The Centro Integrado de Technologia Appropriada (CITA) , based in Camaguey in the central region of Cuba, is not a visitor centre in the sense that the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales is. I was asked to show my passport as identity when I showed up unannounced. Once they were sure of who I was they were very welcoming. I was introduced to the director Leopoldo Gallardo, the head of the Scientific Group Lisandro Vasquez and promotions and editor of publicity Lorenzo Valedon. The main recipients of the output of the centre are the farmers and other people who live in remote parts of the country. These are the more than 5% of the population who have no grid supply electricity. The centre was only partly in operation at the time I visited, July 2001, and became fully so in 2002.

CITA performs scientific research into such areas as improvement in the energy efficiency of cheap technology. An example of this is a water pump using a rope and gaskets which is characterised by a relatively high lift (vertical displacement of water), high efficiency, cheap to make and capable of being powered by hand, foot, wind generator or photo-voltaic (PV) panels (solar electric). They also have a water pump powered by a child's seesaw, mainly to illustrate the point that almost any source of kinetic energy could be used to pump water, or perform some other useful task.

Some hydraulic rams were on display, mostly imported from outside manufacturers. However, they are experimenting in the centre with multi-valve versions which they developed themselves and which are significantly more energy efficient than the other designs. This is another example of the scientific research being carried out at the centre.

CITA needs to give the items of technology they produce to its users because these users, being mainly peasants and small scale farmers, can not afford to pay for them. The centre would be very interested in donations of money so that they can provide energy solutions for their end users. The recipients of their technology provide the centre with feedback on the practical application of the technology they produce, and in many cases design and develop. Thus supporting this centre gives a unique opportunity to support not only relatively poor rural people, and a revolution which has their interests and those of workers and the majority of humanity at its core, but also contribute to the advancement of scientific and technological achievements in appropriate technology. This would thus make an ideal target for a long-term fund raising project for a support group. As Che Guevara stated in an address to architecture students [2], "The weapon of technology must be placed at the disposal of all technicians, at the disposal of the people".

Visiting CITA and talking to its staff helped to clarify what the purpose of the centre is, and what it is not. The use of the word 'appropriate' in the name of the centre is not a trivial choice of words. The predominant reason why the use of such technology as solar PV panels is contemplated is economics. At the present the use of PV technology for the generation of electricity for use in urban communities is hopelessly uneconomic. It is only because the capital cost of the wire, pylons and transformers of a mains electricity distribution system to these remote locations is even more uneconomic than PV cells and suchlike that the latter is a viable option. The CITA centre itself is very close to a major city, and has a conventional mains supply for its operations. In the office of the centre the secretary uses a computer, including on-line access to the internet. The office has mains powered air conditioning. In the context of its function and location this is the appropriate technology for the centre itself to use. Notwithstanding this motive of economic necessity, the research and application of the technology implemented by CITA is generally environmentally benign.

The distinction between appropriate technology - using the best technology for a given purpose in a given set of circumstances, and alternative technology - using non-conventional technology regardless of the scientific, logistical or economic applicability, is crucial. However, assuming the trends for price reduction in PV cells continues at the same pace it has for the last thirty years, they will eventually become economically viable for much wider application. This will probably happem in a few decades. The problem of economically storing the energy for use when the sun is not shining is a separate question.

Cuba already makes use of some alternative sources of fuel. The use of bagasse to fuel both refining plant and goods steam trains carrying sugar to port is widespread. Cuba's use of technology in agriculture has transformed working conditions in the countryside dramatically for the better. As Fidel Castro points out [3]: "The ox-cart drivers had to be in the fields by two in the morning to start loading the cane by hand. ... Working conditions in the fields forced the agricultural workers to engage for twelve, thirteen, fourteen hours in rugged, hard work at a fast pace. All those conditions changed with the revolution ... Work was humanized ...".

Practically inevitably some of the technology that is used by the centre in their projects needs to be imported from other countries. This is not to say that Cuba could not be a world leader in some areas of technology, indeed it is, especially in pharmacology. The PV panels are made in Cuba. It is nevertheless economically unrealistic, and undesirable, for any one country to be completely technologically self-sufficient [1].

Some prices for the technology that CITA needs to import for its clients are as follows:-

PV panels cost $4/Watt of peak power. This increases to $10/watt installed, when a battery backup is needed. In the case of a waterpump a battery is not needed because the pump can work when the sun shines and stop when it doesn't, the water tank acting as the buffer. In effect the water tank assumes the role of the battery, but much more cost effectively.

In conclusion CITA is implementing, at a rate limited only by the availability of funding, developments in appropriate technology and applying them to over half a million people. This leads to substantial positive environmental impact and both material benefit to, and solidarity with, Cuba's rural workers and farmers.

CITA website (In Spanish)

[1] Charles Edquist, 'Capitalism Socialism and Technology: a comparative study of Cuba and Jamaica' p 164 to 165, Zed Books Ltd, 1985, ISBN 0-86232-394-0 (currently out of print)

[2] 'Che Guevara Talks to Young People' p 96, Pathfinder Press, 2000, ISBN 0-87348-911-X

[3] 'Fidel Castro Speeches Vol. II - Our Power is that of the Working People' p 266 (1983 edition), Pathfinder Press, 1983, ISBN 0-87348-650-1
www.pathfinderpress.com