Queen Elizabeth Scholars 4 Energy Access

I joined the Burro team as a R&D Fellow from May to August 2018, where I was an active team member contributing to ongoing research projects in a variety of agricultural spaces. The R&D team is a diverse student-led team, expected to implement a human-centered design approach to problem-solving to meet the needs of local people. Human-centered design is about building empathy and collaborating with the people you are designing for, generating innovative ideas, building prototypes, sharing these with the people you are designing for, and eventually putting the context specific product out into the world. 

One of my key deliverables was to contribute to the first stages (inspiration & ideation) of designing an improved Shea butter nut roaster for use in Northern Ghana and present a holistic design brief to the Burro team regarding the team's findings. This project, with grant support from USAID, seeks to make the roasting of Shea healthier, cleaner, and more productive for the women of Ghana. 

Human-centered design 101: Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation

Conversations are key to truly understanding the problem you are trying to solve.

Greatness comes at the end of your comfort zone.

Team work makes the dream work

My fellowship in Ghana gave me the opportunity to turn my classroom knowledge into action. The opportunity to work closely with ethical development leaders broadened my personal and professional knowledge of the tools necessary to achieve the triple bottom line objectives that drive social enterprises. The highlight of this experience was seeing positive change in action and utilizing my professional skills to support Burro's change-makers in empowering vulnerable populations and increasing the standard of living for rural communities across Ghana. After I complete my graduate degree, I plan to use my interdisciplinary skill set to continue to work on implementing the SDGs, be an ally for underserved groups, and advocate for a more equitable world. 

Graphical Information System for Cultivating Sales Leads

One of the issues that Burro faces is the need to continuously cultivate leads in a country where a lot of communication is done via word of mouth. It's difficult to locate a community that primarily farms cassava without physically going to the community and asking or knowing someone within the community. One way to work around this issue is by using available datasets like census data. Reliable datasets can be hard to come by in a developing country, and when they are available, they are often patchy or outdated. Datasets often have to be cleaned up or linked to another dataset before they can be useful.

To overcome this issue, Burro can make use of graphical information systems to display relevant data. For example, after the data manipulation, a heat map with several overlays of properties like connection to the electrical grid, access to groundwater, type of crops cultivated, etc. This way Burro can confidently identify areas of interest and prepare accordingly to each unique community. Being able to cultivate sales leads without using a social network throughout Ghana will open up new areas of opportunity for Burro to grow as a company. 

Interning at Burro has been an incredibly valuable experience both personally and professionally. Working with such a diverse team in R&D and collaborating with other departments in the company showed me how important written and verbal communication skills are. Our R&D team had up to eight interns working on different projects in different stages of the product development process at any time. Full-time Burro staff were involved in a number of different projects and could not always be up-to-date on everything. This situation showed me that finding ways to effectively and efficiently communicate my ideas and concerns was incredibly important. 

Towards the end of my internship, I had the opportunity to take on some of the responsibilities of a project coordinator, which further stressed to me the importance of good communication. I also had the opportunity to refine my engineering skills in a challenging environment. Through rapid prototyping with limited access to materials, I learned clever ways of developing minimal viable products with sub-par materials and novel fabrication techniques. I was also able to familiarize myself with software tools, including QGIS and MS-Access, and through working with the repair department, I was exposed to many electrical engineering concepts and techniques. 

Testing LoRa module for longer-range communication

One of my projects at SteamaCo was testing of a new LoRa module capable of communicating greater distances between the edge and the core. Testing the LoRa module consisted of a sequence of range tests in a large field to find the greatest possible distance within a 3 km radius, along with a range of 5 frequencies. Use of the binary search algorithm was helpful in saving time spent for achieving the furthest distance. If the bounds of the search are defined (which they are), it is optimal to search at the midpoint, and set one of the bounds to the midpoint depending on whether the result was greater or less than the midpoint. This method is much better than iterating backwards or forwards, which was the original plan.

The results of the test were excellent: there was an average 98% data return, meaning that the data sent from the core to the LoRa module (which simulated the edge) was received with 98% accuracy. The maximum range reached was 2 km.

The results of this test have allowed Steamaco to pursue using the new LoRa module for the core and edge, enabling better communication that creates a more stable system which in turn positively influences customers saving energy through smart meters. 

Interning at SteamaCo has been very valuable in impressing upon me the importance of communication and software design. By communication, I mean not only through code but also verbal communication, including asking for help/advice/information through any channel. Improving my communication was key to acquiring help much more easily from coworkers because I was able to clearly communicate the issue I was having, what solutions I had already iterated upon, and what I think is causing the issue. 

