Tools & Technology

Haitians want to pay their bills. It’s not just a point of pride, but more of an indicator of the level of development. It represents to the outside world that Haiti is a country worthy of not just charity, but more importantly a place for private investment. The Pedal Project started when John Humphrey from Sustainable Energy Partners came back from a trip to install a generator tied PV system. On the trip he ruminated with Kent Shell about harnessing the energy of the children that they saw running around. For a few months they kicked this idea around, realizing that in order to capture that energy the generator might look a lot like a bicycle. John approached me to begin preliminary research into solving this problem. After about two months and several different developers I settled on the Eco System Pedal Generator. It was the farthest along in the development phase. It was simple and robust. The package was complete; including technology for a lighting system, which was SEP’s original goal. Finally, Eco Systems was manufacturing test bed generators in Nepal, using developing world designers and builders, which in turn employed developing world people.

The Pedal Power Project is critical in helping to replace smoky, inferior lighting used in nearly every house throughout Haiti. This lighting is simply kerosene poured into homemade lanterns, with a wick made of twisted scrap cotton. The containers are often small, discarded jars with screw cap lids. The wick is lit and provides a weak, flickering localized light. The lanterns are incredibly dirty, belching out dirty black smoke. Inside the small houses this smoke collects, breathed in by everyone. Women use the lanterns to cook with and kids use the lanterns to read their schoolbooks. The lanterns are also dangerous, causing fires in the mostly wood and thatch houses. The kerosene is bought on an almost daily basis from local third and fourth tier sellers, each adding uplift for their own efforts. Pedal Power is also critical in creating reliable source of electricity that can be used to re-charge cell phones batteries, charge batteries for use in radios, power tools, fans and other sources of lighting.

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