Monday, January 24, 2011

Transition time: Guatemala (beginning Apr 2010) to Cali (through mid Jan 2011) to India (mid Jan 2011-end Apr)

Hey guys,

It's been forever since I've written. I had expected the California period to be a short transient period to find a solar gig, then it lasted 9 months.

I'm currently in Bangalore, India to work with SELCO India. They're one of the leading distribution networks of off grid solar systems. They work hard to understand client needs and install full systems: solar panel, battery and either LED lighting or CFL lights. That's a standard package, but they modify their packages based on what the client needs and what he can afford to pay. The males are the heads of household here and make those purchasing decisions, so I'm not bad to forget the "he/she"use of pronouns. In addition to learning about their work in solar, I wanted to come here to support their SELCO labs where they focus on understanding needs of the rural community and eventually develop product for those needs. It sounded like Stanford's Extreme class, but I get the benefit of being in the rural area so we can validate prototypes, usage assumptions by being able to talk to people in the community.

I've been here for one week now. Originally the idea was that I would stay in Bangalore for three days and then head out to Ujire right away. All my packing is assuming that I'll be staying in a rural area for 3.5 months, not crazy congested city. Still, I am trying my best to be patient, and am trying to go with the flow. The person in charge of the Bangalore side of the labs has been trying to figure out what to do with me as well so we've been brainstorming ideas and I am looking for things I can take as an independent project.

This post won't jump into "all things SELCO" or "crazy stories about my first week in India". Rather, I want to take a step back and answer the question "why am I here in India?"

And bear with me, I ask this for myself. While I learn how to adjust to the craziness that is Bangalore, I wonder why I'm doing this. I am hoping that things will get better once I get out to Ujire because then I think I'll be in the environment I was seeking.

So back to the question.
I came here because I wanted to find a group that had real experience bringing solar to rural areas, so that I could learn from them.

In Guatemala, back in January, our team sold 800 of the 850 solar lanterns alloted to them in the first six weeks.
In the first week of February, Ricardo and I took a trip back to Rio Azul, the town where we built the 75 stoves, to deliver 100 lanterns. The requests for these lanterns through our regions exceeded the supply, but since we built stoves in Rio Azul, the leadership team allocated 100 lanterns to them provided that the people were really able to pay the ~$20 price. Pics are attached from this journey.
Thing is, this trip wasn't a slam dunk. Ricardo and I were so excited to go there with the lanterns because we knew how in a town with no electricity and no access to light that these lights would make a huge positive impact to their quality of life. We were excited we could meet their needs and help. Our meeting was scheduled for 4 pm, and since I knew the families would want to use their lights immediately that evening, but that the battery needed to be charged for four hours before use for best battery life, I told Ricardo we should unpack all the lights and charge them all. It was a pain to do, and technically not great to handle the product, but in my mind, servicing these products in the field when the fail is a challenge. The people were paying a lot of money to buy the lights, so at the minimum, I wanted them to have optimal battery life and teach them how to charge the lantern in the process.
Folks started to gather as we were unpacking the lanterns. They were curious and started to ask questions as we unpacked 100 lanterns. They would ask about the cell phone charging and we would try their cell phones with the different cell phone adapters provided by Barefoot Power. (Personal criticism I have is that Barefoot power fails to list which cell phones their adapters support). Good thing Guatemalans are flexible, but I had to grit my teeth each time I had to say in Spanish, "the solar panel can charge cell phones. It comes with 6 adapters. Oh, which ones? Well, we'll have to try yours out to see, but I know it charges certain Nokia and Motorola models" (I should know the answer, not BS an answer! Grr).
Ok, I digress.
After we finished unpacking the lights, it was time for the meeting. The townspeople who had signed up to buy the lights and folks who were curious gathered around Nicolas, our Rio Azul contact, and Ricardo who presented the light again before people paid for the products. The questions began, which Ricardo answered smoothly. Then the criticisms began -- "the light was too small" "the light was too expensive" "they thought the product would be bigger" "where was the larger solar panel?" "they didn't want to buy the light anymore". Essentially they were treating us as salespeople who were trying to peddle a bad product.
Ricardo and I were pretty shocked by the response, but he took a deep breath, and although frustrated, explained that if they didn't want to buy, it was fine. We were happy to take the 100 lanterns back to Nebaj since we had demand all throughout Guatemala. He explained that we were honoring our commitment to this town in trying to bring them light since we recognized the need was so great, but if folks did not want to buy them, it was fine.

