ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES - hydrogen, batteries, water tanks, compressed air, flywheels, etc.

Tom Murphy, Associate Professor of physics at University of California


CONCLUSIONS FOR OFF GRID ELECTRICAL ENERGY STORAGE IN RURAL BELIZE, CENTRAL AMERICA.

LOWER YOUR ELECTRIC FOOTPRINT - BATTERIES ARE PROBABLY PEOPLE´S BEST BET, BUT NOT CHEAP.

This was recently posted by Tom Murphy. This is a guest post by Tom Murphy. Tom is an associate professor of physics
at the University of California, San Diego. This post previously appeared in
Tom's blog at Do the Math.





> Got Storage? How Hard Can It Be?
>
> Posted by Euan Mearns on October 3, 2011 - 10:03am
> Topic: Alternative energy
> Tags: batteries, compressed-air, energy storage, flywheels, fuel-cells,
> hydrogen [list all tags]
>
> This is a guest post by Tom Murphy. Tom is an associate professor of physics
> at the University of California, San Diego. This post previously appeared in
> Tom's blog at Do the Math.
> The recent city-wide power outage in San Diego made me appreciate my small
> off-grid photovoltaic system using four golf-cart batteries to store energy
> for use at night. Unlike most San Diegans, I did not immediately eat the ice
> cream in my freezer, which trucked along under stored solar energy just like
> it does every night. Energy storage becomes more important as we transition
> away from fossil fuels—already its own energy storage medium—to more
> intermittent sources. But besides batteries—which offer a limited number of
> cycles and for some types require monthly maintenance—what other non-fossil
> in-home energy storage alternatives might we consider, and how much energy
> might we expect to store in each case? We will look at gravitational
> storage, flywheels, compressed air, and hydrogen fuel cells as possible
> options. Some might even cost less than $100,000 to implement in your home.
>
>
>
> Setting the Scale
> We should first establish a meaningful scale and appropriate units for
> energy storage. Any household will use energy at a certain average rate, or
> power. The average American household (of which there are about 115 million)
> uses 30 kWh per day of electricity—equivalent to 1.25 kW average power.
> Additionally, the average American household uses 35 kWh of natural gas
> energy per day, generally for heating applications (natural gas is usually
> billed per Therm, which is 29.3 kWh).
>
> Substantial variation can exist in these numbers in any given house. For
> example, my wife and I use an average of 10 kWh/day in our house for
> electrical and natural gas energy combined, in roughly equal measure.
> Storage requirements will therefore vary according to usage. Conversely, the
> same storage will last longer in some houses compared to others. We will
> restrict our attention in this post to storing enough energy to cover
> electrical usage only.
>
> For off-grid applications, the rule of thumb is to have enough storage for
> three days of zero input. Not to be taken literally, this is effectively the
> same as 4 consecutive days at 25% of break-even, or 6 days at 50% of
> break-even—in each case running a deficit of 3 days. The spirit of this post
> is to establish storage independence within a home, rather than rely on
> external infrastructure to do it for you. To the extent that you want to
> rely on the outside world to provide for you, the targets established here
> can be scaled down accordingly. The ideas explored here are plausible
> options that might come to mind first in a “why couldn’t we just…” sense.
>
> Since we are trying to fit a storage solution into a home, let’s allocate a
> fixed volume for each of the solutions. A reasonable choice would be one
> bedroom-sized space. Let’s say it’s 3 m on a side, and 2.5 m tall (about 10
> by 10 feet, 8 feet tall). The total volume envelope is then 22.5 m³.
>
> Battery Reference
> Since we are comparing to batteries, let’s establish a reference case.
> Batteries are characterized by how many amp-hours they can generate. A 100
> A-h battery can put out 1 A of current for 100 hours, or 10 A for 10 hours,
> for instance (though the rating typically declines for high currents). The
> electrical power exerted by the battery is just the current times the
> voltage. So a 12 V battery putting out 2 A is delivering 12×2 = 24 W of
> power. If rated at 100 A-h, this battery would go for (100 A-h)/(2 A) = 50
> hours, producing (24 W)×(50 h) = 1200 W-h, or 1.2 kWh of energy. A
> rechargeable AA battery holds about 2300 mA-h (2.3 A-h) of charge, which at
> 1.3 V turns into 3 W-h of energy.
>
> As detailed in the Nation Sized Battery post, large lead-acid batteries
> occupy 13 liters (0.013 m³) of volume, and 25 kg of mass per kWh of storage.
>
> Practically speaking, we would not fill 100% of a bedroom’s volume with
> batteries, because we need physical access for maintenance/replacement. If
> we filled 10 m³ of the available volume with actual battery, we would end up
> with about 750 kWh of storage, and a mass of 19 tons (better reinforce the
> floor!). This bank would provide about 25 days of storage for the average
> American electricity demand.
>
> The lesson is that batteries are a can-do solution in terms of fitting into
> a house envelope. A more practical few-days of storage is that much easier.
> Although at approximately $150 per kWh of storage, three days of storage for
> the average American house will cost about $15,000 to cover electricity
> demand, with the cost recurring every five years or so. But let’s not worry
> our pretty little heads over mere economic concerns at the moment.
>
> Since lead-acid batteries require monthly equalization and topping-off with
> water, have a limited number of deep cycles (500–1000 typically), and do not
> tolerate extended periods at low charge, it would be nice to identify better
