‘These people spend upwards of 30 per cent of their disposable income on lighting’
What is the Global Lighting Initiative?
My students and I are using solar panels and converting the energy into electricity. A simple battery stores the charge and during the night we’re using the energy to light the homes with LED in developing countries. [A project inspired by Light Up the World ]. According to the World Bank approximately 1.6 billion people live without access to electrical energy. A lot of those people can afford some type of lighting but unfortunately don’t use the current technology; they use kerosene lanterns and candles.
Candles and kerosene sound ancient by our standards.
It’s a huge burden on their disposable income. I just came back from Talamanc Costa Rica about a week ago. These people spend upwards of 30 per cent of their disposable income on lighting.
Is it just a few solar panels that feed all the households or is each unit separate?
It depends on how the village is structured. In Costa Rica the village is not a typical central village where houses are close together so it doesn’t make sense to use a central system. The houses are far apart so each one receives its own micro-system.
So how much would a single-house unit like the ones used in Costa Rica cost?
These were being sold to families at a subsidized cost of about $200. The true cost of the system is probably $300.
What difference does this lighting make for people?
It’s tough to describe. We had a power outage while in Costa Rica and I was ready to get down on my knees and crawl back to the hotel because I couldn’t see a thing. In Calgary it’s impossible to get that kind of darkness. It became very obvious to me that I had to get involved in those types of projects because I was drawn to it personally and could see a tremendous opportunity for our students to get involved.
So was it easy to get students on board?
Yes. It’s very easy for them to understand the application of the technology and the impact it can have on a person’s life. My current goal is to get funding for my students to go the following year in May or in the summer.
Where would you to take your students?
Well Costa Rica is a relatively easy country to travel in and to get to and relatively safe. I also don’t want to forget Canada and our northern aboriginal communities. Some of the communities up north are using diesel to generate their power and the cost per kilowatt hour run over $2 — in Alberta we pay seven cents.
We probably take it for granted. We turn on a light and never think twice about it.
It’s not that we’re not capable of understanding we’re often just too busy and too far into development and technology. It’s very hard to go back and think how it was before we had cellphones or how we lived before we had external energy.
Something I learned taking the courses at the U of C was that the human body needs about 100 watts of power to sustain itself. In Canada we use 100 times that amount by extracting energy from the Earth renewable sources and so on.
In order for us to sustain our standard of living we’re using 10000 watts of power on average per person in Canada.
That’s shocking.
It is. And it’s a very revealing fact. I believe that it’s an exponential curve; we’re very power hungry and we keep looking for more.
I went to Costa Rica having this noble idea that I’m going to help somebody. But when I got there and it was a very powerful experience and realization going there to try and help someone is not an easy thing to do. I tried to put myself in their shoes; these people are not much different than us. They have the same capabilities they’re happy they smile their children go to school. They don’t have as many toys as we do but they live a happy life.
Trying to imagine someone coming to my door telling me ‘You guys need help’ would be a hard thing for me to imagine and hard to accept. So this notion of helping people changed me a lot. In many ways I’ve been helped by watching them live with fewer material things distractions from the real life things like children.
That’s interesting because you often hear how unhappy people are in western culture.
The people in Costa Rica are very capable smart and have a very positive view of the world and of life in general and I feel like they would have a lot to offer and help us in our society — maybe more than we have to offer them.
I would like people to know that the people who live in these areas don’t need help in terms of our pity but they just need equal access to energy. One thing in Talamanca they don’t have any steel they build everything out of wood. Every house has a fireplace built out of wood.
That doesn’t sound very safe.
No it doesn’t but it works. I want to use this example to say if you’re ingenious to build a fireplace out of wood then you must be pretty smart and resourceful. These people are capable of helping themselves; all they need is access to energy.
You said you were drawn to this personally. Can you explain that?
My career as an electrical engineer led me to several different jobs and schools and I always struggled to find the type of job and career that I could really say I was completely drawn to and immersed in. I’ve had many fantastic jobs but never had one where my professional and technical skills could play a significant role or impact someone’s life. This was something I could do that tied my technical skills and personal beliefs together.
Was it tough to talk SAIT into this project?
It started last year when I got a group of students who were interested in the application of renewable energy and LED technologies. I kind of steered them towards this application and it wasn’t hard for them to understand the potential and the need. So four of them worked on developing a lighting system and integrating the existing technology. It received a good response from other students and instructors.
It also happens to be aligning with the corporate direction and policies at SAIT which is student retention engagement and general education not just technical education.
You have an audible accent. Where were you born?
I was born in Serbia in a city called Novi Sad. I grew up there and moved to Canada when I was 19 with my family. I just turned 36. I think that plays a part in all of this. I’m very proud of my heritage. I haven’t lived without power but I know that my grandparents did and I’ve seen life without electricity the way we know it.
