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Approximately two billion people across the world
have no access to grid electricity. A large majority
of these live in developing countries where the vulnerability
to weather damage and high cost of grid extension
to remote areas mean that many small communities are
without electricity for small industry and enterprise,
health clinics and schools.
Decentralised energy options using local resources,
such as wind, biogas, solar power and hydro power,
offer many advantages for meeting the needs of rural
populations.
Local production and maintenance of appropriate renewable
energy:
- reduces running costs and dependence on outside
suppliers, and helps to build up the local economy;
- cuts the need for costly and unreliable petroleum
supplies, and
- produces lower levels of climate-changing emissions.
It provides:
- a means of powering machinery for income generation;
- safer and lower-cost lighting for workshops, classrooms
and clinics;
- refrigeration for healthcare and other services;
- domestic power for lighting, cooking, radio and
television.
The ability to use labour-saving devices and continue
to work after nightfall combine to raise the quality
of life in the community.
This programme shows some of the ways in which sources
of green energy are being used as an alternative to
traditional fossil fuels around the world:
Full
Steam Ahead, Italy -
Geothermal energy has been utilised for centuries
in Tuscany on the west coast of Italy. It now provides
around two million households with heating, as well
as supplying heat to greenhouses and fish farms, satisfying
a great part of the energy needs of the Tuscany region.
Sun
Slate, Dominican Republic -
Within the last 18 months a group of entrepreneurs
have been trained by the Small Grant's Programme of
the UNDP in photovoltaic technology to create self-sustaining
businesses. Solar power is now being used for clinics,
for internet access in schools, pumping drinking water
and playing soccer at night.
Donuts
for Diesel, UK -
Every year ASDA produces 138 thousand litres of waste
fat from canteens, restaurants and rotisseries which
is usually dumped in landfill. Not for long. Now thanks
to a new biodiesel scheme developed by the company
the waste oil is mixed with methanol to create a clean
burn fuel.
Stream
Line, Kenya -
Small scale hydro providing energy in places where
there's no grid has long been part of the landscape
in places like Nepal and Peru. Yet, in the first scheme
of its size in Africa, hydro is proving that you don't
have to have mountains and a glacial melt to make
it work. So far over 100 households are getting electricity
from two pico plants in Kirinyaga District, Kenya.
The
Cold Chain, Bangladesh -
Keeping vaccines and blood samples cold in areas without
power has long been difficult for those working in
remote areas or in an emergency. Now Dulas Engineering
have developed a solar fridge that can be maintained
locally and lasts for up to 10 years.
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