Proposed 2023 Student Projects
Project #1: Literature review and review paper on the potential and possible market structure for a philanthropic "impact commodity market"
Project Description: A description and proposal for an "impact commodity market" financing system is available at:
Solar4Africa.org will be attempting to pilot test an initial version this financing system during 2023.
Project Tasks: Compare and contrast thus market design and financing system with other impact-based financing mechanisms including (A) Carbon credits, (B) Results-based Finance, (C) Development bonds, (D) Social return on investment, and (E) Slow capital.
Project coordination: Monthly check- in meetings to discuss research progress and to clarify or revise features and aspects of the proposed impact commodity market.
Qualifications required: General research and writing proficiency.
Project #2: Build and evaluate 12V lithium-titanate-based battery controller and "forever battery" prototype (CLOSED)
Project Description: Lithium titanate (LTO) battery cells have a nominal voltage of 2.4V, and therefore, five cells connected in series create a 12V battery. An individual LTO cell can have a cycle life of greater than 10,000 cycle, but for a 12V battery to have such a long cycle life, it is necessary for all cells to operate in the range of 1.8V to 2.85V.
A Stanford EE Ph.D. student has designed a 12V battery management system and controller that does this, and the current version of the circuit needs to be assembled, tested and evaluated.
Project Tasks: To assemble, operate and monitor a prototype "forever battery." Record and analyze operational data to evaluate battery capacity and any changes in battery capacity over time.
Project coordination: The project implememter (or team) will be provided with parts for battery assembly and will undergo one supervised assembly. Every 4 to 8 weeks the team will prpvide an update on activities, recommendations and results.
Qualifications required: Students that work on this project need to have good EE knowledge and skills and need to be able to build and test electronic circuits.
Project #3: Implement and pilot-test "data collection phone" which records GPS and periodically takes pictures to provide operational data collection for village solar vehicles in rural Malawi (CLOSED)
Project Description: Solar4Africa.org distributes small solar cars in rural Malawi and subsidizes rural villages which lease the vehicles and use them for local transportation services. To collect donations to help subsidize solar car use, data on vehicle use and operation needs to be collected, preferably in real time.
It is therefore desirable to have a cell phone that can be placed in the vehicle that can collect location and usage data in Malawi and that can be periodically called from the US for data downloads.
Project Tasks: Given an unlocked android phone, the phone needs to be configured and/or programmed to continuously collect and store location data. Develop software with appropriate security features that allows the phone to be called to initiate and execute a data download. The solution cannot assume a regular internet connection or continuous cell service for the location monitoring phone. The solution should minimize cost, maximize simplicity, and should not assume availability or access to specific third-party software.
Project coordination: The project should start with a user requirements meeting. Based on that meeting, the project team develops and proposes a solution which is discussed before initial implementation. Next, the team develops a prototype, and the prototype is tested by the user for 2-4 weeks. Feedback is given and the prototype is finalized.
Qualifications required: Ability to program Apps for Android.
Project #4: Provide "effective-altruism-style" benefit/cost estimates for subsidized distribution of solar products in rural Malawi including: "Forever lights", solar pumps for women's groups, solar electric cookers, "12V forever batteries," and small solar cars.
Project Detail: Depending on application, product quality, durability and utilization, the different solar products amd systems that can be distributed to low-income communities in Africa can have an economic benefit/cost ratio that ranges from less than 1:1 to perhaps more than 100:1. In this project student researchers attempt to estimate the probability distribution of cost-effectiveness values for one or several of five solar product interventions being implemented by Solar4Africa.org: (1) Small solar pump systems for rural women's groups, (2) "Forever light" solar lighting systems that are based on Lithium titanate batteries, (3) Solar Electric cookers and cooker systems that allow off-grid solar electric cooking g and water heating, (4) 12V "forever batteries" based on Lithium titanate battery chemistry that replace lead-acid batteries in low-cost off-grid solar systems, and (5) Small solar electric vehicles used in rural villages.
Project Tasks: The specific project tasks involve developing a simple benefit/cost model using the quantification methods used and promoted by the Center for Exploratory Altruism Research (CEARCH). Specifically the final deliverable is an estimate of the expected probability distribution of impact per unit cost for rural Malawian communities where impact is measured in units of DALY/$1000 of cost and DALY/1000kWh of solar electricity use.
Project coordination: For each intervention, there will be an "initiation meeting" where Solar4Africa will provide a "data dump" of the current relevant information plus an initial "back of the envelope" calculation. Subsequently, the researchers will perform a literature review and critical analysis that will result in a final report with the estimated probability distributions of cost-effectiveness.
