Clever tech

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Clever tech

Postby stefano » Thu Oct 21, 2010 5:47 am

Using this as a repository for clever, inexpensive, decentralised tech that makes a difference. Any contributions welcome, or links to sites that already do this.
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Bio-Sand Filter, a Solution to Dirty Water

Kampala — A BIO-SAND Filter is one of the simple solutions needed by Ugandan communities that have for long suffered from using dirty water sources.

"A bio-sand filter uses layers that can filter the water clean without the need to boil it," explains Doctor Moses Musaazi.

The product is one of the several from Technology for Tomorrow, an innovative company that produces energy saving products which also provides consultancy allover Uganda and Africa.

"It's a hollow structure that you fill with stones and sand. When you pour water on top, it forms a biological layer. When you pour the dirty water into the facility, it goes through the layer which captures any bacteria. The water is filtered by stones and sand to the bottom and up again. By the time the journey is completed, it's pure," he adds.

Musaazi says the facility filters one litre of water per minute which means that one needs 20 minutes to fill a twenty-litre jerrycan.

"The bio-sand filter costs sh150,000 (€50) and it can be used by a home or a community. You invest once and get results over and over again," Musaazi says.

"The water we drink at the river went through the same process from the highlands and we have done a small replica. This has been tested in a laboratory and is clean, so there shouldn't be any fear of contamination," says Musaazi of the process.

While about 200 bio-sand filters have been sold, Musaazi acknowledges the need for sensitisation about the process to allow more uptakes.

The innovator is now thinking of adding Moringa seeds to the filter so that even storm water which runs off the road can be cleaned to drinkable state.

Musaazi, an engineer, has innovations in the areas of safe water, sustainable building, solid waste disposal and sanitation and girl-child education.

The first eco-friendly pads made out of papyrus is an innovation of Musaazi's.
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Micro Desalination Plants Unveiled

Ondangwa — Two small-scale, state-of-the-art desalination plants were inaugurated at the villages of Amarika and Akutsima in the Omusati Region last week.

The desalination plants are a joint Namibia-German effort on solar-driven pilot plants to provide the local population with clean drinking water in an essential component of the Cuvelai water system, which seeks to find sustainable solutions to water supply.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Petrus Iilonga, inaugurated the two facilities last week in the presence of representatives from local authorities, as well as representatives of CuveWaters, traditional leaders and communities.

"The implementation of these small-scale plants to desalinate the saline groundwater complements the efforts of the Swapo Party government to increase water security in remote rural areas. Clean drinking water is indispensable for a healthy life," Iilonga stressed.

Saying the project is the property of the community, Iilonga urged communities to protect the facilities and to guard them jealously against vandalism. He also called on communities to add value to the project by producing their own bottled water for selling in order to generate income.

"This water is clean and healthy and you can add value to it by bottling it for local consumption as well as export purposes," he noted.

According to Professor Wilhelm Urban, from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Institute (IWAR) in Germany, the plant at Akutsima can provide a minimum of 3 500 litres or 140 jerry cans per day.

Meanwhile, the second desalination plant at Akutsima, with a capacity of 4500 litres or 180 jerry cans per day, is expected to be commissioned next year, Urban told New Era in an interview. Equipment has already been ordered from Germany.

Urban pointed out that desalination technologies powered by solar energy in the interest of environmental sustainability at the two plants are different. At Amarika, a membrane system or a chemical-free reverse-osmosis is used. However, the plant at Akutsima uses a multi-effect humidification evaporation process. Technical support is provided from Terra-Water.

He told New Era that German companies will continue to provide further training to locals in order to increase their skills in running and maintaining the plants, especially after the pilot phase of two years.

"Furthermore, we have to find sustainable solutions for a long term technical service provision, clear responsibility lines for a long-term operation at affordable cost for consumers," he said.
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According to Irene Nunes of Desert Research Foundation of Namibia (DRFN), a base-line health survey will be conducted towards the end of October to determine the health effect of the desalinated water on communities.

