blueEnergy Futbol Team

The blueEnergy staff football team, after a match as part of the Company League in Bluefields. The League, made up of 28 teams, started in early December and will last around 4 months. This is the first year blueEnergy has participated, playing on average one match every three days. While they haven't managed to convince the management that funding team t-shirts is a viable marketing strategy, what they lack in t-shirts they make up for in enthusiasm. Best of luck team bE!

Water and Sanitation Roundup!

By Casey Callais -- 2012 was a big year for blueEnergy's Water and Sanitation, Hygiene team (WASH), but how big was it? And what's in store for 2013? Here is a quick look at the projects and numbers. But first, some background information.

The Water Situation in Bluefields, Nicaragua:

95% of the population lacks clean drinking water

90% of water sources are hand-dug wells

90% of drinking water sources are contaminated with fecal matter

100% of the population lacks a sanitary sewage system


blueEnergy Donors and Accomplishments:

Good Energies helped provide 51 biosand water filters built and installed

Meal a Day #1 helped provide 10 biosand water filters built and installed

See Your Impact helped provide 10 biosand water filters built and installed

An anonymous corporate donor helped provide 100 biosand water filters built and installed

Meal a Day #2 helped provide an efficiency study of the biosand filters

Ile de France / La Guilde helped provide 100 biosand water filters (built and installed) and 30 baptist wells

Meal a Day #3 helped provide 15 baptist wells


Current blueEnergy Projects:
 
Ensemble Foundation is helping to provide 38 biosand water filters and 10 wells

FHI / USAID is helping to provide 300 biosand water filters

West Foundation and Meal a Day #4 is helping to provide a study on latrines

CDC Developpement Solidaire is helping to provide 64 biosand water filters and 16 wells

Agence de l'eau Artois Picardie is helping to provide 72 biosand water filters and 24 wells

Adour Garonne is helping to provide 55 biosand water filters, 20 baptist wells and 22 latrines

Foro de Agua is helping to provide 6 wells and 35 latrines

Michelham Foundation is helping to provide 44 biosand water filters

Foundation Artelia is sending an expert to work with our WASH team for three months


Add this all up and check out the amazing impact! 

This work equals:
2,129 people with access to filtered water
1,004 people with access to clean wells
468 women and 270 men who have participated in blueEnergy's water and sanitation classes.



It is going to be a busy year for blueEnergy and we are excited to be ramping up our capapcity by bringing on new people and investing in new equipment. You can bet that in 2013 we will double out impact numbers and then some!

blueEnergy France Hosts Wind Turbine Building Workshop

By Pierre Jamault - blueEnergy rendezvoused on October 20th, 2012 in the city of Le Kremlin Bicêtre, close to Paris to host a Wind Turbine Building Workshop. Behind the parking lot we discovered a very well furnished workshop with a dynamic team of volunteers waiting to show us how a wind turbine works by building a small one. After coffee, basics instructions were set up: 1 turbine built by 16 people on 7 workbenches in 2 busy days.

During these two days we had to sand wood, wind copper wire, mold magnets, shape metal and weld it. The explanations of the team were so efficient that we even had enough time to listen the presentation of blueEnergy and its activities by co-founder Guillaume Craig.

The variety of needed tools to build the turbine required some explanation in order to not make any mistakes. Thankfully the instructions and indications given by the volunteers, as well as discussions with the other participants, were really enriching. The meals prepared by our host were also great opportunities for other interesting discussions with the participants and hosts.

Welding the body

After all that work and many explanations in a very (too) short weekend, it wasn’t easy to remember everything but the wind turbine mechanism seemed clearer. To sum up: to succeed in wind turbine construction, you have to be a great craftsman, a little bit physician and obviously meteorologist to put it at the good place once it is taken out the workshop.

Carving the blades

blueEnergy France organizes 2 windturbine workshops per year (next one on Spring 2013, contact emilie.etienne@blueenergygroup.org for more details), with a maximum 12 participants, close to Paris. The windturbines are small models (1 meter diameter), based on the Hugh Piggott model. Although they work well, due to their small size and low power, they are used mainly for learning purposes. We gather people from different backgrounds to attend the workshop: students in renewable energies, retired people willing to know more about the windturbines to build one in their garden and individuals willing to spend an unforgettable week end by working for fun!

Thank You for Donating to the Gift of Light

From all of us at blueEnergy, thank you for contributing to the Gift of Light and making it possible for blueEnergy to support families living in Rocky Point, Nicaragua.