Cal Poly Humboldt
IN-4: Innovation 4

Improving the human condition and our environment is a core part of the HSU vision. Frequently, faculty and students apply this vision to their activities beyond our borders. BHUTAN: A Humboldt State University team, composed of Environmental Resources Engineering undergraduate and graduate students, related faculty, and Schatz Energy Research Center engineers, has enabled a small community of rural electricity users to stabilize their isolated renewable energy mini-grid and curb brownouts by installing GridShare "smart grid" devices in Bhutan. The GridShare devices, which were designed and made by HSU students, allow residents in the village of Rukubji to monitor their electric system and adjust their use of large appliances to maintain a more reliable electric supply for the entire village. A display in each resident’s kitchen activates a green LED light when there is enough electricity available for them to run their high-power appliances, such as rice cookers and water boilers. A red LED light notifies users when to limit their use of high-power appliances and use only low-power appliances, such as lights and TVs. The GridShare further enforces this limit by temporarily cutting power to a household that attempts to plug in a large appliance when the red LED is lit. While in Bhutan, the Humboldt State team conducted an extensive outreach program to educate the Rukubji community about Grid Shares and discuss ways to manage their electric power consumption. The Humboldt State team made bilingual posters and pamphlets, hosted community meetings, conducted in-home visits and led educational programs for 4th-6th grade students in the schools. To fund this project, HSU’s Renewable Energy Student Union won a $75,000 People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) design award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This initial pilot project was successful and demonstrated the potential for innovative demand-side management strategies, like the GridShare, to improve the quality of electricity provided by isolated renewable energy-powered mini-grids. The project involved collaboration with the Bhutan Power Corporation, the Bhutan Department of Energy, and the village of Rukubji. More information is available at http://www.schatzlab.org/projects/developingworld/gridshare.html DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: A diverse team of Humboldt State students and Dominican students collaborate with a Dominican University (UNIBE), a local architecture group (Colectivo Revark), and local communities to develop and build appropriate technologies through the Practivistas Program. The Practivistas Program directed by ERE faculty member, Lonny Grafman, has worked with ERE, non-ERE students, and community members in Mexico for five years and in Dominican Republic for two years building and sharing appropriate technologies. Past projects include improved cookstoves, rainwater catchment systems, adobe homes, solar vaccine refrigeration, biogas digestion, and more. These initiatives are developed and shared through community meetings and online. In Summer 2011, Humboldt State students studied appropriate technology and Spanish while working with community members of La Yuca to build a schoolroom from plastic bottles and cement, lit with solar and homemade wind power from bike parts and industrial waste, that catches its own rainwater for cleaning and drinking. In Summer 2012, students returned to Dominican Republic to continue the learning and community collaboration. Students worked with community members of La Yuca to make the renewable energy system more hurricane safe and durable, and to make the rainwater catchment more potable and tested. In addition, students worked in Las Malvinas to design and build a classroom from plastic bottles, cement, sawdust, papercrete and industrial wood waste for 25 grade school students. More information is available at http://www.practivistas.org.

Both of these programs allow Environmental Resource Engineering students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in their field of study while serving another community. In Bhutan, HSU students installed Smart Grid devices to stabilize electricity use in the community of Rukubji. In the Dominican Republic, HSU students used recycled materials to create classrooms for the elementary students of La Yuca and Las Malvinas. Both projects were successful in creating change and spreading conservation awareness in their respective communities, while upholding access to education in areas facing economic challenges.