The two villages were selected because the area is devoid of water bodies, and groundwater is often saline. In some places, the salt content of the groundwater is three times higher than seawater.

Governor of the Omusati Region, Sacky Kanyone, thanked CuveWaters, Terra-Waters and the German Government for addressing the needs of these communities.

The event was attended by a representative of the Ongandjera King, Tate Jafet Munkundi, Headman of the Akutsima village and senior officials.
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http://multieffecthumidification.com/

R.E.D. is a low energy evaporative/condensing process which has no expensive membranes and filters to replace - ever! Instead it uses heat - just like the sun - to evaporate seawater from liquid to vapour - no chemicals - and no moving parts in the process (of course we still use pumps) - requires minimal staff and the water condensed is perfectly 100% clean - all the time - everytime - just like nature - without CO2. Our engineers put it in a box, and now it rains pure water in a box.

In the process, salt-water is heated and steam rises, evaporation leaves all solids and impurities behind. The steam condensed is always the purest water - but not so tasty - since there are no minerals either. We make available minerals by running our water over special rocks and re energize water through magnetic fields, and spiral water-ways designed to oxygenate the water and get it's life-force active - making the most excellent healthy and best tasting Liquid Sun Water.

RED is very energy efficient but requires a large area of space relative to water produced, so it's not large scale desalination. At present one module can produce up to 50,000 litres per day.
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Re: Clever tech

Postby stefano » Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:48 am

Eric Jacqmain invented a ‘Death ray’ dish that had the intensity of 5,000 suns

Eric Jacqmain, from Indiana in the US, covered an ordinary fibreglass satellite dish with 5,800 tiny mirror tiles. When aligned correctly it can generate a spot a couple of centimeters across, with an intensity of 5,000 suns, he claims.

It stands at 5ft 9 and is 42 inches across.

Jacqmain, commenting on YouTube said : ‘I drilled a small hole in the dish and glued a piece of PVC pipe on the back. Light shines through the hole and hits the translucent plastic on the end of the pipe. All I had to do was aim the dish once and mark the spot. As long as the target doesn’t conduct heat away too fast it will melt or vaporize just about anything eventually. I have vaporized before carbon, which occurs above 6,500 Fahrenheit.’

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Re: Clever tech

Postby Sepka » Mon Feb 07, 2011 3:37 pm

stefano wrote:Bio-Sand Filter, a Solution to Dirty Water

Kampala — A BIO-SAND Filter is one of the simple solutions needed by Ugandan communities that have for long suffered from using dirty water sources.

"A bio-sand filter uses layers that can filter the water clean without the need to boil it," explains Doctor Moses Musaazi.


I'm glad Uganda's catching up with the times, but that's a system that's been in widespread use throughout the world for hundreds of years. Until the last 50 years or so, sand and biological (charcoal, seed hulls, etc) filtration was the chief method used to produce clean drinking water for most of the world's cities.
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Re: Clever tech

Postby stefano » Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:26 am

Oh OK, didn't know that. Is chlorine the most-used method now?
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Re: Clever tech

Postby Sepka » Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:44 am

stefano wrote:Oh OK, didn't know that. Is chlorine the most-used method now?


A lot of the more modern facilities use artificial membranes for filtration. It's really the same principle as filtering through sand, but more controllable, and can operate at a higher volume. The chlorine is added to keep bacteria from growing in the distribution pipes.
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Re: Clever tech

Postby stefano » Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:30 pm

Thanks. Quite an important thing to know, that.
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Re: Clever tech

Postby barracuda » Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:10 pm

Sepka wrote:It's really the same principle as filtering through sand, but more controllable, and can operate at a higher volume.


