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Qqgkingwith sewageProblem:Sewage from the 1,200-pupi1 SantaMaria del Fiat school and otphanage,perched on a cliff overlooking thePacific in Ecuador, flowed directly intothe ocean.Solution:A biodigester ow produces iogas orcooking, and the school's stoves havebeenmodified to run on it. The systemis supplementedby manure from localfarms during school holidays.Benefits:. The schoolstoves ow use60 per centless butane. educinggreenhouse asemissions.. Sewage no longer gets dumped intoth e Pacific.. The students t the schoolhave earnedabout alterrative energy,and havebeguneducating the local community aboutbiogas nd he environment.

Sun n the rainforestProblem:Caboclo lndians in the Amazon'sXixuair-Xiparin5 Ecological Reservewanted to replace kerosene,diesel andwood with a dependable,sustainablesourceof energy hat would not damagethe forest, heir most valuable asset.Solution:Th e community nstalled olarpanelsthat now power refrigerators for medi-cines,computersand ights for the localschool, apump to supply freshwateranda satellitedish that gives access o theInternel.Benefits:. Their newpowersupply s Free, lean,healthy nd eliable.. The Internet enables them to getmedical information and education,andopensup economic pportunities.uc has promoting ecotourism and sellinghandicrafts.

Dungand waterProblem:The peopleof the Kizil-Charba village,in northern Kyrgyzstan, have too littleelectricity.ye t they rely on elecffic

JessicaWatts

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heaters n the winter, when temperaturesare around-6oC.Solution:Biogas digesters convert the plentifulsupply of animal dung in this agri-cultural area into fuel for cooking,lighting and heating. But they don'twork when cold, so the village builta S-kilowattmicrohydrosystemon thenearby Urmaral River and attached tto four biogasunits to keep them goingin winter. In warmer weather, thehydroelectricity is used or lighting.Benefits:. Twenty-two families have a morereliable sourceof energy, and are lessdependenton fossil fuels and wood.. The unitsproduce15,000cubic metresof fertilizer per year, saving farmersmoneyon expensive hemicalnutrients.. Drinking water quality has improvedbecausedung is not left to contaminategroundwater.

BottlingwindpowerProblem:The 700 peoplewho live on the remoteisland of Unst, the nor-thernmostfthe Shetland slands,spend an averageof 18 to 20 per cent of their incomeon energy. mostly on heating andtransportation. The community alsoneeds obs now that a Royal Air Force

radar station, which employed 114people. asclosed.Solution:Localengineeringraduate ossGazeyconceived of the PURE (PromotingUnst's Renewable Energy) system, away to harness he area's powerfulwinds and abundance of rain to splithydrogen from water using wind-generatedlectricirywhich salsousedto heatan dpowerbuildings). ydrogencan be stored and used to producecheap,clean electricity for the cornmu-nity and o power ero-emissionars.Benefits:. The community-owned system,whichis still expanding, ow provides percent of Unst's power,helping the townto meet ts own needsand owering tsdependence n expensive ossil fuels.. The project has already providedmuch-neededocal obs.. PURE's hydrogen-poweredcar dem-onstrates he feasibility ofvehicles thatrun on emissions-free uel.. One of the obstacles to using hy-drogen as an alternative fue1 s that ittakes a lot of energy o extract t fromwater. That's why PURE - the worid'sfirst off-grid, renewable hydrogen-generating lant holdsgreatpotentialfor the future of the fuel, and couldeven grow into an impoftant hydrogen-exporting ndustry, which would greatlybenefit the community's economy.

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