With regard to software design, I have learned features of Django that allow for abstraction and organizational hierarchy within code. As well, I have learned to make use of serializers, pagination, inner joins, views and viewsets, and many more Django/MVC concepts. 

Through pair programming with my CTO and senior software engineer, I learned to make good use of my IDE and debugger to pinpoint the source of errors and bugs. By questioning the decisions behind the code we were working on, I have developed a more mature understanding of how to develop code. Even if the context in which I gained this knowledge may have been specific to the application, the concept itself stayed with me, and that is something I can easily generalize to any relevant problem. 

- Supported several major ongoing initiatives: a detailed analysis of SteamaCo’s communications costs and reduction opportunities, assessing the success of customers’ mini-grid projects, and supporting the delivery of SteamaCo’s metering hardware through electronics testing.

- Made key contributions to SteamaCo’s efforts to reduce its operating costs via efficiency improvements in its data communications.

- My work on analysis of data costs was used directly to identify opportunities for cost reductions by reducing waste, compressing data, and making use of lower-cost channels. SteamaCo has continued using the system I used, to monitor key performance indicators of mini-grids, which has been key in reducing operational costs.

- From March to December 2018, SteamaCo was able to reduce the costs of its metering communications by over 90%, and was able to pass these savings on to customers, which in turn allowed them to expand their sites more quickly and provide affordable electricity to a greater number of consumers. The analysis conducted was instrumental in achieving this goal, especially at a time when the company was highly resource constrained.

HITCH

Self-Directed Initiatives

For the majority of my internship with HITCH, I was the only member of the HITCH team in Nigeria. My work was therefore very self-directed in nature, and I was given a large degree of freedom by the HITCH leadership to undertake initiatives that I felt would benefit HITCH and our pilot customers. Two of these projects were particularly successful and the experience of leading them will stay with me for the rest of my life. 

The first was an after-school outreach program focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which emerged out of a desire to use the HITCH platform as a means to provide African people with information that is useful in a development context and connects them with global-scale issues and movements. Every week I visited a school in the evening to find students lined up and waiting to learn about one of the Sustainable Development Goals through using the HITCH device content. The enthusiasm was infectious and inspiring, particularly when I ran the program for a 'Ladies of Tech' club at one of the schools, and we covered gender equality with a heavy focus on the 'Women in Technology'. Overhearing "forget Mark, you can call me Martha Zuckerburg" or "that will be us in a few years, girl" caused a swell of pride in the work that HITCH was doing. For me, it clearly illustrates the potential of such a platform. 

The second initiative was with an 'inclusive' school, wherein students with disabilities are taught alongside students without them. These are rare in Nigeria, as are learning resources tailored to students with disabilities. While the HITCH content impressed many of the students and staff, a large group of students at the school were deaf. We, therefore, included numerous videos with sign language and subtitles on a subsequent visit. It was incredibly fulfilling seeing the joy in these students when they were presented with educational content that was tailored just for them. The vigour with which they signed their thanks to me is a testament to the impact that educational interventions such as these can have. 

Throughout my placement and ongoing work with HITCH, I have learned, or improved upon, many different skills. One of the most important skills learned was being able to translate observed behaviours into effectual feedback. Many teachers and students when working with the HITCH platform for the first time, under my observation, did not want to appear to be struggling or not understanding how to navigate the platform. This presented a challenge for me in getting honest feedback about the usability of the product — I learned to watch closely and systematically observe how pilot users interacted with the device. I also created an anonymous feedback form, to be handed out to all the teachers and students during their training and collected the following week. Immediately, I found that the results were deeper and more actionable. 

In working with a fast-growing startup, I also learned the importance of scalability. If I was to make the most of the feedback that we were gaining, I would have to ensure the replicability of our processes for monitoring our customers' use of the HITCH device. I, therefore, began to use the same evaluation process with each interaction, whether it be sales, marketing, training, monitoring or evaluating. I found this to be incredibly useful for helping to plan the next step in the strategic growth of the company, for which I was being relied upon to produce useful input.  

As one of seven Fellows, I was paired with a CBO to assist in launching a clean energy enterprise. The mission statement of my CBO was inspiring: to empower abandoned young parents with the information and skills for economic independence, and provide health facilities to vulnerable widows and children. Their core values were ones I felt I could relate to strongly; values such as integrity, diversity, commitment, social justice, dignity, competence, and sharing.

