Sometime ago we wrote about the The Light Up The World Foundation (LUTW), an international humanitarian organization that utilizes solid-state lighting technologies to bring affordable, safe, healthy, efficient, and environmentally responsible lighting to people currently without access to proper lighting.
It is very important to couple the efforts towards sustainable energy with efforts to help the world’s poor so we were happy to find out about the work carried out by SolarAid, an organization that aims to enable the world’s poorest people to have clean, renewable power. Solar power leads to better education, health, safety and income by allowing poor communities to cook, pump water, run fridges, store vaccines, light homes, schools, clinics and businesses, power computers and homes, farm more effectively, and much more.
According to SolarAid, “By replacing carbon emitting technologies, solar power can mitigate global warming. For example, the average kerosene lamp, used widely across the developing world, creates around a tonne of carbon over seven years. Replacing such lamps with solar lanterns will lead to significant reductions in carbon emissions.”
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, recently hosted a SolarAid launch at the City Hall’s Living Room. On the occasion the organization showed a video featuring its patron, actress Cate Blanchett, showing the latest work in Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and South America.
Now, if you had been thinking about doing charity work, here’s a chance: SolarAid is currently looking for two volunteers to work in the Mzuzu region of northern Malawi for a period of two years. The volunteers will be based at the Centre of Appropriate Technology (CAT) and will help SolarAid implement a new microsolar programme in the region. For further information, go here.
