Our Ceo Mike Peterson?
17 December 2008
Ghanaian, U.S. Universities Collaborate on Solar Energy Projects
Schools focus on sharing knowledge and building intercultural skills
This wind tunnel at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana was restored with help from Minnesota State University.By Nancy L. Pontius
Special Correspondent
Littleton, Colorado — Mechanical engineering students in Ghana and the United States are designing and building inexpensive solar-powered water heaters made with tire inner tubes, rubber sheets and other locally available African materials.
Their work is supported in part by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in its People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) national design competition. (See “U.S. College Students Offer Innovations in Global Sustainability.”)
The effort builds on years of partnership between Minnesota State University – Mankato (MSU) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana on shared projects and faculty interaction. This spring, MSU celebrated its relationship with KNUST with lectures and activities focusing on Ghana.
In villages of developing countries such as Ghana, access to hot water is limited. Home water heaters are expensive to own and operate. Typically, wood is burned to heat water, which contributes to air pollution, deforestation and health hazards, Saeed Moaveni, MSU professor, told America.gov.
Students from both colleges are working together to compare different designs for solar-powered water heaters, looking for high efficiency, low cost, ease of assembly and use of local materials.
“The hot water heaters use solar energy to heat 50 gallons [190 liters] of water to 120 degrees in a matter of hours, which replaces burning three to four pounds [1.36 to 1.8 kilograms] of firewood and eliminates 1 pound [0.45 kilograms] of CO2 emission,” MSU student Chris Esser said.
Heated water then can be used for grooming, bathing and cleaning. The system also can heat indoor air, such as in a greenhouse to grow food in winter months in colder African climates.
In February 2009, three MSU students will travel to Ghana to test the solar collectors. “The trip will be a great opportunity to experience engineering from a different point of view, removing the emphasis on economic gain,” said MSU student Mike Peterson.
MSU students also received an EPA award to study the feasibility of producing low-wattage electricity from a solar chimney, a structure that funnels air heated by solar energy through a turbine in a central tower.
“We are verifying the feasibility of small-scale chimneys that could produce power for areas completely off the power grid,” said MSU student Derek Gramstad.
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