Loowatt Blog

Check out our gas

admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:23:43 +0000

Last week, our friends Ben Withers and Simon Trickett, environmental engineers, came by the Loowatt digester in Kennington and took a gas reading with their “sniffer”, a gas analysis tool normally used to monitor landfill gas.

The methane concentration is 62%. It’s been churning out a steady supply despite being fed somewhat rarely these days and running at 25 degrees celsius.

Anaerobic Digesters in India

admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:39:37 +0000

During our visit to India, we visited two digester manufacturers, SKG Sangha and Biotech. SKG Sangha manufacture brick based digesters for home and larger scale community use.

SKG Sangha digester

Local masons are trained to construct the digester. Once fully trained, they are employed to build more digesters in the region and also carry out maintenance on existing digesters, which helps maintain a local presence. The biogas is used on site for cooking.

Biogas stove

Biotech concentrate on providing fiberglass floating drum digesters for both home and large-scale waste to energy projects. The digesters are used mainly for converting household waste to biogas for cooking on site.

Biotech Digesters

To find out more check out

http://www.skgsangha.org/

http://www.biotech-india.org/

Loowatt in India – Panchabhuta Conservation Foundation (9th-14th January 2012)

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:06:00 +0000

The Loowatt team was involved in a workshop for the Panchabhuta Conservation foundation located in Kagal village in coastal Karnataka, India. Hosted by Mangal Sheety and Deepak Sarin in collaboration with architects Sami Rintala, Daggur Eggertsson and Pasi Aalto. The aim of the workshop was to create an eco-home model that was affordable, sustainable and replicable on a large scale. We brought lots of information about how they might set up toilets and anaerobic digesters, and had a great time working with the group.

For more pictures and other similar projects check out the following websites.

http://rintalaeggertsson.com/

http://www.pasiaalto.com/

The finished concept design was not fitted with a Loowatt toilet as at the moment there would not be enough users and a composting toilet alternative would be more suitable. Evaporating toilets can be a great and affordable alternative in rural locations, if they are well managed. Speaking of which check out our friends at Woowoo (www.waterlesstoilets.co.uk), they will be exhibiting a range of waterless toilets including Loowatt at this year’s ecobuild.

Loowatt in Antananarivo, Part 2

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:27:25 +0000

We’ve made exciting progress designing the pilot implementation for a Loowatt system in Madagascar. Check out our photo summary by clicking this LINK!

And, in case you missed it before, some background information in photographic format is HERE.

New Location, Got Gas!

admin — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 10:46:22 +0000

The Loowatt digester has a new home: The Keeper’s Lodge at Kennington Park. It’s producing a steady supply of biogas.

Alongside is fleet of beehives managed by Barnaby Shaw, as part of Project Dirt.

Check out Barnaby’s blog here!

Check out our nomination for the 2011 Katerva Award

admin — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:23:09 +0000

We are honored to be among a host of inspiring nominations.
Click this link to see Loowatt’s nomination page.

Last weekend at the Urban Physic Garden

admin — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 17:55:12 +0000

Since June, our digester has been producing a steady supply of biogas for the café, produced with help from a poop-collecting toilet which we tested there. Visitors, thanks for your contributions. The Urban Physic Garden closes next week. English summer—perfect for a cup of tea.

Loowatt in Antananarivo

admin — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:09:19 +0000

As part of our work for Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations, we were recently in the capital of Madagascar gathering knowledge that will help us to implement financially sustainable Loowatt systems. Among lots of fascinating things, we saw these cooking stoves for sale everywhere. They are made locally from scrap metal and designed for use with charcoal and wood.

Check out the linked SLIDE SHOW for more observations.

Loowatt on TV… en español: El inodoro del futuro

admin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:42:18 +0000

Check us out on TV making sausages with biogas!

Loowatt, el ecováter

And if you haven’t had enough yet, check it out in German: Dünger und Biogas aus der Öko-Toilette

Our favorite part remains the animations by David Lopez Retamero.

Check us out in Wired

admin — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:33:14 +0000

Last week in Wired, Loowatt was featured among “six most innovative ways to process your poo” — awesome! Featuring a nice shot of our digester at the Urban Physic Garden. Check it out at this link.