Posts Tagged ‘solar power’
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Katherine Lucey
“TEDxPVD-129 (Photo credit: TEDxProvidence)”
It is often argued that limitations are the fuel for creativity – innovation and ambition not being reliant upon access to technological tools or even much financial support. If the above idea is true, then Africa’s advances in the last five years are proof positive that willful ingenuity is the real backbone of groundbreaking entrepreneurial successes. CNN has been running an excellent series on African nations’ new role in devising ingenious uses for mobile phones – from banking to medical advice – and ways to harness renewable energy resources to help create better lives in many seriously impoverished areas.
The latest article details how a new initiative to be bring solar power to poor areas is helping those without electricity and empowering the women who are selling this unique service. Katherine Lucey is the founder of Solar Sister, an organization built around women helping poor communities escape ‘energy poverty’ by providing affordable solar-powered devices such as lights, and mobile phone chargers, ultimately helping those desperately in need of energy sources. Read the rest of this entry »
New Energy Commitments Are Here
Posted on: May 28, 2012
- In: Environment | Europe | Finance | Green
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“the world’s biggest polluters are turning a corner and planning to spend almost $30bn on emissions reduction, renewables and much more on wind and solar power…”
The coalition government in the UK has implemented the largest, sweeping reforms to the energy sector in over twenty years. The good news is that the acknowledgment and prescient concern over the future is on the agenda, the bad news is that many are disappointed that renewable energy is taking a backseat to nuclear. As was reported in the Guardian newspaper recently, Charles Hendry, the minister of state for energy, said: “The market did a good job keeping down [energy] prices to the lowest in Europe, but it did not bring forward enough new investment. If we are going to keep the lights on in an affordable way, this is not a luxury – it’s absolutely essential.” True, but what do they propose? A fairly reasonable fixed price for carbon (higher than what is ostensibly market price) and an “emissions performance standard” stopping coal-fueled facilities from carrying on without proper carbon capture, it seems. The beef for environmentalists is the lack of investment on renewables. But, it appears a decent enough plan to provide higher prices to industry – in order to spur future investments in renewables and ensure no future shortages (this was perhaps the main impetus). The question, as is often the case with everything – where’s the money coming from? That’s a tough one to answer considering the nation’s current economic struggles.
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