D-lab Lesotho Team Leader

Matt Orosz, mso@mit.edu
Kate Steel, ksteel@mit.edu

Regional Partners

Bethel Business and Community Development Center
BBCDC was founded in 1993 as a sustainable community committed to rural development, education, permaculture and innovations in renewable energy.

Possible Projects for D-lab 2004-2005

Off-Grid Power with Solar Concentrators:
Because the electric grid is limited to the urban periphery of Lesotho the majority of the population living in rural areas are forced to rely on diesel gensets, liquid natural gas (LNG) or photovoltaic panels (PV) to power household appliances, lights, pumps, hammer mills or water heaters. Diesel and LNG have recurring costs and are difficult to transport in the mountainous interior, while PV systems are generally cost prohibitive beyond simple lighting and basic entertainment. Given a lack of progress in extending the grid, a more enduring and realistic solution to rural energy demand is distributed generation. One relatively cheap locally devised method for harnessing Lesotho's abundant sunlight is a reflective parabolic trough concentrator that converts solar radiation into thermal energy. This approach has been implemented at the Bethel Business and Community Development Center (BBCDC) in MohaleÕs Hoek district to cook loaves of bread. Their end-loading absorber tube can effectively cook loaves of bread in about 30 minutes of direct insolation. The frame is made from arc-welded aluminum tubing and heavier pipe with reflective sheet aluminum for the parabola mirror. Drawbacks of the design include irregularities in the optics, some thermal efficiency losses, and design difficulties affecting ease of construction, assembly and mounting. The challenge faced by our team is to enhance the efficiency and ease of construction of the parabolic trough, and to extend its usefulness by enabling it to generate mechanical energy and electricity via steam production.

Related Links

CIA World Factbook, Lesotho:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/lt.html

Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN):
http://www.lecongo.org.ls/

Lesotho Government Online
http://www.lesotho.gov.ls/

The CDC website with recommendations for travellers to Lesotho:
http://www.cdc.gov/travel/safrica.htm

The US Dept. of State travel site with advice and information for travellers to Lesotho:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/lesotho.html