I did two field work assessments — one in Kitende and one in Mukono. In Kitende, I visited a school building project, and in Mukono I was introduced to a number of women who were HIV positive and witnessed their struggle. Listening to their stories was heartbreaking and made me feel uncomfortable to be born with such economic privilege. 

I then relocated to Kisoga, a village near Mukono, to conduct energy market research. I conducted 18 verbal surveys with simultaneous translations from English to Lugandan. These survey results revealed detrimental health impacts from traditional charcoal stove usage, including allergies, burns, chest pain, coughing, lung cancer, flu and eye irritation. Despite this, many of the people that I spoke to believed that they had no other viable options for cooking. 

After market research, my CBO decided to invest in Briketi Briquettes, as market penetration of briquettes in Kisoga may benefit residents' health and economic livelihood. It was surprising to find that this was the first time that these products had been made available in the village. It also became evident that every village has a different product need. In Kisoga, briquettes were most impactful, whereas in Lwengo, D.Lights were critical for reducing paraffin and kerosene for lighting. Following this market research, I maintained relationships with product suppliers, arranged transportation for these clean energy products, tracked sales, and marketed products to the village.

During my final month in Uganda, I worked as an intern for ENVenture's sister organization, ENVision Mobile. They have created an Android application that aims to improve financial inclusivity and literacy for low-income microentrepreneurs. 

- Just because an organization seems to be working towards a good cause, doesn't always mean that you should support it. Passion without credibility will not sustain itself. 

- It's a better investment to support organizations that are established — they tend to be more trustworthy, which is vital for paying back loans, having strong communication and teamwork, etc. 

- Good leadership means setting yourself aside and letting others be the expert.

- Tourism doesn't get to the root of culture, but language does. 

I learned quickly that relationships with Ugandan locals will often be transactional. Ugandans, especially those living outside the capital city, were desperate to see me as a status symbol, a way to get money, or a way out of the country. Unemployment bites in the country. Labour export to Dubai is common, and Ugandans live and work in slave-like conditions once there. 

I think it's important to note that despite my experience and challenges, I'll never know what it's like to be a Ugandan. There are challenging aspects of everyday life that I will never experience: washing, food prep, long commutes to work, toil at work, domestic abuse, hunger and lack of nutrition.  People perceive the world with a different lens depending upon what they have been exposed to. During my time in Uganda, I did my best to observe and understand. 

I can only imagine what further insights I could have gained from this experience had I been able to speak Lugandan or another regional dialect. Though English and Kiswahili are the official languages, they aren't languages that are normally spoken in rural Uganda. Even though the majority of people I interacted with were able to speak English, I think that people connect on a different level when speaking their native tongue. Nelson Mandela said, "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." 

ViDA, GIS Satellite Project

- Provided support for ViDA, TFE's GIS Satellite Project, funded by the European Space Agency. 

- Village Data Analytics (ViDA) is a service-based technology that provides meaningful and granular information about rural villages in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Village profiles are built using a top-down approach from grassroots analysis and experience to increase viability, reduce risks, time and cost for micro-grid planning and investment at scale.

- Provided support on multiple smaller pieces of work more directly associated with energy access. 

- Gathered and analyzed intel about the off-grid energy market

- Assessed the current state of the art in geospatial planning for rural electrification, which feeds into product development

- Supported customer engagement via analysis of service datasets. 

My work added value to the research capacity of the organization. TFE is a small organization and the work I did made an impact by strengthening the case they were making for the use of GIS and satellite-based tools for the off-grid sector.

Often a small organization does not have the spare resources to dedicate to this high-value substantiation.

Key areas where I was involved in:

- Reviewing the literature on geospatial techniques used in development and rural energy access (e.g. MIT’s Reference Electrification Model) to understand the competitive landscape and current technical challenges. This helped to shape the targeted technical capabilities of Village Data Analytics.

- Studying the micro-grid market for the ESA project in order to understand ViDA’s future market potential. This fed into the report for ESA.

- Overview of telehealth and tele-education initiatives and market prospects in India to identify if there is a viable market opportunity for SatCom-based products. This fed into the report for ESA. 

- Investigating the availability of household survey datasets (e.g. from the World Bank) for the ESA project.

- Analysis of the responses of a customer survey for micro-grid developers around geospatial tools for micro-grid site identification. 

