Guatemala: Addressing the Energy Crisis

When discussing the energy crisis in Guatemala and possible solutions, the only source people looked at was oil. Now there are other ways to find alternative sources. The infrastructure and development blog AIDG explains how a community can get cheap access to energy using alternative sources. In 2007, they worked on building infrastructure to help Guatemalans improve their quality of life by testing the use of biogas in a small plant in La Florida, which is a model that they will implemente in Haiti later this year.
There is also a blog written by enthusiastic students from Stanford University during their year of service abroad. They are in Guatemala to learn about the coffee industry, called GSBCAFFEINATION, and there they described the amazing labor of Technoserve, a famous NGO that seeks to find solutions with the development of biofuels, as described here:

The biofuel project seems extremely interesting. Theya re helping producers to grow and cultivate jatropha plants, which can be used to make biofuel. My understanding is that there is no demand for biofuel from jatropha plants in Guatemala at the present, nor does there exist the capability to process the plants into biofuel, but Technoserve is hoping it can develop the industry. Very ambitious!

Global Voices