Can solar energy recharge women out of poverty?

By , 1 September 2015 at 15:02
Can solar energy recharge women out of poverty?
Initiatives

Can solar energy recharge women out of poverty?

By , 1 September 2015 at 15:02

Part two of a three-part series on how renewable energy can lift people in developing countries out of poverty. Today we look at how solar energy is providing not only an alternative to the often-nonexistent grid, but as a way for women to become local entrepreneurs and village leaders.

Solar offers a safer and more cost-effective alternative for hundreds of millions of people that helps stave off deforestation.

It’s the proverbial killing three birds with one stone: employing and empowering women, offering power to those off the grid, with a side of environmental consciousness along with bringing the rest of the world online. Sounds too good to be true? Maybe, but when you can have such positive benefits while eliminating the need for governmental bureaucracy, you’ve got a formula to make small level change to affect a whole continent.

Solar energy has the potential to reach the 600 million people living in Africa without reliable electricity.

Light. Hope. Opportunity.

That’s what Solar Sister believes it can bring to remote communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. While 85 percent of these rural populations have some sort of cell phone service, only about five percent have regular access to charging them.

Solar Sister is just one of countless organizations which sees solar as an opportunity to give micro loans to women that they can use to buy complete solar kits like ReadySet Solar Kit for under $200, which they can then use to light their homes, to start their own phone charging businesses, or, as is often the case, both at the same time. Women become role models in these villages not only to other women but as the tech entrepreneurs they are.

And these aren’t societies in the dark, but are ones that have been using dangerous, polluting kerosene lamps and cookstoves for decades. Solar offers a safer and more cost-effective alternative for hundreds of millions of people that helps stave off deforestation.

Perhaps most importantly, particularly in countries plagued by Malaria and Ebola, the sun can power desalination to give greeter and easier access to fresh drinking water, just as the Barefoot College desalination plant in India does by producing 3,600 liters of clean drinking water a day.

Projects like these not only lift women out of poverty and environmental risk, but they help position women and these countries as a whole as scientific leaders for renewable energy. One project Solar Power! even certifies women in Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal as solar electrical engineers in just six months.

Have donkey. Solar business will travel.

But these micro-businesses aren’t just restricted to where these women live either. In fact 200 Maasai women in Kenya have strapped their businesses—and solar panels—on the backs of donkeys to create a traveling sales business.

Renewable energy developer Green Energy Africa has trained the women and provided them with solar panels, lights, and small, rechargeable batteries at a discount. These women are now professional solar installers who can sell these home solar kits at a profit of about $3 each.

It’s the proverbial killing three birds with one stone: employing and empowering women, and offering power to those off the grid…

For a country that sees an average wage of 25 cents per hour, this profit is significant. Plus, these villages live on raising livestock. The light at night scare away the hyenas and leopards, as well as increase security on the roads.

Can the sun melt that glass ceiling?

And solar energy doesn’t stop with empowering women just in the developing world. WISE is a non-profit dedicated to promoting the involvement of women in all aspects of the solar energy industry. It’s one of many organizations dedicated to lifting up the environment and women hand in hand.

Do you know of any other green energy organizations that have the added benefit to womankind? Tell us @TefDigital and @JKRiggins!

 

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