Rolf Papsdorf is bringing green power to the people of Africa. Thanks to the Silicon Valley based Tech Awards 2009, the rest of the world is hearing about it. His company Alternative Energy Development Corporationmanufactures zinc-air fuel cells to generate off the grid electricity for rural communities. His zinc-air fuel cell project, described as the largest in the world, brings light and energy to the village of Guyuni in South Africa, as well as job creation and online education to the community’s youth.
This project echoes – in a small way – the aims of Bloom Energy’s KR Sridhar, who aims to bring Power to the People with its fuel cell design.
On the fuel cells technology
“We’re the only company in the world which produces a low cost zinc-air fuel cells manually rechargeable…we’re proud to say that we have no carbon footprint and are totally renewable. We recycle the zinc oxide to make new zinc using solar energy.”
On how he’s empowering South Africa
“Our passion really is empowerment. We supply them with basic electricity, we have skills development programs so that they can earn an income…only 3% of (the community) income goes towards energy, the rest is disposable income.” Rolf Papsdorf
Check back soon for the VIDEO of this exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview
The catchy title “Cows to Kilowatts” certainly won the attention of the crowds at the 2009 Tech Awards Galain Silicon Valley, but the project won accolades for more than mere words. Dr. Joseph Adelegan, an Ashoka Fellowis a charismatic engineer who has found an effective way to harness the energy from slaughterhouse waste and won the $50,000 Intel Environment Award . He and his team at the Nigeria based Global Network for Environment and Economic Development Research, are creating cooking gas and electricity from effluent that might otherwise lead to harmful pollution.
What does the Tech Award mean to Dr. Adelegan?
“We’ve received several awards… so it’s not really receiving the award… but the opportunity to network, to meet great minds in Silicon Valley… see people who’ve gone through the same as you’ve gone through…We’ve seen scientists and inventors, visited Microsoft and Intel..we’ve seen people doing some encouraging things…Sometimes you think you are crazy doing this type of stuff, but you see that people are as crazy as you. You have to be crazy to be creative….” (We agreed there were LOTS of crazy creative people in Silicon Valley)
I caught up with Anna Jaeger, Director of the GreenTech Program at TechSoup Global, during The Green Enterprise UnConference at The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, December 3, 2008. San Francisco-based TechSoup partners with many leading tech companies like Microsoft, Adobe and Cisco to put technology in the hands of nonprofits; and Anna is spearheading its efforts to educate organizations to reduce their environmental impact through effective use of technology. Our discussion includes:
Note: Another excellent source of best green business practices, just launchedthis month, is at the Environmental Defense Fund’s new online resource,The Innovation Exchange where you can find information about running a carbon neutral office.
Former Sun Microsytems Executive, Mary Vincent chaired a panel of green venture capital and entrepreneur experts at the 2008 Women in Technology International (WITI) Conference in Silicon Valley. She talked to me afterwards about the key moment that inspired her to give up her corporate job as a Java expert and become a green entrepreneur. She cites the UN Climate Change Report 2006, and says “animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than transportation…it shocked me.” Seeing a way to leverage her skills to work on climate change, she recently founded Green Star Solution and Gratitude Gourmet; and is using many web 2.0 tools to build her business:
