While electronics are far scarcer among the impoverished residents than in the U.S., one major energy need is heat to warm water.  The group of University of California Berkeley Energy and Resources Group devised a solar water heater that was cheap, simple, easy to maintain, and could be put to use in low-income housing.  The group plans to begin marketing their design to local residents soon.

The project began in Berkley professor Ashok Gadgil's Design for Sustainable Communities class.  The students were tasked with developing an economical water heater and they hurriedly set to work.  Now, only a year later, the prototypes are complete and units have been installed in several low-income apartments in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

Team member Ernesto Rodriguez, who is working toward a masters in business administration, describes the town stating, "[Quetzaltenango] is an urban community with significant economic activity that has little access to new technologies ... there is a lot of potential to create a local industry that will create jobs, bring better products to the market and improve quality of life of the population."

The heater, which will be entered into a national competition in October, uses only materials that can be found locally.  It harnesses the power of the sun to heat water to 40 °C, a temperature sufficient for showering needs.  And it does not contain the hazards that other local heating methods to do.  Says engineering doctoral student Sara Beaini (referring to team member Merwan Benhabib, an engineering doctoral student), "Merwan found that ... households use electric in-line heaters for showering, which are costly due to the electricity expenses and hazardous since you are prone to getting shocked."

This spring the students travelled back to the region to install a third prototype.  Mr. Rodriguez, says that in the upcoming year the team plans to survey the families to gain insight into their experiences and how their lives were affected by the device.

Based on suggestions and feedback a final version of the product will be worked out and presented to manufacturers -- either local or in the U.S.  Kenneth Armijo, a mechanical engineering doctoral student says this field insight will be key.  He states, "It is one thing to develop a technology in a university lab, but another to develop it in the field with all of the uncertainties and unknown challenges that aren't always technically and socially apparent."

The final unit is expected to retail for around $100 when massed produced.  Mr. Rodriguez says the goal of the project isn't simply to make a financially successful business, though -- it's to help the people of Latin America and other impoverished nations worldwide.  He says, "The more we advance with the project, the more we realize it has an important impact on the life of people and it has a great potential to be replicated in other places around the world."