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LFP (4/4) Issues and opportunities around the LiFePO4 battery bank

The former article showed that the installation of an LFP battery bank is different from the lead acid. Here we describe how we dealt with these differences on the Ya. Take your advantage of it.

Prevent exchange costs

Firstly, you’d better not do what we did on ‘Ya’. We first chose for a lead acid bank and now we exchanged it for LFP. You’d better choose for LFP straight away. We now had to throw away the old lead acid devices, e.g., our main hand battery switch of over 100 Euros, a volt meter, and much more. And, a lead acid bank costs more space and has more weight. In the first place, it has cost a lot of money to realize this. And now with the LFP bank, we have two water and air tight compartments left over. It is all pity money spent.

On the left you see the former Starboard set of lead acid batteries, taking two compartments (On the portside the same set.) In the middle picture the compartments emptied. On the right the LFP bank, and we did not need the front compartment anymore.

Check the compatibility of BMS, CAN bus and charger

One of the beauties of the BMS that it manages the whole charging process. It controls all these little circuit boards in such a way, that a ‘difficult’ cell gets more, an ‘easy’ cell gets less energy. Hence, they all get charged equally, until every cell is at its maximum at exactly 3.65Volt. This last phase is called the balancing phase. Then the charging energy is very little, but very precise. Therefore, the BMS must be able to regulate your charger precisely. It asks for a good communication.

Then you need a CAN bus between the BMS and the charger. You buy the thing from your charger supplier. In case of ‘Ya’ we have a Studer xTender (inverter and charger). Studer delivers the xCom-CAN with a variety of protocols and communication speeds, so no problem for us. But, make sure that there is one that your BMS can communicate with. Make sure, before you buy the BMS (or the charger).

The professional installer like in our case EV Europe, can configure it all.

In the battery compartment there was plenty space to also build in the BMS (right, behind the white panel), the CAN bus (in the middle, also see inset to the very right) and the DC/DC converter (to the left)

Full-automatic system requires solid, reliable work

Full automation sounds beautiful, but a BMS with incorrect feeds, can fully automatically damage your equipment. We made the next mistake.

On ‘Ya’ the BMS got its feed from our 12 Volt service battery, an AGM battery already of age. It also feeds the anchor winch. The voltage drops were big, so the BMS switched the main relay switch on and off and on and off, about 5 times per seconds. This created a chaotic flow of currents running up and down the various charge devices. In one anchor maneuver, these freak currents blew the fuses of the solar MPPT and converter, and the wind generator’s MPPT died.

We did two things to solve this:

  1. We eliminated the cause by giving the BMS a separate 12V power supply.  Many choose for a battery, but we installed the higly reliable Studer DC/DC converter. The feed comes straight from the 48 Volt battery bank, through this DC/DC converter  feeding the BMS and all its equipment, such as the relay switch.

2. We contained the possible impact, by:
– Installing a relay switch on the output of each of the three charging devices (solar, solar and wind).
– Connecting a relay on the input of the wind MPPT. This works as a short circuit, to slow down the wind turbine.
– Installation of an extra resistor on the output side of the wind turbine, just in case the turbine runs another 2 or three rotations and generating a last bit of power. This would flow into that resistor.

So, now when the BMS switches off the main relay, it also switches off the charging devices and no freak current can enter any device or electronics.

This is also nice if someone is working on the electricity: there is really no power on the net, so no risk of fire or damage when working.

The feed to the Contactor (main switch relay) is also feeding the relay switches that disconnect the outputs of the two solar controllers, and the SilentWind controller. The latter also has a switch to stop the generator, and a resistor to take the possible last current. When the Contactor switches off, every charger output is switched off.

Dry compartments

Main cause of failures of electrics and electronics is the bad, corroded contact, mostly caused by moist and dirt. On a sea going yacht, you have a lot of moist and salt. Connections can easily rot away in that environment. So we climatized this environment of the battery bank and devices.

The lead acid battery bank was put in air tight compartments in the bilge. Now we put LiFePO4cells in it. And, these cells are so small, they don’t take much space. So there was plenty space to make a circular ventilation duct through the compartments, with a dehumidifier. Now, once a day the little 5-Watt ventilator and the 40-Watt dehumidifier run for an hour. It keeps both battery compartments, including the BMS, CAN bus, 48/12 DC-DC converter, circuit boards and all connections, extremely dry.