The Mini-Grid Game

One of the primary products of ENACT is the Mini-Grid Game. It is a simulation tool and role-playing game that allows communities to plan and design their desired energy system. It is used as an educational and collaborative planning tool for designing a community-sized mini-grid system. Tasks like purchasing appliances, setting energy tariffs, and managing finances to pay bills on time are all part of the game. Players' individual behaviour, like switching appliances on and off, or failing to make a payment, are immediately visible to everyone else. 

During my Fall 2018 co-op work placement, I was hired as a Software Developer at ENACT. My tasks included improving the Mini-Grid Game and editing the organization's website. I was tasked with modifying the User Interfaces (UI) to improve the look and feel of the game. Furthermore, new features along with existing bugs in the game also had to be fixed. One of the biggest changes that was being implemented during my internship at ENACT was eliminating the use of an Excel sheet to store and retrieve data and implementing a more robust backend data model (e.g. MySQL or NoSQL) to replace it. I worked on creating the documentation like the Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) that is required to ensure this smooth transition. At the time of my hiring, there were no full-time software developers at ENACT to work on the game. Any changes that needed to be made were outsourced to a software company based in China. However, when I was hired, the mini-grid game became entirely my responsibility. 

Civil Design and Construction Research

During my four-month internship, I was tasked with improving the civil design competency of the rest of the SunFarmer team. The documentation and tools that I created are now utilized by my colleagues to assess the irrigation infrastructure. Cost and quantity assessments of several standardized structures and materials were made, taking into account local constraints. Given that very limited mechanical tools are available in remote parts of the country, structures were designed according to conventional Nepalese construction practices. 

Throughout my internship, I also scheduled site visits wherein I had the opportunity to engage with local farmers and receive feedback about their irrigation practices and systems. I gained practical knowledge that helped me understand the complex environmental variables specific to Nepal. 

A tool that we put together and that I am quite proud of was a manual drilling auger. For less than 45 USD, we created a tool that can be utilized during the preliminary survey to assess the groundwater level and the depth of the bedrock. These two components are significant when selecting a water intake location as they help assess cost and the reliability of the water source. The drill can be operated without an energy source, and it can be carried from one site to another fairly easily. In addition, the availability of GPS data and some knowledge of local hydrogeology allowed me to provide guidance to improve decision-making processes regarding the location of water intakes. 

Before leaving, I had to ensure that the other members of the SunFarmer team understood how to use the new tools and materials that I had developed. I held training seminars and prepared tutorial videos on how to use these resources. 

Ultimately, the work that I undertook will contribute to the development of irrigation systems that will provide increased revenue for smallholder farmers. These pump systems enhance productivity and allow more crops to be grown for longer periods of time. Moreover, the solar systems that power them replaced expensive and dirty diesel pumps, minimizing the local environmental impacts of irrigation and agriculture. 

Through observing the ingenuity of the Nepalese people in using what was around them to solve problems. I gained insight into both the challenges and potentials of working in resource-constrained settings. One simply needs to be open-minded and creative in order to find solutions. 

Beyond the technical aspect of my work, this internship gave me the opportunity to acquire a broad range of interpersonal skills which became vital to my success in Nepal. I was able to gain an understanding and appreciation of another culture and work with a diverse team to achieve a common goal. I learned to listen and learn from others with very different backgrounds to my own. 

I was also inspired by my SunFarmer colleagues. Some had travelled to developed countries for their engineering education and made the decision to return to Nepal and use their abilities to improve living standards in their home country. They could have easily decided to to continue their lives elsewhere and find a higher paying job. These examples of selflessness are why a social enterprise like SunFarmer is able to be so purpose-driven and impactful. 

Program Facilitation and Implementation

I became involved in a wide range of strategic projects and programs throughout my time at Pollinate. Being a part of the Fellowship team meant that I was often facilitating projects that involved stakeholders from various departments. This facilitation resulted in working on a variety of fascinating and dynamic projects.  

Shortly after arrival in India, I assisted in running two Student Fellowships programs. As Pollinate describes it, “Fellowship programs bring together young people from all backgrounds who have a passion for improving lives through social business models and environmentally sustainable solutions. Students will spend 2 – 4 weeks on the ground in one of Pollinates' city offices with a team of aspiring young change makers who are keen to pursue a career that truly makes a difference. Students will learn about the lives of families living in India’s slums and spend time interacting with them to understand their challenges and needs, and they will put that learning into practice as you work alongside our team on strategic projects that help improve our business” (pollinateenergy.org). In facilitating these Fellowship Programs, I got to see first-hand the implications of Pollinate Energy’s work in India’s Urban Slums.  

