EWB-BU: Future Projects
Smoke Hoods
- Currently in the village of Chirimoto individual households cook using makeshift, uncovered, and unventilated stove tops producing large amounts of smoke in the house. Smoke inhalation was brought up during community interviews with EWB-BU and is known to cause breathing and lung problems, especially in small children under the age of five. During our implementation trip of the slow sand filter in the summer of 2009, we will seek to address this issue and improve the effectiveness of their stoves; allowing them to burn less fossil fuels and heat their food more efficiently. To do this we plan to implement a specific stove chimney design that will directly ventilate the smoke from the stove into the outside air. This will occur by building an example stove for the village and then educating the villagers on the health risks of smoke inhalation and the construction and cleaning of the stove . Assessment of this problem will include feasibility of a design and overall availability and cost of materials in the area.
Solar Power
- At the end of the assessment trip last year, the group took and analyzed solar radiation data in the region. The town has no electricity, and EWB-BU has been exploring several methods of generating energy for the town, including solar panels to power a refrigerator for the medical center, and a small hydroelectric generator. The radiation data shows that there is sufficient sunlight to provide solar energy to power the panels needed for the medical center refrigerator. This would allow the town access to necessary medicines and vaccines that are temperature-sensitive that are currently very difficult to obtain. On the upcoming implementation trip, we intend to take more data and further assess the situation of the medical center to determine if this use of a solar panel would be the most helpful implementation of solar power in Chirimoto.
Coffee Toaster
- In an effort to stimulate economic growth, the installation of an industrial coffee toaster has been considered. Many families of Chirimoto grow and harvest the coffee plant and it has become the primary export. The first shell is removed manually and beans are sold to Mendoza and local cities where it is processed further and resold for roughly five times the purchase price. A simple toaster could be powered by fire or electricity and would further the processing of beans by removing the tougher second shell. The processed beans would bring resources to the community. With larger profit and more resources, the community could begin a steady practice of crop rotation and bean processing that would strengthen the community base.
