Sirona Cares

Jatropha Program Thriving with 100,000+ Trees Planted

It's amazing what happens to a community when you give them options for a better future.  It is exciting, and incredibly rewarding.  Since 2009 we have been working with rural Haitians and refining our Jatropha Program.  Because Haitians developed the plan there is a strong sense of ownership and pride associated with the work of planting these trees.

Jatropha is a shrub that produces non-edible fruit.  The seeds of this fruit are rich in oil, and this oil is extracted with a mechanical press.  Once pressed the oil does not need further refining to run in most diesel engines (generators, trucks, tractors, etc.).  Jatropha oil can be mixed with diesel fuel.  This will bolster the economics in rural areas, and lower carbon emissions in Haiti.  As if this isn't enough, the byproduct of the pressing process (seedcake) can be compressed into an alternative charcoal briquette.  This will also generate income in rural Haiti and protect the vulnerable island from further deforestation.

Today we have over 1,000 participating farmers in southern Haiti and over 100,000 trees have been planted.  Hillsides have been bolstered, soil improved, and no food displaced by the process because we either inter crop Jatropha at safe distances or use it as a border crop (because animals do not eat it).  Each of these trees should yield enough seed to create a gallon of oil each year.  If we assume the price of a gallon of oil to be $5.00, that means these communities will bring in $500,000 a year.  Jatropha lives 25-45 years, so in 25 years these communities will have made $12.5 million dollars.  The proposition is exciting, and encouraging.

More encouraging was the news we received from the JDT Foundation last month.  Named for Joseph Dennis Thomas, the Foundation focuses upon improving education, the environment and the economics in Haiti.  Sirona is honored to have received grants from the JDT Foundation which will pay for the planting of our next 100,000 trees in 2012.  In addition, another grant from Dupont will allow us to plant even more trees and begin the process of producing jatropha oil this spring.

It has taken a lot of hard work to get here, but it is gratifying to see the difference that Haitians are making.  The program is run as a partnership with Sirona funding nurseries to generate seedlings, and the trees are then planted voluntarily by farmers to help improve their land.  We are always looking for ways to create even more sustainability, so this past year we allowed 10 farmers to "borrow" $50 each to extend their farms.  Rather than be repaid in cash we elected to have these farmers pay back the debt in food to the local school's lunch program. 

Many thanks to the JDT Foundation, to Dupont, and to our supporters who have gotten our friends in Haiti this far. 

Chasing Away the Night One Village at a Time

Please enjoy this guest blog from Rick Davis, Tech Assist Haiti:

One does not have to spend time in Haiti to appreciate the simple miracle that is artificial light. Each of us has memories of camping trips or major utility blackouts or hurricanes that we can reach back to and recall how absolutely dark is the night on this planet of ours.

An occasional foray into the night of the wilderness does not frighten us. It does not change our lifestyle. Our children are not impacted in their futures by lack of light. It’s just a camping trip. It is just a temporary utility problem. It’s just a hurricane. Soon we will be back in our warm cocoon of light; turning on a switch to chase away the night.

IEEE and Sirona Cares are chasing away the night for the rural people of Haiti one village at a time.

I was thrilled to be able to visit one of the six sites where an IEEE/Sirona entrepreneur-managed charging station is based. What I saw has convinced me that lighting a million homes in Haiti is possible using this model.

Michelle Lacourcere has posted the facts of her recent review of the sites. The facts are as stated. The people are not only extending their days into the night they are gaining a tremendous amount of self respect. In Haiti as in just about every place in the world there is a social divide between rural and urban populations; we certainly have that here in the United States. The simple act of turning on a light switch is no longer the great chasm that rural peoples must span to consider themselves modern. In six villages in Haiti that is.

