South Sudan is a land of little infrastructure. It's extraordinarily difficult to get the modern supplies needed to run an advanced medical facility such as the Duk Lost Boys Clinic. The people of South Sudan have lived entirely off the land around them for hundreds of years, building homes from all-natural materials and recycling waste. From the beginning of our work in Sudan, sustainability has been a matter of practicality - if we aren't smart with the resources we use, we can't operate successfully. We've worked extensivly to make the Duk Lost Boys Clinic friendly to the environment - a movement that not only helps preserve our planet but allows us to devote our funds not to buying fuel or hauling away trash but to improving the quality of health care in a region that sorely needs it.

> Read about the Clinic's Green Technology 
> Read about JDF Sustainability Initiatives in the United States
> Download our Energy Audit

 

At the Clinic

 

Solar Panels and Wind Turbine on top of the Duk Lost Boys Clinic

Solar Power

Multiple solar panels on the roof of the Clinic provide 2kw of energy to the Clinic. They are seperated into two systems - one that feeds into the Clinic's general electricity feed and another that is devoted to powering the Cold Chain system, which keeps our vital medicines and vaccines at near-freezing temperatures in order to preserve them for later use.

Wind Turbine

One of the first innovations introduced to the Clinic was a wind turbine, which provides up to 300 Watts of power for non-essential systems in the Clinic such as the TV/DVD player used for training Community Health Workers. This turbine is especially useful at night, when the Clinic's solar panels are unable to produce electricity.

Demonstration Garden

A recently started community demonstration garden uses wastewater from the Clinic's kitchen to water plants, saving precious water resources and serving as a model to local Sudanese of sustainable agriculture. Additionally, the garden is growing a healthy assortment of vegetables, providing fresh and nutritious food to the Clinic's staff, patients, and surrounding community. 

Eco-Dome Housing Outside the Clinic

Eco-Dome

An on-call/guest house was recently built with a grant from Groundwork Opportunities. The eco-dome design uses a minimal amount of cement (which is a huge source of CO2 emissions) mixed with dirt and sand, filled into bags or tubes and wrapped around. It's weather-proof, fire-proof, and termite-proof, all huge problems for buildings in South Sudan.

 

In the US

 

Green Computing

By taking advantage of web services such as Google Apps, Amazon S3, and Dropbox, the Foundation has eliminated the need for costly and energy hungry servers. Rather, by taking advantage of the distributed computing systems offered, we're able to split our computing needs with other organizations, using less energy and costing significantly less than maintaining our own computers. 

Telecommuting

Rather than occupy a physical office, our small part-time staff telecommutes to work from across the United States. Beyond providing a more comfortable and convenient working space, telecommuting saves energy by eliminating the need for an employee to drive to work. The Foundation has also saved thousands of dollars by not needing to purchase expensive office space, enabling more funds to go directly to our work in Sudan. 

Online Management

Recently, we've switched from mailing out our donation appreciation letters to emailing them when an email address is available. Besides providing for quicker and easier notification of your donation, we're able to save on the cost of postage and printing, as well as help the environment by lowering carbon emissions. Of course, if you'd like to receive a paper copy of your donation appreciation letter, just let us know and we'll be more than happy to send one to you!