ECPA Newsletter - A Year in Review

ECPA 2012: A Year in Review Peace Corps Renewable Energy Initiative -Pat Barnosky The year 2012 for ECPA was one of great energy, evolution and expansion for the Renewable Energy Initiative in Peace Corps Perú . Congratulations to all of the volunteers in Perú; because of your hard work and many past successes, we received a sharp increase in funding in 2012 from headquarters in Washington and were able to offer significantly more grants and workshops than in past years!

Within the fiscal year of 2012, we approved 24 grant proposals and funded: 11 improved cook stove projects 7 solar panel projects 4 biodigestor projects 2 climate change education projects.

This past year, the Peace Corps Perú Renewable Energy Initiative has gained invaluable experience in the various types of projects and workshops carried out. The volunteers involved have demonstrated their ingenuity, enthusiasm and dedication to community-based renewable energy projects in Perú. Although this is my last week in Perú, I am excited for ECPA 2013 to move forward with a few new committee members and a new ECPA leader, Sara Leavitt. Although funding will be more limited this year, I am confident that Peace Corps Perú will continue to surpass our expectations as always.

ECPA 2012 was highlighted by 4 successful workshops to train volunteers and their work partners in various renewable energy technologies and education. These workshops included: Climate Change and Renewable Energy Education,

http://www.facebook.com/ ECPAPeru

A 3 day workshop in Huaraz, Ancash, that focused on climate change and renewable energy education. A total of 21 volunteers attended and participated in the presentations and activities, led by the members of the ECPA committee, a climate change specialist from SERNANP and a professor from the University of Ancash.

The ECPA committee is now available on Facebook! Although the newsletters are only quarterly, you can now keep in touch with changes and opportunities immediately through Facebook.

Improved Cook Stoves

ECPA Peru Facebook is meant to become a forum open to Peace Corps Peru volunteers to exchange ideas regarding renewable technologies in Perú.

ECPA budgets allotted funding for 3 improved cookstove workshops that were held in Cañete, Lima; Poroto, La Libertad; and Junin. Coordinated with the NGO, ‘GIZ’, a total of 28 volunteers and 21 work partners were trained, constructing a total of 13 site appropriate Inkawasi Pichqa cookstoves for the relative communities.

Overall, it has been a very successful 2012, and I would like to thank all the volunteers and committee members in bringing POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

In this Issue...

Save the Date!

2012 RECAP Pages 1-4

ECPA 2012: A Year in Review Get Ready for ECPA 2013

Like us!

As we have learned this past year, our volunteers’ knowledge and experiences are our greatest resource and we would like to offer the volunteers this space to share what they have learned and exchange ideas.

Happy posting!

SPOTLIGHT Pages 5-6

Improved Cook Stove Manual Sierra Style

Glacier Retreat Infographics: 2012 Perú Review Climate Change Education Camp

ARTICLES Page 7

Solar!

It’s not just photovoltaics.

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Get ready for ECPA 2013!!!

A Letter from our 2013 ECPA PCVC Sara Leavitt

Hi everyone, my name is Sara Leavitt, and I'll be your new ECPA PCVC. I am currently finishing my service as a Community-Based Environmental Management volunteer in La Estancia, Olmos, Lambayeque. While I have done a variety of projects, I have mostly focused on general environmental education with the youth in my community of approximately 600 people. I teach in all grades of my local colegio, vacaciones utiles, and a club for grade school students. This past year I have been working on a program called Somos Superestrellas to encourage high school students to plant trees, dig micro-rellenos, and volunteer in their community. I collaborate with the other volunteers in my district to produce a weekly radio program called La Hora Ecologica. We also work together to organize events for the annual Festival de Limon in the district, such as a anti-littering puppet show, an environmental exam, a career fair, a recycled fashion show, a Peace Corps booth, and an environmental float for the parade. I have been fighting with the district municipality for the past year to get a park built in my town through the presupuesto participativo, outcome yet to be determined.

My secondary projects have included teaching English to kids and adults, doing the Pasos Adelante program, and helping my colegio with their Escuela de Padres. I worked with another volunteer, writing a Kids-to-Kids grant to put on a science fair for the students in the district. Oh, and I'm still working on my world map.

“So where's the experience with renewable energy?” you might be asking yourself. Well, read on! I grew up on a dairy farm in rural Kansas, and went to college at Kansas State University. I majored in political science, but my real passion is for the environment, which I managed to work in as a secondary major in natural resources and environmental science. During that time, I took numerous classes and went to lots of conferences about environmental conservation, climate change, and renewable energy. My favorite was a week-long youth policy summit on energy efficiency policy.