> options.
>
> Gravitational Storage
> Hydroelectric dams and pumped storage solutions rely on the gravitational
> energy stored in an elevated mass. What could we do in a home environment?
> Could we get much out of our personal pumped storage tank on-site?
>
> Let’s start small by considering the 3 W-h of energy stored in a AA battery,
> as computed above. One kWh of energy is 3.6×106 J of energy, so our AA
> battery stores 10,800 J of energy. A mass of m kilograms, hoisted h meters
> high against gravity at g˜10 m/s² corresponds to E = mgh Joules of energy.
> If we were willing to hoist a mass 3 m high, how much mass would we need to
> replace the AA battery? Have a guess? The answer is 360 kg, or about 800 lb.
> A battery the size of your pinky finger beats the proverbial 800 lb gorilla
> lifted onto your roof!
>
> The lesson is that gravitational storage is incredibly weak. A volume of
> water the size of our bedroom raised even 10 m above our home in a
> precarious threat to the neighbors would store 0.625 kWh. That’s enough for
> 30 minutes of typical household electricity consumption. You’ll forgive me
> if I ignore efficiency losses. It’s not even worth the effort. It’s over.
>
> Flywheel Storage
> Let’s put a massive spinning disk in our energy-storage “bedroom.” These
> might end up being popular in Malibu, as the gyroscopic stability inherent
> in the spun-up system could be very handy in a mudslide—keeping the house
> level on its way down the hill, mimicking the surfers it’s been watching all
> these years.
>
> The kinetic energy stored in the rotation of a cylindrical-shaped solid disk
> is ¼mv², where m is the mass of the spinning cylinder and v is the velocity
> at the outer edge. For a fixed mass, it is better to put as much of the mass
> as possible on the outer edge, in a hollow cylinder (supported by spokes,
> for instance), which can deliver a factor of two more energy per mass. But
> in the case where space, not mass, is the constraint, the solid disk has
> more mass than the hollow version would, making it a net win to just go
> solid.
>
> How big do we make this thing? Let’s give it a diameter of 2.5 m and a
> height of 2 m (need room for mounting, and surrounding container/structure)
> yielding a 10 m³ volume. At the density of steel—about 8× that of water—we
> get 80 tons (now even more important to reinforce that floor!).
>
> How fast do we spin it up? Let’s pick the speed of sound—345 m/s—and see
> where that puts us. Go big, or go home! We get 2.4 GJ, or about 650 kWh of
> energy stored in this scary flywheel. That’s somewhat comparable to a
> similar volume of lead-acid batteries (though four times as massive). We
> would want to evacuate the air around the spinning disk or we will suffer a
> drain rate of something like 1 kW (consuming 24 kWh/day just to keep it
> spinning; the room would also get warm-ish).
>
> The acceleration at the outer radius is about 10,000 times that of gravity,
> and it turns out the geometry and speed we picked indeed approaches the
> yield strength of steel. Structural weaknesses then risk breakup, which
> would dump the unwelcome energy equivalent of half a ton of TNT in your
> house. We would need to slow to a speed of 250 m/s at the outer rim to
> provide an adequate material safety factor, resulting in 250 kWh of storage.
> Another safety concern: if the flywheel comes off its support, it could
> barrel through the neighborhood, popping through houses like they weren’t
> even there. Not ideal in earthquake country.
>
> Obviously, we can afford to scale things down a bit, since our first cut
> provided three weeks of storage capacity. The same cylinder spinning at 125
> m/s (275 m.p.h.) at the edge gives about 90 kWh of storage, and may be
> somewhat more tolerable from a safety point of view. Scaling down the
> size/mass in addition to velocity begins to result in a less useful storage
> solution for the average house. If you’re going to go through the effort,
> expense, and sacrifice of space for a scary flywheel, you’d better feel like
> it provides enough energy storage to be worthwhile.
>
> A recent $53 million flywheel storage facility in Pennsylvania uses 200
> large units storing 25 kWh each, working out to $10,000 per kWh of storage
> capacity. Each unit’s vacuum chamber looks to be about 1.5 m in diameter and
> 3–4 m tall. If we raise the ceiling and squeeze four into our bedroom, we
> could get 3 days of electricity storage for the typical American house for a
> cool million bucks. But the frictional losses—while painstakingly
> minimized—likely preclude these units from being useful over periods of
> days.
>
> Compressed Air
> We could store energy in something akin to a spring by compressing air. A
> high-quality tank can store air at 200 atmospheres of pressure. If we make a
> big bedroom-sized tank in cylindrical form similar to the flywheel
> dimensions, it has a volume of 10 m³. The steel walls would have to be about
> 6 cm thick to withstand the stress, so that the tank would have a mass of
> approximately 12 tons. You did reinforce the floor, right?
>
> We want to take a volume of air, V0, 200 times larger than our tank volume
> at atmospheric pressure (P0 = 105 Pa) and compress it to fit in the tank
> (adding two tons of mass!). If done slowly enough to maintain approximately
> constant temperature (several hours), the energy required is P0V0ln(P/P0),
> where ln() is the natural logarithm function. For our volume, this turns
> into 1 GJ, or almost 300 kWh—enough for 10 days of typical American
> electricity use. So we could get away with a smaller tank or simply charge
> it to a less extreme pressure.
>
> The efficiency for compressing the air and later turning a turbine for
> electricity generation may be less than what one might find for a flywheel.
