SolarWindow - the results are clear
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Angela McClowry in Climate change, Energy, Urbanization
John A. Conklin is the president and CEO of SolarWindow Technologies, Inc., located in Maryland, USA. Conklin is overseeing the development of one of the world’s leading electricity-generating technologies for glass and flexible plastic that has the promise to turn tall towers and skyscrapers into power generators. Angela McClowry from Cleanleap, recently interviewed John to discuss clean solar PV panels and their role in a cleanleap.
Air pollution costs in Africa now higher than sanitation and malnutrition costs
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David Kariuki in Climate change, Environment, Health, Urbanization
Africa will need bold measures in order to avert a looming health and environmental crisis - which is the result of air pollution according to a recent OECD report. The report also shows that outdoor and indoor pollution in Africa are causing more death and carry more estimated costs than unsafe water and sanitation and childhood malnutrition. The report says that most of this pollution comes from energy generation, open fires in household operations and imported used equipment.
Global LEAP Competition for Most Innovative Off-Grid Refrigerators Announces Open Call for Nominations
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Antony Ochieng in Climate change, Energy, Health
The 2016-2017 edition of the Global LEAP Competition kicked off September 2016, and nominations for this wave’s world’s most innovative off-grid cooling technologies are open till January 2017. The competition which attracts entries from all over the world, and which seeks to award three most-innovative off-grid refrigerator concepts, with a total prize pool of $600,000.
Off-Grid LED Lighting: Cleanleaping to a brighter future…with job creation into the bargain
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William Steel in Climate change, Energy
Moving to a cleaner, more sustainable world brings with it enormous potential for the creation of new jobs and economies. This situation is made abundantly clear in research indicating that the transition to sustainable lighting systems in the form of off-grid solar LEDs in developing regions may create some two million new jobs.
Scaling Solar to help make solar power much cheaper for emerging economies
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David Kariuki in Climate change, Energy
With solar power becoming a bankable alternative to fossil fuels, focus turns on how it can be made more cheaper, especially with large-scale power projects that hook to national grids. Scaling Solar wants to do that and is starting with two solar power plants in Zambia -- by helping companies, governments and financiers through the power agreement processes, financing, bidding, project management and contract-related issues.
First Eco Medical Village to Support Medical Tourism
by
Sally Keys
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West Africa's largest healthcare project has been launched in Accra, Ghana. The Eco Medical Village is set to become a 1,100-bed sub-regional project, providing specialized medical centers across 40 acres. Offering African's an alternative to traveling to India, Europe or the US for their healthcare needs, it also keeps this valuable investment within West Africa.
Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018
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Angela McClowry
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The United Nations Environment Programme in collaboration with Bloomberg New Energy Finance released their annual Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018. The report focuses on investment in renewable power and fuels - wind, solar, biomass and waste, biofuels, geothermal and marine projects, and small hydro-electric dams. The rise of solar power has dominated renewable energy investment in 2017, more than that new coal, gas and nuclear plants put together.
Important infrastructure projects in Vietnam look to make the country more efficient
by
Hanna Johnson
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One of the most exciting ventures a country and its cities can undergo is that of modernizing and redeveloping its buildings. The progress made is almost always positive, and literally can give cities a new face. Major infrastructure projects in Vietnam are not so slowly transforming the city for the better, upgrading various aspects ranging from transportation to water treatment and infrastructure.
Water conservation technology helps fight food insecurity in Northern Ghana
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James Karuga
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In Northern Upper East Ghana, a water conservation technology is enabling about 400 smallholder farmers from 10 communities to farm in dry seasons. As a result they are now getting at least two crop seasons annually as opposed to one, after implementing the PAVE irrigation Technology which harvests flood and rain water, and stores it in underground aquifers where it lasts for up to 180 days.
Pico-hydro a new source of energy in Rwanda
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Boris Bahire Kabeja
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In Rwanda, a ‘Pico-hydro’ refers to a power system with a capacity less than 50kW. Their advantage over other power systems is their cost-effectiveness and simplicity, and come in different designs, planning and installation processes. It is an economical source of power that has proven useful in delivering clean energy to some of the world’s poorest and most remote places.
Solar milling machine to ease grinding systems
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Boris Bahire Kabeja
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Whether they are consumed as grains or flour they are always products in high demand in Africa - these being cereals such maize, sorghum, millet and wheat. One of the issues with these widely consumed crops is when people want to grind them and consume them as flour, with most remote areas lacking access to electricity and therefore use expensive fossil fuel to run milling machines.
Earthen floors can really make it in Rwanda!
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Boris Bahire Kabeja
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Better housing is one of the key indicators of the economic development, but most developing countries still have a challenge to secure clean homes for their habitants. Dirt floors are often responsible up to 80 percent of diseases. In most cases, parasites live in soil in form of feces and bacteria that can be contagious by either absorption or a simple contact. EarthEnable has introduced a solution to all those problems.
Croton plant offers some hope for biofuel enthusiasts
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David Kariuki
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The Croton tree, which is commonly known as Mukinduri in Eastern and Central part of Kenya, is now a good known source of biofuels and that is being practiced. It grows in a challenging environment and unlike jatropha and palm, it won't bring food and fuel competition. It has no chemical additives and burns cleaner than traditional diesel fuel, with no sulfuric content. It can save our environment from carbon emissions and help in better land usage.
Using lean data to improve the solar power sector
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David Kariuki
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Many companies use traditional methods to measure the impact of solar power investments such as quoting the many dollars invested, number of people using their kits and areas covered by their product, which are inadequate tools for measuring social impact for solar power investments if we have to get it right. Traditional approaches of gathering data are not only expensive, take time to give results and complicated to use, but are also not helpful in terms of boosting solar power funding. The lean data approach proposed by Acumen could, not only bridge solar power funding gaps in developing worlds, but will also help companies to understand emerging markets.
Emerging Economies Leading the Way in Off Grid Home Energy
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Sally Keys
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Research undertaken by Greentech Media (GTM) predicts that over the next five years, the global solar market will demonstrate a cumulative average growth rate of around 8%, with emerging economies including India and Latin America leading the progress.
