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Sustainable Innovation, Minus the Sticker Shock?
What do solar-powered hearing aids, a subscription service for baby clothes and mobile technology for farmers in East Africa all have in common?
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- solar
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Tony Blair: Access to Electricity Is the Single Most Vital Precondition for Success in African Nations
A decade on from the Gleneagles Summit, Africa is undergoing a remarkable transformation. Standards of living are increasing, the middle class is set to double in the next ten years and a continent that was then a scar on the conscience of the world is now the most exciting. Africa’s challenges are still better known than its prospects; but with a digital revolution in full-swing and data revolution underway, African nations have a chance to leapfrog stages of development.
- Categories
- Energy, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Norway’s plan to divest massive $900B fund from coal could hit U.S. companies
The decision may have spillover effects for U.S. companies, as the equity-heavy fund invests most of its stock positions in U.S. firms, and this new policy slates shares in dozens of American utility companies for sale.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Simpa Networks Gets Renewable Energy OPIC Impact Award
The energy-poor tend to be among the poorest people in their countries and cannot afford the high upfront costs of a quality solar solution. About 400 million people in India live in remote villages and don’t have access to an electricity grid. Millions more have only very limited access to electricity. Although distributed solar based solutions are available, high up front costs keep them out of reach from many who have limited income and cannot obtain bank financing.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar
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Life Without Light in Rural India: Why Solar Lanterns Can’t Compete With the Grid
Chanda sometimes wakes long before dawn to sweep her house and beat the husk off her rice. Now in her 70s, Chanda has long since lost her sight. The sound of her morning activities reverberates down the narrow, unpaved street of the Adivasi colony, through the mud brick walls of the homes stacked either side, waking her neighbours. Next door, Leena complains but is sympathetic. “Living without electricity is like being blind,” she says. “You move around your home and cook without being able to see. Even in the day it is the middle of the night.”
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- solar
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A Loan and a Light: One Acre Fund, in partnership with GreenLight Planet, aiming for 100K solar lamps in Kenya this year
In 2011, One Acre Fund began offering cost-saving solar lamps made by Greenlight Planet as an optional add-on to our loan package. In 2014, One Acre Fund delivered 72,900 lamps to farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. By the end of 2015, we expect to have delivered over 100,000 more.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy
- Tags
- smallholder farmers, solar
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How Can the World Secure $100 Billion in Climate Finance?
New analysis from WRI shows a credible and politically balanced path towards $100 billion in 2020 is possible by including a larger set of climate finance sources in a balanced way while scaling up all public finance.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Tags
- climate change
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Norway’s $900 billion sovereign wealth fund to slash coal investments
Norway has made a big move toward dropping investments in coal companies by its massive $900 billion sovereign wealth fund because of their impact on climate change.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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