> The storage itself is not the hard part. I could go out today and get some
> lab-sized cylinders (~50 liters), which could store 1.5 kWh each—about like
> a golf-cart battery, although heavier and bulkier. But I would have a very
> difficult time arranging an efficient pumping and extraction/turbine system.
> If not for that, I would find compressed air to be an attractive system
> compared to batteries: minimal maintenance; no apparent cycle limitations,
> reasonably low-tech, and perfectly tolerant of remaining at low charge
> indefinitely.
>
> Laboratories that frequently use compressed gas cylinders have strict safety
> protocols to prevent explosions from structural rupture due to mishandling.
> If houses across the land had high pressure vessels in various states of
> neglect/corrosion, we’d get the occasional boom. I might worry about having
> a gun in the house. But I’m guessing that house fires would still represent
> a bigger net threat.
>
> Hydrogen Fuel Cell
> What about electrolysis of water into hydrogen for later use either in fuel
> cells or combustion engines? I’ll ignore the combustion option, as the heat
> engine efficiency would be abysmal compared to the other storage options on
> the table. Batteries, gravitational storage, and flywheels can achieve
> better than 80% round-trip efficiency. Compressed air is harder for me to
> evaluate, lacking adequate knowledge on compression/extraction devices built
> for efficiency.
>
> Electrolysis for the production of hydrogen tends to range between 50–70%
> efficient. Then the fuel cell converts the stored energy back into
> electricity at 40–60% efficiency for a round-trip efficiency of 20–40%. If
> you happen to want some of the waste heat, then you might boost the
> efficiency estimate (true for any of these storage methods, actually). But
> in a straight-up apples-to-apples comparison, the hydrogen method is a very
> lossy storage option. If it were dirt cheap and low-tech, I might be more
> excited about its potential, despite the poor efficiency. But since the
> opposite is true, I’m not revved up over hydrogen storage.
>
> I spent some time searching for a hydrogen fuel cell that I could buy today
> with a rating in the 10 kW range (appropriate for a home). I saw some
> production models achieving efficiencies ranging from 40–53%, but never a
> price tag. If you have to submit a query to learn the price, you probably
> can’t afford it…
>
> Other Ideas?
> Have I exhausted all the possibilities? Certainly not. I picked obvious and
> representative techniques spanning gravitational, kinetic, spring force (in
> air), and chemical storage. These are the ideas that come to mind for me,
> each with some reasonable footprint in the panoply of relevant small-scale
> “solutions” often discussed. I stayed away from thermal storage because the
> round-trip efficiency will make hydrogen fuel cells look fabulous. I also
> stayed away from fossil fuels (gas generators, storing natural gas at home)
> for the obvious reason that we don’t generally need storage as long as we
> have a reliable supply of fossil fuels.
>
> A short digression to contrast the miraculous energy density in fossil
> fuels: our 3 days of electricity storage at 30 kWh/day requires just 12
> gallons of gasoline (1.6 cubic feet; 45 liters) burned in a 20% efficient
> generator (it seems like the other 80% is noise!). The Earth’s battery—a
> one-time gift to us—turns out to be vastly superior to any of these other
> “solutions” in terms of energy density and long-term storage, measured in
> millions of years. It will be sorely missed when it’s gone.
>
> They’re All Hard
> With the exception of the feeble gravitational storage example, each of the
> ideas presented here are technically challenging, expensive, and sometimes
> dangerous. I am left thinking that batteries look pretty good for home
> storage. And they already perform a key function in my household. But even
> the cheapest lead-acid solution is still expensive, high-maintenance, and
> requires replacement every few years. For $150, you get 1 kWh of storage.
> 500 cycles means 500 kWh of service (get about 1000 cycles if
> half-discharge, but still roughly the same total energy service). This comes
> to about $0.30/kWh, which makes it an expensive source of electricity. Even
> so, lead-acid is the most economic storage medium of choice for off-grid
> households, and loads better than no storage at all!
>
> For short-term outages, we might get by with storage for critical functions
> only, like refrigeration and cooking. In a renewable-energy future, where
> storage must fill a larger role, the solutions are not obvious. As explained
> in the post on a nation-sized battery, we can’t simply scale up our trusty
> lead-acid, lithium, or nickel-based batteries to satisfy our current demands
> in a fully-renewable energy scenario because of resource limitations.
> Large-scale pumped storage, subterranean (or underwater) compressed air, and
> sodium-sulfur batteries may become important players. But these don’t help
> the independent spirit who wants personal storage, and by now is perhaps
> feeling—well—powerless.
>
> The Easy Path: Ratchet Down
> Many of the difficulties explored here become immediately easier with a
> simple reduction of scale. Because my household only uses 5 kWh of
> electricity per day, the 7 kWh of lead-acid storage I have in the form of
> four golf-cart batteries is enough to provide a meaningful service.
>
> For me, the lesson is that adequate storage appears at first-blush to border
> on impossible under the current profile of consumption in the U.S. But cut
> consumption down by a factor of five or so, and I become optimistic. Such
> deep cuts are not impossible: I can personally still participate in a
> western lifestyle at a fifth of the energy cost at home. It’s a choice, and
> I’m happy with mine.
>