The base stations are underutilized in a major way. This is a wonderful problem that can be solved in numerous ways. The excellent design and engineering of the base charging station permits one to imagine all sorts of additional utilizations, and revenue sources to the entrepreneur, that spring from the fact the four or five battery units are charged each day. It is my belief that the additional uses of the energy being produced will be provided by the people of each village. Do they need power for a tele-learning center? Electricity for a medical clinic to serve ten or twenty villages in the vicinity? An ice machine to keep water cold for those long humid days? Human ingenuity being what it is I cannot begin to think of all of the ways this gift of affordable, renewable, non-polluting energy will prove to be for the rural population of Haiti.

I have been privileged to view the IEEE/Sirona rural electrification project from inception through to successful pilot.  Indeed it is a privilege to see this project so well designed, built, implemented and managed. So much of what I do in Haiti every day encompasses wonderful ideas that remain, forever, ideas. Kudos to all for a job well done.

Rick Davis

Tech Assist for Haiti

Creating True Sustainability Through Alternative Energy

The mission of Sirona Cares is "To build sustainable communities".  We place the power to create, use and sell alternative energy into the hands of the worlds poorest people.  The goal is to create cycles of sustainability relating to energy and economics, and this vision is being realized in Haiti.

Pastor Honore Guerrier has been running an orphanage in Jeremie since the early '80s.  We met him in 2009 while visiting the area to consider the Jatropha Program.  Pastor Honore, like so many others in Haiti, was trapped in a freefall situation trying to find food and support for the fifty children in his care.  Charity was his only avenue of support, and finding aid in his isolated community was a monthly challenge.

Over the past two years we have received donations specifically earmarked for supporting childrens care, education and health; and we have directed some of those funds to Pastor Honore.  We have provided food, clothing, toiletries, and assisted with rebuilding a section of his orphanage following the earthquake.  Last year we assisted with school uniforms and school supplies for a number of his children and supported the group as they struggled with a bout of cholera wherein 10 children were hospitalized.  Always grateful, Pastor Honore has consistently provided us with his thanks and a clear record showing his stewardship of funds that we have supplied to him.

When the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project moved off of the drawing board and into reality we looked to groups we already know and trust, and Pastor Honore was selected as an Operator for one of our pilot units.  The unit was deployed July 4th and we had a joyful evening there setting up twenty of the lighting kits to check them.  The children were mezmerized by the lightbulbs.  The orphanage itself has not had electricity for eight years, so none of the children under eight had ever experienced electric light in their home.  There was singing, dancing, and sheer joy that night.  I will never forget watching a boy pull the chain and jump back when the lightbulb illuminated.  Imagine being seven or eight and never experiencing something so simple as turning on a light yourself.

We checked in with Pastor Honore the following morning and found him holding a customer seminar.  Our project has moved him from being the requestor of aid to the businessman providing a service to his community.  All forty kits were quickly distributed to customers ready to pay him to have light in their home, and after making his lease payment for the generator Pastor Honore will have an income stream to pay for his childrens food.  

This is the creation of sustainability.  Clean energy lighting an orphanage, lighting a neighborhood, and feeding children.  Business instead of charity creates sustainability.  As Pastor Honore proves his ability to maintain the franchise he will be allowed more units, up to five.  Ultimately he may service 200 homes and finally enjoy economic stability in his orphanage.  Very like the moment the child was dazzled by his ability to turn on the light, Pastor Honore is enjoying the feeling of dignity that comes from self-sufficiency.  Pastor Honore is Haitian, and while he would not make the connection, for me this was an "Independence Day" that I will never forget.

IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Program: Deuxieme Plaine Deployment

Sirona and IEEE/CSI members probably have a million stories to share from our recent trip.  We delivered basic electricity to over 1400 people in rural Haiti and started six franchise businesses by delivering solar-based IEEE/Sirona Haiti "Sunblazer" generating stations designed to re-charge forty customer home kits each. The following blog entries will summarize the deployment of these first six units.

Deuxieme Plaine, near Petit Goave, is the home of our incredible Jatropha farming group.  Their unit was delivered easily, towed by a very small Tracker jeep.  The group operating this franchise is known by Sirona to have very strong organizational skills, and not only have they leased their initial 40 home kits, they already have a waiting list for forty more home kits.  As we find more funding more units will be deployed.  An Operator may have access to a maximum of five units, bringing power to 200 homes through their franchise.