This is the SB compartment. Inge’s finger shows the ventilation duct. In there, under her finger, is a ventilator. It moves the air through the duct under the batteries, the air is pushed up at the end and then comes back over the top, where the air passes a dehumidifier and goes into a channel to the Port compartment making the same route. The dominant round white thing is the dehumidifier. A little line drains the water to the bilge pump. Now, the compartments are always very dry.

Bypassing contactor manually for charging purposes

It is rare, but suppose you get this scenario.

You are at sea and for whatever reason the battery bank is low. And then, there is no sun and no wind, for days and days. Meanwhile you cook, use navigation equipment, so the bank gets lower and lower. Then, one night, the voltage becomes too low and so the BMS disconnects the Contactor (main switch battery bank).

Then in the morning, the sun starts shining. Since the switch is off, the solar power feed is disconnected from the battery bank, so it won’t charge. Now you are in a Catch 22.

Therefore, we have a little button that switches on the contactor and other relay switches, so the energy can flow into the bank. You have to push actively. When you let it go, the circuit is broken again. But that pushing won’t take long because we are in a steep curve, where a little bit of energy is already enough to quickly raise the voltage. And if something else is wrong, the push button makes you very aware of that and you have full attention to the system.

Here behind the front panel, we made the contactor, together with the fuse visible. If the BMS switched the contactor off, there is this so-called ‘Momentary Push Buttton Switch’ to switch  the contactor (and other relay switches) back on. So even when the voltage is too low, we can charge, but with continuous care and attention.

Some extra beeps

The Battery Management System is measuring so much, and is so well in full control, that it invited us to take profit of this advantage. Naturally you get readings on your display when something is going wrong, and even with pre-warnings. But we liked to have some hard signals you can hear. So, there is a high beep now, when the battery bank’s voltage gets too high. There is a low beep when the voltage drops too low and the battery bank is almost empty. And we have another low beep as a pre warning if the battery bank has only 10% left to use. Very nice that you are pre warned before you are confronted with dead engines when you are maneuvering in a harbor.

It just takes some extra hours for installing and mounting the cables, for the rest it is just a matter of some computer settings in the configuration.

This is the EMUS BMS. on the circuit board. EV Europe made this circuit board to have all the outlets and the pins around it, so there are many possibilities for extra options.

The usual extra attention to the alternator

A wind turbine contains an alternator and this is one that you can stop. But if you have a diesel engine with an alternator to charge your batteries, you have the usual problem (next to all problems there are with combustion engines).

The general problem of alternators: you cannot disconnect the output from the battery bank, because the diodes of the alternator would blow up. So, you have to stop the alternator before. When you have a combustion (diesel) engine, you first have to stop the engine before you turn the main battery switch to OFF.

When you take an LFP bank with a BMS, and so an automatic relay switch, the contactor (main switch) is automatic. Whenever there is a chance of fire, or ruining the batteries, because of under or over voltage, it will disconnect automatically.

There are some solutions.

  1. The alternator feed bypasses the main switch. Many boats have this already. The problem is, when you work on the battery bank with the main switch on OFF, and the engine starts running, there is still electricity on the net. And the other way around: when a normal user (like a leisure skipper) switches off the main switch for whatever reason (chance on fire?), he presumes to be safe and have an power free circuit. But, when using the engine, there is electricity again. So again a risk on fire?
  2. Modify the alternator, so the field current is stopped, and the alternator stops charging.
  3. The generations after you will tell you that the best solution is to stop combusting CO2, NOx, SOx and fine dust into the air, and take electric engines for your leisure. They are also much more reliable too.  See this article
Why electric engines are better

This is the last of the 4 articles about LFP/LiFePO4 battery bank compared to lead acid.
Here you find a more technical description of an installation of a service pack.

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Ya goes GOES

“Suppose that sailors all over the world take samples and send the results to marine biologist researchers. We would know a lot more about the state of the oceans then” says Dr. Howard Dryden, GOES, (Global Oceanic Environmental Survey). We agree, so Ya will participate in the GOES-project.

Even dogs find plankton interesting!