Qualifications required: An ability to learn, understand and replicate CEARCH's cost-effectiveness analysis, and an ability to review and critically analyze global health and welfare cost-effectiveness research.
Project #5: Developing an empirical cost model for the parts import, assembly, distribution and utilization of high-impact solar products in rural Malawi. (CLOSED)
Project Detail: Solar4Africa.org has ~2 years of detailed accounting data that tracks the cost of import, assembly and distribution of solar products to villages in rural Malawi. In this project researchers use this data to develop a production and distribution cost model for the main four products that Solar4Africa.org distributes. This model will be used to more precisely estimate the marginal cost of each product line and discover new cost efficiencies that might be captured by improvements in Solar4Africa operations.
Project Tasks: Work with Solar4Africa's lead accounting volunteer to receive, understand and process the relevant accounting data and to develop goals and objectives of the cost model. Develop cost model and delivery with accompanying analysis report.
Project coordination: Coordination meeting with Solar4Africa accounting team at least once per month.
Qualifications required: Accounting and business knowledge and analysis skills.
Project #6: Optimize design of "forever light" solar system that is based on lithium titanate (LTO) battery cells
Project Detail: Solar4Africa.org has developed a "forever light" solar system that is built using 10Ah LTO battery cells. The current design uses a 5V solar panel to charge a single 2.4V LTO cell which then is connected both to 3V and 5V loads using very inexpensive buck converters. In this project the team will build and evaluate a prototype of the existing system, and also explore a two-cell design which uses two 2.4V LTO cells connected in series. The team will also explore using different diodes and converters to manage current flows and battery voltages to optimize the efficient operation of the system. The project output will be a report that details the design and performance of the different forever light solar system configuration alternatives.
Project Tasks: Work with Solar4Africa's lead volunteer to receive, understand and replicate prototypes of the existing forever light solar system. Evaluation operation and critique and evaluate the potential operating lifetime of the solar system. Provide a report on the measured, operational prototypes for at least two configuration options. .
Project coordination: Coordination meeting with Solar4Africa lead technical volunteer at least once per month.
Qualifications required: Basic electronics. Ability to monitor, record and analyzed operational data of a small solar lighting and phone charging system.
Project #7: Program and pilot-test a "data collection phone app" which monitors solar electric cooking in women-run collective kitchens so that rural African women's groups can be paid for climate mitigation.
Project Description: Solar4Africa.org as part of its women's-empowerment-through-solar-tech activities establishes rural solar shops run by rural women's collectives. Women in these shops are provided solar electric cookers which the women can use for cooking when the sun is shining. Cooking done on a solar electric cooker enables women to use less charcoal and wood and potentially mitigates from 5 to 15 kilograms of CO2 emissions for every kWh of cooking energy compared to the same cooking that might be fueled by wood or charcoal.
Solar4Africa.org would like to set up a system whereby people in the US can pay women's solar collectives as directly as possible for the climate mitigation that they are organizing and implementing in rural Africa. The solar-electric cookers are less expensive cooker systems that don't have batteries and which operate off of solar panels directly when the sun is shining (See https://mecs.org.uk/blog/an-off-grid-solar-photovoltaic-electric-pressure-cooker-system-that-costs-only-200-in-malawi/). The extra work that the women do to schedule and implement their daily cooking when the sun is shining reduces charcoal and wood consumption at low cost and benefits people globally, especially those of living in countries who are historically high emitters (like the US).
It is therefore desirable to have a cell phone that can be placed in the solar shop near the power display that can collect solar electric cooker usage data in Malawi and which can be periodically called from the US for data downloads.
Project Tasks: Given an unlocked android phone, the phone needs to be programmed to periodically take a picture of a power display for the solar electric cooker, perform OCR on the power data, and store data for later upload to a data collection server. The developed software should have appropriate security features that allows the phone to be called to initiate and execute a data download. The solution cannot assume a regular internet connection or continuous cell service for the location monitoring phone. The solution should minimize cost, maximize simplicity, and should not assume availability or access to specific third-party software.
Project coordination: The project should start with a user requirements meeting. Based on that meeting, the project team develops and proposes a solution which is discussed before initial implementation. Next, the team develops a prototype, and the prototype is tested by the user for 2-4 weeks. Feedback is given and the prototype is finalized.
Qualifications required: Ability to program Apps for Android.