Out of these fellowships came recommendations for improving Pollinate’s business model. I was responsible for taking forward recommendations and integrating them into operations. Over the course of my four-month internship there were three recommendations that I championed. Being the facilitator for these projects in their early stage as Fellowship projects, and then transitioning them into business operations has provided me with a better understanding of how to discern what is and isn’t achievable and to also have a better understanding of the difficulty of program implementation.

These understandings were especially obvious in the Mobile Hives program that I worked on. Mobile Hives are a program that was developed over the course of many Fellowship groups. At their core, Mobile Hives are sales and product testing events that help community members to gain a better understanding of who Pollinate is, what products Pollinate sells, and build trust in Pollinate’s brand, and customer care qualities. I was tasked to implement these events on a full-time basis in Bangalore. Through this experience, I learned that it is not as easy as you might expect to understand key stakeholder’s views and opinions, and that in the real-world ideas will work differently than when you are testing and developing them. This experience taught me that when it comes to energy poverty, there is no such thing as one solution to all the challenges. Energy poverty is location-dependent and thus solutions must be designed to adapt to their respective geography. 

What I learned most through my time at Pollinate was how the idea of perspective works within the social sector and how that influences every aspect of work. During my time at Pollinate my perspective shifted to better consider the influence of cross-cultural barriers. I learned, through my work on social issues in cross-cultural environments in India, that having skills at perceiving your own and other perspectives is crucial in developing strong solutions that achieve their social, environmental, and economic goals. This includes being able to leave your perspective and bias at the door to enact meaningful change and impact when there are others with a deeper understanding of an issue. My work with Pollinate has allowed me to significantly develop these abilities and I hope to continue developing them far into the future.  

I was also reassured in my understanding that the makeup of one’s perspective is a mixture of your childhood influences and what experiences you have had since. By this I mean that perspective isn’t a stationary concept, but rather is moulded over time. Through the act of purposefully overstepping your comfort zone and throwing yourself into new experiences and environments, you can shape how you think of the world. By pushing myself in this way, I was able to develop informed decision-making abilities and transform my perspective. I found that pushing my limits and looking for these experiences is crucial to navigating the challenges that we are facing in the modern day, especially within the world of energy poverty.  

Android App for Solar Hubs

My main role at Jaza Energy was to work on the development of an Android application to be used by the attendants that work at solar hubs. At each of the solar hubs that Jaza operates, two attendants from the community are hired in order to record customer transactions that occur. It is their job to register new customers that come to the hub, and record all the purchases and battery swaps that those customers complete. The purpose of the Android application is to allow the attendants to record these transactions easily, and to send the information to a database where it can be used by Jaza’s operations team. It is important for Jaza’s operations team to have accurate, up-to-date information about what is happening at the hubs in order for them to do their jobs effectively. The purpose of the Android application that was developed was to make the process of recording and sending transaction information easier.

My main duties in this role included determining which features would be useful to have in the Android application, implementing those features in the app, and helping to develop a training program to teach new attendants how to use the application. In order to determine what features were needed in the application, I worked with my coworkers to figure out what features would be helpful to have, and to test out different things to see what worked best. We also completed testing to make sure that the user interface of the application was easy for the attendants to use, even though some of the attendants have very little experience using smartphones. After figuring out which features were helpful to have, I helped to implement them in the application, and then continued to test and iterate in order to continue to improve the app with my coworkers.

Once the application was ready to be launched, I worked with the attendant manager in order to develop a training program to teach new attendants how to use the application. This training program taught the attendants how to use the important features of the app, as well as information about the company, and how to charge the batteries at the hubs. In addition to attendant training, I also helped to provide tech support for the attendants once they began working. I helped to answer questions over WhatsApp whenever the attendants ran into problems with the application, or had any questions about their job. The work I completed will hopefully allow for new attendants to learn to do their jobs more quickly and easily, and allow for transaction information to be recorded accurately in order for operations' staff to use it effectively.

My favourite aspect of my work was planning and implementing a quality control system for the hub installation process. It became clear that such a system would be needed after the first few hubs that were installed began having issues, such as shelves falling apart and doors not locking, within days of their installation. The final quality control system would need to identify the critical components of hubs which were vulnerable to failure, as well as the minimum standard to which these components would need to be built in order to meet ultimate structural and serviceability requirements. Once these items were determined, an inspection schedule would need to be established at the production facility to ensure that hubs were built to an acceptable quality before being installed in communities.

