EWB charcoal
Matt Ball
An email overview: last weekend's events, the Yunus Challenge, and Amy
Smith on TED
Last weekend we did not burn corn. We've decided to let our material
dry for a few more days before attempting any burn. There was also
considerable difficulty in putting holes in the barrel kilns...I'll be
talking to Dr. Nadeau about how to remedy that. Would working this
Saturday, 10/27, around 10am to 1pm be alright for people? Email me if
not. I'll send another email later in the week with the exact time and
place.
I've heard about this competition called the Yunus Challenge. It's an
annual thing at MIT; the focus this year is on indoor air quality. We
don't necessarily have to enter the competition (I'm actually not
entirely clear on what the competition consists of) but the ideas behind
the challenge could help guide our charcoal project. The attached
document explains things more. They put out some very interesting
ideas: things that could lay the groundwork for the expansion of this
team's goals. There's no reason we couldn't begin to work on emissions
monitoring systems and alternative stove technologies, two suggestions
from the YC documentation, in addition to biomass charcoal. I remember
hearing some interest in pursuing stoves several months back; for
coordination purposes please let me know if you would like to work on
any of the things presented in the Yunus Challenge document. I'm
personally interested in the idea of a cheap emissions monitor -- anyone
else?
TED stands for Technology Entertainment Design. As far as I know, it's
this annual California convention where all kinds of people get to talk
about their ideas, passions, and life work. Amy Smith gave a pretty
good talk on her D-lab work which you can watch here:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/2 There's a lot of stuff
you'll already know if you've seen her manuals, but it's pretty good to
hear it from her personally. If you poke around the TED talk site,
you'll find many speeches on developmental aid work, which is also
pretty interesting and relevant. Check it out if you get a chance.
That's all I have for now, hope you're all doing well.
Matt