By Gail Lichtman

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) – Technion, Israel’s first chapter of the international organization EWB, is expanding its scope of operations. Established in 2008 to foster sustainable engineering projects in developing and disadvantaged communities, EWB – Technion took as its first project the building of biogas reactors in rural Nepal. Now, the group is branching out to sustainable energy for Bedouin communities in Israel’s Negev and a water project in Ethiopia.

“We are involving students in projects that require applying what they learn at the Technion to the world around them,” states Prof. Mark Talesnick of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who is the founder and head of EWB –Technion as well as holder of the newly-created UNESCO Chair for Sustainable Energy in the Center for Global Engineering. “We do real-life projects.”

The Nepal project has so far resulted in the installation of 62 biogas reactors in the rural village of Namsaling, at a cost of less than $32,000.

“About 90% of rural Nepalese cook and heat by burning wood,” notes Talesnick. “This entails cutting down trees, which has a negative effect on the environment. Plus women and children spend an average of four hours a day gathering the wood. The smoke generated by cooking over an open fire in a closed environment results in women suffering from respiratory diseases. In addition, human and animal waste goes into the local rivers, creating an unhealthy water supply. In choosing our project, we decided to build something positive that would help deal not just with the problem of wood burning but a whole cycle of problems.”

Biogas can be produced from almost any organic material put in an anaerobic (oxygenless) environment. The result is methane which can be used for cooking, lighting, heating and powering generators.

The idea of biogas reactors is not new to Namsaling. However, the traditional method of constructing the structures to make the gas is very time-consuming and labor intensive. The EWB – Technion team improved on the traditional design by creating a lightweight, modular and reusable framework for constructing the biogas reactor – thereby making it easier and more convenient for villagers to build them.

“We are now evaluating and monitoring the different effects of biogas on the village,” Talesnick relates. “Our work shows that villagers are using 12 tons less wood per family or 36 kg less wood daily per family. Plus the biogas reactors have impacted on better indoor air quality and cleaner water since waste is now a commodity used for the production of fuel. We still want to study the impact on women’s health, education and village economy.”

The Bedouin sustainable energy project grew out of two one-month, intensive summer courses held at the Technion in 2011 and 2012 on “Engineering for Developing Communities.” The courses brought 15 international students per session and paired them with 15 Technion students. In addition to lectures, labs and workshops, the students went out into the field to apply what they were learning. This involved field trips to three Bedouin villages in the Negev to work with villagers in defining and collecting data required for the design of sustainable and appropriate projects.

“What we found was that they did not have a reliable supply of electricity and water,” says Yael Meyouhas, a student who took part in the summer course and now serves as coordinator for the Center for Global Engineering.

As a result of the student fact-finding, it was decided to build and install wind turbines in the Bedouin village of Kasr-Al-Sir, a community with some 800 families across from Dimona. Some 20 students are working on building wind turbines from scratch – this includes building the blades, generator, masts for mounting and electrical distribution system to supply power. It is hoped that the system will help generate some of the energy needs that will enable Bedouin women in the village to set up a sewing co-op and the refrigeration requirements for a food co-op.

EWB – Technion is now looking into setting up a water project in Ethiopia. “Recently, we got a phone call from an Israeli couple whom had volunteered in Ethiopia,” recalls Meyouhas. “They connected us with the village of Meskele Kristos. The school there has no running water and he asked us about a project to supply water. We hope to send a group out to Ethiopia within the next few months to meet the villagers and survey life in the village as preparation for deciding on an appropriate water project.”

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