UDP MAFIA GOVERNMENT REPORT CARD DROPS TO 11% ON LATEST CORRUPTION SCANDAL

CORRUPT UDP GOVERNMENT LOSES 15 POINTS FROM THEIR REPORT CARD New score 11 on UDP REPORT CARD.

Five points for each LEGAL ACT they violated, in the case of the recent furor at St. Georges Caye. Government surveyors apparently for the LANDS DEPARTMENT, shown on local TV cutting down the mangroves behind St. Georges Caye with a chain saw.
The Government Lands Department and by extension, the mafia CABINET are guilty of CORRUPTION. The spot they wish to prepare for dredging and development is a PROTECTED AREA under MANGROVE LEGISLATION. It is also a prime nursery spot for channeling lobster that feed between the Barrier reef, St. Georges Caye, Seargants Caye and down to Water Caye. These sea grass flats inside the shallow reef are one of the prime producing lobster trapping grounds of the fishing industry. It will wipe out for sure, the St. Georges Caye lobster fishermen with sediment on the grass flats. Maybe they can sue the government for compensation? A lifetime of production costs, per fisherman, based on past three years of marine produce sold to the cooperative?
The VILLAGE COUNCIL ACT stipulates the MINISTER has to get the approval of the St. Georges Caye Village Council. So, they are in violation of this act. It is argued by lower echelon bureaucrats that MINISTERS DISCRETION clauses allow the Minister of Lands and the corrupt UDP CABINET to do so. Shame when you have to pay money as private citizens or a Village Council to lawyers, to take the CABINET to court to try cases, that should be self evident.
The area of St. Georges Caye is also a WORLD HERITAGE SITE. This is illegal with that standing Mr. Searle, the St. Georges Caye Chairman of the Village Council says.
Apparently SOMEBODY, probably private with political connections ( backsheesh? with shares in the company as under the table donations, or cash to Minister´s chauffer as a cutout in MAFIA parlance. ) The Village Council says nobody in government will tell them anything about the proposed development of 31 real estate lots to be filled in by dredging and who is behind it. A marina is planned also for that small lagoon about 4 feet deep, behind the village and surrounded by the mangroves.
Be interesting to see how this one goes? There is no doubt this is corruption by the UDP? So loss of points on their approval rating. There is a right way and legal way to do these things. This is the wrong way.

That stretch of mangrove, from St. Georges Caye to the Caye Chapel Channel, encompassing Long Caye, is unique. THERE IS NO CORAL REEF IN FRONT. The front of that stretch is shifting sand bars. The area is protected from normal big Caribbean waves by Turneffe Atoll stretching in front, about 10 miles away, to the East. The mangroves have grown up on sand bars. Most of the sand bars in front of the mangroves shift with the seasons of the year and different current and wind directions and tidal flows. To cut the mangroves is the height of folly.

BELIZE BUSINESS TRUST NGO, HAS 80% FAILURES.

THE BUSINESS TRUST NGO seems to be making a fundamental mistake?

Watched an interesting talk show on local TV last night. Interviewed was a lady from the Youth Business Trust NGO, which gives loans to entrepreneurs. They have a program where they give loans to young first time start ups with an entrepreneurial idea. There was a statistical lament, that 80% of the loan borrowers do not finish paying off their loans, when they give up in failure. The Business Trust seemed to be aware that first time entrepreneurs will fail. They said they want to keep them in the program, so they can learn from their mistakes and start a new idea. However, they need the money back as they need the money to lend to others.
The FUNDAMENTAL MISTAKE as I see it, is that entrepreneurial first time start ups, will bankrupt most of the time. It is a slow learning process of trial and error. Once the business lessons are learned though, you can start up new businesses at a drop of a hat. The first time entepreneurial start up, needs to have SAVINGS. If they cannot begin to SAVE, then they are incapable of running a first time startup business. To seperate the sheep from the goats you need, those SAVINGS, or financial SAVINGS from contributions from family and friends, or from your own work.
The lady said they give them a mentor, and a 6 week program on how to start their business and how to run it. Not sure that will work, statistically it doesn´t according to them. Might help, but knowing how to postpone immediate gratification and learning to SAVE is probably the most important FIRST TIME LESSON you have to learn of all. ( in my opinion )
_________________________________________

I would like to see the BUSINESS TRUST NGO give an AWARD to the CUBAN that has been producing 18 gallons of diesel ( government source ) per day, for two years, using a seperation column, to seperate by specific gravity, 18 gallons of diesel a day, from crude oil. Recently in the news, with institutional bureaucrats crowding around like vultures, pecking over what is now a DEAD and dying successful entepreneurial enterprise. Killed by the bureaucrats. Bureaucrats can always find reasons, rules and laws to shut down anything. In Belize, with little to do in that realm, they always never fail to fill the airwaves with bureaucratic nonsense. This small home diesel seperation tower at 18 gallons a day, could support one tractor and a truck, on a small 30 acre cane farm. Say you save $4 bz. a gallon in costs, over buying from a gas station. You would earn $72 per day. Pay yourself $50 Bz a day and use the rest for running operational costs and equipment maintainance, this was obviously a small back yard farm going concern.
Belize needs entrepreneurs like this. Perhaps one day this guy would expand from 18 gallons of diesel a day, to a bigger refinery making 5000 gallons a day? From small seeds big trees grow. On the scale of what is good for the country of Belize, we need successful beginning entrepreneurs like this. We need such entrepreneurs, MORE, than we need another graduating University class of useless educated academics looking for salaried bureaucratic jobs with government. ONE ENTREPRENEUR like this CUBAN is worth 500 UNIVERSITY GRADUATES of the University of Belize, looking for salaried jobs. I hope the BUSINESS TRUST has a ceremony AWARDING this successful entrepreneur ( two years success ) in recognition of his services to the country of Belize. Such accomplishments are very RARE here!
In the meantime, on the listserves around Belize, farmers producing 20 gallons of wine from fruit from their trees, are now shutting down their home made wine operations, in fear of the bureaucrats. We are going to have a homemade wine shortage in FEAR of the bureaucracy with their heavy penalties and fines. How can you build a country with this kind of heavy handed stuff?

