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Powering Communities Through a Surprising Source of Renewable Energy: Human Waste
Around the world, a staggering 2.5 billion people lack access to decent toilets. That leads to far too many people getting sick from preventable diseases. Anne Healy and Erin Crossett of Development Innovation Ventures say the good news is that some enterprising companies are experimenting with ways to make human waste disposal profitable in the developing world.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care, WASH
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Nat Geo, GSK Launch Chasing Genius Challenge to Tackle Climate Change, Global Health
The challenge was inspired by National Geographic’s first scripted series GENIUS, based on the book, Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson. Using the hashtag #chasinggenius, National Geographic has crowdsourced ideas and identified issues that the global community is most concerned about.
- Categories
- Environment
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It’s Global Health: Nobody Said It Was Going to Be Easy
Recent elections around the world have shown a tilt toward protectionism and nationalism, and that's not necessarily good news for global health. But, as we've seen during Health Care Month at NextBillion, those in the sector aren't taking their eye off the ball. Vanessa Kerry of Seed Global Health summarized: "Public health is an endeavor far greater than any nation’s individual interests or borders."
- Categories
- Health Care
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Energy Urgency: Why the Global Mining Industry is Embracing Renewables
November’s elections have given the 2015 Paris agreement unprecedented urgency, as 194 signatories race to keep temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius. Yet COP21’s enduring challenge for investors – scaling climate-resilient industries in the developing world – remains elusive. Meanwhile, according to Joseph Kirschke, mines around the world are innovation and energy-intensive ecosystems brimming with solutions just below the surface.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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A Simple, Painless Way Governments Can Help the Poor and the Environment
In Haiti there’s a 15 percent tariff and tax on clean cookstoves. Based on elasticity of demand, Dalberg projects that if improved cookstoves’ taxes and tariffs were eliminated, their annual sales would increase by 13 percent, from 185,000 to 209,000. This in turn would mitigate costs associated with health and environment consequences of traditional cooking techniques.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
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Improved Cookstoves Boost Health and Forest Cover in the Himalayas
Environmental organisations like Bangalore-based Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE) are helping mountain communities minimise the health and environmental risks involved in using firewood for cooking in confined places.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Social Business Roundup: Scrutinizing a $30M Cookstove Study, the Limits of Silicon Valley and TV from the Sun
A $30 million study looking into using liquified petroleum gas in clean cookstoves has some 'stovers' heated up, why apps won't stop pandemics and why the time may be right for solar TV. It's all in our weekly roundup of social business news.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care, Impact Assessment, Technology
- Tags
- climate health, solar
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Creating ‘Solavores’ By Thinking Inside the Box
Solavore, launched last year, sells solar ovens in the developed world and uses the profits to subsidize clean-cooking technology for the 2.7 billion people in the developing world for whom wood fire is the only cooking option, with the inevitable result: lung damage.
- Categories
- Energy, Health Care, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- climate health, solar
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