Lakhasly

This is the Egypt familiar to most people. Cairo is a big, busy city. But there’s
a whole other world up here, high on the city’s rooftops.
Many Egyptians use the space on rooftops for water tanks, satellite dishes,
and even livestock. The garbage piled everywhere is considered valuable
because it’s often recycled and reused. Cairo has been “going green” long
before it became fashionable.
That’s why National Geographic Emerging Explorer Thomas Taha Culhane’s
program has been so special. He’s been helping lower-income Egyptians
build solar-powered water heaters—partly out of recycled trash—and
putting them on their rooftops.
Thomas Culhane: People will come to this community, and they’ll look on the rooftops and
they’ll say why is there so much trash on the roofs, but if you talk to the
homeowners they’ll say, “What trash? I’m saving this for the future when I
can figure out a good way to use it.” So there is no trash. And that is, I think,
the message that inner-city Cairo, and the informal communities of Cairo,
have for the world. Forget this idea that there is garbage. One man’s
garbage is another’s gold mine.
Narrator: The water heaters take advantage of Egypt’s great national resource—
abundant sunshine. When the system is placed just right …
Culhane: Oh, you’re good. You are good. You know what you’re at? 39.9 degrees.
Whoa. Whoa.
Narrator: Solar panels heat up water that circulates through metal tubes, eventually
filling a tank with extremely hot water.
Culhane: This is a hand-made solar hot water system, and it’s made out of local
community materials, recycled materials, and even some garbage. And we
put it together as cheaply as possible to demonstrate that anybody can
make a solar hot water system; that renewable energy is not some exotic
technology; that it can be made from found materials and it works.
Narrator: The solar heaters allow urban dwellers access to a plentiful supply of hot
water. The heaters improve the quality of life and sanitation, and they cut
down on potential energy costs. Culhane says the only problem is the dust
from the nearby desert that coats the city and the panels.
Culhane: Solar works tremendously well if there’s sun. Cairo has sun. But it also has
dust. Until people appreciate that, they won’t come up and just do the
simple thing of just wiping the dust away. So really it’s a matter of just a few
seconds to wipe it down and then the system is functioning again. But
because people don’t do this, they will say, “Solar does not work in Cairo.”
And what we have to do is get them to be as aware of the need to just dust
these as they are dusting their kitchen table. Once they accept that, solar is
a no-brainer here. It’s an easy thing to do. Culhane hopes the water heater project will lead to other innovations using
recycled materials. As the saying goes, one man’s garbage is another man’s
treasure