July: Tile System Offsets Annual Electric Bill by 85%
Dushanbe Cyber Café
Project of the Month: April 2008
Fat Spaniel and Bella Energy Team Up to Build a Cyber Café in Dushanbe, Tajikistan 
Dushanbe Cyber Café
Fat Spaniel and Bella Energy Team Up to Build a Cyber Café in Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Team Comments
A Citizen of Dushanbe
"Your gift will provide us residents of Dushanbe with an opportunity to be in touch with many people all over the world, and to learn a lot about international changes and developments."
Jim Welch
President, Bella Energy
President, Bella Energy
"We are committed to providing a renewable energy future, not just for Colorado, but for people all over the world at all economic levels. This cybercafé demonstrates practical, clean energy-technologies to the local people."
David Barrett
Architect
Architect
"Using solar energy to power the café expressed Boulder residents’
commitment to environmentalism and sustainable design principles."
Dushanbe Cyber Café
Bella Energy strives to provide the highest quality solar energy solutions to empower communities with opportunities to contribute to a sustainable future and clean energy economy.
To give the people of the world the same clean energy opportunities we have here in the USA, Bella Energy donated and installed solar electric and hot water systems on the Dushanbe Cybercafé in Tajikistan.
Bella Energy proudly partnered with the Boulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities’ efforts to repay the City of Dushanbe for the unique gift of the Tea House on 14th Street in Boulder, Colorado, successfully bringing 21st century solar and energy-efficient technology to a far corner of the world.
The solar systems provide reliable electricity and hot water in remote Tajikistan where power is very unreliable, producing about 50% of the electricity to run computers, lights, refrigerators and other electronics. Now there is internet access in a country where the internet reaches only a small fraction of the people.
Bella Energy engineers worked with locals to install the system, training them in maintenance and troubleshooting. Bella Energy donated the labor, two plane tickets and arranged for Fat Spaniel to donate a data monitoring system which links to the Dushanbe website for monitoring the solar system’s performance.
The 5 kW solar electric system has 2-3 days of battery backup storage and a data monitoring system. The hot water system, designed by supplier Next Generation Energy, consists of two 4x10 solar thermal panels, a drainback system and a 120 gallon storage tank, which provides 80% of building’s hot water with electric backup for cloudy days.
Battery photo credit: Cliff Grassmick
Other photo credits: Boulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities