Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

CleanTechnica
A new campaign, Power for All, wants to bring electricity to hundreds of millions of people in areas where there currently is none.

Air Quality

New Campaign Seeks To Bring Electricity To Hundreds Of Millions

A new campaign, Power for All, wants to bring electricity to hundreds of millions of people in areas where there currently is none.

A new campaign wants to bring electricity to hundreds of millions of people in areas where there currently is none. Power For All was founded on the belief that universal electricity access can be achieved before 2030. Currently, over one billion people worldwide don’t have access to electricity.

boyreading

The organization advocates for decentralizing electricity production and getting off of fossil fuels. In other words, using renewable energy sources like solar power combined with some energy storage technology, rather than building new coal plants. Going “beyond the grid” can bypass special interests that want to control electricity production and determine consumer costs, while influencing politics and public policy to their own financial advantage.

When cities, towns and villages make their own electricity, they have control of that vital element, and are not subject to authoritarian structures that manipulate and even sometimes abuse them. Decentralized electricity production may also increase competition in the marketplace because of the diversity of systems, and greater community involvement.

Africa has plenty of sunlight, and solar panels have never been cheaper. Their cost may drop again in the next several years. Also, energy storage in the form of battery systems appears to be catching up with renewable energy.

“In East Africa, only 23% of Kenyans, 10.8% of Rwandans and 14.8% of Tanzanians have electricity, the World Bank says,” according to a recent BBC article. Many Africans currently use kerosene for lamps, but it is subject to price gouging and cost fluctuations and must be purchased continually.

Solar lamps and solar panels have an upfront cost, but wind up paying for themselves. So, solar power in some contexts makes better sense financially, and is not only about environmental concerns.

After recovering the initial cost, solar panels and lamps provide free electricity, and light that is much cleaner, meaning there are no fumes. There also won’t be any accidental fires. Again, the benefit goes beyond the environmental. In this case, it improves human health.

Image Credit: Power For All

 
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
If you like what we do and want to support us, please chip in a bit monthly via PayPal or Patreon to help our team do what we do! Thank you!
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
 

Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
 

Written By

Hello, I have been writing online for some time, and enjoy the outdoors. If you like, you can follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JakeRsol

Comments

You May Also Like

Clean Power

Equator Energy is a fully integrated solar power provider headquarted in Nairobi, Kenya. Equator Energy also has a presence in Uganda, as well as...

Clean Power

Teraco is Africa’s leading carrier-neutral colocation provider. Teraco says it is the first provider of highly resilient, vendor-neutral data environments in sub-Saharan Africa. Teraco...

Batteries

Solar MD makes its own battery packs in Cape Town, South Africa, by integrating cells from CATL, the world’s largest battery company, and Solar...

Cars

BYD in partnership with Rever Automotive has launched the BYD Dolphin hatchback at the 44th Bangkok International Motor Show. That’s not all the good...

Copyright © 2023 CleanTechnica. The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by and do not necessarily represent the views of CleanTechnica, its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.

Advertisement