Four ISU students really want to make water heaters from Coke cans. And they want to go to Thailand to do it.

In the first step of what could become an annual project, a group of ISU students traveled to Thailand during the summer to aid rural communities with their energy needs.

The students, members of Engineers for a Sustainable World, traveled to Thailand in August with Say-Kee Ong, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering. The group met with the Population and Community Development Association, a non-governmental organization that helps the rural poor in Thailand, and with Chiang Mai University about collaborating on sustainability projects.

The sustainability projects the groups will work together to start this year include Coca-Cola solar water heaters, rammed-earth housing and water purification and storage.

The projects are simple, but have a huge impact, said Mark Tekippe, junior in electrical engineering and co-president of the group.

The Coca-Cola solar water heaters are made from aluminum cans and PVC pipes, said Ryan Legg, senior in civil engineering and co-president of the group. The tops and bottoms are cut off of the cans so that the PVC pipe can be run through them. The sun heats the cans, which heats the pipe and, in turn, the pipe heats the water running through it.

The solar water heaters would be placed on top of people’s homes in a zigzag pattern, Legg said, so the sun would systematically heat the water. People would then be able to access hot water through a faucet in their home.

Rammed earth housing is made by building two temporary walls that are approximately one foot apart and dumping soil between them, Legg said. The soil is then compacted and molded.

“It’s like in the winter when you play in the snow and make igloos,” Legg said. “It’s the same concept.”

The water purification and storage project will be designed on two scales. Small purifiers will be located in individual houses, and big purifiers would be built in the middle of a centralized community.

“People are getting sick because their water contains contaminants,” Legg said. “People either don’t know about the contamination, don’t care or don’t have any other source of water.”

There are approximately one billion people worldwide who don’t have access to pure, clean water, Legg said.

“[The projects] are beneficial because there’s so much work that can be done to solve problems,” Tekippe said. “And you never really understand practical application ’til you actually experience it.”

Legg said the group chose Thailand because the university has existing contacts with Thailand through professors with international experience and graduate students who have studied abroad there. Another benefit of Thailand is that the rural communities with needs are easily accessible.

Legg studied abroad in Southeast Asia last year and said he was able to witness the hardships that people go through for access to sanitary water and sturdy shelter.

“Seeing their hardships helped motivate me to start the ISU chapter,” Legg said. “It gave me real-world problems that I can help solve.”

Tekippe said he originally got involved in the group because it’s an experience he can’t get anywhere else.

“It adds another dimension to the student experience.” he said. “You help people with your work, and you can actually see the effects you have on people.”

Legg said the meetings in Bangkok and Chiang Mai went well.

The three others who went on the trip were Meredith Nelson, senior in civil engineering; Marisol Martinez, senior in mechanical engineering; and Jacob Veverka, who recently graduated with a degree in computer engineering.

The group will continue to work with the Population and Community Development Association on research and implementation, Legg said.

“We were accepted with open arms,” Legg said. “We’re building a bridge of communication that can provide mutual benefits on both sides.”