The world wants blueEnergy

 A lot of what we do at blueEnergy is manage expectations.  We identified this early on as a big risk to our organization.  People are desperate for energy and once they see you have something that works, people come out of the woodwork and mistakenly think you're going to light up their community like New York, and for free.  Since the beginning we took great care to explain to the potential beneficiary communities on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua that our solution is an incremental step towards the larger development picture and requires a high level of beneficiary involvement.  Our solution can provide modest amounts of electricity, but electricity that has an extremely high marginal value because it's the first.  Going from zero lights in your home to one light is a huge improvement.  Going from 10 lights to 11 lights is a much smaller marginal improvement.  Our systems can't power every major appliance people can think of, at least not now, and that's been hard for people to understand at times.

Since our CNN exposure, the demands for our help coming from around the world have increased dramatically.  Here's a look at who visited our website from Dec 6 2007 to Jan 4 2008.  Over 11,500 people and from all over the world:

These website visits generate a tremendous number of comments and questions.  The vast majority follow a similar theme, of the type: "I am a [citizenship] national living in [country]. Have you ever thought about bringing your project to [country]? Here we have no light and contaminated water and your work would be very helpful. What can I do to bring your project here?"

Some examples:

"i live here in the philippines i would a solar power for the home. some thing small just to run some fans and light but the thing is i dont have lot of money becuase am on a small pension i was wondering if you can help in someway thanks and god bless"

"I M A MECHANICAL ENGINEER TEACHING IN A TECHNICAL COLLEGE, IN FAISALABAD PAKISTAN.PAKISTAN IS A DEVELOPING COUNTRY, THERE IS MUCH CRISIS OF ENERGY , SO I REQUEST TO START UR PROJECT HERE, I WILL FEEL HONOR TO BE UR VOLEUTEER. I ALWAYS SEARCHING SUSTAINABLE ENERGY RESOURCES. SO PLEASE HELP POOR PEOPLE OF PAKISTAN . THANKS A LOT"

"My Country is Liberia, West Africa. Liberia has just ended 14 years of civil war two years ago. All infursture was distroyed during the war. No electricity for the rural villages and towns. Can blueEnergy assist with project to provide electricity to some selected schools, for adult education at night and medical clinics for preserving needed drugs and vaccines? What are the requirements we need? Matthias Craig, story on CNN, he is a hero. "

"Dear Sir/madam, I am currently the director of a local NGO called 'Computers For Schools Sierra Leone". We have been supplying refurbished donated computers from Canda for the past year and half. We have been able to supply 500 computers into this war -torn country. Sierra Leone has had a ten year civil war in which all the infracturture was damaged. However our efforts have been hamppered because most areas don't have any power supply. I am kindly asking if there was any way you could extend your program in this country. This is a country that has been listed as the second world' poorest country. Once again I want to thank you very much for the difference you are trying to make in the lives of people. Thanks in advance. Kind regards"

"Greetings. I am the Chairman & CEO of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. Our mission is to bring electricity to all Nigerians, grid and off-grid... our commission is interested in low cost and sustainable energy for the nation. Pls, let me how we can develop this project including PPP."

"I am an American citizen of Dominican background and I would like to find out how to bring this program to the Dominican Republic. Thank you.    "

"I live in Sri lanka. I am a Candian citizen. Would you be interested in starting a similar project out here. Thanks"

We are flattered by these messages, but what can we do? Growing organically and managing expectation is what has kept us alive and gotten us to where we are today.  Diluting our attention and resources could have devastating consequences for us right now.  Right now we need more support and we need to stay focused on refining our models.  When our business model is to the point where it's robust enough to be replicated (with constant modification of course) around the world, we'll push ahead.  The world wants blueEnergy and we want to deliver it, it's just a matter of figuring out the small details to bridge the two desires :)

If you want to dedicate yourself to helping us make this a reality, please visit us here.