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2009 muhammad yunus innovation challenge:
Affordable Small-scale Energy Storage Solutions

One in four people in the world lack access to electricity. Low-cost renewable energy systems are increasingly accessible to the world's poor, but batteries remain a costly, unsustainable way to store this energy.

The 2009 Yunus Innovation Challenge calls for innovative small-scale energy storage solutions to help alleviate poverty. Solutions must address the needs of people living on less than $2 per day. Solutions are not limited to electrical storage; applicants are encouraged to consider other types of storage, such as storing thermal or mechanical energy. However, solutions should focus on storage and not on insulation or other energy-related issues.

background

Access to reliable energy has far-reaching effects for the world's poor. In low-income communities around the world, from sustenance farmers in rural Zimbabwe to workers in the slums of Mumbai, basic access to reliable and affordable energy services is a powerful tool for improving income generation, education and health services. For example, a fruit vendor can sell more if he or she has a light that allows him or her to sell later into the night. A dehydrator can help a tomato farmer make sun-dried tomatoes, a high value product that can be sold any time of the year, instead of being stuck with piles of tomatoes that rot and must be sold during tomato season when prices are at their lowest. Lighting is needed for night-time adult literacy classes and to provide school children time for studying. Clinics require refrigeration for vaccines and incubation for diagnostics.

"Energy deeply influences poor peoples' lives. It is central to practically all aspects of human welfare, including access to water, agricultural productivity, health care, education, job creation, and environmental sustainability. Yet, millions of households in the developing world still lack access to safe and reliable energy and pay high prices for poor-quality substitutes." – United Nations Development Program

Energy storage remains a problematic part of providing energy services for poor households. A currently prevalent solution for rural electrical storage is the 12-volt lead acid car battery, which is expensive, toxic, and unsustainable for people living on less than $2 per day. In Uganda, car batteries cost US$30-40 and store a month's worth of electricity for a home that uses a few lights, a radio, and a television. The battery lasts for 1-2.5 years and must be periodically recharged by transporting it to a charging service in the nearest town with electricity, which is often miles away. Low-income urban households also use car batteries for energy storage, which can be particularly useful in areas with frequent power outages, such as India or Bangladesh. In these cases, the battery is charged during times when electricity is available, to be stored for when the outages occur.

Households with solar panels will typically store the energy from the day in a car battery to provide electricity at night. Car batteries are not intended for deep cycling (being fully charged and discharged), which substantially reduces the lifetime of the battery. Deep cycle batteries designed for solar installations have an upfront cost of about $100, so it is more common for families to purchase a cheaper car battery.

For the poorest households, where $30-40 is an insurmountable starting cost, initial basic lighting needs can be met with significantly less power than a car battery. Kerosene is very commonly used for lighting, and is purchased daily in small amounts. However, it provides poor lighting, is expensive, and the smoke damages the lungs of the people who use it often. Dry cell batteries are another solution, but they are more expensive, toxic, and disposable.

Harish Hande, founder of SELCO, reports that batteries are the weakest link of the solar systems SELCO uses to provide energy to under-served households and businesses. Due to the rising cost of lead, the price of batteries has doubled since 1990. These batteries only last 3-5 years and must be replaced multiple times over the 20-year lifetime of a solar panel. The bulkiness of batteries also poses a problem for entrepreneurs who charge batteries and transport them on a daily basis to rent them to customers.

key considerations

Solutions are not limited to electrical storage, but may include other types of energy. For example, in Asia, biogas digesters are a well-established energy technology that collects methane gas produced by fermenting biomass, usually animal waste. The gas is held in a storage tank, and then burned for lighting or cooking in the home. However, storage is currently confined to individual systems and must be in close proximity to both the digester and the household, and solutions for storing biogas for transport have not been fully developed. Transporting biogas would enable families to increase their income by selling extra methane to other households.

The energy storage needs of the poor are wide and varied, and it is not expected that proposed solutions will address all needs. However, Yunus Challenge solutions should focus on a particular need and fill it well. Participants are encouraged to work on a design with a specific community or region in mind as this can be helpful in identifying constraints and providing context.

supporting initiatives

Opportunities are provided to students wanting to learn more about the Yunus Innovation Challenge and the context in which a solution must operate. Students are encouraged to apply for Public Service fellowships that provide them with the opportunity to work on a potential solution and to work with communities to develop a feasible solution that takes local context into account. For more information, please contact Alison Hynd: hynd@mit.edu.

Participants also may enter proposals into the IDEAS Competition, where two special awards have been created to provide winning teams with funding to pursue their ideas. For more information, please contact Lars Hasselblad at ideas-admin@mit.edu. Further information on the IDEAS Competition as it pertains to the 2009 Yunus Innovation Challenge follows immediately below.

ideas competition criteria

The Yunus Innovation Challenge IDEAS Award for 2009 will be given to participants who create an innovative system that solves as many of the problems as possible surrounding energy storage experienced by those living in poverty, for the smallest cost possible. Because the challenge is to improve access to energy storage for the world's poorest populations, systems should aim for a price point that makes intervention accessible to the target community and dissemination or study possible at a large-scale. Affordability will be an important criterion in judging. Other issues to address include, but should not necessarily be limited to:

  • Toxicity
  • Environmental impact
  • Durability
  • Scalabity

The system may involve a physical device, but is not required. In judging between proposals, credit will be given for feasibility, acceptability within the community (i.e. likelihood of adoption) and supporting rationale for how it will address the issues faced. For example, the rationale could include reasoning on why the team decided to focus particular attention on solving one of the issues given. If a team decides that another factor is equally significant, supporting evidence should be given.

The system should be designed to operate in conditions prevalent in households and communities in poor countries where access to basic energy services is limited. Again, participants are encouraged to work on a design with a specific community or region in mind as this can be helpful in identifying constraints and providing context.

Resources

A sampling of resources for participants about energy and energy storage in the developing world follows. There are many more available, so please do not hesitate to ask!

Organizations
Other resources:

For assistance in finding additional resources specific to your project, please contact an MIT librarian.

For more information on the 2010 Yunus Innovation Challenge, please contact Laura Sampath at lsampath@mit.edu