Nicolas was concerned as well, but we finally decided we would just go through the list of 96 folks who had signed up for the lanterns. Each person could decide to buy the lantern or not. I can't remember the numbers, but ultimately, only 6-10 folks decided not to buy the lantern. Folks who did not sign up to buy the lights in advance used it as an opportunity to buy the lamps then. I was explaining the importance of charging their lanterns, so folks were sitting out in the fields charging their lights. That was exciting to see. I saw Alba again, the nice lady who Ana and I stayed with back in December. She heard we were going to stay in the school, so she told me we should stay at her house again. I was shocked since I had only met her the one time, but she was very genuine in her kindness and insistent, so I gratefully accepted.

I learned a lot through that experience.
1. The naysayers will have the loudest voice, even if they're in the minority.
2. The rural customers are savvier than you think and their expectations can go up significantly once they get exposed to technology. Case in point, folks were asking me when we could bring larger solar panels next time so they could charge light bulbs. For the record, this town had no light bulbs since there was no electricity, but they wanted to move to that point.
3. I shouldn't take the negative criticism personally. I was looking forward to this trip because I wanted this community to have light. After traveling around in December and living with families without electricity and light, I knew this product could help them, so I wanted to witness the impact first hand. I was completely taken by surprise when the negative vibe made me feel like an unwelcome charlatan. I had to work through that and think that ultimately the customer speaks if he/she chooses to make the purchase, and leave it at that.

By 6 pm, when dusk fell, we had five lanterns left so we packed up. As soon as the daylight faded, families came up to us to ask if we had any more lights. We sold the rest of the lights in 15 minutes and turned other families away. Our last customer was a young boy who was representing his family. After confirming we had lights, he asked us to hold one and ran back to his house to bring the money. so, the end result was good. We sold all the lights we had brought with us. We took a few pictures with Don Nicolas and his wife and some other people. Note the man holding the brown cardboard box that we had used to transport the lights to begin with. All the boxes proved to be popular and the different families requested them early as soon as they heard we didn't plan to take them with us.

Later that night when things wound down, we made it to Alba's house and I entertained her kids by showing them how to use my old iPhone (yay DVT4). I had a scribble application that kids like, and her boys picked it up really quickly. That UI impresses me every time I see kids play with it and pick it up so intuitively. As an aside, I was talking to Alba about her stove that they purchased back in November. Their family was actually building a kitchen attachment; it would be separate from the house and the stove was already there. Nothing grand, just wooden planks as walls and aluminum sheet as the roof. They were planning to use the stove once they finished their kitchen.

All in all, a good day. It was trying, but it all worked out.

That day was important to me because it's motivated me to answer the question - what are the other solar options? In what increments can we scale the panel offerings to provide an affordable, but useful product to these guys.

That's why I'm here in India. I think I can find the answers at SELCO. Once I learn more, I will share with the team in Guatemala. I also hope that solar will be interesting enough to me that I would want to work in the solar space in the future. Not sure, though. I'm not committing myself to anything at this point. I just want to learn. But, again, it's a tough lesson here in Bangalore. More on that another time.

(All the pics below are from the Guatemala trip.)

















Sunday, February 21, 2010

Corn cob/ stalk briquette update






















Ok, time is just passing by way too quickly. We've been making a lot of progress on the briquette project.

First, I wanted to enclose the pictures I mentioned before of all the people carrying firewood. This is a huge loss of time and money for the families. All are involved: men, women and children. The people do their best like I mentioned in my other post, but to show how they struggle, I have a few pics of a man helping the lady adjust her load. There is a picture of a kid adjust his load of firewood. I am missing pictures of the elderly women carrying similar heavy loads.
We went on a short hike this morning and passed a family of five trekking down with their load of wood. The first three pictures were taken during this hike.

Back to the update: we have completed four batches - two were made with corn cobs (batches 1 and 3) and two were made with corn stalks (batches 2 and 4). I like the corn stalks better for a few reasons:

1. They're more readily available. Families keep dried corn on the cob in their house and de-kernel them (is that a word?) as they need it to make the masa for their tortillas. So, it's hard to get a large supply of corn cobs at one time. Corn stalks however, are currently lying in the fields in abundance. We have a small window to collect large batches of them though. Folks are starting to burn their fields to clear them and prepare for the next planting season.

2. They're easier to burn. Corn cobs take longer to burn. We're still working on our process and timing to be able to yield more carbonized pieces rather than unburned cobs/ stalks, but we get better yield with corn stalks.

3. They're easier to pulverize. Stalks are just easier to step on/ beat/ grind into powder. Corns cobs are really hard some times.

We burned the first two batches on a grill to barbecue food on an excursion to the waterfalls. It was a great way to prove out the charcoal works really well for the grill. We wanted to see if there was a difference between performance in corn cob based briquettes vs. corn stalk based briquettes. We didn't see any difference as we were grilling the food. That was good to know.

