Presentation for Richard and Susan

1) Intro and Objective (Sarah)

2) Assessment trip, Conclusion, and how we got there (David)

3) Design Ideas (Ashley)

- Materials (REB and materials) (Laureen and Alex)

- Costs (Laureen and Alex)

4) Collaborations (roles too) (Sarah)

- Soknay/Polin

- Greene & Ronald

5) Conclusion & Questions

- goals, objectives, their thoughts

Drop individual parts in the dropbox folder "Put your slides here"

Notes from 2/15/2011

Our first meeting at the new time of 9:30 AM was quite successful.

The agenda:

1) Mr. Ronald Mierau – email; skype/conference call date; email Kristin

2) Richard and Susan – email date to Dr. Lindner; need to make a presentation

3) Post-Assessment forms ?!?

4) Contact the International Center again

5) Dr. Greene - email Dr. Lindner to obtain contact info

6) Skype with Soknay - email and ask for future availability

During the meeting, we accomplished this list and also received a lovely REB presentation from Laureen. The next meeting will be at 8:30 PM this Thursday the 17th to begin preparing our presentation for Richard and Susan.

Note to everyone: remember to forward all responses you receive to your emails to all group members!

Notes from 2/6/2011

The highlight of last night's meeting was Alex and Sagar's informative presentation on latrine piping, which should be in the dropbox for future reference.

As a side note, we are attempting to change our regular meeting time from 8:00 PM on Sunday to some time during the week, perhaps in the morning. Everyone be sure to fill out the new doodle!

Notes from meeting with Dr. Lindner

Topics that were discussed at Thursday's meeting with Dr. Lindner:

1) Ideas for latrine building

2) Post-assessment forms and phone interview

3) Future meeting dates

Dr. Lindner's suggestions/what we learned from the meeting:

1) Present latrine ideas to SC with a powerpoint.

2) Set up a skype date with Polin and Soknay, schedule before meeting with Richard.

3) Target for Assessment trip is December.

4) Photojournalism students will soon be paired up with our team to document our progress.

5) Dr. Lindner will be available to participate in the post-assessment phone interview.

Also, remember that Banquet is April 6th at 6:00PM in Emerson Alumni Hall.

News from the first week of February

Last Sunday's meeting was general in nature. We discussed a couple of events that we have this week- rebuilding the biogas digester with Jon on Tuesday and the lunch meeting with Dr. Lindner on Thursday.

This morning, Sarah, Laureen, Ashley, and I met at the Energy Park with Jon to deconstruct and begin reconstructing the biogas digester. A few improvements were made to the initial design: we raised the digester more to improve ease of input and output flows, used inner tubes in place of tape when attaching the bag to the PVC pipes, and secured the pipes to the bag by wrapping the bag around the outside of the pipe to prevent the bag from clogging up inside of the pipe. Thanks again, Jon, for letting us help out!

Thursday we will be having our meeting with Dr. Lindner at 11:30 AM at the Arredondo Room in the Union. Please remember that we are meeting at 11:00 AM in front of the Arredondo Room to prepare ourselves.

Also, please remember to read the Post-Assessment forms and research/do whatever it is that Sarah assigned for you to do in her email from 1/30/2011.

As usual, we will be meeting at 8 PM this Sunday in the normal spot.

Notes from 1/23/2011

The night's to-do list:

1) Pre-semester forms

2) Post-assessment forms

3) Email Joshua Knight

4) Professional mentor interest

These goals were mostly accomplished. Also, we discussed ways to improve the speed of our project. We will start having regular, weekly meetings. During the week, we should research latrines and bring something new to discuss at every meeting. Begin building.

Reminders:

Everyone fill out the doodles that David sent! Also, brainstorm outside-of-meetings group bonding events!

Sarah: (1) set a date for meetings (2) find a place we could begin building- ask Mark, Dr. Linder, Dr. Wilkie, and/or farmer? (3) contact Jon to ask about the mentor section of the post-assessment forms (4) research procedures for getting money (5) research closing out project and if we need to do such (6) In the 512, should we talk about what we've done with our grant? Ask Mark and/or Dr. Linder.

Notes from 1/6/2011

Hey Team!

Here are the notes from last night's meeting along with a short list of people and what they need to work on as a reminder at the end:

• Pour-flush latrine - cost effective; adequate water? (ask Polin)
• Tube is a few feet away from the digester
• Squatting plate - expensive - how to reduce cost? (ask Polin)
• VIP latrine - net keeping mosquitoes out
• No light on plate or down tube
• How can we help people who can't afford a digester? Offer a composting or stand-alone latrine; design a stand-alone latrine that could be easily converted to a biogas latrine if family were to later obtain a digester.
• Earthbags as stairs (rice bags filled with dirt)- *advantage: clay and dirt dug up for latrine can be used in the bags

Characteristics:

1. Raised to accommodate flooding
2. Piping: elbow or straight
3. Pour for biogas latrines
4. Opening at top for ventilation
5. Privacy wall- entrance should not face W or E
6. Thatched roof, possibly with metal sheet underneath
7. Stand-alone: double chamber, straight pipe, same infrastructure

Reminders:

Sarah- contact Columbia; return "Comparing Biogas Digesters" email?

Jon- finish Post-Assessment forms

David- email Polin about the following items:

(1) NBP and SC model breakdowns

(2) Squatting plate varieties

(3) Cost of rebar, barbed wire, and metal sheet