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Wednesday, February 20, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

South Africa ‘needs coherent energy policy’

Source: Business Day
Sout Africa must create a coherent energy policy or it will continue to struggle to rely on power utility Eskom and millions of South Africans will remain in energy poverty, World Energy Council head Christoph Frei said on Tuesday.
TAGS:renewable energy, sustainability
Friday, January 11, 2013 — South Asia

The Bottom Three Billion: How One Clean Tech Company Serves the Poor

Source: Forbes
In 2007, a married couple with well-paid tech jobs in Singapore saw a prototype of a Japanese electric car and had a revelation. An electric car could be run for a tenth the price of a comparable one fueled by gas. The couple wondered: Could they create an electric motorbike for the masses in their home country of India? “This hit my mind like anything. This is the future,” Pachyappa Bala, the husband of the couple, remembered thinking at the time.
TAGS:renewable energy
Monday, January 07, 2013 — No Region Specified

GravityLight: the low-cost lamp powered by sand and gravity

Source: The Guardian
Two London designers have developed a gravity-powered lamp that could sell for as little as £3, bringing light to remote regions in developing countries
TAGS:renewable energy, technology
Thursday, December 13, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

How to Light Africa Within a Decade

Source: Forbes
Today, when the sun goes down in Africa, over 150 million homes will not turn on the lights. The reason is simple: they don’t have electricity. Instead, they will extend their day by the dim light of kerosene lamps. Families will huddle around these lamps, inhaling the lung-burning equivalent of two packs of cigarettes each from kerosene fumes.
TAGS:poverty alleviation, renewable energy, solar
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 — South Asia

Panasonic lanterns 'to regain market'

Source: BDNews24
Osaka, Dec 10 (bdnews24.com) – Electronics giant Panasonic will launch solar lanterns for un-electrified areas in developing countries by early next year as it shifts its businesses to eco-technologies to bring back the losing markets by 2018, its 100th anniversary.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, multinational corporation, renewable energy, solar, sustainability
Thursday, December 06, 2012 — South Asia

Solar Energy Brings Power to Rural India

Source: Triple Pundit
In Central India, far from the grid of power lines, telephone poles and power transformers an electrical experiment has been taking place. For the last year, the village of Meerwada has been learning to live with solar energy. Located some 90 minutes from the nearest city by way of a rocky 4×4 dirt road, this small town sits on the cutting edge of a modern-day industrial revolution.
TAGS:renewable energy, rural development, solar
Tuesday, December 04, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Ecobank, IHS seal $202m deal for mobile network in Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire

Source: The Guardian Nigeria
THE investment profile of the pan-African bank, Ecobank Group, may have risen with the signing of a syndicated loan facility with IHS Holding Limited, for the mobile tower investment and solar energy projects in Cameroun and Côte d’Ivoire.
TAGS:investment fund, renewable energy, solar
Monday, November 26, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Enter the iShack, a possible answer to improving Africa’s slums

Source: How We Made it in Africa
For those who aren’t familiar with South Africa’s informal settlements, it is estimated that seven million South Africans live in shacks in the country’s many “squatter camps” located around all major cities.
TAGS:affordable housing, poverty alleviation, renewable energy
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Four African Teenagers Create Power From Pee

Source: Fast Company
A group of African girls have made an engine that runs on a truly renewable resource: human urine.
TAGS:renewable energy, sustainability
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 — South Asia

Student Social Entrepreneurs from India Win the 2012 Intel Global Challenge

Source: Social Enterprise Buzz
With a “jugaad” mindset embedded in the culture, India has no shortage of social innovators cooking up solutions to the world’s ills. As a matter of fact, the Greenway Grameen Infra (GGI) team from India has just been announced as the winners of the 2012 Intel Global Challenge at UC Berkeley, receiving $50,000 from the Intel Foundation on their invention of a biomass-based stove that increases fuel efficiency.
TAGS:corporate engagement, events and competitions, renewable energy, social enterprise
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Rwanda to develop off-grid lighting

Source: UPI.com
LAGOS, Nigeria, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Approximately 85 percent of Rwanda's population has no access to the electricity grid, leading energy officials to seek "off-grid" solutions. GVEP International, a charity that battles poverty and climate change by promoting access to modern and renewable energy sources, has produced a report outlining investment possibilities in Rwanda's off-grid electrical sector, which includes solar lanterns and solar photovoltaic systems.
TAGS:renewable energy, solar, sustainability
Tuesday, June 05, 2012 — South Asia

Will invest US $ 1 bn in India for inclusive growth and climate change: Karin Finkelston

Source: Business Standard
A member of World Bank Group, International Finance Corporation (IFC) has chalked out its investment plans for India focusing mainly on the renewable energy sources and targeting the bottom of the pyramid. Karin Finkelston, vice president, Asia Pacific talks to Rutam Vora on IFC's investment plans in India during the current year. Edited excerpts:
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, renewable energy
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 — South Asia

Symbiosis Project to Help Light Up Village Homes

Source: The Times of India
PUNE: Students from the Social Entrepreneurship and Consulting Cell of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management ( SIBM) have come up with a project to provide low-cost lighting units to rural households without electricity.
TAGS:renewable energy, rural development, social impact
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 — No Region Specified

Citi Leads Investment in SJF's New Fund

Source: The Wall Street Journal
he team at SJF Ventures had to undergo federal background checks, submit fingerprints and provide 20 references each in order to obtain a license from the Small Business Administration for its new nationally focused impact investment fund, SJF Ventures III LP. The fund could be a potential new funding source for some start-ups with a social good focus.
TAGS:Citi Foundation, investment fund, renewable energy
Wednesday, March 07, 2012 — Asia Pacific

ADB Plans to Invest $100M in Environment Fund

Source: Inquirer Business
The Asian Development Bank is expected to invest about $100 million in a multinational fund that will be put up to boost investments in environment-related technologies and projects in developing countries like the Philippines.
TAGS:impact investing, investment fund, renewable energy, technology
Monday, March 05, 2012 — South Asia

Solar-Powered Micro Grids Change Lives of Indian Villagers

Source: Treehugger
In Uttar Pradesh, one of India's poorest states, a pair of US-born entrepreneurs is creating a new model for energy delivery to villages far from the grid. The founders of Mera Gao Power build and operate solar-powered micro grids to provide low-cost lighting and mobile phone charging to village houses, giving many rural people access to both light and power for the first time in their lives.
TAGS:renewable energy, rural development
Friday, February 24, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya: Total's Solar Kits Target Poor Households

Source: allAfrica
Total Kenya is banking on portable solar kits for lighting and charging of mobile phones to break into the Kenyan renewable energy market.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, mobile phones, renewable energy, solar
Friday, February 17, 2012 — No Region Specified

E+Co Announces Plans to Scale Up Clean Energy Investments

Source: Press Release
E+Co, the non-profit leader in clean energy investing in small and medium enterprises in emerging markets, announced today that it will phase out its innovations unit to solely focus on and scale up clean energy investments in developing markets.
TAGS:financial inclusion, impact investing, renewable energy
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Truly Local Power: African Wind Turbines Built From Scrap

Source: FastCo.Exist
Wind power isn’t used much in the developing world, since a turbine is much more expensive than a solar panel. But Access:energy is flipping that equation by finding ways to build the turbines in the communities where they’re needed.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, renewable energy, skill development

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