Next, I wanted to try the briquettes in the estufa mejorada -- the improved stoves (picture attached). Our group sells a simple stove with metal plancha and chimney to reduce the amount of smoke in the house, to use less wood, and to decrease the danger of children getting burns from playing around an open fire. I wanted to see if how the carbon works -- if it gets hot enough, if it can perform as well as firewood -- to see if it can be a viable alternative to firewood. Good news is that it gets hot. Hot enough for the ladies to be able to make tortillas on the plancha. Apparently that is good criteria. If the metal plancha doesn't get hot enough, the tortillas don't rise. So we passed that test. Bad news is that in the first 15 minutes after lighting the charcoal, Ricardo's kitchen was filled with smoke. That's not acceptable. There is a chance their chimney was blocked so we're going to clean it and then try burning batch 4 in their estufa again (just made last week - 96 pcs, best yield yet - pics of the process attached). I need to reevaluate what the market opportunity is if it doesn't work with the stoves. There are still many families who can't afford stoves so if they cook on an open flame, this coal would still work for them.

I'm not too familiar with how one goes about assessing a market opportunity, but that's what my next goal is. Also, we need to quickly secure more corn stalks (if it's worth) because our time is running out. I'm also asking Ricardo and his brothers (who are also agricultores on the weekend) to think about other agricultural waste products we can use to make charcoal.

I extended my stay so that I could work on this project. I only have another 6 weeks left here in Guatemala, so I feel a sense of urgency to scope this project out properly. Wish me luck!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Corn cob briquettes - let the experiments begin!



Hi all,

Happy 2010! The pictures I'm attaching have nothing to do with the post; they are from December -- Shreya's last art class and a picture of Shreya and me in Tikal. We took a quick trip over there to check out the famous Mayan ruins (a great investment for a 36-hour trip).

Our team is back in Nebaj and we're excited to take on new projects for the year. I'll still be following up with campaign support, and I'm hoping to go back to Rio Azul yet again in late Jan/ early Feb to offer solar lamps to the community. I'm sure that will be an amazing experience -- once the lamps clear customs. There were production delays and it sounds like there was a five month lag between ordering the product and it docking in Guatemala. The other problem is that the lamps were purchased in dollars and with the Guatemalan currency, the Quetzal, weakening against the dollar, the products are more expensive to clear through customs. These extra duties will drive up the cost of the products significantly. I am concerned to see how the people will react when they hear the new price of the solar lamp. We will have to see. I have seen that people really value these solar lamps, especially since the solar panel also carries adapters to charge some cell phone models (= huge value to communities without access to electricity). I can't wait to see what happens as we finally sell this product in all the communities.

Back to corn cobs... at the end of November, I was finally successful in making contact with someone from the MIT D-Lab who had worked on the corn cob briquette projects (actually should be applicable to agricultural waste in general). Amy B. has been great to share their process with us re: how to make a charcoal press. If it succeeds, we can offer the community an alternate fuel source to firewood. Families spend so much time and money collecting wood for their stoves. Some families go directly into the forests to chop down trees to collect their firewood, so it will also help with the deforestation problem. We see women and children (and men) carrying logs on their heads (see one of the Rio Azul pics where I note the Mayan way to carry heavy loads). I will take pictures of these people because it's hard to explain why it hurts when I see it. It looks painful to me; I know the methods demonstrate the resilience of the Mayan people, but also their poor situation. Ricardo and I talk about how we respect the people in the community when we see that they are fighting hard to make a living to support their families, and this circumstance applies. However, if we can introduce other options that can help alleviate some of this backbreaking work, it will be amazing.

I'm giving myself the month of January to characterize this project. We've secured materials for the charcoal press and the oil drum. We'll be working on securing corn cobs this Monday. Ricardo and Miguel both have offered locations we can use to develop the briquettes. It'll be interesting to run experiments to get the process down to make the briquettes, to increase the yield, to see how well the briquettes ultimately burn. It's a low-tech project, but we do have some issues that could be deal breakers. One challenge is that Nebaj is currently very cold and damp. I'm not sure how we'll be able to dry the briquettes if we have no sun. (if anyone has any suggestions, I am very open to them). I'll keep you all updated as we make progress.

If you're curious about how it works, I'm attaching a link to a youtube video made by the MIT team. Amy Smith is the mastermind behind this great work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqI63IEg3MM

Oh, I guess I should say mention that I just moved my return date home to April 2. I decided I wanted to plan for success with this briquette project and think that I need three months to make it work (provided we hit the development milestones along the way). That's only a month extension on top of my two-month extension. =) Shreya is joking that I'll never leave, but that's not going to happen. Wish me luck, guys! I'm really excited to work on this project because I believe that it has the potential to make serious impact in the community. If we are successful, I already know I can leave this project in the hands of Ricardo and his brothers because they are really excited by this project already and have an entrepreneurial spirit.

