|
Padmamma belongs to Raghavendra Nagar, a small village in
Mahaboob nagar district of Andhra Pradesh. She owns 4 acres of land
of which approximately 75% is left barren owing to the degraded
soil and depleted moisture conditions. With the land unproductive
and no alternative jobs available in the village she was
struggling to make both ends meet.
Hoping to get water she took loan after pledging her land
documents. But unfortunately due to depleting water tables in the
village the newly dug well remained dry. Desperate, she planned to
migrate to the city to seek livelihood.
It was during this time that Youth For Action (YFA) began their
activities in the village. During the community interaction soil
erosion was identified as the major factor for decreasing
productivity in the village. The village women now formed into
women sangams decided to take up water harvesting technique with
the help of YFA on a war footing. Check-darns, pit digging, minor
irrigation works, contourbunding, sharing of water resources by
the rich landlords with the poor etc. were taken up. Visible
results of these activities were seen within a year. The soil
erosion was arrested, water retention capacity of the soil
increased, and with higher input efficiency there was better
yield. According to Padmamma "when hitherto we were getting a
bag of ground nut, today we are able to reap 3 - 4 bags. The soil
and water conservation measure have had doubling and at times
tripling effects on yields".
From food crops, Padmamma shifted to cash crops because there was
more water in the well. To reduce cost and to improve productivity
bio-pesticides as well as vermiculture were introduced. She also
began to cultivate vegetables in the area hitherto left barren.
The village took up regeneration of fallow lands and social
forestry. The purpose of social forestry was to conserve both soil
and rain water and also to procure fodder, fruits, fuel and
bio-mass.
Increased cultivation and yields provided food security to
padmamma and her fellow villagers. From mere Jowar and millets
they began to consume pulses, rice and vegetables. The backyard
poultry also provided sufficient eggs for Padmamma's family.
Padmamma was able to repay the loan taken for digging the well and
recovered her land documents. She procured a sewing machine for
her daughter, motivated the
second
daughter to be come health worker in the village. Padmamma is no
longer a women in despair; she is full of confidence, enthusiasm
and hope, having traveled a long journey from despondency to
optimism.
Contributed by Youth For Action (YFA)
Hyderabad Email:yfa@hdl.vsnl.net.in
Source: Catalyst. 1(2);
October 2000, Pp.4
Water Mills in Nepal
|
|
Throughout the Himalayas, much of the
remote population uses water-powered mills on a seasonal basis
to grind wheat, corn, millet,  and other grains into flour. It
is estimated that there are 25,000 water mills operating in
Nepal (referred to as ghattas), over 200,000 in India
(referred to as gharats or panchakis), and many more in the
mountainous regions of China, Pakistan, and Turkey. Each
traditional mill has a power output of 200 to 500 W.
Himalayan water mill technology is centuries old. It continues
to be built and maintained using local materials. Although
each mill is unique to some degree, all share fundamental
similarities. Water is diverted from a stream or river and
flows down a chute towards the mill's turbine. The vertical
shaft of the turbine runs up through the floor of the mill
house and turns a rectangular metal "key". The key
supports and turns the top stone of a pair of grinding stones.
There is also a lever extending from below the turbine into
the mill house that enables the mill owner to raise or lower
the top grinding stone as he sees fit. It can be raised up
high enough to spin very quickly without touching the bottom
grinding stone.
Much of these mountainous regions remain unelectrified despite
the interest in, and demand for, basic electricity. The aim is
to create an opportunity for an individual entrepreneur to
provide electricity to his immediate community by leveraging
part of his indigenous infrastructure: the water mill.
Electricity Generation
For most Himalayan homes, kerosene is the only available
source of light after sunset. Houses are rarely well
ventilated, and kerosene inhalation poses a real health
threat. New lighting technology can completely replace the use
of kerosene for lighting. Both Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs)
and the more exotic white LED lights are available today in
the local market. There is enough power in the traditional
water mill to power these kinds of lighting systems as well as
other small household appliances or even small incandescent
lighting systems. Extending the mill's functionality to
include electricity generation also has the added benefit of
providing an entrepreneurial mill owner with an additional
source of income.
Battery Charging
Just as in developed countries, entrepreneurship can be an
excellent way to quickly introduce and disseminate technology
in developing nations. When engineering a product for the
individual entrepreneur in the Himalayan region, low cost
becomes the main criterion. For a mill owner, expensive
induction generators and transmission lines are simply out of
the question. A battery charger is a much more viable
solution. The mill owner bears the cost of the inexpensive
charging system, while the individual households bear the cost
of batteries, as they are able to do so. Even the more remote
and isolated homes are able to participate in this scheme, as
long as they are within walking distance of a mill. Although
issues of transportation and disposal remain, battery usage
seems the quickest and most economical path to bring basic
electrical lighting to the mountains.
Batteries simply can go where a transmission grid cannot.
Indeed, the precedent has already been established; villagers
in parts of eastern Nepal are currently carrying 12-V car
batteries into grid-connected towns for recharging. A
battery-charging extension to the mill could both alleviate
the need for these long trips and make such a strategy
available to other, more remote areas of the mountains.
The mill is also an ideal site for a battery-charger. During
much of the year, a steady stream of people arrive at their
local mill with grain and leave with flour, as has been done
for centuries. It will not be a dramatic change of routine for
rural villagers to bring their batteries to the mill as well.
They can have a battery charged and their grain ground in the
same trip. The battery charger extension can also be operated
during the unutilized time of the mill, which varies by
season. The availability of a battery-powered light also
allows the mill to operate at night, either for grinding or
battery charging.
An inexpensive battery charger can be made using a car
alternator, a bicycle rim, a belt, and a mill "key".