Why GOES?
Ocean acidity is rising. This will have disastrous effects on marine environment. The most probable cause is chemical pollution. GOES wants to estimate the amount of toxic chemicals in the ocean. With this evidence, industry and governments can be urged to stop polluting our atmosphere, soil and water with toxic for-ever chemicals and plastic. So, GOES needs more data; data we as sailors can collect. This is why Ya will go GOES. 

The role of plankton in keeping the oceans healthy 

Tiny animals and plants in the oceans (<1mm) control our climate and atmosphere. They are the life support system for the entire planet. But through pollution we have reduced the numbers of tiny planktonic plants and animals by 50%. They eat microplastic, loaded with toxic chemicals, which destroys them. This destruction continues at a rate of 1%, year on year.

What will we see during our trip?

Under a simple microscope you can see diatoms, responsible for 40% of all carbon removed from the world’s oceans

We will see diatoms, who are responsible for around 40% of the removal of all carbon from the world’s oceans.

Some of them ‘eat’ particles from the water. This makes them very sensitive to plastic and chemical pollution. The diatoms create inspiring shapes and structures, using silica. So, we are looking forward to seeing them!

COPEPODS: poop and water mixing

This tiny animal, of around 1 mmm, is a Copepod.

There are around 5 billion tonnes of Copepods in the oceans. They usually measure around 1mm. If you would put the Copepods in one great big pile, that pile would be ten times heavier than a pile of all land animals combined. Every year, Copepods poop 30 times more carbon than humans use in the form of fossil fuels, and 6% of their poop (3 Giga tonnes of carbon) is locked away in the abyss. The rest is recycled to the surface. Other animals and bacteria  use poop for food, used as fertiliser for plant,  bacteria turn it into nutrients  etc.: allowing the cycle to continue. 

Also spectacular is that, every night, they swim from a depth of 400m to the surface, where they feed on algae and other planktonic plants. Together they move more water than the moon and the tides! They are some of the most important animals on the planet. We have never heard of them before. So, we hope to spot lots of them under the microscope.

How we get the data

To gather the data from the ocean, we need a sampling tube and a simple microscope, and a computer to connect and save the data.

We connect the microscope to a computer and we will collect samples on Ya twice a day (if the weather permits it). We take 0.5 litre of sea water and filter it. Then comes the exciting part. Under the microscope, we count plankton, microplastic (fibres and beads) and any other particles larger than 20 microns. We will take pictures to register what we see. When we have a stable WIFI-connection, we will send the data to GOES. 

GOES will:
1. look for relationships and correlations in the numbers;
2. present the data in ways that help us understand what’s going on in the deep ocean;
3. calculate the amount of toxic PCB that is in the deep oceans of our planet. 

Every plastic particle contains a very toxic chemical called Poly Chlorinated Bisphenols (PCBs). PCB’s have been banned for over 45 years, but they still find their way to the environment, especially when waste is not carefully managed. We find this in all the oceans. The chemicals concentrate many thousands or millions of times on the plastic.  Chemicals like, PBDE, PFOS and cosmetic ingredients such as oxybenzone. The toxic chemical plastic combination is killing the plankton responsible for removing most of our carbon dioxide and producing our oxygen. If plankton does not remove carbon dioxide from the water, it forms carbonic acid, it will make the oceans more acidic.

Why is it necessary to stop ocean acidification?
When ocean acidity reaches pH 7.95 the marine environment will collapse. This could be in 25 years. Even if the world became carbon neutral tomorrow, the oceans would reach this acidity-level only 5 years later. So, yes, besides reducing our use of fossil fuels, we must also stop ocean acidification. Because climate change will be bad, but humanity may not be able to survive ocean acidification and the loss of most marine life.

How do we stop the acidification process?

•       Stop chemical pollution in general; use less chemicals
•       Stop plastic leaving rivers and reaching the ocean
•       Replace toxic chemicals with green options; ask for ocean-friendly products
Ocean plants in a healthy environment will double their mass every 3 days and ‘eat’ millions of tonnes of carbon. This would greatly help solving the climate crisis. And because we want to know how the situation really is now, we will collect data for GOES.

Do you want to support GOES?