Developing a quality control system required me to look at the whole process from the beginning of construction until commissioning, and try to identify where the issues were arising. I especially enjoyed this project as it gave me the opportunity to go to the communities in which Jaza operates on a number of occasions to observe the installation process as it happened. This was an opportunity not only to see first hand how the hubs looked once they were completed, but also to see what day to day life looked like in the communities where Jaza operated. Seeing the total lack of electrical infrastructure that residents of the communities lived with made me appreciate the work that Jaza did to give people the basic access to electricity that we take for granted in Canada.

Undertaking an engineering project in a rural, developing region, I learned to work under significant constraints. While this made the design and prototyping aspects of work challenging, it also triggered my creative side, as I had to think of solutions based on the limited tools and materials that were available to me.

Additionally, I learned to interact with others in a work setting with significant language barriers. While my supervisors were fluent in English, most of the power plant operators could only speak Hindi or Kumaoni, the local dialect, making communication very challenging at times.

I met several other interns at Avani who had similar passions towards development. Many of the interns, as well as some of the full-time workers come from major urban centres in India, such as Delhi, Bangalore, and other cities. It was very inspiring to see others who had a passion for sustainable development and were willing to forgo higher-paying opportunities and a comfortable urban life to come all the way to Avani.

Working at Avani reinforced my passion to work for green energy, and it also opened the door for me to the social development sector. Being aware of the effects of climate change, I appreciate the importance of implementing green technologies, but I also feel more aware now of the needs of those in developing regions to have better access to electricity. Working in India was truly inspiring and eye-opening to many realities, and I would like the opportunity to visit another region where I can have some social impact.

Avani

Solar Electric Pressure Cookers

As a Research Associate at A2EI, I was involved in two major research projects and also lent support on different tasks. Across the two phases of the solar electric pressure cooker research, I assisted with the installation of solar systems, analysis of data retrieved, report writing and helped conduct lab tests with the pressure cookers. In another task, I worked with a team member to design and create computer-aided design (CAD) models in Fusion 360 of a seed planter constructed by a local innovator in order to improve its replicability. As a 3D CAD design software, Fusion 360 facilitated the visualization of components and recording of dimensions for the innovator. I also co-led a research project to understand which specific agricultural equipment can be solar-powered and brought to market. A number of field visits were made to learn about machines such as oil presses, spice grinders, and rice mills. The technical specifications surrounding the function of the equipment as well as the business model employed were also a part of the information gathered. With this data, I prepared a feasibility report that outlined the potential of solar powering these machines and what conditions may promote this possibility.

The main goal of my internship was to learn about sustainable development regarding engineering and small business applications. While I was able to work with my colleagues on a number of interesting projects, the main focus of my internship was the development of a sodium-oxygen battery for solar applications. Currently, the lithium-ion battery and lead-carbon battery are the industry standards. However, lead-type batteries experience lower efficiency due to the battery chemistry. Most experts in the battery industry predict that the lithium-ion battery will be at the forefront of solar storage for the next five years. However, lithium is a rare material and, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, there is only 13, 505,000 tons of lithium left on earth. For Tesla to continue to produce cars that use lithium batteries, it will only take about 17 years for the lithium resources to be depleted. As sodium is the world’s seventh most abundant material on earth, it a viable option for a sustainable battery option. The main purpose of my project was to develop a feasible alternative to current energy storage systems that would have a more favourable energy density value, longer life cycle, and be more environmentally friendly and sustainable than the leading lithium-ion battery being utilized for solar applications. A sodium-oxygen battery would also allow solar systems to be more affordable for the people of East Africa. Validation of the sodium-oxygen design is currently being conducted at the University of Waterloo in partnership with the Waterloo Institute for Sustainability Energy (WISE) Organization, with the main objective of the project being to construct and build a working prototype battery cell and test and analyze its performance with respect to the theoretical mathematical calculations and simulations.