FORTY, LOCAL BELIZE FARMERS RECEIVE DONATION FROM SOCIALIST VENEZUELAN ALBA FUND.

VENEZUELAN ALBA FUND DONATES ANIMALS AND EQUIPMENT TO 40 BELIZE FARMERS IN CAYO DISTRICT

Central Area UDP representative, for the CAYO DISTRICT, got a donation for a list of 40 needy small farmers, presented by the Venzuelan Ambassador to Belize. The money to pay for it came from the SOCIALIST VENEZUELAN ALBA FUND. The presentation was made at the Central Farm Agriculture Research Station in the Cayo District. The area representative, Rene Montero is also the MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES FOR THE UDP GOVERNMENT.

MAYBE SALVADORANEAN ORGANIC FARMERS CAN TEACH BELIZEANS?

MAYBE SALVADOR ORGANIC VEGETABLE GROWERS HAVE SOMETHING TO TEACH BELIZEANS?

FIGHTING FOR VEGETABLE CROP SUSTAINABILITY IN BELIZE, AGAINST HYBRID SEED IMPORTS AND GMO ONE CROP SEEDS, WHICH COST FOREIGN EXCHANGE, WHICH WE HAVEN´T GOT.


Salvadoran Campesinas Go Organic
By Edgardo Ayala
Marina Rosales proudly shows off her organic guavas. / Credit:Edgardo Ayala /IPS
Marina Rosales proudly shows off her organic guavas.

Credit:Edgardo Ayala /IPS

TECOLUCA, El Salvador, Sep 30, 2011 (IPS) - The guavas grown by Mariana Rosales are big and bright green, and the best thing about them, she says proudly, is that she does not spend a single cent on fertilisers to produce them – something extremely rare in a country like El Salvador.

It is no longer easy for Rosales, 64, to bend down to collect the cow manure, leaves and other biodegradable materials she uses to produce the organic fertiliser used in her garden. But her enthusiasm for sustainable farming gives her the energy she needs.

"I still have the strength to continue growing my veggies and fruit," she told IPS. Besides guavas, Rosales grows beans, corn, cucumbers, ayote (a kind of squash), rice, mangos, lemons and other crops – all organic.

She is part of a women's collective that for the past four years has been involved in organic farming in the fields around the town of Tecoluca, 73 km east of San Salvador in the central province of San Vicente.

The area forms part of the Bajo Lempa region in the hot lowlands of El Salvador, which is regularly hit by floods and is seeing more irregular rainfall patterns year after year, as a result of climate change. Harvests are often ruined, which drives up the prices of staple foods like corn and beans.

That makes it even more important for Rosales to be able to grow her own food – and it is even better if she can do so in a sustainable manner, in harmony with the environment. That is the objective of the project organised by the Popular Movement of Organic Agriculture (MOPAO), which groups 17 local and national organisations.

One of them is the 500-member Municipal Association of Women from Tecoluca, that is working hard to boost self-sufficiency in food, which gives them greater economic autonomy.

"We want to promote the production of healthy, environmentally-friendly food, while bolstering food security and sovereignty," MOPAO coordinator Rosa Tobías told IPS.

"We also want to fight against many kinds of inequality," said Tobías, who is raising her four children on her own.

The association's project promotes a central role for campesinas (peasant women) in family decision-making about what crops to grow, and how, as well as greater participation in the benefits. The members also put a priority on sustainable agriculture – and are running into heavy resistance from their husbands and other men in their families and communities.

Modesta Pérez, 36, had a hard time convincing her family of the benefits of using organic fertiliser. "My father-in-law and my partner told me: 'look, that little bit of dirt that you put on the crops doesn't do any good', and I answered, 'it's not dirt, it's organic fertiliser'," says Pérez, who grows corn and kidney beans on rented land.

Now the men in her household and her community have found that organic agriculture works and provides them with greater autonomy, she tells IPS on her farm, filled with pride.

"El Niño" takes its toll

Food security and sovereignty is hard to achieve in a country where agricultural production is at the mercy of drastic climate variations: either the rain pours down and the crops rot in the fields, or there is no rain at all and they dry up.

For instance, the "El Niño-Southern Oscillation" (ENSO) weather cycle, a warming of the Pacific Ocean surface waters that periodically affects global weather patterns, caused a shortage of rain in Central America in September and October 2009.

That hurt the year's second harvest in much of Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported.

Then Hurricane Ida, whose rains lashed part of Central America in November of that same year, caused millions of dollars in damage to agricultural infrastructure.

In El Salvador it also claimed 198 lives, left 15,000 people homeless and caused 240 million dollars in losses.

In May 2010, serious damage to crops was once again caused by Tropical Storm Agatha in Guatemala and El Salvador.

To feed its population of 5.7 million people, El Salvador has to import beans, a staple part of the local diet, from Nicaragua, and more recently from China.

At times of scarcity, the price of beans rises threefold, to 1.50 dollars a pound, in a country where 40 percent of the population lives on less than two dollars a day and 19 percent on less than one dollar a day, according to United Nations figures.