Even if you are not a sailor, you are welcome to support the GOES project. You can start your ocean-conscious life right away. Or, can join in workshops and online training sessions. Just email diane@goesfoundation.com
If you are a sailor, you are more than welcome to join the project as we described above. For full details of the equipment and ordering details click here

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LFP (3/4) The LiFePO4 battery bank installed

In one article we discussed the choice between LFP (or LiFePO4) batteries and lead acid batteries. In a second article, the business case, we saw that LFP batteries are cheaper. So, we installed a 42.5 kWh LFP battery bank, to serve our household and electric engines of our self-sufficient ‘Ya’.

Our 42.5 kWh battery bank of 48 Volt on ‘Ya’ consists of 16 times 3 cells.  The port part (top) has 10X 3 cells, the starboard part (down) the last 6 X 3 cells. The SB part is smaller to preserve place for the BMS and other accessories.

How did it work out? Much differences with the old lead acid batteries are caused by the lower internal resistance in LiFePO4 batteries. This is great for the efficiency, and it has other consequences. We work them out, and others.

This is the behaviour of a LiFePO4 cell on ‘Ya’. The three ilnes show three consumption rates. Generally, the difference of a nearly full (3.25V) or 20% empty (2.9V) LFP battery cell is only about 0.35 volt. Even when you use it heavily, the voltage of an LFP cell hardly drops. This means that the internal resistance is low.

You get what you see

The lead acid batteries always have a loss on taking the energy in and delivering it out again. This makes you a bit uncertain/unsure how much energy you actually have. To prevent this loss, we tried to use the energy immediately when it is produced (by solar, wind or hydro). So we baked our bread around noon, and made our dinner before 5 PM. It saved 10-30%. Technically, the high internal resistance is the cause of this (see the first article).

The LFP hardly has this disadvantage: the energy coming into the LFP batteries, will be the energy coming out. What you see going in, you also get it out. It makes you happy.

On the left you see how full the battery is. One tap on the display and you see (on the right) the basic numbers. We are especially interested in how many Watts are going in and out.

You get what you want

Now our engines work better and more reliable in the extreme power range. When the lead acid battery bank was low, I have always doubted if the electric engines could deliver the full 15 kW power they should be able to. Well, they couldn’t, because the voltage dropped too much. Once when the (old) lead acid battery bank was low, and I blew both the engines full power for 5 minutes, the engines stopped. The engine displays said “voltage too low’. It could not deliver the 15-kW needed.
You will see the same if you have a heavy power equipment, like an anchor winch, connected to a 30-40% charged lead acid battery.

By contrast, the LFP delivers the power you want till the battery is really empty – or at least to 10%.

Check your cables and connections

You replaced the batteries from lead acid to LFP? Then switch everything on full power and check if your cables and connections don’t get hot-it can cause fire! This can happen now since, due to the internal resistance, the old lead acid batteries never delivered the power that was asked for. But the LFP’s really do deliver this power! So now you get more current through the cables and connections. These cables and connections have resistance, so that means more heat. When a cable is hot (or a connection is bad), you will feel heat there. Prevent fire and fix the connection or replace the cable for a thicker one.

LFP is all-automatic

With the LFP-batteries you get a complete Battery Management System (BMS). Initially you (or your supplier/installer) plugs in a computer on a USB connection to configure all settings. Once set, the system runs.

The core of the Battery Management System is the black ‘EMUS’ box in the middle. EV Europe’s circuit board around it, and all pins, make the installation convenient and versatile. In Inge’s hand is the USB connection for a computer to configurate the BMS. Down left you find the Studer xCOM-CAN bus, to make communication possible between BMS and Studers’ charger.

There is a display with the BMS, for the daily use and readings. But you can also connect your cell phone through blue tooth (see above: ‘You get what you see’). It shows you everything, even the status of each cell. This display is for the daily user.

Not only the BMS can shut the system off, but also the crew, by pushing this emergency button.

All-automatic commits to know your system

Most accidents on yachts happen, because we leisure skippers simply don’t know how the equipment is working. It is nice to live not hindered by any knowledge. But once it will go wrong, also with an excellent working ship and equipment.

OK, we are leisure sailors, but there is a limit to not knowing what you are playing with. I would say, the minimum is that you can draw out the equipment of your system and can find it on board. This is:

  • The battery cells
  • The BMS with:
    • The (12 Volt) feed wire to the BMS
    • The fuse of the feed wire
    • Contactor (the central big relay switch)
    • Emergency button (switch)
    • The cable to connect the BMS to your computer
    • The cable or Bluetooth connection to your display
    • Display with the basic numbers (Volts, Temp, Watts coming in or out)
    • Display with the numbers per cell
    • (If installed: Low/high voltage warning beeps)
    • The CAM (‘talking device’ between BMS and charger)
  • The charger and the AC (110/220 V) plug
  • The AC fuse of your charger
You can draw the system yourself, but our supplier EV Europe has drawn it the professional way in a Wiring Diagram.

