Greening telecentres: economic sustainability through clever adaptations

I have always been intrigued how people, through clever adaptations of nature, have been able to work with their environment to make it more hospitable. Electricity and hydrocarbons have allowed us to ignore nature, but in emerging markets, often that luxury does not exist and more and more we are returning to these ideas. In some cases they were never forgotten, but simply ignored. Mennonites here in Ontario use ventilation systems to keep their barns free from flies and to keep their animals cool. The people of Dogon country in Mali use metres of plant matter to keep their meeting spaces, the toguna, cool. And the opal miners of Coober Pedy, Australia, dug their village into the earth to avoid the sweltering heat of the desert. The need for these types of green techniques has resurfaced as fuel prices have risen and as rural communities in less clement conditions than where we are have begun to build new economies.

We have over the past few years begun to integrate these techniques into our work. The principal question asked to our firm is how can we make a project more sustainable. Generally the answer is simple, keep costs low and provide things that create value to your beneficiaries. Though simple, it is sometimes hard to trim the fat. Working back from the financial statements, there were two areas that we most often find, which can often be trimmed. The first is the Internet connection and the second, electricity. In places like Mali, where Internet and electricity are expensive, reducing these costs can be imperative for an ICT project's sustainability. As capital costs are generally paid for by donors, it is the operating costs (monthly costs) that must be kept low. Even when loans supported by donors are used for the capital procurement, it is still the operating costs that must be given the greatest attention (as long as there are positive future cash flows that are higher than the interest rate, than the project will create economic value and be able to repay a loan). Thus, we focus on lowering operating costs. Trimming here, however, takes some creativity and know-how. To lower bandwidth costs, in Mali and Congo we designed a low bandwidth and low energy computer. Though this solution might seem obvious, few telecentres are using such systems to assure that a telecentre lives within its means. Generally, most telecentres rush to provide "full speed Internet." Donors are used to dropping off shiny new items and beneficiaries in the developing world typically want the fastest, nicest and biggest that people in developed countries are also using. I remember on several occasions seeing our beneficiaries completely unimpressed by our sensible and in-ornate solutions. They wanted a full-size computer or satellite dish and not some tiny box. By using these little boxes, however, we can lower the operating costs of the typical telecentre by factors.

To further lower the operating costs of telecentres, we have proposed using green building technologies. This, as mentioned above, isn't a new or radical technique, but one that humankind has known for some time and something that is still used by some. Technologies like geothermal and evapourative cooling can lower the costs of a telecentre by reducing the need for fans and air conditioners. Trombe walls, can absorb isolation (heat from the sun), and the use of innovative ventilation can keep a telecentre cool, without an air conditioner -- or simply, for those hot hours of the day, you turn off the computers and have a siesta. By using such technologies a telecentre can significantly lower its power usage and can often be much more able to endure periods without grid supplied power, as the centre can focus its energy reserves on computers and not fans or air conditioners.

Though these ideas have been tried, such as by a group that we worked with from the University St. Tomas, these ideas have still not been adequately employed. It may be that they are too radical for funders and locals alike, but to assure sustainability these sustainable techniques must be used now. It is irresponsible to install a telecentre without using the right technology and employing the best practices and in many places sustainable buildings are needed to support sustainable projects. Join my campaign to prevent silly telecentre installations and for the sake of these enterprises, think green!


Picture 1: A telecentre in rural Congo (DRC), that we helped to lower its power use so that it could operate more hours of the day. The building was too hot for many days of the year to be used and most power was exhausted on fans. Some creative ventilation would have saved tremendous amounts of energy.

Picture 2: A water cooled computer. This computer was our server and we placed the radiator outside of the office where we worked (through a hole drilled in the wall). This meant that the computer exhausted its heat away from us, keeping us both cooler.