Installations and Bluefields-- May Update

Dear All,

I apologize for not keeping up on this blog. Hopefully this extra candy-filled & picture heavy entry will make up for that. Life has been good but busy in Bluefields, Nicaragua. I'll try to catch you up as best as I can:

On the project level, there have been a lot of improvements. We are currently preparing for a major installation of solar panels (1kw), a charge-control station for home-battery charging, 10 12-volt batteries for 10 families, LED lights (90 high-efficiency lamps), and biosand water filters (10) in the community of Monkey Point which has no access to piping or an electric grid.

Here is some of the work that's been going on to prepare:

These are the bio-sand filters that beneficiaries can use for improved water quality.

Felix, one of the local workers, with new solar panels.

Two French engineers working on Research & Development of the next 14' wind-turbine model.

This is the control panel at our workshop, which operates 3 wind-turbines and several solar panels.
In our administrative office we can now switch between renewable "blueEnergy" and the national grid.
I have been mostly working on monitoring & evaluation for our social impact measurements-- graphs, excel sheets, and analysis of our survey data-- hey, someone has to do it.


Now for the fun stuff-- the rainy season is just starting now-- (there are only two seasons in Nicaragua, dry season and wet season.) So everything is wet & green-- here is a picture of our house, and another of the countryside outside of our administrative office.

Here's a picture of Bluefields with the sea in the background-- and then one of the fruit market on the sea.

Here's a typical meal in Nicaragua in case you were wondering. Rice, tomatoes, fried plantains & potatoes... pretty standard.

That's it for the pictures! I'll be here in Nicaragua until the end of June-- and will try to update once or twice more with pictures from the installation, so you can see the actual benefits being created by this project. I worked in this particular community last year-- so it's really exciting & rewarding to see may of our promises actually coming to fruition in the next few weeks.

Otherwise I hope all is well with you all-- thanks again for your support, and keep in touch!

Best,
Ben

Exciting New Developments

Some exciting developments have occurred over the past few weeks in Nicaragua:

1) At our workshop and home-base on the Caribbean coast, Bluefields, the blueEnergy team dramatically increased the solar capacity that powers the technical school we work with, and the location where we build our wind turbines:

Trojan Panels

Connecting the Panels

2) blueEnergy has made great strides toward creating the Centro Ecológico Regional de Capacitación Ambiental, or Regional Ecological Center for Environmental Training. The acronym, CERCA (close), embodies blueEnergy's vision of creating a green-collar economy on the Caribbean coast, and facilitating innovation in a region with extremely few entrepreneurial opportunities:

Preparing for the expansion into new workspace for water filtration construction

3) The most rewarding new accomplishment, is the installation of a second electric system in the community of Kakabila. I spent several weeks in this community, and feel personal reward from seeing this new installation which powers the health center for the first time in its history:




As the holidays approach, I've been learning more and more about how in the non-profit world survival is everything. Every group's development model relies upon whether it will be around the following year--and as innovative, driven, and passionate the people and projects within the organization are, exciting projects make the most impact when the organization has enough capital stability to focus on improving its services.

Happy Holidays!

From Nicaragua to San Francisco!

Greetings from San Francisco!

For those of you who may still be confused, I've decided to recreate a blog fully dedicated to my time at blueEnergy! On the side you will find some informative videos, a picture slideshow, a link to my fundraising page, and other blueEnergy blogs.

I've been working in San Francisco with this team for several months now, and it's been a great learning experience getting perspective on projects from the US headquarters.

The SF team, left to right: Mathias, Alex, Myself in Revolutionary Hat, Leyla, Anitha

Stay tuned for more.

Fundraising for blueEnergy

Dear Family & Friends,

In February of this year, I was accepted to work for a Non-profit Organization (NGO) called blueEnergy. The primary objective of the organization is to provide sustainable, economically viable, and environmentally friendly energy systems to remote villages in the poorest region of Nicaragua, already the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Since its founding in 2003, the organization has been able to set up 8 hybrid solar-wind installations servicing more than 1500 people in villages along the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. The benefits of providing energy to marginalized communities of the world are boundless. Illiterate adults can take evening classes after the day's work, medical facilities with tools as simple as a freezer become a possibility, and the hazardous diesel lamps that burn in homes filled with women and children can be extinguished. Furthermore, there are limitless new opportunities offered through new enterprises and small businesses connected to energy access.

blueEnergy is dedicated to effecting lasting change. Every installation is maintained by the local community it serves, to whom blueEnergy provides invaluable training and capacity-building. The organization's large volunteer contingent, of which I have been a member for several months, invests a tremendous amount of energy into advancing blueEnergy's vision. However, an initiative of this scope cannot be carried out with volunteers alone. blueEnergy's ambitious plan for the coming years will require a significant outlay of capital as well as sustained funds to support operations. The organization is working to diversify revenue sources and maximize income generated by projects; eventually project-generated income will be the organization's primary source of revenue. However the road to that goal is long and difficult; blueEnergy needs your support to get there.

With the opportunity to work with blueEnergy, I have been positioned to learn about applying renewable energy to the developing world, and have personally worked with these communities to help advance a sustainable development model for blueEnergy. One of my new tasks as part of the communications team is to raise at least $2500 in donations that will be used to support project activities and the growth of the organization. It would be a huge help to me, and the Nicaraguan communities, if you could give to blueEnergy in my name. Please see the page linked below, which connects you to a forum to donate by credit card:

http://www.firstgiving.com/benjaminhyman

I will be making updates here, on this blog site, if you would like to track our progress: http://benatblueenergy.blogspot.com/

Alternatively, if you’d like to send us a check, please make it out to “blueEnergy” with my name in the memo: 1360 Mission St. Suite #200 San Francisco, CA 94103.

blueEnergy is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization in the United States-- this means your donations to blueEnergy are tax deductible.

To learn more about the organization, visit our website at:
http://www.blueenergygroup.org/

blueEnergy founders, brothers Mathias and Guillaume Craig, and childhood friend Lâl Marandin (not shown) were featured recently in the CNN Global Initiative “CNN Heroes.” The clip that was aired on television and is available at blueEnergy's Media page: along with other videos & pictures linked to blueEnergy's work.

http://www.blueenergygroup.org/Media/Media.php

Thanks in advance for your gifts and consideration--

Ben