Another project which was at the forefront of A2EI research in Arusha, Tanzania was the development of alternative cooking methods. The solution was to utilize a pressure cooker, which provided an efficient and easy method to cook various food options. The two questions A2EI worked to answer were: “Is there a need for pressure cookers in Tanzania?” and “What is the energy consumption of pressure cookers in rural and urban areas in Tanzania?” The energy consumption of the pressure cooker was the main factor which would affect the feasibility of the new cooking method. In an economy like Tanzania where a Big Mac costs $10,416 TSh (Tanzanian shillings) or $6.00 CAD, and a “dala dala”, or bus ride, costs $0.30 CAD, feasibility is a priority for the consumer and a dollar difference between two

Avani

Pine Needle Gasifier

I worked on optimizing the operations at a gasifier plant that converted pine needles into renewable energy for the local communities.

Designed, constructed, and tested a mechanism to dry biomass prior to gasification to enhance the plant’s overall efficiency.

Created experiments to measure, analyze, and validate the effectiveness of potential system improvement strategies

Improved the productivity of the cutting machine by 100% and reduced the noise levels in the plant area by 8 decibels.

Avani

- Published a socio-economic and ecological baseline study for the area, the first document of its kind for the specific region, including impacts on income levels, distress-related migration, local empowerment

- Research on further tests that can further help quantify the impact of the consistent pine needle collection, such as on hydrology, forest preservation, emissions reduced as a result of reduced forest fires etc.

- Community mobilization for the specific project

Undertaking these projects in a rural, remote region, I have had to learn to work under significant constraints. While this made design and prototyping challenging, it also triggered my creative side, as I had to think of solutions based on limited tools and materials. 

Aside from the professional responsibilities, I also immersed myself in the local community, building strong cross-cultural communication skills, both in the work and social environment.

Enventure

Workplace culture had a huge impact on me. I worked in the same place that I was living, so my home was also the office, the kitchen table was our office table. The work environment was very laid-back. Things still got done, but not always on time. I learned to go with the flow.

Even though I had never worked for a startup, I'd say it was similar to what I imagined a startup to be like, where you have a bigger piece of the pie that you are contributing to. So everything I did, since I was working with a smaller organization, was really impactful. 

I've worked for some bigger firms, and you get a very small piece of the pie, and you leave not feeling like you've done a lot. But when I left Enventure, I left with the feeling that I had at least helped them to get where they were supposed to be going. 

Mandulis Energy

Mandulis Energy

 - Contributing to an initiative of building mini-grids across 16 locations in Northern Uganda, benefiting over 24,000 small-holder farmers and their communities.

- My role involved data analysis and building a data platform for data management and decision-making.

- Digitized operations and marketing by delivering an analytical dashboard in Python and a Bootstrap website.

- Formulated Gantt charts, planned budgets, and supervised consultants conducting a feasibility study.

- Met with investors and subcontractors to facilitate 3 projects, e.g. satellite image analysis, drone footage analysis, crop yield prediction.

- Meeting with and talking to farmers in rural Uganda to understand their livelihood and challenges to determine the feasibility of biomass power plants in those areas.

Jaza Energy

Mandulis Energy

Jaza Energy

My primary role at Jaza was as a construction engineer. The Jaza energy distribution model is based around having a central building, called a ‘Hub’, where all battery charging, distribution, and product selling can occur. Jaza manufactures these hubs and deploys them in the field.
My main role was to help set up a new manufacturing process for the latest version of these buildings. This included finalizing the building design, preparation and training at the manufacturing facility, quality assurance, and documentation of the process. 

In addition to construction engineering, I was given the opportunity to work in other areas of the company. I was able to work on distribution, new product testing, customer visits, and much more. These other tasks helped me to understand the company as a whole and what is all involved in making a company run.

There really was no end to the lessons I learned working for Jaza. The most important lesson I learned is how important companies like Jaza are. When working on major issues in low-income communities, a lot of different approaches are taken: some groups are profit-driven companies who will do anything to make a dollar, while others are on the other end of the spectrum and are trying to provide services through foreign aid. While there are positives to most companies in the rural electrification sector, there are major drawbacks to both extremes. Companies like Jaza work to create a solution that is financially sustainable, but their core values are to provide the most widespread and best product possible for their customers. Taking this middle ground approach is so important to sustainable development in low-income communities.

Another lesson I took away was the importance of having hardworking, passionate workers in a company. Working on large and seemingly impossible projects such as rural electrification is time-consuming and draining. Often a challenge will come up that there is no easy answer to. Without a real passion and drive for the work that we were doing, it would be easy to burn out. Luckily, all the people that I worked with really believed in the vision of Jaza and were willing to help each other out for the 
good company. Hardworking, passionate coworkers make a world of a difference. 