I thought it might it might be interesting to show the highlights of this deployment by video.  The best part for our team was being allowed to attend the first in-home battery kit installation.  The pride of the field technicians in their new work was obvious, and the joy expressed by the family is something I will never forget.  When the lights came on the wife cried, and when her husband got home he practically danced as he thanked us as best he could, in spanish.

Enjoy the following clip:

 

The term "IEEE" (the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is representative of the many subgroups and organizations within the IEEE and working with the IEEE that have participated in bringing the project to Haiti. These include the HTC (Humanitarian Technology Challenge group), the PES (Power and Energy Society), the NPSS (Nuclear Plasma Sciences Society), IEEE Canada, IEEE Region 9, Vodaphone, the UN Foundation, John Lorts Engineering and Nextek Power Systems as a sponsor as well as the dedicated employees who dedicated much time and energy to helping this program succeed. The term "Sirona" encompasses all donors, supporters and in-country partners who have helped to bring light to people in Haiti.

IEEE/Sirona Haiti "Sunblazer" Solar Generating Stations are Haiti Bound

It is with great excitement that I announce that the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity generating units are now on the water headed for Haiti.  We have finalized the schedules for deployment of the six units and along with IEEE engineers we will arrive in Haiti on the 20th to begin that process.  We have been working on this project with the Community Solutions Initiative (CSI) IEEE sub-group since the fall of 2009, and to be at the point of deployment is very exciting for the members of both teams.

The technology has been designed to create small businesses and provide reliable electricity to homes.  There are six "Sunblazer" units in the first deployment, so by July 8th we will have started six businesses and provided light to 240 homes.  The excitement that we have pales in comparison to the excitement in Haiti over the project.  Our first six Operators have already signed up their forty customers, and will attend training next week on operation of both the equipment and their business.  In addition to providing technical support for the units, Sirona is also providing entrepreneurial support for the Operators.  A successful Operator becomes a candidate for additional units and can ultimately receive up to 5, meaning that they will be providing electricity to up to 200 homes in their community and using residual energy from the units to run their businesses.

This is blog entry 200.  Since December of 2008 we have been formulating plans to improve life in Haiti and attempting to educate people here on what life Haiti is like, and what Haitians really need.  130,808 readers have visited the blog, and the support of people who believe in us personally, and/or in the vision we have for creating positive change in Haiti has gotten us this far.  Our early work was more focused on charity, and how to "help"; a reader can go through the posts to follow our transition from the charity mindset of "giving" to one of "partnership": working with Haitians to create sustainable change in their communities.  We are using alternative energy for the basis of change, and have created a strong Jatropha project and now a home electricity kit business.  "Poverty" is not the only word people should associate with Haiti; I hope that our programs will induce readers to associate more words like "inspiring", "ingenious", "creative", and "industrious" to the people of Haiti.

Our trip will last from June 20th-July 8th.  Should anyone in Haiti wish to see the units, we will be training Operators and displaying the equipment on June 22nd.  If you would like to attend, please contact me through this site for specific information on where the training will occur. 

Sirona & IEEE's Electricity Solution for Rural Haiti is Launching

It's 2011 yet in much of Haiti people use candles and kerosene lamps that fill their homes with dangerous fumes.  No electrical infrastructure exists in many areas.  There are no phone lines, so Haitians use cell phones.  People walk long distances and pay to charge their phones.  Having access to electric light and power in the home will be life-changing; and access to affordable power is revolutionary.

Sirona Cares has been working with a dedicated group of IEEE volunteers called the CSI (Community Solutions Initiative) for over a year designing a system that promises to bring sustainable change to rural Haiti.  Not charity, this endeavor is designed to create businesses and be economically self-sustaining.  Sirona surveyed 70 rural communities and we know what people are already paying for kerosene, candles and cell phone charging.  The goal of our project is to provide reliable electricity to homes at a price they can afford.