The key sits on the rotating turbine shaft and supports the
top grinding stone. By attaching a small square post to its
top, the turbine shaft can effectively be extended. The
bicycle rim has a square pipe welded to its axle that can be
slipped over the square post. The turbine thus drives the
bicycle rim, and the rim in turn drives the smaller alternator
pulley using the long car v-belt. With the top stone raised
up, the water mill's energy is not used for grinding, but for
powering the alternator.
A car alternator is an excellent choice for a battery charger
as it has been specifically engineered to provide a regulated
voltage ideal for recharging 12-V batteries. It can supply up
to 500 W of power, which is conveniently the maximum estimated
power output of most traditional water mills. Although the
alternator needs a fairly high rpm to generate electricity, it
can be run below car idle speeds. The bicycle rim and
alternator pulley provide enough of a ratio to allow the
alternator to produce power at water mill speeds (60-90 rpm).
Costs
For the rural regions of Nepal and surrounding countries,
the cost of an alternator may still seem prohibitively high. 
Although it does account for much of the total cost (USS 50),
there is evidence that this is affordable. Nepal's Center for
Rural Technology has successfully launched a program to sell
higher efficiency mill turbines for approximately US$ 80 to
rural water mill owners. Over 600 new turbines have already
been purchased and installed; sales are currently averaging
over 250/year. There should be a considerable market for a
battery charger in a similar cost range.
The initial low cost of the battery charger is not the only
advantage of the simple design. With the device's removable
shaft, the mill owner can quickly switch between battery
charging and traditional grinding operation. With the bicycle
wheel removed, the mill looks and operates exactly as it
always has for centuries. The only permanent modification to
the mill itself is the addition of the small square post on
its key. This post does not interfere with grain being fed in
between the grinding stones, and is completely out of sight.
The most significant advantage to using an inexpensive mill
add-on to bring electricity to the mountains is sustainable
maintenance. The Himalayan water mill, however, has been built
and repaired locally by the mill owner and his family for
centuries. They are already the technical experts for most of
the battery charging system. The mill owner cannot repair the
electrical portion - the alternator, but any auto garage shop
in the country can repair it. All parts in the system come
from locally available, off-the-shelf components.
Renewable energy projects can be costly in developing parts of
the world. A considerable amount of time and capital is needed
to create local expertise and manufacture parts. The
technology infrastructure already exists in the Himalayan
region to support basic power generation. (
Courtesy: A study conducted by Nathan Eagle to engineer a way
to harness the rotational mill and transform a ghatta into a
community battery charging station. Further details on this
study are available at- http://www.nathaneagle.com/ghatta).
(Note: Winrock International India
(WII) has carried out a similar case study on "Water
mills in India" (refer Wll's REPSOVision Vol 12
newsletter). For details, please contact Dr. Koshy Cherail at
<winrock@vsnl.com>
(Source: Resource. 6; Oct. 2000, Pp.4 -5)
|
Solar Basket Fund in India
|
|
Rural women are
interested in renewable energy technologies that improve
their quality of life, reduce their workload, and/or
provide them with opportunities to increase their income.
This does not necessarily mean, however, that women  have
to work on energy project as technologies alone. Women
have had, and continue to have, various roles in RET
projects. Women have proven themselves capable of
undertaking projects when provided with appropriate
training and support.
Several houses in Pavur, a tribal village on the border of
the states of Karnataka and Kerala in India, are connected
to the grid but have no power! Their only source of
lighting is kerosene. The primary breadearners are women
who spend their late evening hours weaving baskets.
Don Bosco, a charitable institution in Karnataka, India,
approached Winrock India in 1998 for financial support to
provide lighting systems to this tribal village. Systems
were bought
and "loaned" to the tribals. Don Bosco then set
up a revolving fund whereby beneficiaries return payments
that are revolved and lent out again to other tribals who
need PV systems.
These solar lighting systems have proved to be a real boon
to these poor, uneducated, much-exploited tribals in many
ways. They have replaced the poor-quality kerosene
lighting systems, have given them more time to weave their
baskets, reduced their expenses (on lamps and kerosene),
thus increasing their incomes and savings for the month.
Maintenance costs are also met from the money collected.
- Income generation
:
The tribals who earn their living from basket making
have to go to the forest far away and spend the whole
day to collect raw material. But with the solar lights
they can now do some preparation work so that they can
weave their baskets early the next morning. They now
finish their work by early noon and then take them to
the market, which gives them half a day extra for other
work.
- Education of children
:
With the help of solar lights, after they return from
school, they play for a while and then do their home
work.
- Improvement of their
self image
:
These tribals were always looked down upon as the lowest
of castes. Now these people are the only ones with
lights in their houses. This, together with better
incomes and houses, enhances their self image. Now two
tribal young men are standing for the forthcoming
elections - for the Gram Panchayat and the Block
Panchayat.
Merchants buy baskets
from the village itself or in Majeshwar, the nearest small
town, or in Mangalore, the nearest city, depending on the
distance they have to walk and the time on hand. The
further they go, the better the rate. With the extra
income earned, new houses are being built and the rest is
used for better food, more decent clothing etc.
Don Bosco is now considering starting a cooperative for
them, managed by themselves. Their baskets will be
collected, they'll be given the standard price and then
the baskets will be transported to Mangalore or Bangalore
to get higher rates. The extra money earned will be
distributed to the basket weavers after deducting the
expenses incurred for transportation, etc.
( Don Bosco themselves
have installed a 2 kWp PVsystem at their Bangalore
institute and have been active in urban and rural
community development activities since 1979. For further
information, please contact: Fr Thomas Myladoor Sdb,
Email: dbpvr@satyam.net.in)
(Source: Resource. 6; Oct 2000, Pp.6) |
|