FAO statistics show that 22.7 percent of the economically active population in the country is engaged in agriculture, while 9.6 percent of women formally participate in farming – an underestimate because many work on the family farm, but are not counted.

"Now that beans are so expensive, I'm eating the ones I have grown myself," Rosales says.

Native seeds vs hybrids

An important part of the project in Tecoluca is promoting the use of native seeds, to avoid dependence on hybrid or genetically modified (GM) varieties.

The "agroservicios" or privately owned retail farm stores that abound in this country sell hybrid seeds as part of a marketing strategy imposed by transnational corporations like the U.S.-based agriculture biotechnology giant Monsanto.

GM seeds are only good for one harvest as they cannot reproduce themselves, which makes it necessary for farmers to buy new seed each year in the agroservicios.

But with native varieties, farmers save the best seeds from the harvest to use for the next planting season, and are thus free from dependence on corporations for their seed stock. However, native seeds have virtually disappeared on the Salvadoran market, where hybrid varieties have a monopoly. Only a limited number of farmers, in different parts of the country, still grow the traditional varieties.

"We want to set up a native seed bank and are coordinating efforts with farmers from other parts of the country, to get them to provide seeds," said MOPAO coordinator Tobías.

Cayetana López, 39, is in charge of the production and sale of the association's organic fertiliser. In her yard she has set up an improvised shed, where 30 bags holding 80 pounds each of compost were piled, ordered by a local farmer, when IPS visited

"We produce it ourselves, according to demand," which she said is still low because farmers have used chemical fertilisers for decades and are still sceptical with regard to the organic kind.

"It will take some time for people to accept the benefits of organic agriculture. The idea is not for them to abruptly change the way they grow things overnight; the change will be gradual," she added.

Besides the health advantages of not consuming farm products grown with chemical fertilisers, there are economic benefits for the farmers.

One quintal (100 lbs) of organic fertiliser costs the members of the association 12 dollars, while the same amount of synthetic fertiliser ranges between 60 and 70 dollars. The huge savings are gradually motivating other local farmers to try organic fertiliser. The earnings from sales of the fertiliser go into the association's common fund.

Both consumers and producers benefit from organic agriculture, and the planet benefits even more, Ricardo Navarro, with the Salvadoran Centre for Appropriate Technology (CESTA), told IPS.

He noted that chemical fertilisers contain nitrogen, an excess of which goes into the atmosphere, as well as rivers and the sea, where it fertilises algae blooms that deplete oxygen, creating dead zones.

"The use of chemical fertilisers has negative environmental repercussions…and these women are doing the planet a world of good with their organic farming," the environmentalist said.

The women's association also produces plant-based medicines in an attempt to begin salvaging traditional knowledge inherited from the Nahuat pre-hispanic indigenous culture.

The members of the association thus grow aloe vera, which was traditionally used to help restore the digestive system. They also grow mint and other curative plants, and produce honey and biogas. (END)

Castlenau d´Aude and famous Bed and Breakfast, La Clos Cavaillies, of the Southern Pyrenees in France

** Summer jousting tournament for the knights at the castle in nearby town of Carcassone, France.



Castlenau d´Aude, a village in Southern French Pyrenees is the ancestral village for the AUXILLOU family and we can trace back roughly 1000 years.

Been a pleasure doing the geneology and looking up stuff, births and deaths from French church records online. A nice lady Mm Marie Therese Chincholle, with a Bed and Breakfast in the center of Castlenau d´Aude, a village of 450 population around a hilltop, has been helping with photos and stuff. Got a lot of it on our Auxillou geneology page now.

http://westernbelizehappenings.blogspot.com/2010/10/auxillou-family-geneology-details.html

Anyway, the village is surrounded by grape and wine making country and vineyards. The only business apparently. Near the town of Carcassone where some of my family ancestors have also lived. Been a great lot of fun over the weekend researching and posting stuff for my great grandchildren.



There is only ONE Bed and Breakfast, summers only, in the mountain village. Name Le Clos Cavillies, run by Mm. Marie Therese Chincholle and she has sent me some excellent photos of the village and area I could use. Her bed and breakfast place is called Le Clos Cavaillies and has four bedrooms running around $95 usd a night. Southern French villages like Castlenau d´Aude are pleasant small tourist destinations for Northern Europeans from colder climates. They are very popular. If you are into mountains, and rural settings and wine making, it is a big deal. Lot of local French city folks drive around visiting such places as well for holidays.
Her website is: http://en.likhom.com/bnb/Le-Clos-Cavailles/castelnau-d-aude/france

** Clos Cavaillies, bed and breakfast in small wine country village of Castlenau d´Aude

Le Clos Cavaillies, bed and breakfast in Castlenau d´Aude, Southern Pyrenees, France.

Bedroom in Castlenau d´Aude, village in wine country of Le Clos Cavaillies, run by Mm Maite Chincholle.



** eating room, Le Clos Cavaillies in B & b in Castlenau d´Aude, Southern France, wine country.

Correct name for owner of Bed and Breakfast is: Marie Therese Chincholle
Website: http://www.closecavailles.com B&B in CASTLENAU D´AUDE, SOUTHERN FRANCE

*** Center of small village ( pop 450) of Castlenau d´Aude in wine country of Southern Pyrenees, France.

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We got to thinking we might go visit and see if we can trace any relatives around Castlenau d´Aude and Carcassone. What else to do? Like to find the house an Auxillou family lived in. Either in the village or the town. Then we found out that La Canal Midi passes next to both places. I´ve always dreamed of cruising Europe on the canals in a rented motorized barge house. So I looked them up and there are rental places close by. The house barges sleep 7 to 12 people, so we could cut the cost per person. You can travel ALL OF EUROPE on canals and locks in a boat. The MIDI canal is a famous one and ends at the Meditteranean not too many kilometers away. So maybe that would make a nice summer trip? A bit of variation.