Mobile, solar-based 1.2 kW generating stations are being sent to six areas of rural Haiti this month, each generator has 40 home kits (three lights, wiring, and a DC adaptor for cell-phone charging or use of other small electronics). The generating stations will be run as franchises where each operator leases out 40 home kits and runs a small business with the station's residual electricity.  Most operators are planning to run small freezers as their business as ice is a valuable commodity in Haiti.  Each month the home customers and station operators will make lease payments for their equipment, and Sirona will train  Haitian field operators to maintain the units.  

At every level of the project there is opportunity for revenue generation and job creation.  Enterprising home kit customers will charge their neighbors cell phones for a modest fee; operators will create businesses; maintenance teams will be trained; and ultimately in-country assembly will begin. 

Rather than compete with Government of Haiti utilities, our project compliments their effort to bring power to rural areas.  We are creating a base of customers prepared to pay for electricity in their homes; and as utilities reach their areas we will move the generating stations further out into the dark areas of Haiti.  Eventually, if the government is able to light every home, we can move the equipment to other countries where the same need exists.

The first six units have left New York, they are in Florida and will be in Haiti shortly.  240 homes will receive affordable, reliable electricity and six new businesses will start this month.  We plan to send the components for nine additional units by the end of the year and begin in-country assembly.  There are many eyes on this project because potential investors want to see if an economically sustainable project is possible in Haiti.  We strongly believe that it is.  We have spent enough time on the ground to know that Haitians crave the opportunity for self-reliance beyond charity.

Post Washington DC & Pre IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Pilot Launch

We traveled to Washington DC last week to meet with different funding organizations for the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project.  The discussions went very well and we are now back following up, organizing materials that show the scalability of this project, and preparing for the shipment of the first six units.  It is a very exciting time for us.  During our meeting at the UN Foundation we discussed the fact that 2012 is the International Year of Sustainable Energy For All.  We are excited to be part of this important initiative.

In Haiti our groups are preparing for the arrival of the equipment as well as the training for our first six Franchise Operators and first Field Technicians.  In only a few weeks we will be turning the lights on, for the first time, in 240 homes and starting six small businesses.  By the end of the year we hope to have all 15 pilot units in Haiti, and have lit 600 homes and started 15 businesses.  The children above live in an orphanage that will receive light next month.  We are working to co-locate several of the next units with schools in Haiti.

The pilot will demonstrate that Haitians are both willing and able to pay leases on their equipment and that we have designed a sustainable program.  Sirona will use the data we collect from the pilot to encourage social investors to supply capital for formation of a Haitian for-profit company, Sirona Haiti.  This capital will fund in-country assembly and bring the project to scale.  By the end of year five we hope to supply electricity to 1,000,000 Haitian people.  Very much a chicken-and-egg scenario, Haiti is far too risky for capital investment on an unproven business plan, so the equipment and pilot was developed by the IEEE Community Solutions Initiative Group and The Sirona Cares Foundation: both non-profits that are focused upon using alternative energy to improve lives in developing countries.  Many groups within the IEEE contributed funding for the pilot.

The beauty of this project lies in its simplicity.  Due to our relationships and our experience in Haiti we know that to simply survive Haitians have honed their entrepreneurial skills.  This project gives Franchise Operators the ability to supply home battery kits (3 lights, wiring, a dc outlet for cell phones and small appliances, and a rechargable battery) to forty homes and use the excess energy generated by the 1.2 kW charging station for their own business.  The battery charging service alone more than covers the Franchise Operator's lease payment, and what he/she makes beyond that is theirs to keep.  We are excited by all of the possibilities and we fully expect to see uses of this power that we cannot even imagine.  Perhaps the home kit customer will use their battery to charge a neighbors cell phone and offset his/her monthly fee ($50 Haitian per month, or $6.70).  Where there is money to be made, we can be certain that the Haitian entrepreneur will capitalize on this opportunity, at every level.