Afterward, I formed an informal group to facilitate more training and campus action on the topic.

In Perú, I've had the opportunity to attend an ECPA workshop in Trujillo in 2011 about wind energy, solar panels, and biodigesters. I helped out a couple of volunteers in my district work out the logistics for their solar panel projects. So my hands-on experience with renewable projects is limited, but I have good base-level knowledge, and I'm excited to learn along with you guys next year.

I've been spending a couple of weeks learning the ropes in Lima with Pat, and I am about to head out for special leave. I am looking forward to returning to work in the office full time towards the end of January. Since we will be receiving less funding in 2013, we'll really have to focus in on efficiency and knowledge-sharing. So many volunteers have implemented great (and sometimes not so great) renewable energy projects, but their experience gets lost when they leave. Much of my work the next year will be spent in compiling information, editing it, and making it available to everyone. I'll also be promoting energy efficiency and climate change education, because they are very applicable and important in Peru and the world today, and don't cost much to implement.

However, there are tons of other opportunities for a wide variety of renewable energy and climate change projects. I look forward to reading your grant applications and meeting some of you at the upcoming workshops. Feel free to call or email me at any time with your questions about renewable energy or anything else under the sun (pun intended) or to stop in to see me when you're in Lima.

Happy holidays and good luck on all of your projects!

Sarita

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2012 ECPA PerĂş Review Danielle DeVuyst (Dee Dee)

2012

2011

ECPA Grants Available

2011 Projects

2012 Projects

Piura Amazonas Lambayeque Cajamarca La Libertad Ancash

Junin Lima

Solar

Ica

Cook Stoves Wind Biodigester Climate Change Education

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What has your cocina done for you lately?

Danielle DeVuyst (Dee Dee)

Did you know...

a traditional cook stove can use twice as much rewood as a cocina mejorada, emitting twice the amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere? *

ECPA Perú has funded 136 cocinas mejoradas, which has potentially...

saved a total of 790 trees!

This is great, because deforestation in the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Perú!

Advantages

Open Fires consume* 10 kg leña/ day 3650 kg leña/ year 11.6 trees/ year

-

Cocinas Mejoradas consume* 5 kg leña/day 1825 leña/ year 5.8 trees/ year

tions.

-

VS. 4

SStopvesotlight A P C E Improved Cook

Manual by Brian Liberatore

Improved Cook Stove Manual (specifically for the Sierra) So, maybe you have attended an ECPA improved cook stove workshop, got a grant and went to start building your cocinas in the Sierra, and then realized...

3D RENDERINGS OF DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS AVAILABLE IN ECPA DROPBOX FOLDER! *

Hey, my adobe is ENORMOUS! And so are my pots!

And I have 3 cocina manuals that all are different renditions for cook stoves on the coast.

Well, search no further, my Sierra friends.

Brian Liberatore has made an improved cook stove manual that is specifically for Sierra folk with Sierra adobe and Sierra needs.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, this manual has some killer 3D graphics, taking all of the guesswork out. You want it in Spanish? You got it! Give a copy to your albaĂąil! Cocinas have never been so easy.

For a full copy of this manual or other improved cook stove manuals, please visit the ECPA dropbox folder.

Thanks, Brian!

5 * a link to our dropbox is on our facebook page Cocinas Mejoradas -> GIZ Inkawasi Pichqa -> Manual_dos_hornillas-1.pdf

ht ECPA Spotlig ion Climate Change Educat

Climate Change Education Camp Huaraz, Ancash

-Danielle DeVuyst (Dee Dee)

The basis of the ECPA (Energy and Climate Partnerships of the Americas) committee is to promote education, emphasizing climate change and renewable energies. Peru is especially susceptible to the negative consequences of climate change. While PerĂş is only responsible for emitting 0.3% of global greenhouse gases, it is considered the 3rd most a ected country by global warming. Climate Change Mitigation is great to teach in schools or to communities while implementing your ECPA renewable technology projects, and will soon be a requirement to applying for ECPA grants

Glacier Retreat

Experiential Learning in an Adventurous Environment This past November, I had the great opportunity to participate as one of the several volunteer professors in a climate change educational camp that allowed 6 students and their school director from Ancash and 8 students and 3 professors from Amazonas to participate in a 5 day camp in Ancash.

