Technologies currently available

[bernd.nurnberger]

Just two examples for your assessment.


1. Transportation
Retrofit ubiquitous two-stroke engines, reduces pollution by about 1/3, improves mileage, in taxi application, pays for itself in a number of months, depending on fuel prices. Pilots are concluded in the Philippines. More (http://www.envirofit.org/two_stroke_retrofit.html).

2. Home cooking stoves
Reduce indoor air pollution and fuel consumption by about 1/2. Pays for itself. Pilots underway in India. More (http://www.envirofitcookstoves.org/).

Disclosure: not affiliated. As an electronics engineer with some automotive experience, I consider #1 credible. Have no data on #2.

[ian_bentley]

Mark, this is a fantastic initiative.

Of course the hope is that the solutions that are presented will be environmentally sound – good for the people and good for the planet.

It is one of the great tragedies of our era is that the poverty and deprivation being suffered by the porest of the poor is simultaneously causing untold damage to the environment.

Two quick examples:

- the land is being stripped of trees and bushes as deparate people range further and further afield in search of fuel for heat and cooking purposes. In rural Zimbabwe, for example, it is not uncommon for the women to walk 10 kilometres in search of wood.

- and, in the sprawling urban slums that typically encircle many cities in Africa, ineffective sewage treatment systems such as pit latrines pollute the groundwater making diseases such as cholera an ever-present threat.

Cost-effective and ecologically-sound ways of addressing these and similar problems are available. Often the solution is provided by simply adapting and integrating already-known technologies (both ancient and modern) in an innovative manner.

My colleagues and I have developed and tested some truly cost-effective solutions and are working on others. In two instances we are able to practically demonstrate the effectiveness of our solutions via real-life field tests/case studies conducted in deep-rural communities here in South Africa.

Our challenge at this point is finding the necessary capital to begin production and distribution on a larger scale. So we’ll watch ConstructZero’s progress with interest - with a view to possible collaboration in the future.

Ian Bentley
mwibent@mweb.co.za