This is not quite right. Membrane filters function as sieves - you can implement them according to micron diameters, and are chosen according to the size of what you are attempting to remove from the water. The genius of the sand filter lies in the biological layer, or schmutzdecke, a thin filmlike ecosystem that grows on the surface of the sand and thrives on the organisms and bacteria that would otherwise make their way through the sand itself, which is quite coarse in terms of filtration. Many small organisms of microscopic size are still able to penetrate membrane filters which have no such complex biological layer, and so chlorine or ultraviolet light can be used to increase the removal of pathogens. The sand filter is an excellent method of removing pathogens and impurities from surface water, i.e. lakes, streams, shallow springs, or any sources associated with runoff. Volume of throughput in slow sand filtration is governed by the surface area of the filter, so for more water you need to increase the size of the sand container. For deep wells which access the underlying aquifer, the most common issues with drinkability are heavy metals or minerals such as arsenic and uranium, and these can only be removed by a complicated system of resins that are designed to attract the minerals on the atomic level. Salt water must be treated by reverse osmosis, a method which is problematic due to cost.
The most dangerous traps are the ones you set for yourself. - Phillip Marlowe
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Re: Clever tech

Postby stefano » Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:58 am

Bringing light to the poor, one liter at a time

In the slums of Manila, an innovative project is shedding light on the city's dim and dreary shanties. Plastic bottles jut from the roofs, bringing light to the dark dwellings below. The technology is as simple as it could be. Each bottle contains water and bleach. When placed snugly into a purpose-built hole in the roof, the home-made bulb refracts and spreads sunlight, illuminating the room beneath. Eco-entrepreneur Illac Diaz is behind the project. SOUNDBITE: ILAC DIAZ, ISANG LITRONG LIWANAG (A LITER OF LIGHT) PROJECT, SAYING (ENGLISH) "What happens is, the light goes through the bottle, basically a window on the roof, and then goes inside the water. Unlike a hole which the light will travel in a straight line, the water will refract it to go vertical, horizontal, 360 degrees of 55 watts to 60 watts of clear light, almost 10 months of the year." The initiative, known as "A liter of light", aims to bring sustainable energy practices to poor communities, an idea originally developed by students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The bottles are designed to emit clear light for about five years, as the bleach prevents algae from building up in the water. For Erlinda Densing, a mother of eight, the technology has made a big difference to her small home. SOUNDBITE: ERLINDA DENSING, RESIDENT OF PAYATAS COMMUNITY, SAYING (FILIPINO) "'That's only water?!' my neighbours were asking. 'That's only water!' I said to them. Basically, the sun's rays are really bright. A lot of neighbours came and got curious. They were like, 'can we see? can we see?'. Maybe they also wanted to have lights installed. 'It's really bright,' I said." The device can be built and installed in less than an hour. A sheet of corrugated iron serves as a support structure to hold the bottle in place, and prevent any leakage. SOUNDBITE: ILAC DIAZ, ISANG LITRONG LIWANAG (A LITER OF LIGHT) PROJECT, SAYING (ENGLISH) "Liter of Light, lights up the house, saves a lot, but at the same time improves the standard of living across the board, of the bottom 90 per cent of this country." Working with low-income communities, local governments and private partners, the project has installed more than 10,000 bottle lights across Manila and the nearby province of Laguna. Rey del Mundo is a volunteer. SOUNDBITE: REY DEL MUNDO, PROJECT VOLUNTEER AND ENERGY UNIT HEAD AT SCHNEIDER ELECTRONICS, SAYING (FILIPINO) "This is very important. Because at present, we're too dependent on fuel that we don't produce. Although we have some local production, it's not sufficient for our needs. So if we strive to develop alternative sources of energy, which are the energy sources, this will help our country a lot." For residents, it means less money spent on electricity to power lights during the daytime, and more money on food. While for Diaz and his volunteers it's quite simply a bright idea. Gemma Haines, Reuters.



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http://isanglitrongliwanag.org/
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Re: Clever tech

Postby stefano » Tue May 15, 2012 2:43 pm

Pedal-powered generators change lives in rural Rwanda

The lights Daniel Ntibaziyandemye uses for his nocturnal fishing trips are charged by pedal-powered generators that offer an affordable means of creating energy, even for the poor.

