFI: Pico Hydro Power and ICT Deployments
This is a partial response to Venkatesh (Venky) Hariharan's request for information with regard to pico hydro power systems. I am responding to the list since the following may be of general interest. My own experience and knowledge is with wind and photovoltaic cells but much of what is known applies equally to systems driven by small water powered generators. I reside on the windy shores of one of North America's great lakes, in a region where both pico and mega-scale sustainable power projects are under serious consideration. The starting point in desiging any pico system in support of ICT is, in the design stage, to design the installation to minimize the use of power (e.g. notebooks vs. desktops, LCD vs CRT, etc.). Work out the economics of installing greater power capacity vs. installing equipment with a lower power need. If the power generated is to be for other uses (lighting, radio, TV, etc.) the same principles apply. Use and configure devices to conserve and minimize power need. Work out the economices of various combinations. Lesson one: do both the technical and economic benefit/cost analysis. Several recent (Canadian) publications designed to assist those with minimal technical skill to work though the taks of evaluating and designing stand alone pico power generating facilities are listed below. The market for system components, be the system pico hydro, wind, or solar panel, is increasingly global, and the technical issues -and solutions- are increasingly the same, varying essentially as a function of needs (uses, scale) and energy sources (water, wind, solar, and even the promising fuel cell technologies). Two recent Canadian sources that work through the design and evaluation steps are: The Renewable Energy Handbook for Homeowners, W. H. Kemp See information at http://www.aztext.com and Private Power Magazine See information at http://www.privatepower.ca While the focus in on home systems, the design and evaluation information will serve any scheme for a sustainable energy ICT project. Sam Lanfranco York University ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
Re: [GKD] RFI: Pico Hydro Power and ICT Deployments
On 10/13/03 03:01, Venkatesh (Venky) Hariharan wrote: Has anyone on this list come across a deployment of ICT specifically meant for powering computers in rural areas? I would be interested in hearing about this. You can check Jhai Foundation's Remote IT Village Project at: http://www.jhai.org/jhai_remoteIT.html for information regarding a solid-state, low-wattage computer that can be powered by a foot-crank, a high-bandwidth wireless network, and support for village small businesses. -- Thaths ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
Re: [GKD] RFI: Pico Hydro Power and ICT Deployments
At 3:31 PM +0530 13/10/2003, Venkatesh (Venky) Hariharan wrote: Has anyone on this list come across a deployment of ICT specifically meant for powering computers in rural areas? I would be interested in hearing about this. Venky - you have separately been in direct contact with Udit about using relatively inexpensive solar power panels to recharge batteries that will be part of a direct/alternating current supply for a computer. This can be made to work in a real world scenario by distributing the computers locally within a village (and not putting them in 'special' cybercenters), connecting them using Wi-Fi locally. This means that the network has to be grown outwards from one or more points within the village, since Wi-Fi has an inbuilt signal strength issue. Each node is self contained, and the responsibility for keeping them powered up then becomes the users'. Panels for single computers are not prohibitively expensive (TCO), unlike installations for complete cybercenters, which then naturally become part of a bureaucracy. It takes a bit more thought and effort to get such a network started, but I think in terms of sustainability it is certainly a more attractive proposition. In fact, the process of installation can also trigger off a fresh growth industry - installation services. -- Vickram ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
Re: [GKD] RFI: Pico Hydro Power and ICT Deployments
You can check El Limon in the Dominican Republic http://www.sas.cornell.edu/cresp/ecopartners/project.htm Community owned, managed, micro-hydro produces electricity and it was the base project that introduced computers and internet link - not a major funded project - more grassroots Venkatesh (Venky) Hariharan wrote: Has anyone on this list come across a deployment of ICT specifically meant for powering computers in rural areas? I would be interested in hearing about this. ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/
