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Multifunction Platform Project

The Columbia University student chapter of EWB-USA, together with Pilgrim – a Ugandan NGO – is implementing a Multi-function Energy Platform (MFP) pilot program in the Teso region of Uganda as a response to the inaccessibility of agricultural processing and the high cost of energy in impoverished, rural communities. An MFP is a Listeroid diesel engine, mounted on a fixed frame, which can be attached to various agricultural processing units and generators via a pulley system. The MFP pilot program is an innovative, environmentally friendly endeavor that involves the implementation of these engines in rural farming cooperatives that have been established by Pilgrim, in response to past turmoil in the Teso region.
A modification kit has been designed and analyzed to allow the MFPs to be fueled by straight vegetable oil. Our program is working with Pilgrim to explore the possibility of establishing a biofuel supply chain to provide fuel for the engines, specifically using the non-traditional fuel source, jatropha – an emerging and promising inedible biofuel feedstock that grows abundantly in Uganda and could offer a sustainable energy source for the MFPs. Ideally, community members would be able to cultivate and harvest jatropha seed, use the oil to fuel their own MFP engine, and sell surplus oil in a larger biofuel market.

The MFP technology has the potential to improve the quality of life of thousands of farmers throughout Uganda by letting them focus their time on more profitable or educational activities, and by being a sustainable power- and revenue-generating re source. The services provided by each MFP engine are used to generate revenue in each community, as the services are offered to community members and others for a small fee, as pre-determined by the community. The profits are then put toward maintenance costs, fuel costs, and healthcare and school fees. Four MFPs are now running in rural locations throughout the Teso region. With the help of Pilgrim and students at Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda), the Columbia University student chapter of EWB-USA installed two MFPs with miller attachments in the sub-counties of Orungo and Usuk in May 2009, and implemented an eight-week training program at each site. n May 2010, our program increased the capacity of the two initial sites by working with a local electrician to install Permanent Magnetic Generator (PMG) alternators, small-scale power grids, and battery charging stations at each site.
In January, 2011, Pilgrim and Makerere University continued to scale up the on-going pilot project by installing two additional MFPs in the Tubur and Anyara sub-counties of Uganda, following the implementation and training models established with the help of the Columbia University student chapter.
In June 2011, members of the chapter will return to the MFP sites to implement a Cyclone Overflow Exhaust System (COES) for the mill attachment. The COES has been designed to reduce the amount of excess flour being released into the MFP structures as a result of milling. Through the system’s implementation, respiratory complications and mechanical damage at each site will be avoided. Additionally, members will implement new cell phone data collection technologies such as Open Data Kit and continue assessing the sites and villages and determine further improvements.

Rainwater-Harvesting System
During an assessment trip in the summer of 2009, however, Pilgrim identified the need to repair the rainwater-harvesting
system of the boarding school, Beacon of Hope College, which they run.
In the summers of 2009 and 2010, groups of students from our program travelled to Uganda and conducted a specific assessment trips to analyze the problem and take measurements of sources reliability, water pricing, water quality, amongst other important factors to consider. Although the possibility of the implementing a water distribution system existed, the school administration preferred to simply repair the existing water system and to install two more, so as to not increase the school’s monthly water bill.
Beacon of Hope College has a population of over 500 high school-aged students in addition to teachers and staff members. Thus, they would all be benefited by the implementation of the three rainwater-harvesting systems. During the assessment trips, Columbia students
were able to spent time with the school students, and we learned that most of them are from the Teso region; some were forced to be child soldiers during an insurgency of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), while others have dealt with the burden of raising their siblings
in the absence of parents. All of the students live in the dormitories within the school’s grounds.
This semester we concluded the design for the entire rainwater-harvesting system, including the tank sizing, gutters, first-flush, and water treatment. We have presented our design in front of a panel of Professional Engineers, as well as to EWB-USA Technical Advisory Committee. Our group of students from our team will be traveling to Uganda this summer to implement the three systems. We wish them Godspeed.

Meetings: Friday, 5:30 pm 834 Mudd

Program Manager: Alison Ferris, amf2172@columbia.edu
Program Liaison: Ivett Ortega , ivettortega@gmail.com
Program Secretary: Min Ye Shen, ms3493@columbia.edu