The small generator, which stands knee-high inside a wooden frame, is operated by what looks like a recumbent exercise bike and charges batteries for small but bright light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. The light created is cheaper and more efficient than solar power.

"Previously we used torches to find our traps at night," said Ntibaziyandemye, aged 28, who fishes at night on the remote crocodile-infested Akanyaru river.

"But the batteries were so expensive that it left us with little profit. Now with the new LED lights, we can fish for a week for less money than it used to cost for one night."

He lays his traps just before dusk among heavy brush, waving away mosquitoes and listening out for crocodiles, waiting until night to venture into the water to collect his catch.

Five lights can be recharged with 20 minutes of pedalling and each light lasts more than 25 hours -- enough for a week for most users. One minute spent pedalling generates almost 400 minutes of light.

Small fee

Rwandan firm Nuru Energy, is behind the innovation, which earned it a $200,000 (150,000 euros) prize in the 2008 World Bank Lighting Africa Prize.

The company gives the generators and lights to small traders, allowing them to pay for them later, in instalments, with the money they make from the equipment. Villagers then pay a small fee to the traders to have the lights charged every week.

"The company gave me gave me six months to repay the loan for my first lights, but with the money I made from recharging the lights, I was able to repay my loan in two months," said 25-year-old Martin Uwayezu.

"I used to be poor but now I am a businessman."

Nuru Energy has pilot projects in other countries, including India, but Rwanda is the first African country where it has launched the pedal-powered generators.

To reach its customers, Nuru uses the local mobile phone money transfer system, whereby traders buy credit by sending text messages and receive a code to unlock the generators and charge the lamps.

Much of Rwanda's rural areas have no electricity and people rely on kerosene and wood for lighting and cooking.

Fumes exposure

More than 90 per cent of households use kerosene and exposure to the fumes can be as bad as smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.

"In addition to being dangerous, it's inefficient and costly," said Sloan Holazman, Nuru marketing director. "Households spend 10 to 25 per cent of their income kerosene for light alone."

The company's CEO and co-founder Sameer Hajee said they studied energy use by rural Rwandans to come up with the cheap and clean energy technology that many can easily afford and depend on.

"Kerosene is expensive, unhealthy, environmentally unfriendly and it's unsafe. But it's also portable, reliable and affordable," he said.

Nuru has also signed an agreement with the US Bank Merrill Lynch allowing the bank to purchase credits to offset its carbon print, and injecting funds into the coffers of the Rwandan firm to expand its business.

In addition to charging LED lights, the firm also plans to expand the use of its generators to charge mobile phones and other devices in rural areas with no electricity.

The company now boasts 10,000 customers across Rwanda and hopes to expand to other east African countries, such as Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda later this year. (AFP)
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Re: Clever tech

Postby stefano » Wed Sep 25, 2013 4:30 am

Ghana: KNUST Turns Human Excreta Into Charcoal

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The Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), working in collaboration, have successfully developed a technology for producing charcoal from human waste.

This is an alternative to addressing the energy and sanitation problems in Ghana, Mr. Alex Kwame Donyinah, a Researcher and SNV Consultant, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Kumasi at the weekend.

He said a well-researched project proved that it was possible to produce fuel from human waste, and help to solve the mounting sanitation problems, as well as curtail the use of fuel wood in the country.

“Applying these technologies on a larger scale can create employment among the youth, and generate income for small-scale charcoal producers,” he said.

Mr. Donyinah said the charcoal produced from human waste had no smell, and that all pathogens that were present in the faeces were destroyed in the carbonisation process, while atoms of carbon in the charcoal could not be detected.

He said the research also noted that the use of human waste charcoal blocks for cooking could face social acceptability problems, as some people would feel reluctant to touch it once they got to know the material used in its production.

