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Uganda’s Newest Utility: Pay-as-you-go Solar Power
In Uganda, telecom provider MTN and a company called Fenix are gearing up this year for a nationwide rollout of pre-paid electricity, similar to pre-paid airtime, but using solar kits. Uganda has one of the lowest electrification rates in Africa - a continent where some 600 million people are off the power grid.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar
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Google and SolarAid partner to explore impact of solar technology on poverty alleviation in Africa
February 2014: Today Google has announced their continued support of international development charity SolarAid and their work distributing solar lights in rural Africa, by funding a two year evaluation on the impact of solar lights on poverty alleviation.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Tags
- poverty alleviation, solar
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A Crowdfunding Site For High-Impact Solar Projects
Lack of access to financing can keep many otherwise worthy solar energy projects from being built in poor and underserved areas, but a solar crowdfunding site is helping to connect individual investors with solar energy businesses and working to bring affordable solar energy to communities around the world.
- Categories
- Energy
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Can Crowdfunding Help Cleantech Ride the Big Data Wave?
"Big data is a coming wave of 'green gold,'" says Nick Eisenberger of Pure Energy Partners."Information technology will be the most powerful tool to address resource challenges in our lifetime."
- Categories
- Energy
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Respect Quality, Build Trust, Be Patient: These and other tips on shaping a solar market at the BoP
How do you influence what choices low-income people or those living at the base of the pyramid make? And how can you give them the information to make informed decisions?
SolarAid faced the same challenges that many organisations do when bringing a new technology to a low-income market. Here’s how we dealt with them.- Categories
- Energy
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11 Ingenious Solar Projects Impacting the Developing World
It's easy to take energy for granted, forgetting that throughout much of the world, a lack of power affects everything from business to education to matters of life and death. Approximately 1.5 billion people still don't have access to electricity worldwide, with an additional 1 billion having only intermittent access.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Tags
- solar
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Put Down the Champagne, Pick Up the Computer Mouse: For Solar Power To Reach Poor Consumers, the Focus Must Be On Results
The 2013 World Economic Forum in Davos launched with the theme "Resilient Dynamism." Although I have never attended Davos, the international gathering of dignitaries did remind me somewhat of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) conference, ‘Sustainable Energy Strategies in Low and Middle-Income Economies,’ in November. Is there a better way to support BoP businesses? The answer is yes.
- Categories
- Energy
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A New Financial Model To Pay For Solar
The top names in solar are starting to look and act a lot more like regular electric utilities. And that's a good thing for the future of mainstream renewables.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Tags
- solar
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