Hot Enough to Fry an Egg!

Have you ever felt weather so hot that you could fry an egg on the sidewalk? There is so much energy from the Sun hitting Earth everyday that it could cook every last egg on the planet! Harnessing that energy is a vital part of creating a more sustainable future, from massive solar power plant complexes, like the planned "solar tower" of Australia, to smaller scale projects like solar powered vehicles. Today, the United Nations Development Program has partnered with the Global Environment Facility, the European Union, and the Chilean government to harness the power of the sun, prevent deforestation and bring renewable energy to local communities in northern Chile.

The people who live in these communities traditionally relied on wood to fuel their stoves, but thanks to UNDP are now embracing solar ovens as a way to rehabilitate their damaged environment. The overcutting of firewood in northern Chile has accelerated deforestation, drying up already-arid lands. Solar ovens bring an eco-friendly alternative to cooking needs, and lay the foundations for greater renewable energy use in the future. But UNDP is not just providing solar ovens, it is training locals to construct their own ovens so that they may pass the knowledge on to others in the community. Alejandra Alarcon, National Coordinator of the UNDP Small Grants Programme’s Global Environment Facility, stressed the importance of providing not just the materials but the know-how, "The only way to see long-lasting results is if people can build their own ovens and share the knowledge with other communities.”

To learn more about solar ovens in Chile, and how they are sparking green-change and green-entrepreneurship click here

Renewable energy for Rural Livelihoods.

On the edge of Rajasthan, marking the border between India and Pakistan, four villages have had their nights lit up by incandescent bulbs running on renewable solar energy. The villages have never been connected to a power grid. The lights they now have are part of the Government of India and United Nations Development Program project ‘Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods’ that trained and engaged village women as “Barefoot Solar Engineers” for generating renewable solar energy.

Four young women – one from each village – have assembled these lights from scratch and are paid to maintain and repair them. The Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC), a Tilonia-based NGO, which implemented the program in Barmer district of Rajasthan, runs a residential training program for women from selected villages at its campus in Rajasthan.

In the villages there are many still bemused that young women who until a few months ago were like any other – cleaning the yard, fetching water, helping with the cooking – are now called “engineers”. But, they would rather have lights irrespective of who is maintaining them. Each family with a light contributes to a village fund from which their woman “Barefoot Solar Engineer” is paid a salary ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,350 a month. And the villages are full of young girls, who trail their barefoot engineer and watch as she maintains the wires and fuses.

Apart from Rajasthan, this project, was also implemented by UNDP in Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.

For more information please click here..

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