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Weekly Roundup: E+Co’s Slow Burn and What it Means for Impact Investing
E+Co’s effective demise raises questions beyond those of the immediate management, governance, due diligence and investment squabbles. Those factors are relevant of course, but the central point illustrated by the E+Co story is what it means for the impact investing sector writ large.
- Categories
- Energy
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FEATURED EVENT: Adapting Scalable Clean Technologies for Bottom of the Pyramid Markets: It’s one of many key discussions at Columbia Business School’s 2012 Social Enterprise Conference
Despite the massive increases in capacity and subsequent subsidy cuts driving solar module prices down they’re still not cheap enough for developing countries. But with innovative business solutions these new technologies can become economically viable in BoP markets.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
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Rwanda to develop off-grid lighting
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.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar
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A Market for Preservation: Tropical-forest friendly products, entrepreneurship and consumer choice
CleanStar Energy, is social enterprise that focuses on bringing sustainable bioenergy solutions into developing markets while preserving delicate tropical forest communities. It’s the type of business being sought by the Tropical Forest Challenge, which aims to identify the best for-profit solution – an idea, start up, or company with a positive impact on tropical forest biodiversity.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Transportation
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Waste Not, Want Not: Eco-Fuel Africa
Sanga Moses, is the founder of Eco-Fuel Moses recently applied for the WWF Switzerland Tropical Forest Challenge – a challenge that is working to identify the best for-profit solutions having a positive impact on tropical forest biodiversity in any of the 75 tropical forest-rich countries around the world.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Technology
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A Jobs Tale: Recruiting Workers for Husk Power
We were there to recruit electricians and linemen for our operations team. These men would be trained via Husk Power University and then sent to the field to assist especially in preparation for the upcoming monsoon months. Husk invests a lot in its employees, so it is important that we not only attract, but more importantly, retain talent once they are trained.
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Achieving Green and Inclusive Markets Through Public-Private Collaboration: A Bright Spot at Rio
In the midst of the shortcomings of the recent Rio+20 Earth Summit, there were bright spots that offered hope that a sustainable future is possible.
One of these was a half-day session at the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum called, “Enabling green and inclusive markets – a case for public-private collaboration.” A joint initiative of the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development and the United Nations Global Compact, in collaboration with WRI’s New Ventures initiative, the session offered a glimpse of how “green” and “inclusive” markets can flourish as a result of the collaborative efforts of entrepreneurs, governments, civil society, and bilateral and multilateral donors.- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Tags
- renewable energy
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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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