A group of Harvard students proposing a technology called Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) won one of the 16 awards in a competition to bring innovative lighting products to Africans without access to electricity. And do you know how much of the African continent goes without power? A staggering 74 per cent.<\/p>\n
The results of the Development Marketplace competition was presented at the ‘Lighting Africa 2008’ conference that took place in Ghana’s capital city Accra between May 5 – 8. So how does this technology work? According to Hugo Van Vuuren, one of the students in the winning group, “a microbial fuel cell taps into the energy that soil microbes generate when they break down organic matter. Literally, this is energy from dirt: no special microbes or conditions are needed other than enough moisture for the bugs to do their work. Essentially all you do is dig a hole, layer an anode, some soil, sand and a cathode – and connect the anode and cathode to a circuit board to charge a battery that can power an LED (light emitting diode) light, run a radio or charge a mobile phone.”<\/p>\n
What about cost? “We estimate that MFCs will be much cheaper than solar because the anodes and cathodes can be made of local materials – scrap metal or other material – and they are maintenance-free. They are also robust and will operate in any temperature, as long there is some moisture and organic matter in the ground. They will operate best when breaking down human or animal waste.”<\/p>\n
Developing the circuit board is the next step now for the researchers and they will spend the next 18 months doing tests and trials. Mr. Van Vuuren estimates that when the group is ready to scale up production in three years, a system including MFC, battery, circuit board and some LED lights will cost less than 10 dollars. Now, that’s a nice price.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n