Mr. Michael Kweku Commeh, a Research Fellow of the Technology Consultancy Centre (TCC) of KNUST, also explained that the resultant charcoal block could be produced in any shape and size, adding that initially, starch was used as a binder, but other binders would also be tested.

He gave the assurance that the next step was the developing and testing of a commercial operating model and assessing the financial viability of the model. Mr. Commeh explained that the model would envisage the involvement of a large number of small-scale charcoal producers supplying the waste powder to a central plant for production.

Mr. Enno Heijndermans, SNV Ghana Renewable Energy Sector Leader, said that the focus on simple charcoal production technologies was because of the high cost of capital, and relative low cost of labour in Ghana. “Simple and low cost technologies make financial viability more likely,” he said.

He said the research had demonstrated that it was possible to produce charcoal from human waste, and that to start it on a commercial basis, there was the need for further work and additional research. “As soon as we have a financially viable concept, we would like to work with the private sector to bring our research into practice.

“Unlike other alternatives, the only energy source that will increase proportionally to the population is our own waste, because human faeces is abundant and readily available everywhere,” Mr. Heijndermans said.

He added that producing charcoal from human waste would be one possible way of paying for its disposal, instead of simply dumping it and polluting the environment. – GNA
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Re: Clever tech

Postby stefano » Thu Jun 19, 2014 3:06 am

'WarkaWater' is a project conceived for the mountainous regions in Ethiopia, where women and children walk several hours to collect water. To ease this dramatic condition, the studio ‘Architecture and Vision’ is developing the project ‘WarkaWater’ which is harvesting potable water from the air and honors the disappearing Ethiopian warka trees. The 9 m tall bamboo framework has a special fabric hanging inside capable to collect potable water from the air by condensation. The lightweight structure is designed with parametric computing, but can be built with local skills and materials by the village inhabitants.

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Re: Clever tech

Postby elfismiles » Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:57 am

That is REALLY cool Stefano!

Airdrop Pulls Water From Air to Irrigate Plants
By Mark Robinson 11.08.11
http://www.wired.com/2011/11/airdrop-pu ... ate-plants

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Latest Willie Nelson venture: Water from Air
By PAMELA LEBLANC / Cox News Service
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
http://archive.today/aKpL#selection-1385.0-1403.27

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheri ... _generator

stefano » 19 Jun 2014 07:06 wrote:'WarkaWater' is a project conceived for the mountainous regions in Ethiopia, where women and children walk several hours to collect water. To ease this dramatic condition, the studio ‘Architecture and Vision’ is developing the project ‘WarkaWater’ which is harvesting potable water from the air and honors the disappearing Ethiopian warka trees. The 9 m tall bamboo framework has a special fabric hanging inside capable to collect potable water from the air by condensation. The lightweight structure is designed with parametric computing, but can be built with local skills and materials by the village inhabitants.
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Re: Clever tech

Postby stefano » Thu Aug 11, 2016 2:21 pm

Affordable Housing: Moladi's Hennie Botes on Innovation & Perseverance

Hennie Botes founded Moladi in 1986, after building a global business as an entrepreneur and inventor. His ability to think outside the box has led him to found a company that is revolutionizing the affordable housing market through design, innovation, and good-old fashioned ingenuity.

Can you tell us about how Moladi came about? How did you come up with the concept?

I think it starts with Abraham Maslow and food and shelter. Without the basic needs of life, little else can happen. So that's why housing is priority - across Africa and across the developing world.

But let's start at the very beginning. As it happened, my first invention was a plastic baby bath that fit across the bathtub and gave young mothers an easy and safe way to bathe their newborn children. The design was sold the world over, and gave me the freedom to found Moladi.

Moladi was the result of my own difficulties with building with brick and mortar.

In South Africa, and many developing countries, we suffer from a colonial mentality. Our education system does not teach us how to plant and grow food or build things. And that is a tragedy. Africa will have to uplift itself, and learn how to build things itself.

The challenge for so many local housing developments is the lack of skill. We know how difficult it was to put bricks on top of each other in a straight line, and, once the wall is built, to plaster it.

