The Eternal Stove Project

Transcription

1 The Eternal Stove Project Trinity College Dublin April 20 th, 2010 Dr. Tony Robinson Ms. Chloe Kinsella Mr. Wayne O Connell

2 Agenda History The Eternal Candle Energy in Africa Technical Approach Field Trial / Experiments Questions

3 Millennium Development Goals Energy services are essential to both social and economic development A much wider and greater access to energy services is critical in achieving all of the MDGs. The UN Millennium Project

4 Moving from The Bottom Of Pyramid The only way to alleviate poverty is to raise the real income of the poor Strong Correlation between GDP and Energy Use/Access

5 Developing World Challenges This equates to 1.6 billion 500m people Kerosene lack lamps access to electricity 2-3 bn billion people depend on biomass (wood, dung) for cooking and heating 700m Biomass fires ReStor Energy will produce and consult in the deployment of technology to the BoP that reduce users existing energy costs to reduce poverty 1.6 billion live on less than $1/day 500m mobile phones where owners have no grid electricity 2.6 billion live on less than $2/day Lighting Africa, 2008

6 Lighting at the BoP No ideal off-grid lighting solution exists Light Intensity Frequent trips / cost of fuel Required Battery Replacement Lamp Breakage Initial Project Goal to design a task lamp operating costs towards zero, advanced patent protectable technology for development Patent (Pending) Filed TR Eternal Candle

7 The Eternal Candle

8 Field Evaluation Feb 2010 Malawi Kamphuka Cara Malawi, ReStor Hestian Innovation Tony Robinson, Wayne O Connell, Chloe Kinsella, Conor Fox (Hestian), Christina Lynam (Cara Malawi) Characterization of baseline needs Intra-household and community decision-making Quality and performance Synergisms with cell-phone charging Feedback on Business model

9 If you could change the price of one thing in the developing world to alleviate poverty by far you would pick energy Bill Gates, Average Price of US electricty ($/kw 1990 prices) Africa Energ $/kwhr

10 Negative Impact of Biomass GHG / Climate Change Pollution 2bn T /Yr of CO 2 emission Black Soot 6 week lifetime in atmosphere Health 1.6m per year respiratory/eye infection 2m per year die from fire related accidents Burden on collecting wood on women and children Deforestation $19bn investment in clean burning stove technology would reap $91bn return

11 Biomass Use for Heat

12 Reality of Biomass

13 Stove Technology

14 Electricity Generation Options Centralized Electricity Generation Expensive Access Fuel used is important Internal combustion engine with bio-gasifier Expensive, high maintenance requirement Bio-Fuel fed Stirling engine Expensive, maintenance may be an issue Thermo-acoustic engine SCORE UK Expensive, moderate efficiency, technical risk Photo Voltaic Scale/Cost Thermoelectric Modules Cost not bad, Low Technical Risk. Efficiencies low but acceptable, High Heat Input Potential for significant performance output in 3-5 year window

15 Thermoelectric Effect Heat Generates electricity Light Generates electricity

16 Potential for 10x improvement 50-60% 2x-3x 100%

17 Proofs of Concept LED lights Thermoelectric generator Fan Simulated fire Battery Charger

18 Performance Challenges to Product Cost Low cost is the main driver Target = per household to capital city 600 million units at 30 ASP 60 million units at 90 ASP Weight In many areas hand carrying is the only option Target = 2-5 kg Power output Electrical = W (from battery) Fuel Consumption < 500g/hr Material initially wood. Looking at Dung and other bio-mass Score UK

19 Core Team Dr Tony Robinson Principle Investigator Lecturer in Thermodynamics Mr. Wayne O Connell Technology Commercialization Markets Ms. Chloe Kinsella TCD Engineering Graduate M.Sc. Student Cara Malawi NGO, works with Irish Aid in field

20 Cara Malawi Grassroots NGO Formed by Christina Lynham in 2006 after volunteer work Works at grass roots, animal husbandry, village governance, electrification water projects. Excellent relationships with Local Authorities Malawi Malawi is a small, landlocked country of 15m in SE Africa, about 1 ½ times the size of Ireland. Malawi is one of the poorest nations in the world Rural population: 81% of total population (2008) Life Expectancy = 51 (ranked 210 in world), CIA The majority of the population s food is based on maize. The economy is heavily dependent on a small group of crops; notably maize, tea, tobacco and sugar. Agriculture accounts for 1/3 of GDP and 90% of exports Plagued by famine owing to food shortages, flooding and drought, as well as HIV/AIDS. Irish embassy opened in 2007 to coordinate aid Irish Aid s cooperation with Malawi began in 2002, after a famine programme.

21 Conditions on the Ground Poor Infrastructure outside City Inside of Dwelling

22 Lighting in Lilongwe

23 Project partner outline Mr. Richie O Shea Young Scientist of the Year Rocket Stove Evaluation and Improvement Dr. Alister Munthali Deputy Director Centre Social Research, U Malawi, Zomba Experiment Design / User Adaption / On the ground efficiency measurement Dr. Aonghus McNobali Lecturer in Civil Engineering (TCD) Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality Dr. Cian O Mathuna Head of MicroSystems Centre, Tyndall Sensor / Signal Conditioning Technology Mr. Gerard Campeau (Thermal Electronics Corp) High Volume TEG Manufacturability

24 In Summary Micro-Generation from Biomass is a viable strategy for delivery of low power DC energy for LED s, Phones, and Radios Integrating Thermoelectric Generation with Stoves impacts 4 main problems facing the developed world today We wish to position college to play a leading academic social and economic role in this development activity.

25 Questions Wayne O'Connell Dr Tony Robinson

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