I was reading (and watching) about the Bloom Box – http://mashable.com/2010/02/25/bloom-box-videos/ – a new “fuel cell” technology. Apparently the concept is that you have a variable stack of these fuel cells (i.e. more means more electricity) and you pass fuel (such as natural gas or biogas) along with air and it produces electricity with less emissions. The goal is that in the future they could sell a “box” for about $3000 that could power an american home (less for other countries). Already some companies are using this technology – principally in California due to the subsidies involved (and the positive PR).
What I wonder if this is a good possibility for the developing world – if you couple this technology with bigoas it has some potential. I’m wondering if in a developing world you could a remote area with one of these boxes – coupled with some kind of biogas plant (sewer system?) to develop the fuel. One advantage it would have over solar is that it could work at night without having to use batteries. It would might not need a large infrastructure or footprint – as it looks like it could be small. I don’t know how reliable these are – only time will tell. But it’s an interesting concept…
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Not quite as far out there as this, http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Lasers-Mosquit..., but I think this is still a little much for your average tanzanian village. A generator works better b/c they are cheaper, smaller, lighter (the size that are owned by village co-ops are, say, no more than 1000 Watts) and people totally understand engines and how to fix them. There is always someone who has a motorcycle and he usually fixes the generator as well. Maybe 20 years away?
Not quite as far out there as this, http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Lasers-Mosquit..., but I think this is still a little much for your average tanzanian village. A generator works better b/c they are cheaper, smaller, lighter (the size that are owned by village co-ops are, say, no more than 1000 Watts) and people totally understand engines and how to fix them. There is always someone who has a motorcycle and he usually fixes the generator as well. Maybe 20 years away?