Visiting Bangladesh

was an experience unlike any that I have previously had. 

In Dhaka, I stayed with Jeremy Wendte and two other American Fulbright Fellows, Sloan Kulper and Holly Battelle. Jeremy was a fellow student research assistant at the Arizona State University Solar Power Laboratory until he graduated last December and left the United States to begin his study of solar energy technology usage in Bangladesh. Without the help of these knowledgeable three, I would have been lost in the dirty, wet and overcrowded cityscape in which I found myself. 

Never had I been so grateful for the basic infrastructure which I enjoy in the United States as I was during my stay in Bangladesh. Trash piles lay in smelly heaps on the side of the street. Poorly managed, continually honking traffic congested roads at all hours of the day and night. Electrical and telecommunications wiring was strung up haphazardly in a tangled and indecipherable mess. Power to entire neighborhoods of the city was shut off for hours at a time in order to compensate for insufficient production.

And more shocking than all of these somewhat superficial urban unpleasantries was the fact that 100 million Bangladeshi citizens do not even have inconsistent power to complain about. They have no electrical grid connection at all. 

This unfortunate situation has created a very large market need which a number of organizations are attempting to meet. Grameen Shakti and BRAC are two non-profit organizations which offer a variety of micro-financed energy products to this market. Grameen Shakti's product line includes solar power systems, biogas plants and improved cooking stoves. Visiting Grameen Shakti's corporate headquarters in Dhaka and their regional and branch offices the Phulpur region gave me a unique opportunity to learn about the operation of their organization and see how they are meeting the needs of the Bangladeshi people through solar power.

In the Phulpur region, Holly and I visited a rural market in which a number of Grameen Shakti's solar power systems have been installed. Store owners were excited to speak to us about their systems. Among the many benefits which they enjoyed were extended hours of business at night, improved quality of lighting in comparison to the burning of kerosene, increased income from the renting out of one or more of their lights to fellow shopkeepers and reduced operating costs (after full payment for the system) due to the elimination of their need to purchase kerosene.

A number of solar panels can be seen atop the shops in the market below.

Word of the solar power system's benefits appeared to be moving quickly through town and we were fortunate enough to observe the installation of a new system for a small dry goods store.

Our visit seemed to be the talk of the town. People gathered around to listen to our conversations with store owners as we sat sipping the tea which they had so kindly given us. Before we left, everyone gathered in front of the town tailor's shop for a group photo.

Following our visit to the market, Holly and I visited a number of residences which had Grameen Shakti systems installed. We observed the full spectrum of the Grameen Shakti product line including improved cooking stoves which greatly reduce biomass fuel consumption and indoor air pollution

and biogas plants which create methane which can be used for cooking and heating.

Everywhere we visited, owners were enthusiastic about the benefits of the systems, proudly showing off their new lights, small fans, cell phone chargers and televisions.

One of Grameen Shakti's unique organizational features is the Grameen Technology Center. Throughout Bangladesh, 44 Grameen Technology Centers train and employ women in the construction and repair of the lamp shade and charge controller circuits which are part of the Grameen solar power systems. Holly and I visited the Phulpur region Technology Center and spoke to a few of the women who worked there. Although they found the work repetitive, they expressed great satisfaction that they could work from home and that they could make substantial contributions to their families' incomes due to the work opportunity which Grameen Shakti provided them.

Even in grid connected areas in Bangladesh, the market for solar energy technology is substantial. A growing number of people view distributed solar power generation as a viable solution to cities' power shortages. New legislation encourages the installation of solar panels onto newly constructed buildings and photovoltaic integration was a substantial topic of discussion at the first meeting of the Bangladesh Green Building Council which Jeremy, Holly, Sloan and I attended.

In a fortuitous turn of events, a 1 kW solar power plant was installed on the top of the apartment building in which I was staying only a few days before I left Dhaka, Bangladesh for Tokyo, Japan.

I thought it would be the perfect place for a picture.

Inspired by the unfamiliar surroundings, I stayed up one night to compose this song:

Bengali Bangup by Steve Limpert