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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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Achieving Sustainable Energy for All Hinges on International Cooperation and Leadership
This year was designated the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All by the UN General Assembly to raise awareness and promote the three objectives: clean energy access, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. 2012 is also the year of the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held in late June. The moment is ripe for action, and lofty goals have been set, but where to begin?
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Plug and Play: Energy Access at the BoP
In India, almost 290 million people lack access to electricity, according to the 2011 survey by the International Energy Agency. While people in the developed world have access to light with the simple flip of a switch, people in rural India and other parts of the developing world struggle at the base of the energy access ladder. Improving energy access for the bottom of the pyramid is a steep challenge – as the poor ascend this ladder, they move from using traditional fuels like wood and kerosene towards universal access –what most of the developed world takes for granted.
- Categories
- Energy
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar
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A Wish for Sharing: Why Social Entrepreneurs Don’t Need A Bottled Genie to Gain
More often than not, entrepreneurs who share the same mission – ending energy poverty, hesitate to share resources, even if we all benefit. What are we afraid of? Is it the fear that all our hard work simply paved the way for someone else to get credit for lifting a billion villagers out of energy poverty? Or maybe it’s the bucks we were planning to make while perusing our lofty goal?
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise
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Pathbreakers: Harish Hande, MD of Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO)
Unable to ignore the poorest of the poor who live in abject darkness, Harish Hande decided to put his Master's in solar power to good use. Today, the 44-year-old MD of Solar Electric Light Company or SELCO, retains the same inclusive elan while reminiscing how his company continues to light up lives at the bottom of the pyramid.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- Base of the Pyramid, solar
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Kenya: Total’s Solar Kits Target Poor Households
Total Kenya is banking on portable solar kits for lighting and charging of mobile phones to break into the Kenyan renewable energy market.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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From the Sun (Bypassing the Grid) to the BoP Consumer
Taking its name from the amount of time it takes sunlight to reach earth (yes, 8 minutes and 19 seconds), Eight19 is one of the many companies working to deliver solar energy to the 1.6 billion people of the BoP in need.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar
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SELCO: A Business, Ongoing Case Study in Solar-Powered Social Impact
SELCO, a social enterprise traditionally focused on providing solar energy to the rural underserved, has launched a new urban model in India that has helped electrify a set of slum-dwelling households in Bangalore. The early success has been less about the feat of solar power in slums, and more about creating a ripple effect for social impact.
- Categories
- Energy, Impact Assessment