Moladi was a way I saw to build a construction system which could evolve into a job-creation tool itself, since it does not require skilled labor - in fact, over 90% of a construction team on a Moladi housing site consists of unskilled laborers.

My first attempts at building the right mold was not exactly a success but the geese on the farm got a dam as result. Gradually, and this the way with all innovation, you learn from your mistakes. The result was the Moladi building system.

You say system, and not house. What do you mean by that?

We're a system, a way of thinking, not simply a product, and that is why we are different.

The Moladi building system, which incorporates green technology and sustainability also happens to provide the best solution to address six key challenges that hinder the successful implementation of low-cost housing projects in Africa:

- lack of sufficient funds
- shortage of skilled labourers
- lack of resources
- work flow control
- time constraints
- wastage.

So the Moladi building system involves the use of a unique removable, reusable, recyclable and lightweight plastic formwork mould which is filled with an aerated SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) approved mortar to form the wall structure of a house in just one day.

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The process involves the assembly of a temporary plastic formwork mould the size of the designed house with all the electrical services plumbing and steel reinforcing located within the wall structure which is then filled with a specially formulated mortar mix to form all the walls simultaneously.

We use Moladi technology as a means to alleviate many of the cumbersome and costly aspects associated with conventional construction methods without compromising on the quality or integrity of the structure. When we first started, people would say things like Moladi structures won't last. Now we have some that have been around for 30 years. From the very start, we were focused on solving the problem of affordable housing.

I thought the world would chop a path to our doorway asking for the solution, but it has't been that easy.

And why is that?

The masonry industry likes to protect its knowledge and its interests. Change has never been easy. But now things are changing. Whether through necessity or because of desperation, we are seeing more and more interest from private partners and governments that view us as a building block for the country's future.

We work hard to gain social acceptance from the local communities we work in. That is something that makes all the difference. Add to that the we are cost effective, we create local jobs, and we are environmentally sustainable, and you understand why we are now growing at a much faster pace. We've also added toilet systems, window and door systems, and kitchen systems to the Moladi system, all at a much lower cost than the hardware store. Now we are in a position to say that we're world leaders at building entire village housing ecosystems.

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Are you finding interest for Moladi extends beyond Africa?

Yes, that is most definitely the case. We have been in Mexico, in Panama, in Haiti, across Africa, and now we are in talks in Nepal. Moladi is currently deployed in 18 countries, reaching 20 within the next three months by adding India and Sri Lanka to our list.

You know, all materials used in the construction of Moladi homes, other than the formwork, are sourced and supplied from within the local community. Other than contributing to the local economy, this drastically reduces the need for additional and unnecessary transport and handling of goods and building materials. This follows from the logic that the fewer the number of operations, the higher the quality of the product, resulting in a predictive timeline and ultimately cost savings.

Can you tell us about the local benefits of building a village with Moladi?

For starters, the local impact is immediate. We are a major job-creation strategy at the local level. But most important is the change in the lives of Moladi customers. A house is still a castle. It is an asset for wealth creation and empowerment.

We see three types of developments - upgrading informal settlements, green-field development, and rural village development. Governments now understand how critical infrastructure and housing is for a prosperous future, for lifting citizens out of abject poverty.

That's really why we do this.

You mentioned sustainability. How are Moladi houses more eco-friendly than traditional building techniques?

We have found that we are about 61% of the CO2 footprint for the same size of a house built with traditional brick and mortar. That's because we don't use bricks at all, and two, we recycle our moulds which are used to build 50 houses out of one set of moulds.

Add to that the fact that a house is built in a day, and you significantly reduce material wastage. That in itself adds to both cost effectiveness, cycle time, and sustainability.

What are your plans for the future?

We are expanding across the world. And we are not just housing for the poor. We think that decent, beautiful houses don't have to be the province of wealthy citizens. That is why design and aesthetics are important as well. We want our houses to fill residents with joy and pride.

