Technology

Technology

Solar powered lighting is the first thing that I encounter in front of Lampuuk Mosque, a coastal area that is badly hit by tsunami. I observe further and I found out this solar kit is produced by Indian company. This lighting I found on the floor of the mosque, perhaps it is used by night watcher. One of my inner hopes was to see a lot of smart devices being used in Aceh, but rarely do I encounter this sort of things while I was there.

Not until the month of September that I eagerly went to Aceh Reconstruction Fair, that I found most things appears to be familiar. The government and non-government organization get together and produce a showcase of their contribution towards the event of Tsunami. There are the UN’s, Red Cross and Red Crescent, Turkish Municipality and NGO, are the main contributor to the event. It was held in the recovered space called “Aceh Cultural Fair” this area was once hit by Tsunami, I heard bodies were everywhere during after Tsunami, but it has been restored almost to normalcy now.

The lead up to the technology section is a low laying drying tunnel using heat entraption principle, it promise to dehydrate faster and with a more sanitized way. Inside the technology section there are lots of vendor offering alternative devices, machinery, with focus on appropriate technology for developing country.

So, I was excited because I seemed to found what I was looking for. I went straight to the appropriate technology section because I catch a cooking pot that is suspended in the middle of the parabolic metal sheet almost like an umbrella. As I discovered further, this parabolic ‘bowl’ can be angled to catch the sun rays to focus on the pot, it works very much like radar. It reminds me of the refractive principle on concave surface that the incoming wave will always touch the middle part of the parabola.

A German company promotes produce firewood stove that consume very efficiently, 250 gram to boil 6 liter of water. I was fascinated since I know how much firewood that our construction workers used on the site. 250gram is half a tray of meat that we buy in supermarket, or equal to about two and a half of current mobile phone. Our workers used a heaping 2000gram of firewood to boil 5 liter of water.

A shell for cooked food out some kind of look alike poly-styrene foam is also on the German vendor. It is a companion to the cooking pot that goes inside the firewood stive. This shell claim to preserves the temperature with slight change during the course of 8 hours.

Before the German vendor, I went to a local organization which makes all sort of devices for home industry, PP cup sealer, bottle cap installer, industrial stove, corn and grain processor, cocounut husk peeler, much more. This is an example of adopted technology for local needs. A lot of them are produced with what is available locally without complicated engineering such as metal casting for parts, etc. They seemed to be in crude form, but it does the job properly.

Next to it was a local motorbike company that makes bebek, a sprinter motorbike similar to posties bike, and cruiser bike. They also make a commercial passenger becak, a three wheeler where the passenger sits on a couchlike seat... btw, it’s very comfortable.

Other vendor that I visit came from west java, they breed silkworm that eat berries. I was later amused to find out the sleeping pattern of silkworm. I found out it is actually a company from west java, I wonder what are they doing in Aceh? They are selling silkworm larvae. I inquire to the possibility of developing this program in Aceh. They say it is possible, but preferably in a cooler climate, at this stage, I think the mountainous area in Takengon is a possible site.

The next vendor that I went has everything that coconut able to make. The fiber from the husk is compressed to make flower pot, twisted and joined together as a rope, the inner shell is produced as a briket, a fuel for stove, a finer version of this is used as an odor filer and water filter. There was also cocodust that apparently has a high value. Process from the coconut juice could deliver diesel like fluid, called cocodiesel. It actually smell like a mixture of vodka and some kind of rubbing alcohol, so I know this stuff is actually combustible. The juice also produces glycerin, a base material used in soap and cosmetics. Short to say that this plant has enormous potential. From the root to the leaves and anything in between inside and outside, it is completely usable.