Bangladesh: Hello from above and beyond!

That title could very well have been true since Dhaka has been gracing me with far too many NDEs. Road accidents have been a part and parcel of my life here and everyday is a new adventure. I was taking a cycle-rickshaw (the most vulnerable and impractical vehicle to use in a megacity, but also the cheapest for short distances) to the Grameen Headquarters the other day when I got hit from the back by a car. Now this happens almost everyday, except this time I flew out of my seat and would have smacked my head on the road if it hadn’t been for the driver (rider?). I grabbed on to him instinctively, and he grabbed on to me, pushing me back onto the seat. The whole thing was a little inappropriate and embarrassing but it saved my life so I’m not complaining. Now I didn’t have any spiritual epiphanies, but it was a near-death experience alright.

So amidst all the chaos of me trying to stay alive and Michael Jackson dying (I’m still not over it!), I have conveniently neglected my blog. But there’s so much to tell you! I have been spending time researching with Grameen Shakti, a Grameen sister company dedicated to providing renewable energy to the rural poor. Currently, they provide solar home systems and biogas plants to rural households, both being very decentralized (not connected to any main grid). For Bangladesh, renewable energy has been a “necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention” type of development. With over 60% of Bangladesh’s population off the government electricity grid, much of Bangladesh’s growth has been hindered.

What’s interesting to note is that both the rich and the poor (to speak in general terms) are affected by this, unlike other developing countries like India, for example. Rich (relatively) cities in Bangladesh face the same problem poor villages do when it comes to electricity. There’s just not enough. It is most definitely a productivity killer for businesses too; I was in the supermarket the other day buying bottled water (yes, I have been terribly un-eco friendly this trip ) and walked up to the register to pay for it only to find out their computers were off because of the power shortage and so they couldn’t process my payment. They lost a bunch of customers that day and I bet they regretted going automated. Some places have generators to keep the basic appliances running during a power shortage, but even then, it doesn’t solve the root problem. The government of Bangladesh recently switched to daylight savings in an attempt to conserve energy and while it’s made a slight difference, there’s still a long way to go. To quantify the problem, Bangladesh currently generates about 3800 MW a day, while the demand is about 5000 MW. Being a delta with several rivers cutting across it, it’s very difficult to bring the whole nation under one electric grid.

In light of all of this, investment in renewable energy is both necessary and revolutionary. Currently, Grameen Shakti imports its solar panels and components from Japan, China and Singapore making the end product fairly expensive, even for the middle-class. As always, Grameen has been one step ahead and have a payment plan in place where a poor rural household can buy a solar home system on “credit” and pay it back over 3 years. It has worked brilliantly, especially given the fact that a lot of their customers are Grameen Bank borrowers too. Holistic development . But it might be more cost-effective if the solar panels were “home made”, since labor is cheap (there might have to be extra investment in Quality Control though). So what I’ve been trying to study with them is how to make the whole process more efficient. Another intern who’s an engineering major has been working to see if he can put together a solar panel himself, to basically prove to Grameen Shakti that it was possible. They called him crazy . I (probably a little nuts myself) loved the idea and have been trying to see how we could put the whole supply chain into function and estimate costs to gauge efficiency. It’s been interesting!

After its success in rural villages, Grameen Shakti is trying to move in to urban areas. This would help take a lot of stress off the national grid and become back-up energy in times of power failures. Like I said earlier, solar home systems are still very decentralized which can be a disadvantage. Some countries, like London I believe, have the panels connected to a grid from which they can either feed off of or give back to. In case of the latter, it can actually generate income, making it a strong incentive for potential customers. I visited a village to check out the solar home systems and biogas plants in action. It was interesting but some of the interns and I had a few ideas on how to make it more efficient. I’ll save that for my report though

Here’s a few pictures to catch you up!

The cute street kid that asks me for "aiss kleem" (the only 2 english words she knows) every time she sees me

Urban Squalor

On a different note, since I used the word revolutionary up there a couple of times, I must say Bangladesh is full of revolutionary people and organizations; a lesson or two for other countries. More on that in my next post!

Allah Hafiz!

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