General

Dr. Joseph Adelegan's 'Cows to Kilowatts' project transforms slaughterhouse wastewater into energy-from electricity to cooking gas.

Slaughterhouses are a major source of water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Untreated wastewater enters local water sources, often carrying animal diseases that can be transferred to humans, while the anaerobic degradation of wastewater generates greenhouse gases.

Cows to Kilowatts is a zero-emissions, commercial-scale anaerobic fixed film reactor used to treat the waste stream from slaughterhouses. The projects biogas technology prevents water and air pollution at the same time it generates energy and organic fertilizer through nutrient recovery. The organic fertilizer and clean-burning methane produced by Cows to Kilowatts are sold to low-income farmers and poor families for farming and for use as cooking gas at a fraction of prevailing market prices.

Grupo para Promover la Educacion y el Desarrollo Sustentable, or GRUPEDSAC, under the leadership of Margarita Barney, has developed an eco-techniques toolkit that improves the living conditions in rural communities.

Mexico is considered to be a middle-income country and an emerging market, yet out of a rural population of 24 million, 56% live below the poverty line.

GRUPEDSAC's toolkits include a variety of appropriate technologies that improve quality of rural life and environmental sustainability. Among the tools in the kits are cisterns for rainwater harvesting, prickly pear natural paint and waterproofing resin, a solar dehydrator, a solar water heater, a wood-saving stove, a wind/solar generator, a rope pump, an electricity generator bicycle, a solar oven, biogas digestors, biointensive agriculture, and natural building technologies. With guidance and hands on eco-training from GRUPEDESAC, communities learn to become self-sufficient in water, food, shelter and energy, through projects which earn them money, and also preserve the environment.

Rolf Papsdorf of Alternative Energy Development Corporation (AEDC), developed a line of environmentally friendly, inexpensive zinc-air fuel cells that generate energy 24/7, for non grid electrification.

According to the International Energy Agency, 1.6 billion people worldwide, mostly in poor, rural communities, do not have access to electricity. The GUYUNI and Rosh Pinah community, in Africa, was using harmful materials such as paraffin and candles to illuminate dark areas.

The largest zinc air fuel cell project in the world has been implemented by AEDC in the village of Guyuni, South Africa. 300 dwellings now have lights, 27 rural people now have a disposable income through job creation, and a vegetable garden uses waste zinc oxide - created by the fuel cells during energy production - as high value fertilizer, providing food security.

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Driptech's affordable and water-efficient drip irrigation solutions enable small farmers to increase their crop yield during the dry season.

According to the International Water Management Institute, 600 million small farmers lack irrigation water and are therefore mired in poverty. Drip irrigation systems deliver precisely the

right amount of water, but these systems have been inappropriate and too expensive for small-plot farmers in developing nations.

Driptech invented a new manufacturing technology that makes precise, consistent holes in thin plastic tubing which can be used for low-cost but highly reliable drip irrigation. With as little as $5, farmers can invest in Driptech's Family Nutrition Kit which will irrigate 20 square meters and pay itself back within a season. A pilot study of 15 small-plot farmers in India unanimously agreed that the Driptech system saves water, time, and labor. This enabled them to use their limited water resources more efficiently and grow vegetables during the dry season.

In response to their successful pilot study, Driptech has sold its first 200 drip systems to a rural municipality in China. They are now focused on finding the right partners to scale up distribution.

Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha is recognized for its unique vision to provide solar lighting to transient settlers who live in flood-prone areas in northwestern Bangladesh.

With a high density of river systems, parts of Bangladesh remain submerged during the monsoon. Millions of people living in river basins lack electricity because development has been concentrated around paved roads.

Shidhulais culturally sensitive solution, called SuryaHurricane: Electrification for the Landless, is to retrofit existing kerosene hurricane lanterns with battery-run CFL or LED lamps. Women are then recruited and trained to recharge the lantern batteries from boats that are outfitted with solar panels. Half of the funds generated through recharging fees are returned to the community in the form of schooling, medical aid, and emergency relief programs.

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VillageReach extends the reach of healthcare services to remote, underserved communities by creating dynamic delivery and information monitoring systems.

Frequently, lifesaving vaccines and medical technologies never reach last mile communities because rural health systems lack the necessary infrastructure and resources.

VillageReach uses basic logistics and supply chain management practices to support last mile health systems. VillageReachs Management Information System tracks medicines, supplies and equipment and generates accurate, real-time data about the health centers and the communities they serve. VillageReachs was model was implemented in over 260 clinics in northern Mozambique, serving 5 million people and resulting in an increase in the vaccination coverage rate from 68.9% to 95.4%.