The New Hope for Haiti Project: Port-au-Prince, Haiti
The 2010 earthquake provided an opportunity to rebuild an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti which improved the living conditions and reduced the carbon footprint of the operations at the orphanage. Michael Hendrix led a team of climate action planning consultants to evaluate existing conditions, document the current greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the activities occurring at the orphanage, and develop carbon reduction strategies that would reduce the carbon footprint and significantly improve the lives of those that worked and lived at the orphanage. This project allowed our team to think outside the box and provide some innovative solutions that fit the circumstances.
Cooking with Solar
One big change was to transition meal cooking from gas stoves and small charcoal cookers to solar cookers. This required meals to be cooked during the daylight which required scheduling changes on meals.
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Cooking constituted the second highest source of greenhouse gas emissions and health impacts to those cooking the meals.
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Using the commercial scale solar cookers, increased cooking capacity as well as reduce emissions and improve health.
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Training sessions were conducted to assist the staff in how to safely cook with solar. the oven gets really hot.
Cooking with Charcoal. Messy, polluting, and a health hazard.
Now this is cooking! No pollution, no health issues, just clean hot food.
Dry Composting Toilets
The orphanage had the unfortunate circumstances of using a septic tank system that was too small for the population. This resulted in the septic tank overflowing allowing raw sewage to seep above ground and sit in putrid puddles and ponds. In addition, the orphanage relied upon onsite well water that was contaminated with sewage. This was a clear health and safety hazard for everyone at the orphanage. The earthquake destroyed the septic system. Rather than replace it, our team built dry composting toilets that significantly improved living conditions.
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Because the septic tank was significantly undersized, the system posed a danger even before the earthquake. Replacing it with an in-kind system was out of the question.
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Dry composting toilets include a solar drying system that disinfects and dehydrates the waste, allowing it to be removed and used as compost
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Training focused on how to safely empty, clean, and use the compost, as well as maintain and repair the system.
The first test of a dry composting toilet .
Replacing Diesel with Solar
The orphanage had a diesel generator to supply electricity when the grid was down, and the grid was down a lot. Solar panels kept getting stolen, so the team came up with an ingenious solution: provide self-contained solar lights to each of the students and staff at the orphanage. This allowed everyone to continue to work, study, and go on with life when the power went down without firing up the diesel generator.
The boys trying out the solar lights.