Bluefields Nicaragua 'report'

[jmk]

  There is added forces to the tail if it doesn't stay with the wind. I would think one that folds would last longer.

[blueEnergy group]

DanB, thanks for the great report and sorry it took me so long to respond.  I read your report right when you sent it, but I just got a chance now to read it slow and really let it sink in.  It was a pleasure hosting you guys; it gave me the perfect excuse to spend a week in the shop!  I was like a kid in a candy store...

You are welcome back any time and don't worry, we'll make it happen.  That's what we do.

It's fair to say that we have a long ways to go to get to where we want to be.  We don't have the expertise needed yet, but what we do have is drive and the will to get there.  We are good at organizing and making incremental improvements.  Now that you've seen the environment (human, natural, political, etc) we work in, you know the challenges we face.  Our operation is a far cry from setting up a shop in anytown USA.

We will continue to consult with the experts and soak up all the knowledge and experience we can until we are in a position to deliver on our lofty goals.  We're glad you guys at Otherpower are a part of that and we look forward to continuing our partnership for many many fruitful years.

Cheers,

Mathias

[blueEnergy group]

Hugh, after finally getting a chance to delve into the calculations I can now see that the original 12 ft design does have little to no safety margin.  That being said, we at blueEnergy are equally responsible for not having built our machines to a high enough quality standard, thereby bringing extra problems on ourselves.  We are not a huge group of wind experts, rather we are an organization working in very difficult conditions, trying to provide opportunities to people who had none before. We are constantly improving but we are certainly guilty of not having a good enough understanding of what required tight tolerances and what could be done more loosely. We start our project without the level of intuition needed to know which parts needed to be paid close attention too.  

But we are getting better at this.  And our core capacity level and infrastructure are growing, allowing us to build better quality machines.  We still have a long way to go for sure, but given the challenges and roadblocks we have faced, I have very happy with our progress.  If you can continue to support us with your legendary patience and expertise, I know we'll get there.

[blueEnergy group]

I too look forward to seeing the new books!

Cheers,

MJ

[blueEnergy group]

spinningmagnets, I chose the name blueEnergy because the original vision for blueEnergy was to use Piggott turbines to purify water using UV technology.  If water and wind have a color (you may feel free to argue that they don't ), it's blue - so I went with blueEnergy. It was either going to be blueWind or blueEnergy.  And in the end "green energy" is over-used at this point, so I thought blue might be a better choice.

By the way, it's only coincidence that the word blue appears in both our name and our host city.  Or at least it wasn't a conscious association.

blueEnergy is a nonprofit, very literally.  We accept donations directly and in fact most of the "nice tools" DanB referred to were from a donation from a French construction company that just arrived days before the Otherpower crew arrived.  If you would like to make a donation to support our efforts, either monetary or equipment, please do not hesitate to contact me at mathias.craig@blueenergygroup.org or (415) 509 - 0155.  I can guarantee that we'll get your donation on-site and into use!

Cheers,

Mathias

[blueEnergy group]

It's also worth pointing out that wind power is a new technology for these people. They may have heard strange noises, but there are a lot of strange noises in the jungle and you don't necessarily want to go out and investigate all of them. We have a long ways to go in our training programs to sensitize people to wind power technology... but we're committed to making it happen.  It will just take time.

Cheers,

Mathias

[blueEnergy group]

I think it is a robust machine design, given that the builders understand that some parts do require some precision.  Any dynamic machine will have this requirement.  As we get better at understanding which parts require precision and which parts don't, our machines will get more and more robust while still staying "realistic" given our working conditions.

Cheers,

Mathias

[blueEnergy group]

Our philosophy is to overbuild and keep working at improving capacity levels so the quality level of the work continues to rise.  In time we can re-evaluate whether we can scale back our "overbuilding" if our quality reaches a respectable point.

Cheers,

Mathias

[blueEnergy group]

I'm in agreement with DanB here, I don't think the open alternator has caused us any problems.  And trying to seal anything here is a risky proposition.  Without a very good approach we'd likely cause more harm then good... and again, I don't see why we would want it in the first place.  I've always wondered why Craftskills goes through all the trouble - might just be an aesthetic thing.

Cheers,

Mathias

[blueEnergy group]

A lot of the difficulty in getting new / working tools is the logistic side.  There are no mega hardware stores in Bluefields that carry what we want.  And finding things in Managua is possible... sometimes... maybe... come back next week... As we've gotten better at handling the logistics and better at fundraising, we've been able to start replacing the tools.  With a little more time and elbow grease, we should get all we need in there.

Just a point to clarify - blueEnergy doesn't own any the houses or even our shop.  They are all leased or donated monthly spaces.

Cheers,

Mathias

[blueEnergy group]

Yes, it's really important to remember that everyone is approaching this small scale wind challenge from a different place.  A lot of disagreements aren't about who's right or wrong, it's just that people are in different places (physical, financial, and cultural).  What works in one place doesn't necessarily work in another.  That's the thing about "appropriate technology"... it means technology adapted to any particular situation.  We work in a poor, low education, hot, humid, saline, war-torn, natural disaster-prone space.  That is a hard space to work in, to put it mildly.  We would definitely be more effective with more resources and we have worked hard in the past 4 years to accumulated what we needed.  There is still a lot of work to do.  Next is accumulating the right knowledge and experience so that the technology and resources can have an impact in the real world, and help people in their day to day lives.  Hugh, the Otherpower crew and Ian Woofenden of SEI, among others, have been infinitely patient and generous with us in helping us build up this capacity base.  As we say around here - Siempre Adelante!

Cheers,

Mathias

[tecker]

You are giving these folks an advantage they would not have known . I can see the work has been over the top kinda difficult. I just what to say good luck .

[blueEnergy group]

Thanks for the encouragement tecker!

Cheers,

Mathias