Fire

Winner = Canada

Canada

Applicant: Natural Resources Canada
Project: Drake Landing Solar Community

Actually we do not have an energy problem. All we need are solutions for energy storage as the sun provides us with more energy than we need. That is what the The Drake Landing Solar Community (DLSC) in the Town of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada did – and has achieved a world record with ist first‐of‐a‐kind large‐scale seasonal storage solar heating system. With an ingenious conception of a heat buffer for a locoal community heat can be provided even in the coldest areas – all year long: by successfully integrating energy efficiency, solar energy, district heating, and energy storage technologies, DLSC is fulfilling 80 percent of the space heating requirements for a 52‐home neighborhood with solar energy. There was a lot of drilling with holes up to 37 metres deep on a circular area 35 metres in diameter. 144 boreholes spaced 2 metres apart, which work as a huge heating system. During the summer, 800 solar collectors heat up a glycol-and-water mixture kept in this system of underground heating tubes – to store heat for the winter. The area is now overgrown by a beautiful park. DLSC is en route to achieving its target of 90 percent in the year 2012 and a reduction of five tons of greenhouse gas emissions per home per year.

Kenya

Applicant: JuaNguvu Ltd and Kenya Bixa Ltd
Project: Modular Low Tech Biogas Plant from Hotel to Industry Size in Developing Countries

The TN P/2 biogas system is a 2-stage bio digester for solid bio waste. The development of the system started in July 2007 based on a one stage Chinese standard system for agriculture waste with few solid components (pig and cow-manure). Jua Nguvu Ltd added a pre-digestion system (hydrolysis, stage 1) to the standard system in order to reduce the solid bio waste into fatty acids. This liquid is fed several times a day into the digester where the biogas is produced (stage 2). In August 2007 Jua Nguvu installed this system with a 12m3 digester in a middle size restaurant in Mombasa and put it into production with daily about 80 kg of kitchen waste producing 5 - 7 m3 biogas per day. The produced biogas substitutes liquid pressurized gas (LPG) in the restaurant kitchen and the private households of the site. Since nearly 3 years the system is running and the return on investment was shorter than 1 year. In the meantime the TN P/2-system was installed in a 5 star hotel with 300 rooms to substitute the charcoal in the staff canteen with the waste from the hotel kitchen (250 kg daily). Other small TN P/2 plants were built elsewhere.

Senegal

Applicant: Inensus GmbH
Project: Micro Power Economy

Less than half of the world population has safe energy supply – though the sun provides more energy than we need. Energy supply is not only a technical matter – it has a lot to do with organization. This is a crucial element of the Micro Power Economy project, a new and efficient business model for remote villages in Senegal, very similar to the micro credit model of Muhammad Yunus. It does not need big banks or large energy providers to implement this model. Everything is decentral, the project initiators go into the villages and build a small power station, connect the houses with cables. They focus on sun and wind energy, not on diesel power generators. The village people set up a „village energy committee“, and if they have enough know how they themselves become energy suppliers. A totally new life! The village taylor can work longer and produce more. Teachers are happy because more pupils graduate successfully as they can study also at evening hours. Many thousands of people benefit from this micro‐power economy. It stimulates the economy and overcomes poverty. In many locations, renewable energy sources are not only the most economic alternative; they also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and import dependency on fossil fuels. A micro‐power economy was successfully implemented in the village of Sine Moussa Abdouin/ Senegal. Additional villages are preparing for electrification.

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