POST 01032E : SOLAR REFRIGERATOR

POST 01032E : SOLAR REFRIGERATOR Follow-up on Posts 01019E and 01027E 30 December 2006 ____________________________________ This posting contains three contributions. First an information from Terry Hart (mailto:[email protected]) from India, followed by a comment by Anil Varshney (mailto:[email protected]) also from India. As I made a comment in the previous posting, I feel called upon making a further comment that I will try to keep short. I fully agree that solar energy is an alternate source as pressure on our environment is increasing dramatically and I have nothing against it. But my concern is that meeting our moral obligations as health professionals, we are saving more and more lives which is fine. I see however a widening gap in using more and more advanced technologies to save lives but offering rather little to these lives in terms of destiny. The gap between the wealthy few and the poor masses is widening in catastrophic proportions. We have known for very long the considerable benefits of electrification for rural life and it is quite unacceptable that there would still be areas without reliable supply anywhere in the world in this 21st century. Finally, Robert Davis (mailto:[email protected]) from UNICEF/ESARO discusses the African experience with solar energy. I am not totally convinced that country size explains Eritrean successes. Over 120,000 square kilometers does not make it that small. And I wonder in which state is the road system? Nevertheless, can I ask Bob which advice he would give any country considering solar energy? ____________________________________ There is a solar chill refrigerator model intended for domestic/small commercial use. This model is about to be introduced into India for field trials. These trials will also attempt to understand potential market niches for the product. Terry ----------------------- Sir, It's true that the initial benefit of all innovations is for the rich but with time, as costs come down due to economies of scale, the benefit reaches at lower level (but not necessarily to all). Solar energy is an alternate source and in the long run is cost-effective with the right technologies. Many hotels now use only solar heaters instead of electricity. It will take time before electricity reaches everywhere for all 24 hours, so investment in alternate energy sources is necessary and the right step. Regards, Anil Varshney ---------------------------- Claude, Within eastern and southern Africa, the one country which has succeeded with solar cold chain is Eritrea. Why have the Eritreans succeeded where others have had a mixed experience at best? Look at the map. Every health facility in the country is within a day's drive of Asmara. When a solar unit breaks down anywhere in the country, help is no more than 24 hours away. In larger countries, the distances and telecommunications are such that the solar technicians and the units they should be servicing are too far apart to assure prompt and efficient servicing. The local repairmen, perfectly competent at servicing conventional absorption and compression units, are at a loss to assist with solar units. Under these conditions, solar units can go weeks or months without servicing, and the health facilities either stop vaccinating or go over to other sources of power. Bob ______________________________________________________________________________ All members of the TechNet21 e-Forum are invited to send comments on any posting or to use the forum to raise a new discussion or request technical information in relation to immunization services. The comments made in this forum are the sole responsibility of the writers and do not in any way mean that they are endorsed by any of the organizations and agencies to which the authors may belong. ______________________________________________________________________________ Visit the TECHNET21 Website at http://www.technet21.org You will find instructions to subscribe, a direct access to archives, links to reference documents and other features. ______________________________________________________________________________ To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message to : mailto:[email protected] Leave the subject area BLANK In the message body, write unsubscribe TECHNET21E ______________________________________________________________________________ The World Health Organization and UNICEF support TechNet21. The TechNet21 e-Forum is a communication/information tool for generation of ideas on how to improve immunization services. It is moderated by Claude Letarte and is hosted in cooperation with the Centre de coopération internationale en santé et développement, Québec, Canada (http://www.ccisd.org) ______________________________________________________________________________