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What the SOCCKET is (And What it is Not)
It looks like the prototype do-gooder-gimmick – a football (soccer ball) that produces and stores electricity, which can power a solar lantern at night. Each ball financed by Western backers, they are donated in developing countries. I had the chance to kick it at the Rio Summit – it’s a fun concept, but does it hold up to its promise?
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
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Is A Clean Energy Access Market Finally Emerging ?
The fact that the poor are willing to pay for clean energy has been known for some time. The WRI-New Ventures Power to the People had estimated the Indian market for clean energy at about USD 2 billion a year. The IFC(W) report From Gap to Opportunity that estimates the total worldwide spend of the poor at about USD 37 billion on poor-quality energy solutions.
- Categories
- Energy
- Tags
- renewable energy
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Low-Cost Solar Brightens Lives in the Developing World
A decade ago, Katherine Lucey oversaw a heavily subsidized $1,500 solar-light installation in the rural district of Mpigi in central Uganda. The 60-watt rooftop solar panel system could power three lights in the four-room, off-the-grid house.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Tags
- solar
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Weekly Roundup: Extending Customer Credit – the Way to Scale?
This week we received the exciting news that VisonSpring has sold more than one million pairs affordable eyeglasses customers living at the Base of the Pyramid. But for every VisionSpring, surely there are countless other social startups that have failed to reach scale, and not necessarily because they are marketing an inferior product. It might be because their customers cannot reasonably afford to make a purchase, even one as “small” as $10. This is the need identified by Invested Development, which announced the creation of the Impact Factoring Fund, (IFF) that looks to provide short-term liquidity and working capital to early stage, high-growth companies in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Energy
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A Day at Husk Power University
Acumen Fund invested in Husk Power Systems (HPS) in 2010 to help scale their innovative business model of using discarded rice husks as a source for rural off-grid electricity generation. HPS has since expanded to over 90 plants all over Bihar, India, and has launched Husk Power University (HPU), a technical training institute for future mechanics and operators for HPS. I spent a day there.
- Categories
- Education, Energy, Environment
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Will invest US $ 1 bn in India for inclusive growth and climate change: Karin Finkelston
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:
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- South Asia
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The Energy Access Crunch: Exploring Public-Private Solutions for Getting Power to the People
The lack of energy access is a drag on human development around the world, and it will take an increase in funding as well as the public and private sectors working together to solve this problem. That was one of the conclusions at the workshop, “Fairness and Transparency in Climate Funding: Taking into account the Needs of the Poorest Populations” on May 11 in Bangkok.
- Categories
- Energy
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Lighting a Pathway for Solar in Rural Uganda
Mercy Corps didn’t give out a single solar lantern. It didn’t give out any grants to buy solar panels. But, what the international nonprofit did do was bring solar to rural Uganda.How? Market facilitation. It’s a mouthful, but it’s kind of like matchmaking, and it’s a key role nonprofits can play to boost local economies.
- Categories
- Energy
- Tags
- solar, supply chains
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