Andrew Baber, a MAC volunteer in Amazonas, applied for a SPA grant in coordination with a few other volunteers to fund a camp in Ancash that included dinamicas, workshop classes, camp sites and eld trips to Laguna Churup and Postoruri Glacier.

Ancash is the perfect setting to hold such a camp, providing the students with experiential education, understanding concepts they soon won’t forget. During the trip to Pastoruri Glacier, one of the only remaining glaciers in the Southern Tropics, the students had to hike the entire length that the glacier had retreated, culminating in a 45 minute walk (while it was snowing!)

Within this time, the students were able to learn about climate change, the environment, contamination and pollution as well as participate in an incredible cultural exchange between departments.

There are several reasons to highlight such a camp, not only as a really spectacular way to engage students into the climate change discussion, but also to demonstrate the severity of its e ects within a The students and professors were Peruvian context. so excited to have such a unique experience, and it was wonderful In addition, while ECPA funding to watch the students transform begins to decline, we hope to from extremely timid and shy to showcase other nancing options outgoing and enthusiastic within to continue this great work of just a few days. teaching climate change and renewable energies.

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y!

Solar Energta ics.

It’s not just photovol

Kiryssa Kasprzyk

It’s FREE!!

It’s CLEAN!!

It’s EASY!!

Yes, it can be very easy and simple! When a lot of PCVs think of solar energy, we immediately think about photovoltaic (PV) panels, which are complicated, involve a lot of technology and can be expensive. They are awesome, but not the right option for many communities… BUT, solar energy is not out of reach! There are bastante options to harness the power of the sun though solar THERMAL projects. Most of these projects work on the basic principle that sunlight is collected, and often concentrated or reflected, onto dark surfaces, which is converted to heat energy for different purposes. The sun’s light and energy, along with the properties of air and heat, can also be used to provide heating and other services passively.

Common projects: t 4PMBS PWFOT GPPE ESZFST t 40%*4 XBUFS QVSJöDBUJPO t *OEPPS MJHIUJOH t 4PMBS TIPXFST IPU XBUFS IFBUFST t *OEPPS IFBUJOH NVSPT USPNCFT

I recently learned about solar food dryers and think they are super cool! They are great for la costa to dry fruits to keep them from going bad and for la sierra for drying meat so that we don’t knock our heads on the drying chancho hanging outside our door every day. Here are the basics.

A solar dryer uses a continuous flow of warm air around and over food to remove moisture. They can vary in design, but one of the best types has two main components: a box to trap hot air connected to another with the food. In the first box, air is trapped by a plastic covering and heated by the sun, which is magnified by the black interior. The temperature of the air increases and, by natural convection, exits into the box holding the food. The hot air then continues to rise around the food and exists through the roof of the box. The partial vacuum created in the box then draws in fresh air from outside via the opening at the base of the dryer. In a few hours of good sunlight, food is dry and has been protected from the hazards of being left outside for days.

4PMBS GPPE ESZFST BSF BXFTPNF CFDBVTF UIFZ t $BO CF CVJMU WFSZ JOFYQFOTJWFMZ _ 64% XJUIPVU UFDIOJDBM LOPX IPX t 1SPUFDU GPPE GSPN XFBUIFS JOTFDUT BOJNBMT BOE EJSU PS TBOE t 1SPWJEF DPOUSPM PWFS UIF ESZJOH QSPDFTT BU FMFWBUFE UFNQFSBUVSFT t "SF GBTUFS UIBO TVO ESZJOH XIJDI HSFBUMZ SFEVDFT UIF DIBODFT PG TQPJMJOH t *ODSFBTF IPVTFIPME GPPE TFDVSJUZ t 0òFS FNQMPZNFOU BOE JODPNF PQQPSUVOJUJFT t /FFE MJUUMF NBJOUFOBODF MPX DPTU UP SFQMBDF NBUFSJBMT Solar dryers are a great way to meet ECPA Goal #1 – to provide microfinance opportunities - because selling dried goods can generate income. For example, during mango season a family can dry mango slices or make a fruit leather that will keep for many months. Then in June, when fresh mangoes are hard to find, people can still satisfy their cravings for that delicious taste! At 50 centimos per slice, a family can make up the investment costs of the food dryer in one season!

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y!

Solar Energta ics.

It’s not just photovol

Kail Zuschlag Water Heating Water can be heated for an entire household or for a simple shower. As the heat from the sun is collected on a black surface, water is run through piping or held in a reservoir and absorbs the heat.