LFP is zip maintenance

Over the years, I developed a relationship with my lead acid battery bank. Next to some attention, the bank needed maintenance. For lead acid batteries, this means: keep your lead acid always full. But I could not do that. The bank became ‘lazy’. So, every three months I made some deep charges and discharges, I measured the density of the acid mix, and topped up the evaporated demin water.

LFP comes with a BMS and it does not need this TLC. The BMS saves you from trouble and does the maintenance. This consists mainly of balancing the cell voltages, which means: keep them equal. This is done automatically during the last charging phase, nearing the 100%.

On ‘Ya’, we live and sail fossil free. Our battery bank is our energy buffer and never at 100%. So, the supplier advised us to do a full charge every 3 months. So, our maintenance consists of putting the 220 Volt plug of the charger in the shore power for a day every three months. We can handle that.

Deeper in the app, you will find the necessary numbers per cell, and that is nice when there is doubt about one or more cells. Here you see a shot of the balancing phase, where all cells will be charged till the maximum of 3.65Volt.
This is the SB part of the 48 Volt battery bank on ‘Ya’. Every cell has its own little circuit board, to measure voltage and temperature. See the inserted blow-up on the left. Now the BMS also regulates each circuit board to balance out the final highest voltage at 100% charge, exactly 3.65 Volt.

In the next and last article all extra features will be treated on a more technical level. We will discuss things like:

  • The alternator. With the lead acid battery bank, one never can switch the main switch off when the alternator runs (like a windturbine). This would blow the alternator. With the LFP bank this switch is automized. Reason to tackle this problem.
  • The feed of the BMS and contactor can become a Catch 22. We discuss that.

And we discuss all other extra features and possible problems we found in the installation.

Want to know where we are? See
https://fossilfreearoundtheworld.org/map-where-we-are-now-position-of-the-ya/

Want to subscribe to this newsletter? See https://fossilfreearoundtheworld.org/blog/

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Farinha de Pau – A small Eco Rural Project in the Cape Verde

On Sao Nicolao, the fifth largest island of Cape Verdes, there is a piece of land called Farinha de Pau. You will come from the West down the only road, with on the left hand the sea and on the right hand the savannah and desert land. When you see the volcanos before you, the road turns to the right and 3 minutes later you are there: Sergio and Simone’s Eco Rural Bed & Breakfast.

Sergio and Simone in their first built B&B room.

The big picture

Sergio and Simone started with just a rough piece of land. Since the 1950’s the islands here get less and less rain, so the water supply is crucial. Here they have a good start, because the water comes from the Faja project.  Fresh rainwater is collected in the volcano, because of the vegetation they planted inside. The difference in temperatures makes the clouds over the volcano ‘empty’ the rain. It is a natural chain reaction, giving a permanent and reliable water supply. Sergio: “This gives sustainable future opportunities in this rural area; we just worked out a reforestation/revegetation plan and we are talking with investors now.”

Farinha de Pau before the B&B eco rural project.

The big picture of their small B&B is to stay sustainable. “When we started, the land was like a savannah. We planted 1,500 trees and made a wall around it to protect them from goats and animals.  This is the base. Then we want to use only the local materials. Farinha de Pau offers us the sand and the tree branches to build with. And this island, Sao Nicolao, offers the rest. I will show you.”

Sun dried clay bricks

“We make a special mix from the clay leafs and sand that we found here. Then, we put them in moulds, and the Cape Verdean sun bakes the bricks for the walls. You like the colour?”

The main building material is sun dried bricks. Only a small concrete profile is necessary for the construction.

Indeed, I like this warm amber-sandstone colour of the long wall. But could it support the roof and more? Sergio answered: what you actually need for the construction, is just a small, well reinforced concrete profile. It is worked in the wall. This is a few percent of the total weight of the materials. And it is already strong enough to support a second storey.”

Sergio explains how the walls are plastered with a mixture of loam and sand.