People ask about our concerns regarding theft of equipment and the answer is simple: Haitian-to-Haitian accountability will provide security for the equipment.  If someone steals a battery kit they are not stealing from us, they are stealing the from their neighbor, probably the first electric light he/she has ever had; and from the Franchise Operator who will then face a challenge meeting his/her lease payment.  Theft is not a primary concern for us, because we know Haitians will manage that risk.

There is much to do, and daily we receive positive comments as well as inquiries about access to this program for rural Haiti.  Interest is very high, and we are working very hard to deploy this program as quickly and efficiently as possible.  I would ask that any reader interested in investing in this program contact us for a copy of the Sirona Haiti Business Plan.

 

IEEE/Sirona Rural Electricity Project: Preparing to Ship

On Thursday we will be in Washington D.C. meeting with potential funding sources for the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project and our Jatropha Project.  I cannot possibly express the level of our excitement to see that funders are considering Haiti.  For the first time since the earthquake I feel optimistic that money dedicated to Haiti will finally find its way to help Haiti help itself. 

 
We are also preparing the final logistics for shipment of the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project equipment.  There are six 1.2Kw solar trailers and 240 home battery kits (battery, three lights, cell phone charger).  The equipment is in New York, so we must ship to Haiti, move the equipment to Grand Goave for final preparation and training, and then deploy the six units to their operators in St. Etienne, L'Azile, Jeremie, Anse au Veaux, Deuxieme Plaine and Marmelade.  A team of IEEE members will train the Haitian operators and the first members of our Haitian technical support team.  We will also be providing ongoing entrepreneurial support for the new businesses.  The trip should take several weeks and we're optimistic that the equipment will clear customs by early June.

IEEE members have dedicated uncountable hours to design, construct, and test the equipment for this project.  They had technical issues with the equipment and had to make some changes.  This caused a delay but will be worth the wait in the end.  The Sirona team has continued our work with the operators and Haitian teams to prepare for the arrival of the project.  The logistics are complex, and navigating Haitian customs is a process not to be taken lightly.  We are busy working out schedules, crossing our "t's" and dotting our "i's".

This project will literally change the lives of people in Haiti who, until now, have had no option for electricity in their homes.  Children will be able to study at night, people will be able to charge their phones at home rather than walk for miles to do so, candles and kerosene lamps that burn many people each year will be put away.  A step into the present will occur in areas that have been left in the dark for too long. 

Every level of this project generates commerce.  This is an economically sustainable project, not charity.  Charging station operators have access to residual electricity generated by the solar panels that is not used to recharge customer battery kits.  Refrigeration is the preferred business for most of our operators. Each franchise has 40 customer home kits to lease, and the home battery kit user will be able to charge phones at their homes to offset their own utility payment.  Light in and of itself, has value in rural Haiti. 

The project is economically sustainable because station operators lease the equipment from Sirona for $200 US per month starting in month four.  The home kit is currently priced at $50 Haitian a month ($6.70 US) and customers can recharge as often as needed.  The forty home kit payments more than cover the operator's lease payment, and all of the money that the his/her business generates beyond that $200 per month will go to them.  In addition, an operator has the option to keep home kit lease payments for the first three months allowing them to purchase equipment for their business and start debt free.  The solar equipment is leased, rather than sold, to the operators to guarantee that maintenance will be performed by Sirona.  This protects the entrepreneur who would face many challenges repairing/replacing parts for the equipment.  Equipment can decay rapidly in rural Haiti and our program is designed to keep everything working.

We are excited to see how it turns out, and we are looking forward to our trip to DC.  As always I can't wait to get back to Haiti to turn the lights on!

Earth Day: Sirona Offers Affordable Biofuel to Help Local Economy

Happy Earth Day.  Most followers of this blog know of our work in Haiti focused on building sustainable communities, but may know little about what we do for our community in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sirona Cares is the sister to Sirona Fuels, a for-profit biofuel company.  My husband Paul and I created both because we are convinced that alternative energy is the key to change, both environmental and economic.