After a few hours of sunshine, hot water is ready for use!

Solar Home Systems (SHS) These systems have many different designs, but generally they circulate water through solar collectors to heat it, and then store the water in a tank for later use.

A SHS should be designed based on climate and cost. Colder environments need increased insulation and protection from hail, while an SHS in a hot area runs the risk of overheating. As with most technologies, the more you spend the more flexible, efficient, and long-lasting the system will be.

However, for small scale projects, simpler systems can work very well. Designs vary based on whether the system harnesses solar energy directly or indirectly and whether it uses passive or active water convection. Solar collectors range from simple batch collectors, to sturdy flat-plate designs, to the very efficient evacuated-tube system.

The Sling Shower This is easy and you can find these parts in your capital city. All you have to do is build a square out of 3� ABS pipe (rigid black plastic pipe used for drains). This will hold 2 gallons, enough water for a 5 minute shower, and should heat up in direct sunlight in 1-2 hours depending on climate. Build the ABS Square with the threaded cap at the top for filling and the shower head or hose end at the bottom. Use the bike hooks to hang your shower head from a wall, tree, or pole in your main plaza.

Fill your Sling Shower with water and lay it in the sun for 1-2 hours, maybe more depending on climate. Then place the shower on hooks and crack the fill cap to let air in. Twist open the ball valve and shower. Always check the temperature first for safety.

The Hoser Shower This system will be a little more work up front, but should be a nicer and easier system to use. This would work really well if you had a nice spot to shower that currently had access to cold water. Here is the idea: you loop up a large amount of black hose and place it on your roof where it can heat in the sun. You attach one end to a hose bib or other water source, and have a nozzle at the other end in your shower.

Place the fixture on a north facing, sturdy roof. Attach one end of the hose to a water source, and attach the other end to your valve and nozzle and hang the nozzle in your shower area.

This has the potential to get scalding hot, so you may have to use two “Y� fittings and a section of hose to mix cold water in right before your nozzle. This is a good thing as it will make your shower last longer.

Advantages t $BO CF WFSZ MPX DPTU EFQFOE PO UIF TJ[F RVBMJUZ PG UIF TZTUFN t &ODPVSBHF HPPE IZHJFOF QSBDUJDFT JO DPME QMBDFT t 3FEVDFT GVFM VTFE GPS IFBUJOH XBUFS SFEVDJOH QPMMVUJPO TBWJOH NPOFZ t -PX NBJOUFOBODF UFDIOPMPHJDBM SFRVJSFNFOUT %JTBEWBOUBHFT t )JHIFS RVBMJUZ IPVTFIPME TZTUFNT BSF BMTP IJHIFS DPTU _ t .BZ SFRVJSF GSFRVFOU SFQMBDFNFOU PG QBSUT TVDI BT IPTJOH UIBU DBO EFHSBEF FBTJMZ JO UIF TVO

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Have a question?

Don’t know who to contact?

GRANTS! REMEMBER... to apply for your ECPA grants!

Renewable energy projects include: Solar Panels, Passive Solar, Biodigestors, Hydroelectric Turbines, Wind Turbines, Cocinas Mejoradas, and Renewable Energy / Climate Change Education. The grants are up to $1000 for each project and the community must be able to match 40% of the cost.

Check your email for more details and written materials, but if you have not been receiving our previous emails about grants or you have other renewable energy questions, please email Sara Leavitt.

PRESIDENT

WIND

sleavitt@pe.peacecorps.gov 957626843 *0012249

kailzuschlag@gmail.com 979586236 #979586236

Kail Zuschlag

Sara Leavitt

HYDRO

BIODIGESTERS

kailzuschlag@gmail.com 979586236 #979586236

imaginarydeedee@gmail.com 976597485 #976597485

Kail Zuschlag

Danielle DeVuyst (Dee Dee)

SOLAR

MICRO-FINANCE

kkasprzy@gmail.com 979584388 #979584388

christopherpatricksweeney@gmail.com 979585321 #979585321

Kiryssa Kasprzyk

Christopher Sweeney

CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION

IMPROVED COOKSTOVES

imaginarydeedee@gmail.com 976597485 #976597485

christopherpatricksweeney@gmail.com 979585321 #979585321

Danielle DeVuyst (Dee Dee)

Christopher Sweeney

Please email applications to: sleavitt@pe.peacecorps.gov

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