Energy
The face of energy in the world is changing. On the ground, many promising new technologies used on a small scale will soon be available to bring power to people who currently have none, without the necessity of tapping into the huge grids of the past, nor with the environmental problems associated with burning fossil fuels. Developing and distributing these devices and techniques presents significant opportunities for employment, and could create a new form of rural development built around environmentally sustainable practices, serving current needs while preserving natural resources for the future.
Theme Introduction
Date: 3 June
Time: 14:00-16:00
A panel conversation will present the global energy challenges and link them with the on-the-ground initiatives on sustainable energy and energy security, with the purpose to illustrate more general challenges of innovation, distribution, policy and financial mechanisms.
Participants in this panel include:
Ola Alterå, Ministry for Enterprise, Energy and Communication, Sweden
Dipal C. Barua, Bright Green Energy Foundation, Bangladesh
Ragnvald Naero, Statkraft, Norway
Chair: Anders Wijkman, Tällberg Foundation
Theme partner: Statkraft
You can also find the session on our on-line community.
The Projects
In the area of energy, a large number of ventures building on innovations and new approaches will be showcased and developed further, each indicating one small step in the much larger context of change.
These initiatives include sustainable new practices in local communities, new business structures, innovations in partnerships and financial models, new technologies making efficient use of renewable resources possible.
Distribution of solar lights through new partnerships, D.Light Design
D.light Design, a consumer goods company that produces and distributes solar powered lights, is working with the mass media popular platform, Femina HIP and youth networks to create a distribution network for solar lights in East Africa.
Decentralised sustainable energy production leverage mobile phone towers, CleanStar Fund
CleanStar Fund, India, led by a group of young entrepreneurs in India and the UK, is partnering with the Confederation of Indian Industry, DESI Power, the Government of India, and mobile phone companies to design and implement viable models for decentralised sustainable energy production that leverage mobile towers as “anchor customers” for supplying rural energy services.
Training Barefoot Solar Engineers, Barefoot College
Barefoot College runs a training program for rural unemployed youth and women to become solar engineers and to manufacture solar kits - kits that are already used by 100,000 people in rural India. The program is now replicated in Ethiopia and Afghanistan.
Small business solutions for eco-charcoal production, Joint Environmental Techniques
JET’s low tech kilns made of recycled materials allow agricultural waste to be transformed into clean charcoal briquettes. To scale up their viable business model, beyond a successful pilot phase, they are linking up to training and financing schemes.
Creating innovative solar-businesses, Sunlabob
Sunlabob offers an alternative to conventional solar lanterns, by operating village charging stations. End-users do not pay for the lanterns but only for the charging. This enables poor households to effectively buy hours of solar powered lighting. After a first pilot project in Laos, pilots are now underway in Uganda and Afghanistan.
Please click here to read more about these and other projects.