It’s tough trying to go green in Guatemala.  For more than six months I’ve been accumulating recycling hoping that one day the recycling people who offer home pickup would actually show up and take this stuff away.  I even went through their cleaning and separating instructions meticulously.  Calls to every number they publish as well as polite requests by email were all ignored.  Not even a “We don’t want your stinkin’ trash!”, which at least would have been humorous.  Perhaps recycling from conservative gringos is less valuable?  Anyway, they never did come by to pick it up, but my landlord was kind enough to drag it all away.

I’ve always wondered about the economics of recycling and have long suspected that without government subsidies recycling in a economic loser.  My own experience suggests the margins aren’t there.  I just heard from another expat who asked to remain anonymous that the recycling people went out of business because the land that was free is no longer, well, either free or available.  I guess if you require free land to subsist it’s not economically viable.  So from now on we’ll give all our recycling stuff to the same two little boys in the back of a truck who come to pick up our trash.  Or we could go native and just burn it under our neighbor’s front window.

Readers will recall I was also enthusiastic about the opportunity with wind power here in Guate.  For much of the dry season I had a lot of wind here at my house, and went so far as to put plans together for a vertical axis wind turbine.  There is some really cool stuff on YouTube, guys in the rust belt with actual practical skills and too much time building these things and then sitting back with an Milwaukee’s Best Light saying, “Hey y’all, watch this!”  Anyway, the idea was that this baby would work even at low speeds and charge up a bank of batteries that I could then power the house with, but the closer we got to the rainy season the less wind there was in general.  Sure, we’ve had some storms, but for the wind to really work you need to have steady wind, and that’s obviously not the case inland.  That was a real disappointment to me because the return on investment (ROI) was so much more attractive with the wind turbines than with solar.  Besides, sitting up there and watching her turn round and round and knowing that every revolution was making or saving me money…that would just be cool.

I’ve concluded that solar is the only real practical solution, but the long time to ROI (10 to 15 years at best) means it is economically impractical.  To put it in perspective, the investments I’m making here in Guate have a 2-5 year time to ROI.  Of course, even at 15 years you’re effectively talking about 5% a year on your money, more than a money market account, and you have the benefit of a independent, clean energy source.  Risk has a relationship to ROI but I don’t remember how to calculate it into the yield curve, so calculating the ‘reward’ of having energy when no one else does is beyond me at the moment.  I mean, it’s probably pretty high, but I can’t remember.  Regardless, the long ROI means that capital looking for a good return will likely go elsewhere.

My own plans have therefore changed.  Rather than trying to go fully-off grid, I’m going to step into it a little at a time.  My plan is to acquire a single solar panel, inverter and battery or two and try to power a refrigerator or deep freeze.  I’m pretty motivated about it since power outages have been somewhat frequent and losing relatively expensive meat and dairy products isn’t fun. Incidentally, when I mentioned this idea to Santiago he suggested I just hire locals to get on a stationary bicycle and ride it for me, charging the batteries that way.  To his credit, that is a clean and renewable energy source, and I could hang out with other expats and revel in how I’m helping ‘those people’ by providing jobs, but I really want the power on demand and in the event the roads are all washed out again I’m betting my cyclist(s) wouldn’t show up for ‘work’.  There is a project in Guate with a similar scheme, check it out here.  I’m also ordering a sun oven, so I can boil water or cook something just by concentrating the sun’s power.

One of my other projects has been to convert Fraulein Benz to run on alternative fuel.  My dream has been to get one  of those kits that will allow me to motor around the streets of Antigua using used vegetable oil.  What would be cooler than cruising down 5th Avenue leaving behind an exhaust trail that smells like french fries?  Even if the cost to operate wasn’t that much less it would be pretty neat.  But readers will recall that I’ve had some rather basic problems just keeping Fraulein on the road, let alone powered by leftover oil from McDonald’s. With all the money I’ve spent on tuktuks and taxis the last few months I could have bought an entire fleet of conversion kits.  I’m a little depressed about that whole situation, and eternally hopeful I’ll have my own ride again soon.

One reader wrote me with an idea that sounded interesting; he was working on some program to essentially create moonshine using the plentiful sugarcane grown in this country.  Moonshine is pretty good fuel for a diesel engine and I liked the idea of creating a business around homemade liquor, err, fuel, but it occurred to me that Chapines love their sugar and if the recent dustup with Mexico over sugar is any indication, the last thing I need to be known as is the Gringo Using Our Sugar for His Mercedes.  The price would go sky high, I’d have protests in front of the compound, and as readers know I like to avoid confrontation and lead a low-profile, quiet life, so the sugarcane moonshine/fuel project was abandoned as well.

I do have an idea for hydropower which requires a trip down to the river to evaluate.  Anyone ever been to Chicujal?.  Stay tuned…

You all wouldn’t believe some of the stories I could tell after the last month of learning the ‘doing business’ ropes here in Guatemala.  For those of you I’ve met in person I’ve said that Guatemala is a lot like the Wild West back in the 19th century.  Well, it’s true; you can strike gold or you can get scalped or shot in the back.  If you remember those old Clint Eastwood moves where people get shot on the street and bystanders just walk by like nothing happened, well, that’s what it’s like here (metaphorically).

Anyway, I think we’ve hit critical mass now as my circle of friends and advisors has grown and good things are happening, people are warning me off of certain other people, etc.  When people email or call daily and say, “Mark, I have this idea, what do you think?” you know you’re doing something right.

Those of you who have previously requested to get updates should have gotten an update today on our latest endeavor, a neat opportunity in the recycling business.

Look for an Executive Summary on our first ‘green’ business in the next week or two.