Energy Efficiency in Honduras

Nuestro Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) and Orphanage Emmanuel were spending a large amount of their budget on electricity, much of it used to pump the many gallons of water used each day at these two largest orphanages in Honduras, which care for a combined total of nearly 1000 children.

We reached out to our energy advisors Tom Fenimore of Duke Energy and Paul Ehrlich of Building Intelligence Solutions in Minnesota. Together they wrote a plan that saved the two homes $130,000 in electricity and 20,000,000 gallons of water annually.

It became apparent early on that to install 40 heat pump water heaters, hundreds of streetlights and energy efficient lighting in dozens of buildings, classrooms, and dormitories, and replace over 200 toilets would be an overwhelming task for those running the home. Tom put the word out through his church, Warehouse 242 and Duke Energy seeking skilled volunteers and six men signed up. Together they installed all of the hot water heaters, 90% of the outdoor lighting, as well as indoor lights.

When Tom first arrived he sent a text saying, “So my heart is in a puddle at my feet from the little girl with the doe-y eyes who walked up to me and thanked me for what we are doing. God is not going to make it easy to look away, is He?”

After six long days on the ground doing installations, they returned to North Carolina exhausted, but the men immediately asked when they could go back.

Check out the related story about the donation of water heaters from Milwaukee manufacturer AO Smith HERE.