Tourist rental motorized house barges cruising La Canal Midi


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CAYE CAULKER HAS BEEN THE NEW ANCESTRAL HOME OF THE AUXILLOU´S SINCE 1961. WE HAVE VIA DIFFERENT FAMILY MEMBERS A LOT OF REAL ESTATE AND BUSINESS INVESTMENTS, ALONG THE BEACH AND THROUGH THE ISLAND. DIFFERENT AUXILLOU GROWN CHILDREN IN 2011, HAVE BUILT BEACH CONDO RENTALS FOR OVERNIGHT VISITORS, HOSTEL, GUEST HOUSE, AND COUPLE OF HOUSE RENTALS IN THE CENTER OF THE ISLAND VILLAGE

** Caye Caulker beach, a small island on the Great Barrier Reef of Belize, Central America

*** AUXILLOU TOURIST RENTALS FOR DIFFERENT FAMILY MEMBERSHIP OWNERS.

** The island does not allow vehicles, you walk barefoot the sandy streets, ride a bicycle, or use a golf cart. The pace is GO SLOW, relax. Never do today, what you can put off until tomorrow!

HISTORY OF AUXILLOU´S FROM CASTLENAU D´AUDE village

Most Auxillou´s originated from Castlenau dÁude, a village of 450 pop., near Carcassone the town.

Francois Auxillou 1495
Jeane Antoinette Auxillou 1689 ( Carcassonne )
Jacques Auxillou, married in LAURA 1695
Rose Auxillou born to the Father Pierre Auxillou and mother Marie, Sept. 11, 1700
Auxillou marries daughter of Jospeh Berger and Anne 1755 ( child arranged marriages back in the 1700´s by parents )
Auxillou marries daughter of John and Jane Burges 1763
Auxillou sone of William and Mary Shepher Touret 1766
Margarite Auxillou born 14 April, 1777
Marie Pascale Auxillou, born 19 April 1778
Marie Rose Auxillou, 18 March 1783
Marie Auxillou, born 27 Nov. 1787
Elizabet Auxillou, born 10 December, 1804
Marie Elizabeth Auxillou, 3, December 1808
Jeanne Elizabeth Auxillou, 31 August, 1810
Marie Rose Auxillou, 31 August 1810
Boissezon Auxillou,1829
Most of this must have been the time of the FRENCH REVOLUTION and NAPOLEONIC WARS.
Pierre Auxillou 1896
Louis Auxillou 1914, died at Battle of Somme, name on WW1 monument in town of Carcassone, Southern France.
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AUXILLOU´s started to spread out around the world from here on.
**Caye Caulker became the NEW home ancestral village of the Auxillou family, 50 years ago, about 1960.

** some Auxillou family condos on the beach of Caye Caulker, built and owned by my four daughters. They have other units elsewhere.
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Raymond Auxillou Sr. died in Canada at age 83 yrs. Born in London, UK. Son of Louis Auxillou a Frenchman.
Raymond Auxillou Jr., born in London, UK, 1937 - currently living at 74 yrs in Belize, Central America. Son of Raymond Auxillou Sr.
Stephen Auxillou born in Canada 1957, died in 1989 Vancouver, Canada. Son of Ray Auxillou Jr.
Mark Auxillou born in Canada, Son of Ray Auxillou Jr. 1959
Sharon Auxillou born in the village of Caye Caulker, Belize, Central America. Daughter of Ray Auxillou Jr. 1964
Wendy Auxillou born in Caye Caulker, Belize. Daughter of Ray Auxillou Jr. 1965
Diane Auxillou born in Caye Caulker, Belize. Daughter of Ray Auxillou Jr. 1966
Tina Auxillou born in Caye Caulker, Belize. Daughter of Ray Auxillou Jr. 1968
Isabella Auxillou, London, Ontario, Canada, Daughter of Steve Auxillou. 1975
Tamara Auxillou, daughter of Mark Auxillou 1989
Kathleen Auxillou, daughter of Mark Auxillou

Castelnau - D'Aude, Aude, France seems to have been the main concentration of AUXILLOU´s in the Pyrenees mountains and Carcassonne the main town. Also in the town of Carcassone there have been Auxillou´s for centuries.

UDP Government of Belize approval rating drops to 26%.

*** Shunned and ostracized, lawyer Marcel Cardomo, believed to be one of only TWO honest UDP party members. He plays no part in government, as under the leadership of his GODFATHER in the UDP, Dean Barrow, supported by the rest of the gang of sycophants, he has been exiled away from any functioning role in the Government of Belize, as an elected representative.
** Dean Barrow, Don of Dons of the UDP MAFIA gang ruling Belize. In the charade and jargon of parliamentary democracy he carries the title of PRIME MINISTER. The leader is not a POPULARLY ELECTED PRIME MINISTER. Under the charade of governing system we use in Belize, he is appointed by the QUEEN´s representative, based on approval in turn by the mafia gang members and their associates and card carrying members. I stress the point, he IS NOT A POPULAR ELECTED HEAD OF GOVERNMENT IN OUR SYSTEM IN BELIZE. He is a gang chieftan and usually half the voters of the country do not want him, or are served by is gang when they control the government of for five years.
*** Foreign Minister of Belize, Elrington, one of two believed HONEST UDP MAFIA RULING CAPOS of the gang ruling Belize.