Pallets and tires

Sergio is always busy☺ Three pallets sawn right, and the right thick matrass on top, make a good bed or couch.

The car tire is perhaps one of the least valuated, building materials. Sergio: “When I go surfing on the lee side of the island, I sometimes smell burnt tires. It stinks and the emissions are so bad for the environment. So, I decided to take them away and started using them. ”
It proves to be a strong and durable building material.

You can use tires to reinforce unequal ground, so it stays on its place. A good alternative for concrete, because now the soil stays open to absorb water.

The tires are used to reinforce unequal soil and keep it easy to walk on..

..and tires are good to make stairs from; you can never fall hard!

Sergio also made a serial septic tank from it. “It is simple: you dig a big hole, put up a pile of tires, and a next pile and a next one. You connect the piles and close the top of the piles. Then, connect the sewer to this septic tank; the water’s solids rot away and the water slowly leaks into the ambient ground, fertilizing the plants.

Sergio shows the top tires marking the septic tank. All trees and vegetation on Farinha de Peau grow well!

Vegetation

The more vegetation, the cooler the place. At the very start they planted 150 trees. Sergio just made pergola’s everywhere, and let plants like the passion fruit tangle its way on it. It is creating extra shadow and regulates the temperature of the place.

With a variety of crops and the composting, Sergio and Simone are closing the food loop of production and consumption. This is why Sergio calls this an eco-rural project.

Energy: the house

In every room Sergio uses the light of the sun. “We have solar just for the extra things, such as the freezer and the expresso machine In this climate the water temperature for the shower is never a problem.

We have no battery bank for the night or for cooking. So, then we use the main power line. That is a pity, because the electricity on Sao Nicolao runs on fossil fuels. But on the other hand, this way our energy supply is simple and cheap”. Sergio is also planning to construct a solar cooker.

Three solar panels on the roof is sufficient to meet the regular day consumption

Energy: the body

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is afbeelding-104.png
Sergio, originally from Brazil, works ‘hands on’

So, the B&B is a very sustainable place to be. Even more so, because Sergio can also re-energize your body. He graduated in Hatha Yoga, Shiatsu and Japanese Seitai (Chiropractic). In São Nicolau, he discovered a traditional treatment with volcanic sand for rheumatism that was almost forgotten. This combines perfectly with Shiatsu and Seitai. And it is perfect for sailors who suffer from pain and muscle fatigue due to the long journey and rough sea.

The surroundings

These pictures speak for themselves. This eco-rural B&B, next to the volcanos, has found the perfect location!

More info at:  https://www.farinhadepau.com

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We wish you a solidary 2022

One year ago we were anchored on the Guadiana river. We celebrated Christmas with 3 ‘watch skippers’. COVID restrictions were tough, you could invite only “one household”. But it is the gut feeling of solidarity among yachties that nobody should celebrate Christmas alone. So, we noted one companion in our logbook as crewmember. The other 2 formed the other “household”.

 

Christmas is for celebrating together and we followed the COVID regulations according to our solidarity.

Gambia solidarity

Last month we spent in Gambia. A poor country, with half the people living under the poverty limit of 2 Euro a day. There is no state’s social security. How did they survive the lock down? A miracle? No. It comes down to one word: solidarity.

We saw how this works in Lamin Lodge. There were not enough yachts for the service men living from it. But instead of hard competition, they distribute the work. Senna, a newcomer, was the lucky man to welcome Ya. He helped us greatly with cleaning Ya’s hull, advising us on where to shop, to eat, to find a laundry woman, to make better deals with taxi drivers and market sellers. He made sure we did not enter dangerous spots and he brought us fresh bread every morning.

After three days we asked what it costs, and he answers: “You just give from the heart.”

After he was paid, he cooked for the whole ‘gang’ of service men. The mobile solar power bank we gave him, he shares with his buddies. It is the solidarity that makes this community united, and therefore strong.

 The whole ‘gang’ of service men on Lamin Lodge. One for all, all for one, especially in COVID times.

