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about EcoAndina was founded 17 years ago and in its early years existed as a loose group of like-minded people. Our common goal was the preservation of the natural resources in the Andes region on the one hand and protection of the livelihood of the local population and their culture historical distinctiveness, at the same time supporting careful regional development. During this time EcoAndina has introduced, tested and optimized adapted solar technologies and drinking water systems in the context of regional rural development in the Argentinian Puna, and has been supported by municipal funding and donations. In 1989 the “Ecohuasi” in San Juan de Misa Rumi in the county of Santa Catalina, Jujuy province, was built. This project was patterned after an established project in Freiburg/Breisgau (Germany) and utilizes various alternative energy technologies such as solar and wind energy. In 1998 the EcoAndina Foundation was established. Over the course of time the following projects for schools, common dining rooms and neighborhood centers were developed:  300 solar kitchens for families 25 box-like solar heaters 50 solar ovens for heating water 15 common solar kitchens 9 indoor heating systems 8 solar ovens 8 hectars of old cultivated land which
was reactivated using solar pumps
and drip irrigation 4 reed bed sewage plants
The EcoAndina Foundation has developed a “cascade concept” for improving local conditions. In this context 3 other solar common baths were built in the Andes region, from which the waste water was clarified using reed bed clarification systems and then utilized for drip irrigation. A further ambitioned project for “ecologifying” the Puna region was developed: “Andean solar villages”, which are settlements that are supplied by clean energy and whose local economies are based on a sustainable use of natural resources. EcoAndina introduced technologies utilizing solar heating into northeast Argentina and made this knowledge available to cooperatively organized workshops. In close cooperation with the foundation, a large part of the equipment is now being produced in the workshops themselves. |
lunes, 06 septiembre 2010
