Welcome to the A2E Lab

Karibuni sana!

Based in Arusha, Tanzania, the Access to Energy Lab is an innovative space where researchers and engineers collaborate to bring new clean energy products to life.

The A2E Lab team consists of eight full-time researchers and engineers who are supported by a dynamic cast of partners, part-time researchers, student interns, and visiting entrepreneurs. The Lab is equal parts office desks, workshop benches, and meeting spaces and everyone who visits is encouraged to make full use of the space to explore their ideas.

“The goal is to bring curious minds together in one place and give them the structure and resources that bring their ideas to the next level,” says Lab Director Elliot Avila. “It’s a room full of people completely open to sharing their ideas, experience, and skills with one another and that kind of free exchange is how we can create something new.”

Behind the scenes, there is a method to the madness. Drawing upon previous experience in the private sector, the team follows a product development process that encourages them to consider how downstream stakeholders will use their work.

“I have never done research like this before. There’s a strong focus on technical topics,” said Senior Research Associate Ansila Kweka. “We start our research with a sandbox phase, which is a preliminary study to get a general overview of a topic. This helps us to understand how to focus our research and come up with clear conclusions that inform the R&D process.”

The A2E Lab is applying this process to a number of products, ranging from clean cook stoves to motor controllers to oil presses. Being located in Tanzania allows the team to involve users throughout their research, design, and testing, which helps ensure new products are compatible with local preferences.

Still less than a year old, the A2E Lab continues to grow and will add two new staff by the beginning of October. The additions will enable the team to push forward new projects, including researching the environmental impact of solar water pumps, collecting quantitative data on rural household energy expenditure for clean cooking, and beginning the design phase of different solar-powered agricultural equipment. And with each of these projects, the team hopes to bring positive change in the lives of others.

“We are trying to understand challenges of products and how we can improve them to bring more impact to the community,” said Operations Associate Binde Mohamed. “Everything we do, we want to have impact_.”_

Visitors to Arusha are welcome to drop by the A2E Lab, located in the Nane Nane grounds in Njiro. The Lab space is easily recognizable by its eye-catching pink trim.