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It is not an accident that developers in the richer countries protect their markets from competition. But the world is getting smaller every day, and the tide is shifting. We want to partner with private companies across the globe, creating new business for them as well as us.

Despite all the bad news you hear about in the news, I feel optimistic about the future, and the real impact Moladi is having on the war on poverty.
_______________

How to build a community in a month

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What if we told you the solution to the 25% national unemployment statistic (36% youth unemployment) and the million-plus housing backlog was already in our back yard? And what if we told you jobless, unskilled South Africans could become entrepreneurs in the house building sector and be able to build homes in their communities at a fraction of the cost and in less than a week?

What would you say if we told you there is a company that is not only prepared to certify you, but to empower you too and give you a market, technology and the opportunity to grow personally and professionally?

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Hennie Botes cast his first home in 1987 using plastic moulds filled with Moladi mortar – up to three times stronger than the load-bearing ability of clay brick and mortar, requiring no plastering and leaving no loose bricks lying around.

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“I cast a house in a mould, not a brick in a mould,” he says on the phone from his Port Elizabeth-based office. “I can plan where the windows will be, the trusses and the cast eliminates trades that come with brick construction.”

The Moladi construction system is as much about filling the basic need of housing as it is about creating sustainable entrepreneurs.

“In 2016 it is expensive to produce a house,” he says. “We need new technology to mass produce this product so consumers can afford to have their own homes.”

Botes explains that many of the systems in South Africa are outdated and that new, out-the-box thinking is required to solve the country’s challenges.

“The gap market – those who earn too much to qualify for free housing and too little to access a bank loan – is renting from unemployed, non-taxpaying RDP owners,” he says, noting that this market comprises of police officers and nurses. “We need to get affordable housing to our taxpayers."

“The problem is our banks’ criteria for funding is not up to date; it has checks and balances developed over 200 years that benefits the bank and not the consumer. If a house is built for R300,000 it will be sold for R500,000. The banks make 300% to 500% off of buyers, meaning the value is not in the building, but in funding.”
Changing the guard

Botes intends on changing this by setting up a Moladi bank which he says will sell a house for the same price it is built.

“Bank criteria states that 1% of the loan amount is the monthly bond repayment and potential homeowners should not spend more than one third of their income on their monthly bond repayment. So, on a R500,000 bond, the buyer needs a minimum of R15,000 salary.

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“If we take Moladi’s homes to market at R300,000, the minimum salary is then R9,000.”

He says investors from across the globe have put up their hands to help fund the gap market as housing is not only seen as a bankable investment, but one that has the ability to improve ordinary people’s lives.

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“The Moladi advantage is its social acceptance; a knock on the home’s wall reveals it’s got the same acoustic benefits as brick, is incredibly stable and strong, and the speed of construction enables it to be sold for a much lower price,” says Botes, noting that the construction method is Agrement SA-compliant, the homes are formalised through the same registration process as traditionally built homes, and the houses have a resale market. “We built units in Khayelitsha in Cape Town which cost between R180,000 and R220,000 each, and one year later some sold for R440,000!”

Calling entrepreneurs

Though Moladi’s business is not construction, but rather formwork moulding, the company’s biggest request is to build single homes. And while this is possible, Botes says the Moladi moulds work best for mass production – making it perfect for the entrepreneurial-minded.

“Each mould can produce 50 homes,” he says, noting that sustainable factors are central to the business. “Things like the aspect of the homes, ceiling height, ventilation in the house and in the roof as well as thermal mass are all ‘built in’. We incorporate water tanks and solar panels powering bulkhead lights where one light is able to be used for adjoining rooms.”

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Botes’ enthusiasm for Moladi and what it is capable of doing for ordinary South Africans is palpable; he firmly believes the system can seriously dent unemployment and the housing shortage in South Africa, and indeed the world.

So why is the Moladi brand and its homes not a household name despite being 30 years in business?

