Sustainability,Technology

Haiti’s Solar Cellular

TUESDAY , January 25, 2011 | BY  

 

Maissade, a small remote village in Haiti’s central plateau with a population of 9,000 residents, lies roughly 35 miles from the Dominican Republic border.  Utility-supplied electricity is not available here for months at a time; however, some homes  run a generator for two to three hours each evening. Meals are cooked using charcoal fires and gas burning stoves, which are usually located outside of the house. No refrigeration ensures all meals are prepared fresh daily.

Every other year since I was four, I travel eight hours from Port-au-Prince and cross two mountain ranges to spend two weeks in Maissade with my grandparents. Six months after Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake I returned once again, and the journey was absolutely breathtaking.  However, numerous families had been relocated to the countryside, and in this process areas with little, or no, infrastructure were becoming overpopulated.

Traveling to Maissade

While walking through Maissade I noticed a few homes had solar panels propped up in their front yards. When I inquired why, they explained that on the ground they are accessible, can be adjusted easily all day long, and they can be brought inside at night for security.

Portable photovoltaic panels

One family explained that homes with solar panels are actually cellular phone charging centers. Lacking consistent electricity, and since most cannot afford a private generator, customers bring their cell phones to these homes to charge them using solar power.

Showing me his system, one man said he spent $150–$250 (1,200–2,000HD) per panel, depending on the power it produces, which typically comes with a 20–40 year guarantee.  The system also requires an inverter costing $200­–$500 (1,600–4,000HD). The system would not be complete without batteries to store the generated energy, which cost an additional $180–$260 (1,440–2,080HD) each. In total he invested $800 (6,450HD) on his system.

Lo-tech renewable energy

While it’s not a very hi-tech solution, he can power his home and charge cell phones for $2 Haitian dollars. Typically, he can charge twenty cell phones at a time each night, depending on the time of year—business is always good around the holidays. Although Haiti does not offer the same level of recourse as the U.S., Haitians are extremely innovative in managing their available resources to create a way of living that works for them.

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Culture,Sustainability

Mr. Stein’s Green

THURSDAY , January 13, 2011 | BY  

No, not Ben Stein’s money, Carl Stein’s Greening Modernism: Preservation, Sustainability and the Modern Movement. The green guru (he’s been working with sustainability issues for over three decades) recapped his recently released book about technology, adaptive reuse, and energy conservation (both in construction and usage) to a full house at the Center for Architecture. His lecture was the first in a new series of monthly Book Talk programs sponsored by the AIANY Chapter’s Oculus Magazine. Stein argues that for forty-plus years we’ve known that energy consumption in buildings will be an increasingly poignant issue, environmentally and architecturally, but we have failed to do much about it.

Stein at the Center for Architecture

Carl Stein recapping the tenets of his new book "Greening Modernism"

The talk ultimately evolved into an argument against criticism by a “blogger from Rhode Island” who Stein repeatedly referenced but never identified as David Brussat, architecture critic at the Providence Journal. Brussat in his post “Column: Building, Climate and Original Green” shows a penchant for tradition over modernism, and in an earlier post called Stein “bootlicker to the pillars of the architectural establishment.” Taking the criticism seriously, but in good humor, Stein countered, “I find the image of a pillar with a pair of boots funny.” Basing his presentation as a counter to each of Brussat’s conservative charges, Stein declared that modernism cannot be conflated with style, that style does not oppose sustainability, and that technology does not obviate tradition.

Stein has spent the better part of his career researching and advancing sustainable practices and has a long list of credentials. Besides practicing architecture for three decades, he chaired the National AIA Energy Professional Development Task Force, was a consultant for the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Department of Energy. Consequently, I was surprised that his book talk was not more informative or heavy hitting with the facts, rather than telling the audience to usher in a post-petroleum society by renovating the existing stock of modernist buildings. While the book may address such tactics and statistics, the 25-minute book talk did not.

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