A call for global solidarity

Let is go back to 1987. After 4 years of work, a new report by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) came out. This UN Commission was presided by the Norwegian Mrs. Brundtland. She invited members of developed and developing countries of the world. Their final report was called ‘Our Common Future’, but many still call it the ‘Brundtland Report’. It stated that critical global environmental problems were mainly the result of the enormous poverty of the South and the non-sustainable patterns of consumption and production in the North. The Brundtland Committee called for a sustainable development. This means, a social and economic development for all, with respect for the environment. That way, it would not compromise the future environment for the next generations, especially in the poor countries. The Brundtland Commission simply said: we globalize our society, so let us globalize our solidarity. That was 1987. But two years later the Berlin Wall fell, and we all saw that as the victory competition . So, solidarity was set aside.

Now, sustainable development is the key principle in many countries policy documents. This means, social and economic development for all of us, and with respect for the environment and for our future generations.

COVID and solidarity

And now 2021. The world suffers from COVID. The cause lies in our globalized world, and the dense traffic gives viruses every opportunity to spread quickly. New Zealand, China, Korea and Taiwan could stop it. Democratic or totalitarian organisation did not seem to matter. But each of these countries acted relentlessly united; key was the solidarity in each country.

But solidarity within countries is not enough in our globalized world. In January this year the World Health Organization wrote an alarming report. Most countries took 90% of the necessary measurements, although a ‘leak’ of 1% is plenty for a virus to spread. In most countries, governments took action after procedures, which cost up to 10 days. In terms of virology, 24 hours is already long. So, the virus spread. The WHO created COVAX, the organization to distribute the vaccines to all countries. Did the countries of the world unite in solidarity to kill the virus? Well, the Western countries did promise support to COVAX, but then purchased 3.18 billion vaccines, each at their own account. Source

On the left you see the number of doses per country group based on its income. On the right you see the number of doses purchased per country per inhabitant. As you know, an inhabitant needs 2 (sometimes 3) doses.

These overdoses were driven by competition. The pandemic got worse. And yes, the Delta was a first mutant. Rich countries reacted defensively with ‘an extra booster’ for the population within their borders, and that was it. So, a second mutant came, the Omicron. And it is no rocket science to predict that this will continue endlessly.

Professor M. Koopmans, one of the international top virologists says: “Yes a country can beat down the next wave, but (…) then, new mutants will develop. They can be worse or less bad, we don’t know.”  She says there is only one solution: “One health, on global level.” The journalists wrote down: “Whatever question we raised, it always came down to one word: solidarity.” Source Koopmans agreed from her virologist’s perspective: “Yes, solidarity, and on global scale.”

You know why solidarity is so important? Because it is at each individual’s best interest.

We wish you a 2022 and many more years with a daily and passionate solidarity.

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We wish you a Healthy Christmas!

From the vibrant and friendly Gambia, we wish you a warm and healthy Christmas. We hope you can enjoy your company; if you are alone, with family or with friends. And we wish you happiness and good health. Above all, we wish you good, fossilfree, spirits:)

Merry Christmas from Ya’s crew, Peter and Inge
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Children deep down in Gambia

The Ya sailed far up the Gambia river. Here you get a view into the life of a little fishers village and its children.

Impressed? So are we. If you want to donate to the school, then make a transfer to:
Name: Stichting Schone Golf (Dutch for Clean Wave Foundation)
Place: Rotterdam
Country: Netherlands
IBAN: NL03 TRIO 0788885464
SWIFT/BIC: TRIONL2UXXX
The Clean Wave Foundation makes the effort and pays the collatoral costs to make 100% of your donation effective to the black boards, the wall between the classrooms, the bore hole, and/or the light.

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Two tales on West African Batiks

After meeting with Wally Bahoum at Lamin Lodge, we wondered if the batiks from Indonesia have anything to do with the African batik. We found two intriguing stories. Find out which one you like most. And of course… check out Peter’s new outfit!

Left: A batik design by the Dutchman Piet Snel, produced in The Netherlands by the Dutch company Vlisco, founded in 1936  (Source).    Right: Authentic Gambian Batik work (source)

African style Batik: is the origin Dutch?

Lots of the fabrics we see in West Africa nowadays are not made by African firms. 

oseph Appiah-Dolphyne and Karen Dodoo
These Ghanese office workers are shocked to discover their ‘African’ prints might be Dutch. “It was designed in Europe? It’s sad to hear. We can easily design clothes, so why not do it?” (source: BBC)

Some African designers even refuse to use African wax prints, because they see them as a legacy of colonialism. What is the story behind this?