“Henry Ford said if he asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses,” says Botes. “Technology takes time to be adopted.”

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Let’s hope this technology is fast adopted.
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Re: Clever tech

Postby stefano » Tue Dec 12, 2017 7:04 am

The loo that needs no water
2016-10-02 06:02
Lubabalo Ngcukana

A retired auditor and businessman has come up with an innovative idea to combat the challenges of drought and sanitation in rural areas by creating a toilet that cleans itself without using a single drop of water.

The Andyloo, as the toilet is called, is believed to be a first of its kind and has taken Ben Mfazwe 12 years to put together.

Mfazwe spent valuable time away from his family working in his garage in the posh suburb of Sterling in East London, trying to design and build the toilet.

“One time when I was doing some auditing work in the Lesotho highlands,
I saw the problem of sanitation there and also in rural areas around the country. I was surprised to learn that South Africa does not have enough water and imports this scarce resource from Lesotho.

“Then I asked myself: When we run out of water one day, would I want to relieve myself in the bushes? That’s when the idea to design a toilet that does not use water came about,” said Mfazwe, who is originally from a rural part of the Eastern Cape.

“When we grew up in Cala, we used to relieve ourselves in the bushes, like many other rural village people,” he said.

Mfazwe said the Andyloo – a portmanteau word containing fragments of his two children’s first names, daughter Andisiwe and his son Loyiso – was initially for his own use only, but now that the product had been completed and tested, he wanted to share it with the rest of the world.

He described the toilet as maintenance-free. The faeces is deposited into a heat-sealed, self-cleaning, revolving receptor (urine is separated into a sump in the ground). After flushing – by simply closing the lid of the toilet seat – the revolving receptor rotates and drops the faeces into an incinerator, which receives its heat from an automatically fed biomass briquette-burning combustion chamber below it.

“As the heat travels through the incinerator, it dries and heats the faeces from the bottom until it reaches its combustion temperature, which in turn produces more heat to burn the faeces above it. All excess heat and moisture escape from the toilet via a chimney,” he explained.

Mfazwe said all burnt briquettes and ash then fall into an ashtray that can easily be removed and cleaned daily. The ash could either be used to improve soil quality or thrown away as refuse.

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Ben Mfazwe shows off the Andyloo, a waterless toilet. (Credit: Lubabalo Ngcukana)

It has not been an easy journey for Mfazwe, as his family did not initially share his vision. In fact, he was the joke of the house. His wife, Nothende, used to laugh at him and teased him that he had skipped a playing stage while growing up.

“I used to say he was wasting his time building something that would never work. I told him maybe he did not play with toys as a kid and now wanted to build himself a toilet as a toy. But a few years ago, when he first tested it,
I realised he was on to something and that this had real potential,” she quipped, adding that she was now very proud of her husband’s final product.

His daughter also initially failed to make sense to what her father was “innovating in the garage, day in and day out”.

“We used to joke that he loved his toilet more than his family, because it seemed as if he was spending more time with his toilet project than with us. We felt neglected at times. Even though he was inside the yard, it felt like he was not around,” said Andisiwe, who has left her job to help her father make Andyloo a success.

In 2013, Mfazwe and his family registered Hygiene Complete Solutions, a family business where the couple and their children are all directors.

The toilet, with a 10-year life span, has an estimated cost of R22 500 per unit, and is the business’ main product.

However, Mfazwe still needs investors to help him with the manufacturing and distribution of the Andyloo. He is hoping for approval of funding that he applied for at the department of trade and industry. His initial plan is to pilot his toilet to at least 500 households in a village as a start.

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Laboratory tests have already been done at the University of KwaZulu-Natal under the auspices of the Water Research Commission. A few tests and demonstrations were also done in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.

“On Mandela Day in Mpumalanga, one of my toilets – which is meant for a single household – was used by 90 people without any problems,” he boasted.

He plans to have factories in all nine provinces to have a national footprint before expanding outside the country’s borders.
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