UDP GOVERNMENT LOSES 10 POINTS ON APPROVAL REPORT CARD
New Score 26%

The FIRST QUARTER, or 3 MONTHS has passed on a one year trial, to see if the UDP Government are anything but a SPOILS ORIENTATED ordinary pirate gang of OPPORTUNISTS AND CRIMINALS, typical political party gang for an elected five years. They are graded each quarter and this first quarter has expired with no improvements in making Belize a better democracy.

The GOAL is to see if any of them have leadership, OTHER THAN getting rich off government service and the SPOILS SYSTEM of political administration.

Interestingly enough, two UDP members have so far distanced themselves from the rest of the political party mafia, as to HONESTY. QUEER as it may seem, both are lawyers. ELRINGTON who is Foreign Minister in the Cabinet, was one such member and has told the media in interviews quite plainly, there will be no change to make a PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY of BELIZE, ( from the pirate mafia SPOILS SYSTEM ), unless the public takes to the streets in parades and mass protests, DEMANDING FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES to the laws of Belize, against his UDP government. As in like the ARAB SPRING democracy movements! The other believed HONEST UDP party member is MARCEL CARDOMO, who has been ostracized and quasi evicted, or SHUNNED like the Mennonites do, for a UDP gang member who does not obey the gang mafia rules, he has been evicted by his PIRATE CHIEFTAN, DEAN BARROW, who has the sham title of PRIME MINISTER in this sort of ELECTED DICTATORSHIP in Belize. The title EL CAUDILLO in Spanish more fits the actions of this gang leader running the country, or STRONG MAN dictator. The rest of the GANG of OPPORTUNISTS AND CRIMINALS have produced several OKAY type, ordinary functioning DEPARTMENTAL MINISTERS operating their assigned portfolios adequately enough. Seperately, they the CABINET MEMBERS, or ruling CAPOS in mafia parlance, have earned points for their administrative performance for the gang. But anybody so elected is supposed to work like they have done! That is what they get paid for, with many, many, luxuries and perks from holding elected office. When they do their jobs properly, they earn points on the governing report card.
What this excercise is about for one year, is to delete BAD LAWS from the LAWS OF BELIZE, cleaning up the rules on how we are governed. This one year project is also to see if we can seperate where their true colors, or characters lie, by gang member individuals. WILL THEY IMPROVE BELIZE WITH GANG VOTES, in order to put new LAWS on the books, to make Belize a more FAIR, HONEST and FUNCTIONAL PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY. Are they patriotic, or just ordinary mortals, pirates plundering the treasury for all they can get? So far, only two UDP mafia gang members pass the test, during the first 3 months of this 1 year trial. Which is better than the previous PUP administration, who were perceived and judged to be all crooks.
The mafia gang leader, DEAN BARROW, in the charade that passes for our rubber stamp, parliamentary system, has spoken plainly to the media and makes no bones about it on TV. He is in it for the money and has indicated it his right in OUR SPOILS ORIENTATED POLITICAL CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM. The media stress the NEPOTISM and family members reaping financial rewards as his most glaring fault. Other than that he is an astute, successful, politician, well able to talk for hours and leave the impression, that he is GOD´s GIFT to Belize, after a disastrous two previous terms by the even more corrupt PUP. Administratively his ability to do a job as administrator of government functions has turned out alright, if one judges by the financial problems caused by the previous political administration. He has also controlled his CAPOS ( gang Cabinet Members )who run the country of Belize, for the most part, and they are AFRAID of him, he controls them utterly by the SPOILS SYSTEM of rewards and threats of loss of FACE, REPUTATION and mostly income flows from the TREASURY revenues. Some of them, many in fact, are as the media TV describe, " light weights ", simply followers of little or no ability, who are totally brown nosers, or boot lickers, or in more polite terms, just YES MEN, sycophants, not want to lose their rewards and perks. A few of the GANG CAPOS ( Cabinet members in the jargon of our government charade ) have reasonable ADMINISTRATIVE ABILITY and it is a pleasure to hear them describe their job functions, the job problems they face and decisions made to solve them. I can certainly appreciate their work. Most though, are as the media often describe in polite terms, just DUDS.
At heart of this one year excercise is to see if THEY the UDP as a MAFIA, party SPOILS GANG, will change to a patriotic party and build our democracy and make it more honest, and participatory for the public. Lots of the activists and thinkers in society have offered many insightful laws that should be deleted and others that should be made ( such as a NO CONFIDENCE VOTE and new elections, as practiced in some other working real democracies. ) There are a lot of activists and bright people in the country, wanting to make BELIZE A shining democracy. They have been THWARTED for 40 years by the SPOILS SYSTEM. In New York City, the mafia are infamous for being an underground government, in BELIZE, they are THE GOVERNMENT and legal and as our esteemed elected DICTATOR says, his POLITICAL SPOILS SYSTEM is what makes party politics in Belize worth chasing. ( for him; which says oodles about his values and character, depending on where your own value system lies ) Neither of the two political parties in Belize I believe ( wish to change the system ). However, it will be interesting to see what another 9 months of this public debate, will reveal.
So the APPROVAL RATING FOR THE UDP IS NOW 26% and going down.