Working at Jaza has gotten me excited about the future of energy. With the technology we have and 600 million people in sub-saharan Africa that do not have access to energy, we have an incredible opportunity. We have the chance to improve millions of lives in a green, sustainable fashion, giving people access to modern technologies while avoiding the development of unclean energy sources. Tanzania is a beautiful country filled with incredible people, and I’m glad I was able to have the opportunity to work for these citizens. This internship was a once in a lifetime experience that helped me develop personally and professionally, and I will carry these lessons with me for the rest of my career.

I was very pleased to work with WISE and their partner Modularity Grid/Mandulis Energy. I completed valuable work such as technology comparisons, social sciences research, and creating outreach tools that will contribute to WISE's future activities. I was able to develop a clear understanding of WISE's needs and the connection of my work to global sustainable development. I acquired leadership skills while successfully managing a task with several other students, appropriately delegating and providing support to peers.

My experience working at WISE helped me realize my interest in academic research work, something that has influenced my career decisions moving forward. Being able to work remotely with like-minded individuals from other parts of the world helped me feel connected during a period of isolation, and I was able to take pride in and feel passion for my work, knowing the research I was doing would help us better understand some of the energy challenges facing the world today.

I worked on a multitude of tasks over my co-op term with Modularity Grid/Mandulis Enery and WISE. I worked on literature reviews, social sciences research, written reports, and outreach tools to support WISE's work to catalyze global energy access. I worked with a deep understanding of global sustainable development, and provided high-quality output that will be valuable in WISE's current and future projects. 

My research semester at WISE was eye-opening and rewarding. While at WISE, I had the opportunity to work on multiple research projects related to remote clean energy in Canada. The mentorship I received during this co-op was extremely valuable, and I was able to learn a lot about energy access challenges in Canada and globally. I was impressed by WISE's commitment to sustainable development, and how many projects they were working on around the world related to clean, affordable, and sustainable energy access. The passion and expertise of WISE's members was inspiring, and my time there motivated me to pursue a career in sustainable energy engineering.

During the work term, I conducted a research project on data infrastructure, interviewed potential vendors, contributed to project management activities, created scripting tools to automate recruitment tasks, used computer programming to fix bugs in mobile and web applications using C#, a language that I was not familiar with. 

During my co-op work term, I worked on Mandulis Energy's mobile application, using the programming languages JavaScript and React Native, the latter which I learned on the job. I also contributed to  recruitment tasks for Mandulis's sister organization, Modularity Grid, taking the initiative to make processes more efficient by creating scripts to automate tasks. 

Throughout the term, I independently learned and improved my coding skills to be capable of implementing modules, creating screens, adding new API consumptions through building components and controllers in React Native and Dot NET. 

I have acquired and applied my knowledge of JavaScript, CSS, React Native and User Experience Workflow, to build working and efficient functional methods and views within the app.

- Executed the development of a full-stack project using Javascript, React, MaterialUI, and Java, allowing for teachers to conduct online classes.

- Built a back-end REST API and relational database using Spring Boot and PostgreSQL.

- Deployed the full-stack application using Heroku.

- Led the design and presentation of 5 research decks to the board of directors.

- Conducted an in-depth analysis of economic and political data for 8 Sub-Saharan countries.

- Collected/analyzed country-specific data using data analysis tools/pivot tables in Excel.

- Recommended entry and marketing strategies for each country based on individual risk ratings, market analysis, and forecasts.

- Created an internal and external SWOT report, in line with a market analysis, to aid organizational expansion plans.

- Developed an E-learning academy to increase overall company revenue by 15%

- Developed and created a market expansion strategy for 8 countries in West and Sub-Saharan Africa.

- Created a comprehensive plan to increase market exposure for the organization in 4 emerging African markets. 

- Researched and produced a literature review document, a financial assessment plan, and collected and statistically analyzed data for the organization. 

- Engineered the expansion project to include a socio-economic data, geographical and ecological insights, and market compatibility of 8 African countries that were integral in assisting business development. 

- Presented the comprehensive report as the lead researcher, succinctly explaining opportunities and proposals to drive initiatives, programs, and policies for the African continent - specifically related to energy access and climate change mitigation strategies to the company board.

- Conducted extensive research on the recent adoption of E-mobility in Nigeria and published an online article for the organization.

- Provided an analysis of potential investors and stakeholder mapping for the emerging E-mobility sub-sector in Nigeria while working on the mini-grid energy policy for the company, creating an extensive document on the productive uses of energy in rural areas and climate-smart agriculture.