Both organizations share the same vision and together we accomplish more than a for-profit or non-profit could not do on it's own.  In Haiti we are putting biofuel into rural communities and deploying the IEEE/Sirona Haiti Rural Electricity Project to light homes and start businesses.  Here we are supporting businesses/individuals who use diesel fuel and public schools.  Starting today Sirona Fuels is selling biofuel from the refinery in Oakland directly to customers at $.25/gallon less than the price at the pump.  Current fuel prices are crippling, and this is a way we can respond to support our community.  The quality of Sirona's fuel is so high that it is a drop-in replacement for diesel fuel and requires no modification to the vehicle.  For every gallon of biofuel used, 20 lbs of carbon is offset.  The Sirona Fuels company donates a percentage of it's profits to the Sirona Cares Foundation allowing us to focus donor support on our programs.

I am thrilled to announce that our Sirona Cares for Schools Program is now being supported by Whole Foods, Cisco and Oracle, in addition to many local restaurants.  This bio-recycling program allows restaurants to donate their waste kitchen oil to Sirona for refining, and then 20% of the sale price of the biodiesel is given to public schools through grants.  In addition to providing a free service, we offer tax donation receipts to participating restaurants.

Today and every day we are committed to finding ways to support our communities here and in Haiti.  From the Sirona Team, have a happy Earth Day.

Hardest Question to Answer: How IS Haiti?

I get this question all the time.  How are things going down there?  Are they getting better?  The question is a stumbling block with a very long and complicated answer that the one who asked is usually not interested in.  If you're asking about rubble, yes, it's better in some places.  The earthquake occurred 15 months ago, and since then, for the most part by hand, the rubble on the main roads of Port au Prince has been cleared.  While it is better, only a fraction of debris has been removed.  A trip down any side street quickly takes you back in time 15 months.  I see the new paint and plaster on buildings and wonder if they have really been repaired, or if they just look better.

Cholera has "settled" in Haiti, like malaria did years ago.  The number of cholera cases is still quite high, but the number of deaths associated with the desease is dropping as the population learns about it, and how to protect themselves.  What Haiti really needs is infrastructure, to stop cholera.  There is virtually no large scale water treatment for the population, and as long as people wash and drink from the rivers there will be disease.

I have seen some improvements in infrastructure.  A number of roads that have been repaired, and big projects to keep water contained in riverbeds have been undertaken.  There are even some new electricity lines.  Little by little (piti piti) there are changes, and it is not my intention to criticize these efforts, only to point out that there is a long way to go.

Some things are better, I guess, but the best answer is that no, because life in Haiti is as hard, and in many cases harder than it was before the earthquake.  Unemployment is still posted at around 80%, over 1,000,000 people remain displaced in a population of 9,000,000.  The conditions in the camps are desperate and the rainy season is here again.  It's too difficult for many parents to get their children an education.  Only one in seven people in Haiti have any access to intermittent electricity.  Deforestaton has ravaged the mountains and many watersheds are destroyed.  There are just so many things that need to change to make Haiti better.

So, with all of that said, is it hopeless?  NO.  No it is not hopeless, Haitians are ready to work, ready to live a better life and very willing to put in the effort to improve things in their country.  If there were any opportunities for work and education many Haitians would be happy to move out of Port au Prince to repopulate the countryside.  People want jobs, and they want sustainable development.  In our projects we act as a partner bringing opportunity to improve communities in sustainable ways, and our work is eagerly embraced.  The more that is done in Haiti with sustainable models, the better.  The more that is done in Haiti with Haitian input, the better.  Charity has had a crippling effect on the country, and we are proving that what people need is simply the opportunity to create a better life.  It is my ferverent wish that the money for Haiti's reconstruction begin to be deployed, and the focused on empowerment of people there to build a new country.  It is not hopeless, but it's going to take a while but someday I want to say that things are really better in Haiti.