Small Grants Initiative for Beahrs ELP Alumni

Development of a Small-Scale Prototype for a Solar Powered Refrigerator for Poor Fishing Communities

A proposal submitted by

Alejandro Guevara, Teresita Amezcua and Jorge Wolpert

Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de México

1.- Problem Statement

In this project, we aim to develop a prototype of a refrigerator powered by sunlight. Our ultimate goal is to implement such a device in a rural fishing community in Mexico. This stems from the need that low-income fishers have to improve their bargaining power in the market. They lose a substantial share of their revenues due to the low refrigeration capacity of their fishing boats; leading to a restrained market supply. Should they have means to keep their product refrigerated for longer periods, their market-supplying capacity would increase; thus their income and living standards would rise.

For its success this project needs to be truly interdisciplinary, since we need to work together in the technological, economic and social aspects of it. Each of the members of the team will provide expertise form his/her area: Economics/Public Policy, Animal Production and Renewable and Appropriate Energy.

The solar power refrigerator has a capacity of 1.0 to 1.5 m³ and it is aimed to benefit:

· Small and medium fishing boats; and

· Low-income families

The ultimate goals in developing this product are:

· To make it available to some fishing communities in Mexico so they can have access to refrigeration systems in their small and medium boats and through this way avoid the loss of their products, which many times happens because either they don’t have the economic means to install conventional refrigeration systems in them or they lack access to power supply. (We will partner will a non-profit organization, -Red Bioplaneta- who works with rural communities along Mexico).

· To make it available to some other low income communities, mainly in the arid climate zones in Mexico. In this way they could have cooling systems in their homes either to maintain their food fresh or for air conditioning purposes.

We expect to get further gains in the development of this kind of technology, like:

a) Important savings for the low-income families in their energy use.

b) The design of different products powered by solar energy like:

* Air conditioning systems

* Household refrigerators

* Refrigeration chambers

* Power generation technologies

Also patents and licenses could be obtained for these products.

We are asking Beahrs SGI for seed money that will fund the first stage of the project, i.e., design the prototype. At this stage we have the knowledge and the experience working with renewable energy and successfully testing devices powered by solar energy. We are currently working on the installation of a solar-powered air conditioning system in an indigenous community on the pacific coast of the Mexican State of Oaxaca.

We are currently seeking for supplementary sources of funding to:

a) Physically building the prototypes and run respective tests in the lab.

b) Testing the physical principles involved in the overall system.

c) Building a laboratory prototype and test it using working fluids.

d) Design a field prototype and testing it in a fishing boat in operation.

2.- Project Activities

a).- Designing an initial draft of the system describing each of its components and the expected work and operation of each one. The result will be an schematic of the system and the layout of its components in operation.

b).- Describing system component by component.

c).- Running computer simulations to assess the overall efficiency and the coefficient of performance.

d).- Discussing the findings resulting from simulations.

e).- Presenting our results in an academic conference.

3.- Collaboration Statement

Dr. Alejandro Guevara-Sanginés, Associate Professor, Director of the Research Program on Sustainable Development at the Department of Economics, Universidad Iberoamericana. Alejandro’s collaboration will be using 12.5% of his research time in the program to work in the design of the prototype, and will travel to California to visit the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at Berkeley and discuss in detail the final prototype design. (CV attached). (He will NOT be receiving any payments from Beahrs-SGI).

Teresita Amezcua. Research Assistant at the Research Program on Sustainable Development at the Department of Economics, Universidad Iberoamericana. Teresita’s collaboration will be using 50% of her work time in helping in the development of the design of the prototype, and all the investigation, administrative and logistic tasks needed for the project. (CV attached)

Dr. Jorge Wolpert. Lecturer, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning and Researcher at the Research Program on Environment and Sustainable Development at the Department of Economics, Universidad Iberoamericana. Jorge’s collaboration will be using 50% of his research time in the program to work in the design of the prototype, and will travel to California to visit the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at Berkeley and discuss in detail the final prototype design (CV attached).

4.- Connection with Bearhs ELP summer course

At the Berkeley Beahrs ELP summer course, we reviewed several issues that are relevant to our project. Our project is aimed to benefit poor rural fishing communities in an effort to prevent the loss of a substantial share of their revenues due to the null or low refrigeration capacity of their fishing boats. Thus, the ultimate goal is to enable rural communities to rise their living standards through the implementation of environmental-friendly technology. In developing a prototype of a refrigerator powered by sunlight we address the issue of clean, renewable and appropriate technologies and in implementing it, the issue of environmental policy making and global climate change is also addressed. Summarizing, the following are the relevant learning issues we believe are connected closely with this project:

* Environmental Policy Making (Cost effectiveness, behavior modification, resource reallocation, resource and capital augmentation).

* Climate Change (Appropriate and renewable technologies).

* Population Poverty and the Environment (poverty-environment links, development objectives: environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation, economic growth).

5.- Expected Results and Outputs

a).- Laboratory-scale prototype design.

b).- An academic paper including the computer simulation results (to be presented in the Eighth World Renewable Congress in Denver, Colorado, USA, August 28 - September 3, 2004 www.nrel.gov/wrec).

6.- Timeline and Duration

To complete the first stage of the project we estimate a period of six months. See timeline below.

a).- Design of the schematic and physical principles (1 month).

b).- Description of the system & writing abstract for the Denver Conference (1 month).

c).- Run computer simulations (2 months).

d).- Writing and editing the full conference paper (2 months).

7.- Detailed Budget and budget narrative

Even though Universidad Iberoamericana has offered to pay for the use of equipment, materials, and traveling expenses for one person to the World Renewable Congress in Denver, we are still lacking funding to pay for the work of a computer-science specialist, a research assistant, and a renewable-energy specialist. In addition, Professor Kammen has generously offered to discuss and review our work and, at a further stage, to test a prototype at Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, so we are also asking for traveling expenses to work with him on these matters.

Dr. Jorge Wolpert (Renewable Energy Specialist), will be the main contributor to this project. He will be working part-time (50% of his working time) during six months. He will be paid for the following tasks: literature research and review on the subject, sketching, designing, computer programming, carrying out quantitative estimations, and writing reports.

Dr. Stuart Redshaw (Computer Science Specialist), will develop the computer programming, and will run simulations, he will be using 50% of his working time during two months.

Teresita Amezcua (Research Assistant) will be working part-time during six months. She will be in charge of administrative tasks and logistics pertaining to the project. She will also embark of literature research and review, and will help with sketching and designing, and editing reports.

Detailed Budget confidential

8.- Associated Risks

The ultimate goal of our project is to implement such a device in low-income fishing communities. Although we are actively working on it, our greatest challenge is to get the supplementary funding necessary to develop the whole process (building the prototype and implementing it on the field). However we are confident that if we are able to complete the design and run the simulations it will be easier for us to proceed with further stages.