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Are these designs African? We don’t know. (Source: BBC)

Indonesian origin, English recording, Dutch design and print, and a global trade of Batik

The English documented the batik making process in Indonesia in the 19th century. This was at the time that the British captured the island from the Dutch. Sir Raffles explained how the Indonesians passed hot wax through a tube to draw designs on fabric. After that they dyed, re-waxed and dyed the fabric again for up to 17 days. 

Wax print worn in the market
West-Africans wear the colourful batik prints on all occasions (source: BBC)

When the Dutch ruled Java again, they used his book. They worked out how to mechanise the process so it would be cheaper than the expensive hand-made batiks. The Dutch continued exporting their wax prints to the region for the next 22 years.

Why did Dutch textile become popular in West Africa?

Well, the Dutch were expanding their colonies with the help of soldiers from West Africa. When these soldiers returned to West Africa, they took the Dutch-manufactured batiks with them. And from that moment, there was a growing demand for these wax prints in West Africa. The material was easier for sewing machines than the thicker locally woven material. They also had some similarities with the West African traditional local tie-dye.

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Some prints are patented by Dutch companies. For example, the “skin” or “house marbles” design was created for a Dutch firm and its patent, registered in 1895, has been found in the records at the UK’s National Archives. (source: BBC)

So, some of the ‘West-African’ prints were actually designed in the North-West of Europa and most of them are now produced in the Far East, because production costs are lower there.

African style batik: The authentic Gambia’s Batik Art.

Ever since the Gambians coloured cloth with fermented mud, they have made special designs for their fabrics.

This documentary shows the traditional tie-dye process in the Gambia

Gambians carved inspiration of the land and the river in wood, or they painted it in mud, stamped with wax and dyed the fabric. Originally, they dyed the fabric with mud. Or with the colour from Kola nuts, which is a deep orange or reddish colour. Or with indigo, making a deep blue colour. 

The Kola nuts are indigenous to Africa and grow on trees (source)
The Indigo plant is a sub-tropical plant brought to Africa from India. It is still used quite frequently, transforming green plant extracts to blue cloth

The industrial dying products are now used more often because they are cheaper and more practical.

Batik can be simple using one colour. It becomes more difficult when you add a second or third colour, and you vary the pattern of stamps. A special technique is a form of dripping where you take a paint brush, dip it in the hot wax, then let the wax drip on the cloth to make a pattern of dots. You can dip the cloth in many different colours, creating a beautiful effect. And you can coat the entire cloth in wax and then roll and crack the wax, creating wavy lines throughout the fabric. At Lamin Lodge we saw a combination of these techniques, which makes it stand out from the products tourists can find at the coast. Wally learnt Batik from his father and now adds his own touch to the design. 

Wally Bahoum takes orders for custom-made articles and ships them for his clients. This way he can sell his goods year-round instead of just in the tourist season (November-February)

The maker can use stamps or templates to be able to produce dozens and dozens of batiks for the short tourist season. Or he can make unique, custom-made articles. He decides, using his knowledge, skills and inspiration to make the most beautiful batiks. This is authentic craftmanship, sometimes even art.

Wally Bahoum launched his business in Lamin Lodge at the start of COVID-19. He began with nothing but a bananabox and is now making a living and expanding steadily. 

We are quite sure the unique handmade quality of Gambia batik, like we found in Lamin Lodge, cannot be replaced by factory work. And last but not least: this kind of entrepreneurship helps to build resilient communities.

Inge is very happy with her tablecloth with napkins.
Peter looks very handsome in his unique tie-and-dye shirt

Sources and further reading:

https://www.smcm.edu/gambia/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2015/03/art-and-survival.pdf

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/4fq4hrgxvn/wax-print

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Ya at Lamin Lodge

It must have been in the 80’s that Peter, a German sailor, sailed his way through the creeks and ended here. He bought a piece of land. He cut a way through the mangrove from the land to the creek. There, on a sandbank, he built his 3 floors Lamin Lodge. All constructed with the men from the Lamin community and with the wood from Gambia.

Lamin Lodge

He made moorings for the sailing yachts and a little dock to come with the dinghy. How is Lamin Lodge now?

Have a tour with us!

We hope you will like it.

Let us know at info@fossilfreearoundtheworld.org.

Also, if you want to know where we are now, you can follow us on the map.