Tassajara Technologies, Inc, (TTI) is a small company that brings together individuals with experience in solar thermal technology, engineering, physics, architecture, public health, green chemistry, senior corporate management and public-private collaboration. TTI is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. We look forward to developing partnerships and alliances with many diverse organizations as we step forward to contribute to the global challenge of indoor air pollution.
TTI has a vision of implementing a small (residential scale), reliable and affordable solar co-generation system to address multiple challenges that intersect the need for clean energy, population health improvement, and economic development in poor countries and emerging consumer markets. Currently TTI is in the process of making a test model of a “core system”. The system is designed to store energy for later use and to adjust the mix of outputs between heat and electricity that will run "bolt-ons" (appliances) for lighting, cooking, pasteurization, refrigeration, water pumping & purification, as well as the amenities of domestic electricity.
Contact Information
TTI is currently building a test model of the system. The company will begin planning field demonstrations in 2010 and expects to be ready for these beta demonstrations by the middle of the year. Initially we would like to focus on a single community and then be able to replicate that. We see replicating the technology in a "pre-commercial" scale-up that would involve 100-250 units. Once the technology evolves to a commercial scale we are targeting to disseminate 2500 units in the first year. Through alliances with businesses and organizations with expertise in international development and emerging consumer markets we envision scaling up to 75,000+ units installed within 5 years.
Our Experience And Interest In The Four PCIA Central Focus Areas
Of the four central focus areas of the partnership we have primary expertise in #3 Improving Technology Design and Performance
Meeting Social and Behavioral Needs; Developing Local Markets, and Monitoring Impacts of Interventions are critical success factors and we want to be a part of the Partnership to develop collaborative relationships with organizations whose skills and experience are in those areas.
Tassajara Technologies wants to see this go all the way. We see a 5 year aggregate market penetration/ serviced need of 50-75 million "green" stoves. We believe a portion (+/- 10% or 7.5 million is one estimate ) of those will be "solar powered" and a subset (+/-10% or 75,000) of those could use our approach (direct heat from micro-solar co generation). The farther in the future you go the more general the forecast, but we want to help make the long term aggregate penetration rate reach 150 million units or more. This would mean meeting half of the global need over the next 15 years. The history of technology adoption curves supports this potential if we work collaboratively in public-private-independent sector alliances. We are committed to do that.
Technology standardization is a key area of interest for Tassajara Technologies' founders. We have been involved in standards setting consortia in other technology areas in our careers, so we bring experience and skills to this key enabling area. We look forward to making contributions to standards in the technical areas critical to the success of the Partnership.
We have followed developments in the field since the mid 1980's, primarily with concern for application of this knowledge in residential architecture in the United States. We also have been involved in population health interventions in the United States to mitigate the impact of air borne asthma triggers on inner city children. Additionally, one our Senior Advisors has contributed extensively to the development of the "evidence-based" approach to population health. Tassajara Technologies is committed to an "evidence-based" approach to both technology development, design for health (including appliance specification); and population health improvement. Monitoring and well-designed epidemiological studies will be needed to validate this work in the public health policy and funding communities, and we would like our projects to be part of such evaluations.
Relevant Publications or Studies
None noted
Our Contribution to the Partnership
We can participate in a number of ways 1) technology innovation 2) policy advocacy 3) project collaboration (technology & technical assistance contributor) 4) standards consortium (technical role)
