Today, I was better able to grasp
what I am going to be doing over the next few weeks. Everyone from the EOS team
had a meeting this morning to plan out the week. After the meeting, I reviewed
plan of work and created a list of questions for people with biodigestors.
Then, after lunch, Salvador, Chris and I traveled to a nearby village to look
at a couple of biodigestors. One of them was actually the first biodigestor
that I had seen in Nicaragua. It is also one that I will be doing some testing
on. It is perfect because the family also has a traditional wood burning stove.
The first part of my internship
(about three weeks) will be spent determining the difference between a
traditional wood burning stove and a stove that uses gas from a biodigester. I
will do this by completing what is known as a water boiling test. This test
takes approximately two and a half hours to complete because it has multiple parts.
A water boiling test quantifies the energetic input of each type of stove to
boil water so that the two can be compared apples to apples. The downside is
that the household loses 2.5 hours of gas for the day that I am there, and I
need to do the test three times for validation. However, the family was very
willing to let me into their kitchen and even though I will be using most of
their gas for the day. Since they have both types of stoves, I will be testing
twice per week: one for each type of stove. This way, they can still use the
other stove while I am doing my testing. After my testing is complete, I will be able to compile some statistics about the differences between the two types of stoves for EOS to use. It can also be used as a starting point from which improvements can be made to the biodigestor.
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