What engineering solutions are needed?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Donald Skow on September 21, 2009 at 2:49pm

This is one of the areas we have been up on.
A well was dug on the land last year and two well columns installed; one for a hand pump and one for an electric pump. The hand pump has served as the source of water for construction and the community.
Although we have designs for solar power and commitment by people working on making them a reality, nothing exists yet. In the past I personally have lived off the grid for years and know electricity is not a necessity. Life in Haiti lends itself to adaption.

The building plans have been drawn and local permits aquired. Yes there are safety codes in Haiti. I had drawn the initial plans working with Haitian builders. The city (Grassier. Haiti) approved them. The city is also involved in saftey and environmental concerns. Good for them. Our architect in Port-au-Prince has not been as helpful.

Water lines and water tank are still needed to be placed as well as a septic system. The plans for the water system are rather simple. Pump water to the tank at the top of the land and gravity feed it down to the houses.

The septic system is about as simple.

Gardening design and implimentation is a good area for volutourists to invest. Fruit producing trees are being planted but a comprehensive garden plan has not yet been implemented.
I have downloaded a photo showing where the hill has been dug out and the fragile topsoil is exposed over the subsoil. Personally i still havent had a chance to figure out the structure of the sub soil. It does not rapidly errode. The top soil does if not protected and you can see it is not deep.

Remember the Haitian sun is hot most every day of the year.

Thanks again Sander

Permalink Reply by Donald Skow on September 21, 2009 at 2:59pm

Check out the clear cut line between topsoil and subsoil (see attached photo) at the New Life to the Children location.

Attachments:

• 058.JPG, 319 KB

Permalink Reply by Colin Duncan on April 2, 2010 at 3:38pm

I'd love to hear more about the plans to install solar power to the orphanage. I'm doing some work with Ed Bless, who installed a solar system at Momma's house last year. When the earthquake hit, her house was the only place in the area that still had power. People went there to charge their cell phones so they could communicate and begin to recover from the disaster.

I've also spent a couple years living without electricity, and while I agree that it's possible to be comfortable without, lack of access to energy is really one of the limiting factors that keep people in the developing world locked into poverty. It's one of the key requisites to development, giving people access to lighting, communications, computers, temperature-sensitive medicines, and all sorts of other useful things. I'm delighted to hear that people are finally starting to explore the potential of solar in this field.

If there's any way Ed's company could get involved in this project, perhaps providing/installing the panels, I'd be thrilled to spearhead that work. We've actually put together a small solar system based on last year's project that we're calling the "Developing Nations Kit." I'm trying to find a way to commercialize it, but it might also be possible to raise some funds locally to provide this orphanage with reliable power. Any ideas?

Also, I was wondering about the septic system for the school. Might it be possible to build a composting toilet, so that the human waste can actually be come an asset, something that enriches the topsoil? I wanted to try that during my time in the Peace Corps, but there was a local taboo against such things. I switched to promoting solar ovens, which was a much more successful project. If people can be convinced to make use of humanure, though, it can save the cost of an expensive septic system and prevent the waste of a potentially useful resource. Just a thought...