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Michelle Lacourciere

I am passionate about creating sustainable solutions to poverty and lack of access to energy.

Recent Activity

Sirona's Year in a Glance: 2013

As the year ends our team wishes to thank all of our donors and supporters. It has been another amazing year for Sirona full of challenges and accomplishments. Our biofuel farmers are actively working to plant 30,000 seedlings thanks to... Continue reading

Posted Dec 19, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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Jatropha Program Coming to Fruitition

Sirona started fighting poverty with energy through a jatrohpa-based biofuel program. Since 2009 we have been working with small farmer cooperatives starting nurseries to plant Jatropha shrubs. The seeds from Jatropha plants are 40% oil that is so low in... Continue reading

Posted Nov 22, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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Lets Light a Village!

Looking for a charitable holiday gift idea? Sirona is collecting funds to build Unit 16, a solar powered generating station that recharges portable battery kits for homes for a village in Haiti. It takes $25,000 to build and deploy a... Continue reading

Posted Nov 20, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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Rural Electricity: Business Can Be Pleasure!

It has been a really busy few days in Haiti. We have traveled to several of our solar stations and had meetings with present Operators and future Operators who make a business of renting portable energy packs (in Haiti they... Continue reading

Posted Nov 7, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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Successful STAR-TIDES Event in D.C.

The government was shut down all week but that did not slow traffic at the 7th Annual STAR-TIDES Demo at Ft. McNair in Washington D.C. This event draws humanitarian organizations, businesses, military and academia all interested in the core question:... Continue reading

Posted Oct 4, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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Sirona Gearing up for STAR-TIDES Field Demos

Lighting kit at STAR TIDES demo 2012 October is an excitng month for Sirona because we participate in two STAR TIDES field demonstrations in Washington DC. STAR-TIDES is a Department of Defense funded program that stands for "Sharing To Accelerate... Continue reading

Posted Sep 26, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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Advocacy Work: Pretty Girls in Pretty Dresses

Sirona has been helping the Episcopal women of the Northern California Arch Dioscese get dresses to little girls in Haiti for several years now. Nearly 600 dresses have been made by these Episcopal women and deliverd to Sirona to Haiti... Continue reading

Posted Sep 13, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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IEEE Retrofit Progress

Portable battery kits, or "Ti Soley" kits bring affordable electricity into the homes of Sirona's customers to replace kerosene. The program has been very successful and resulted in long waiting lists in rural Haiti. Unfortunately the first people to use... Continue reading

Posted Sep 11, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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Costly Break from Blogging

Sirona has been very busy with the energy work we do in Haiti. The summer brought a lot of travel and our team accomplished a great deal. The blog has definitely suffered as time between entries grew. So much has... Continue reading

Posted Sep 11, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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Sirona's Jatropha Project Creates Clean Fuel and Feeds Children

Sirona has over 1,000 farmers enrolled in our Jatropha Program. These farmers receive free jatropha saplings to plant (2 meters x 2 meters) in and amongst their crops. Jatropha seeds are harvested from the trees and they are then crushed... Continue reading

Posted Sep 11, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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Sirona's 1st Sustainable Business Plan Contest in Haiti

Sirona has worked for years on developing sustainable businesses in Haiti based upon alternative energy. The goal has always been to move from charity to self-sustaining programs that are Haitian-run enterprises. We have successfully worked in both biofuel and solar,... Continue reading

Posted Mar 26, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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New Year, New Challenges

Sirona's team hit the ground running in 2013. In Haiti all stations deployed for the USAID program have received all of the Ti Soley battery kits needed for each unit to support 83 homes. This grant activity is now complete... Continue reading

Posted Feb 2, 2013 at Sirona Cares

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Catching Up: Sirona's Progress

St. Marc: Sirona Customer Sighting Thanksgiving has just passed here in America, and with gratitude on my mind I want to thank all of the supporters of Sirona's work. It has been an amazing adventure and we are only succeeding... Continue reading

Posted Nov 26, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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Hurricane Isaac Hit Sirona's Farmers, Hard

Saint Jean with his mother and his wife Today I received the following e-mail from our agronomist, Saint Jean, in southern Haiti. He writes on behalf of our jatropha farmers whose area took the worst hit from Hurricane Isaac. They... Continue reading

Posted Aug 28, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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Clean Fuel in Haiti: 250,000 Trees Will Change Lives

If you dig back into this blog you will see that the SunBlazer solar program has received all of the attention for some time. That is only one of our programs though, and the other does so well that I... Continue reading

Posted Aug 13, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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Lighting the Mountain Villages of St. Marc

I am sitting on top of a mountain, literally, in Haiti. We have made the treacherous drive up hauling a SunBlazer that will provide this community with its first access to electricity. I am not speaking lightly when I say... Continue reading

Posted Aug 12, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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Sirona is Doing Our Job.... Bringing Light

We have been working to deploy the nine SunBlazers built in the last two weeks in Port au Prince. The IEEE donated the equipment, and a crew of seven Haitians installed the components and prepared the units for the field.... Continue reading

Posted Aug 10, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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Haitian Assembly of SunBlazers Starts Today

Last week nine SunBlazers (the parts for nine SunBlazers) arrived from America. The IEEE donated the equipment and has worked to outline the process of assembly so that units can be built from now on in Haiti. A warehouse has... Continue reading

Posted Jul 23, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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When You're Holding the Tiger By The Tail, Don't Let Go!

Johannesburg, South Africa; Witts University The IEEE convened a conference at the Witts University last week and Sirona was there to participate in a CSI (Community Solutions Initiative) working group that worked all week to educate and collaborate with African... Continue reading

Posted Jul 16, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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From Haiti to Africa, and Back Again

Two weeks ago I was in Port au Prince feeling the heat of the Haitian summer, and now I am in Johannesburg feeling the cold of an African winter. On the 18th I will be back in Haiti's summer again.... Continue reading

Posted Jul 9, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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Sirona Making Progress with USAID's Funding

In New York there are nine new SunBlazer units being packed for shipment to Haiti. These units were built by IEEE volunteers and each will supply enough energy to bring light to 83 homes. The equipment leaves next Wednesday and... Continue reading

Posted Jun 12, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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Haiti & Africa: Summer Travel Plans

This summer promises a lot of work, and a lot of travel. Sirona will deploy nine SunBlazer units and bring light to 747 homes in the St. Marc commune of Haiti in a project funded by USAID. The equipment is... Continue reading

Posted Jun 11, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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747 Points of Light: USAID/Sirona Grant Approved

Customers in St. Etienne, Haiti Access to electricity is arguably the most critical factor in any equation aimed at shifting communities from abject poverty to self-sustainability. In rural Haiti electricity is rare, and in the darkness families are locked in... Continue reading

Posted Jun 7, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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Collaborating to Bring Light Near Cayes, Haiti

During my last trip to Haiti I visited sites in the south near Les Cayes preparing to work on a project with UNEP (United Nations Energy Program) that will begin this summer. We, Sirona, will partner with EarthSpark International in... Continue reading

Posted Jun 1, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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Forward Progress in Haiti, Making the Leap to Business

Two new projects in Sirona's pipeline are destined to bring energy to many homes in rural Haiti over the coming months. Our biggest news is that through the combined efforts of our non-profits, the Sirona Cares Foundation (SCF) and the... Continue reading

Posted Apr 14, 2012 at Sirona Cares

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