blueEnergy is just now breaking the surface and as we do, more and more people are finding us to tell us what we should be doing.  Sometimes they're right but most of the time they're either telling us we should have done something more or should be doing something more now.  There's no doubt we need good advice and help, especially going forward.  But we also know where we've come from and what it took to get to where we are now. 

We see below the water's surface for our particular situation.  People who are now seeing blueEnergy for the first time and think we could have or should be doing more don't understand what it takes to get anything done in the environment we work in.  It takes a significant physical, human and organization infrastructure to lift a noticeable chunk of iceberg out of the water.  And by significant infrastructure I don't mean bloated overhead - I just mean a highly effective body of knowledge, experience, motivation, procedures, facilities and equipment.  And in the environment blueEnergy has chosen to work in, it's a struggle for everything including every inch of infrastructure.

I know in my heart that we have done and are doing all we can with the resources we have.  We will continue to improve our efficiency and as we attract more resources and get them to gel with our existing ones we will be able to do more.  One thing's for certain, this whole blueEnergy experience has sensitized me to the challenges faced by other organizations just breaking the surface.  I look at them now with a sense of awe and admiration and am very careful with my words when offering suggestions.

Innovation is a wonderful thing.  There are always ways to improve the way we build and do things, there's no debate about that.  But does the world really need a new type of water filter or does it need people to execute the myriad of good solutions already out there?  After all, people need clean water, they don't need innovative water purification technology.  Similarly they need energy service to light up their homes and store their medicines, they don't need a flashy new wind turbine design.

Certainly the technology and models used have to be workable... but the chasm between workable and working is large - and people gettin' 'er done is what lies in between.

There are so many workable solutions out there just waiting for motivated, dedicated people with the follow-through to actually execute them.  Having great ideas to help people is one thing but actually going out and dealing with the daily grind, the disappointments and the failures and somehow driving dreams into reality, a reality that actually helps people - that's hard.  blueEnergy's director in NIcaragua (also my brother), Guillaume Craig, is a master doer.  I'm constantly amazed at his ability to turn ideas into reality and the last 3 weeks has been no exception.  Everyone within blueEnergy, myself included, and many outside of blueEnergy have a lot to learn from him.

Am I the first person to reflect on the chasm between ideas and action - of course not - so I'm going to stop and get back to work.  After all, gettin' 'er done is blueEnergy's true innovation :)

This past week was incredible.  I haven't had so much fun on the job in a while.  I started blueEnergy because I wanted to build wind turbines, but of course my responsibilities require me to be behind a desk most of the time.  I'm not complaining at all - I still love what I get to do - but this week was special for me as I got to be in the shop each and every day.

Here's a group shot of the team that got 'er done!

 
Throughout the week we focused on a modification of our existing design along with two new designs.  Our main goal was to create and study several options for a more robust small wind turbine, then make some decisions on which design to hone in on moving forward.  We succeeded in building all three models we had aimed to and ran a considerable number of tests.  We're still busy compiling the results and will be making some final decisions in the next couple weeks on which model we adopt for our next round of production.

We were honored to have the Otherpower.com crew with us on the ground in Nicaragua and to have the remote advising of Hugh Piggott.  For Otherpower.com I think this trip was truly eye-opening and their practical knowledge represented a treasure trove for our local employees and volunteers.  We're out to make Bluefields the capital of small-scale wind power in Central America and the events of this past week certainly strengthened our case.