For fossil fuel-reliant towns, a solar alternative grows

Grassroots organizations, Empowered by Light and Empower Generation, are killing two birds with one stone: bringing clean energy to rural Nepal, and creating jobs for Nepalese women in the environmental sector. By helping to install electricity-generating solar panels, which simultaneously prevents illegal animal poaching, women are provided not only with a stable income and a ladder to reliable economic growth, but also with a rich work-life balance, allowing them to become “clean energy entrepreneurs” while continuing to care for their families and tend to their village’s needs.

In Zanzibar, hundreds of households too poor and remote to have access to the electrical grid are getting low cost solar power for the first time, from a group of local female engineers trained by and Indian NGO. It's the first of several "solar mamas" projects planned for parts of rural Africa, and it's turning some traditional gender roles on their head.

The Hydropower Empowerment Network takes a country-by-country approach to helping establish micro hydro and other technologies in rural places where electricity is difficult to come by. Micro hydro has even proven to be more durable and sustainable than solar, though solar is cheaper and quicker to install - the reason is the depth of community involvement required. When villagers participate on longer-term, complex projects, they develop pride in their work, learn invaluable new skills, and are empowered to engage with the solution.

A follow-up article on Husk Power Systems, which has created a scalable system to turn rice husks into electricity that is reliable, eco-friendly and affordable for families in India. The company bases their business model around local involvement, grassroots systems that cater to the immediate community, and continual accountability. This article fills in some information gaps from the initial piece, "Fixes: A Light in India."

An economic shift to renewable energy could take decades, but thanks to rapidly evolving disruptive technologies, dropping prices of solar and wind power sources, and increasing market demand for green business, the new age of renewable energy could encompass the world economy much more quickly.

Rahr Malting, a brewery in Shakopee, MN, has found a creative way to sustainably address their energy needs. The company partners with the Mdewakanton Sioux Community to use waste barley hulls from the malting factory to generate electricity for their facilities, selling excess power to the public grid while the waste heat sprouts the malt to make beer.

A solar-grid station is powering rural Yemeni communities on the front-line of the war and in the midst of COVID-19, while also empowering women who typically have very few professional opportunities. The microgrid project supplies the community with affordable and clean energy, replacing expensive diesel generators which are bad for the environment. Electricity bills have been cut by 65 percent, an impressive gain in one of the world's poorest country. Thousands of entrepreneurs have generated income based on the new electricity source and many more have benefitted from new services and products available.

Dozens of states across the US are adopting programs that offer solar power for low-income communities in order to cut down on their utility costs and provide renewable energy that they previously would not have had access to. Some of these programs also incorporate other social goals into their programs, such as offering job training or developing sites of backup energy should there an outage. Solar development is currently one of the fastest growing industries in the US, and analysts predict that the nation will be able to hold over 2,000 megawatts of solar capacity this year alone.

Solar power has found its way to Detroit thanks in part to one man's efforts to make the resource more available to community members. Through the power of connections and cross sector collaboration, Ali Dirul's project management company has implemented a series of clean energy projects throughout the city.

Throughout the state, Maine launched several workforce development programs to meet clean energy goals by training workers to help install heat pumps and perform other clean energy jobs. For example, Kennebec Valley Community College's heat pump lab has trained more than 300 students since 2021.