Hope all is well!
Helen

Thursday, December 17, 2009

8-day trip to Zona Reyna






Hi guys,

I was getting better at posting updates, and the only reason I was delayed was because I just went on a really eye-opening trip to visit the communities in Zona Reyna. This post is the overall summary post, but I will update more with stories from certain talks with families or experiences or observations.

I went on a 10-day campaign with our asesora from Nebaj, Ana. She has family members who live in a town called 31 de Mayo, one of the communities in Zona Reyna.

We planned a trip to go to 10 communities to do publicity and campaigns. These communities are remote agricultural villages. Crops range from corn and black beans to cardemom and oranges. Most of these towns have no electricity or running water (except for Paroquia).

I'm attaching a map to roughly show where I went. Thing is -- these communities are not actually far from Nebaj -- roads don't exist to get there in a shorter way so we had to take a very long, circuitous route. Even then, the roads that do exist are rocky and steep. I'm actually guessing where some of the towns are. When I checked google maps, only El Pinal, Las Pacayas, Saquixpec, La Taña, and Uspantán actually show up on the map.

I had three goals for this trip:
1. support Ana on the publicity and campaigns
2. talk to the families, understand what life is like, what their needs are
3. interview the families in Río Azul about the stoves we have built for them

I was able to accomplish all three though I had to cut my trip short to 8 days because I had to get back to support another campaign near Quiché.

Schedule:
Day 1 -4:30am depart Nebaj --> Uspantan --> San Antonio (publicity)--> El Pinal (publicity)--> Las Pacayas (sleep at a family's house) [the lady of the house is Elena. She was an incredibly kind woman who opened her home to us graciously and offered us food. Ana knows the family. picture of us both in the two Elenas pic]
Day 2 - 7 am Las Pacayas (publicity) --> Paroquia (publicity and sleep at hospedaje)
Day 3 - 7 am start Paroquia (publicity cont) --> Rio Azul (publicity) --> 31 de Mayo (sleep at Ana's family's house)
Day 4 - 4 am depart for Saquixpec (publicity) --> Napoles (publicity) --> La Tana (publicity) -->31 de Mayo (sleep)
Day 5 - laundry in the morning [see laundry pic]; 31 de Mayo (afternoon campaign) (sleep at 31 de Mayo)
Day 6 - 5:30 am depart for La Tana (campaign) --> Napoles (afternoon campaign) (sleep at family's house in Napoles)
Day 7 - Rio Azul campaign and stove interviews [attached pic of Don Nicolas and his family with their stove after finishing the interview with him] (afternoon) (sleep at family's house in Rio Azul)
Day 8 - depart at 4:30 am to drop Ana off at Saquixpec campaign and Helen heads back to Nebaj

Overall, it was a tough trip, but really incredible. Again, I feel so much gratitude for what we have in the US and was touched by the kindness of the families we visited.
I will definitely post more on this trip later.
Hope everyone is well! Happy Holidays!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Estufa project - part 1


















Hi there,
As promised, here's the update on the first trip to Río Azul for our estufa project. Since you know the punchline, I'll keep it short.

The challenge: Within one day, take a trip to Río Azul, meet with the community to gauge interest and need in stoves, and return to Nebaj.
The proposed date: Monday, Nov. 9, 2009
The proposal: Travel to Río Azul by motorcycle - Miguel and Helen on motorcycle 1; Diego and Ricardo on motorcycle 2.
The timing: Leave at 5:30 am to arrive to Rio Azul for a 1:30 pm meeting, and return back to Nebaj by evening.

Summary of the actual adventure:
1. flat tire on the way to Río Azul
2. steep bumpy, rocky road conditions
3. successful Río Azul arrival at 12:30
4. team enjoyed a meal at a simple comedor: black beans, scrambled eggs, tortillas and coffee
5. Río Azul residents were hiding and finally gathered at 2:30 pm
6. Community was quite organized and Nicolas, our contact, confirmed 59 families were interested in stoves.
7. Community gave us a good send off.
8. Rain on the motorcycle ride home (doh)
9. Complete exhaustion and tired muscles from the motorcycle ride
10. Great team camaradarie - Miguel, Ricardo and Helen all agreed in our own words "The ride to get to Río Azul and back was arduous and tiring, but for SolCom's mission to help the community, it was worth it."

The pictures should explain it all.

Hope everyone is well!