Women from some villages in Fiji are biting the bullet and have successfully applied for and won grants to enable houses in their villages to be illuminated by solar lights.
This is a successs tory not just for the women but also for the environment.
Here is the article from the Fiji Times
Women from all walks of life have become increasingly involved in the development of their society.
There are many women achieving goals and aims never thought possible while some have worked their way up the ladder by mere hard work.
Most of the time, the success of women in urban areas have become the highlights of the new era. However, there are women in rural areas who are fast stamping their mark in the development of community life. Many would wonder what exactly needs developing in rural communities as life in the village has so often been described as simple and easy. This is partially true in terms of abundant food supply and natural resources.
On the other hand, there are certain areas of community life that need development and improvement such as proper water and renewable energy sustainability.
This is where the Macuata Soqosoqo Ni Marama comes in. The women's association has developed a 10 year strategy to identify the main thematic areas to work on such as education, conserving natural resources, improving community infrastructure within the Macuata Province.
The intended aim is to enhance sustainable development and poverty eradication with its local communities. Their first initiative was the launch of the solar project in Visoqo.
Association fundraiser and adviser Sereana Cokanasiga said the women of Macuata got together in 2005 as part of their attempt to focus and maximise their impact with community development within the Macuata province.
She said there were five development areas they looked into and renewable energy through solar energy was one of the strategic plans.
"In 2005, we had a meeting and got all the leading traditional women leaders from the 12 districts to develop a ten-year strategy to identify and prioritise the main development areas. This included areas like education, conserving natural resources and improving community infrastructure. The underlying point was to enhance sustainable development and eradicate poverty with the local communities in the province.
"With the rising cost of fuel globally, and in Fiji, this will definitely be a financial constraint on many rural communities such as Visoqo. This is an unavoidable situation. We are not a fossil fuel-producing nation so the burden of keeping up with fuel costs is usually expressed unfortunately in unsustainable natural resource exploitation, a contributing factor to poverty."
Mrs Cokanasiga said the association is trying to emphasise the need to encourage and invest more in renewable energy.
This is far more beneficial to rural communities in the long run. During Earth Hour celebrations in Fiji, Visoqo Village in the northern province showed its support by turning its lights on to renewable energy.
"The launch of the solar project in Visoqo is our small contribution to the global effect for climate change awareness. An effective way to reduce carbon emissions is to promote renewable energy, which is essentially what this project is about and what our association supports," she said.
"We have also received funding from Canada fund and the International Women's Association. There are 15 solar panels in Visoqo Village, seven in Cawadevo and six in Nasovivi. These solar panels have a life span of 35 years so solar panel workshops will be conducted on how to maintain the system after 35 years. A utility trust has been set up where each family in the community contributes at least $14. The money collected would be used to maintain the solar panels."
She said the work of the association was a stepping stone for women in all rural and remote communities.
Mrs Cokanasiga said they felt proud and happy knowing that children in the village are now able to study properly with solar power.
WWF Fiji country program project officer Francis Areki said the solar project was targeted at sustaining sustainable community development and livelihoods through the provision of renewable energy.
He said the project highlighted the need for concerted efforts not only to address the growing underdevelopment of rural areas in Fiji but also to assist communities with the impacts of climate adaption.
"Hopefully, by addressing one basic essential development need, communities such as that targeted by this project can be better able to focus on more pressing climate adaption and natural resource management needs. The project not only looks at promoting renewable energy with rural communities but also works towards strengthening such communities' capacity and ability to maintain and manage such renewable energy systems themselves.
"The goal is to reduce the targets communities need for natural resource exploitation and sustained underdevelopment to cover for ever rising fuel costs. Energy is considered a vital component to achieving sustainable development in any country especially for Pacific Island nations such as Fiji. Due to heavy geological reasons, it is unfortunate that Fiji is a non-oil producing nation making it heavily dependent on importing much of its petroleum to meet much of its national energy demands and again susceptible to escalating global fuel prices."
Mr Areki said the solar project in Visoqo village, with the support of the association was funded by the United Nations Development Programme GEF Small Grants Programme. He said the women prioritized the 12 districts in Macuata in order of the level of development.
Mr Areki said they then agreed to focus much of its attention in improving the status of those identified as least developed.
"Visoqo Village is located in the district of Namuka and is currently listed as the four least developed districts in Macuata. Majority of villages in Namuka district as with its other least developed district counterparts including Udu, Cikobia and Dogotuki face similar problems relating to the non-existence of electricity, poor water access, lack of basic communications and either poor or non existent transport and road systems.
"One of the identified community development needs was energy. Further consultation with the community and analysis of the situation indicated energy as such was a cross-cutting issue that needed to be addressed as it indirectly related back to natural resource use utilisation and was effectively impeding upon the communities ability to focus their energy and income on other much needed projects"
Mr Areki said due to lack of refrigeration and isolation in terms of frequency, the community spent much of their household income and time fishing on fuel to provide lighting in their homes and for their children to do their homework.
He said this created an unending cycle of natural resource exploitation and underdevelopment for such communities.
"The four least developed districts in Macuata therefore comes as no surprise as having 79 per cent of its village households dependent on either wick or pressure lamps as its basic form of lighting. The Pacific Island Energy Policy (PIEP) developed in 2004 clearly identifies with achieving sustainable development and environmental conservation within the context of renewable energy for Pacific communities. The development of the policy was partly in response to growing concerns arising out of climate change. It was also concerned about the impacts on rural and remote communities' inability to keep pace with development and adaption due to heavy reliance on petroleum products," said Mr Areki.
In 2007, the Macuata Soqosoqo ni Marama facilitated a training workshop in Visoqo Village to train women's network members on the development of community climate change adaptation action plans and implementation with their various communities.
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=85672
Solar Lighting Goes Big Time in Baghdad
Baghdad is beginning to rebuild after the long hostilities and the damage caused by the war.
The Iraqi government is being innovative in the fact that it has started to install solar powered street lighting. This is great for the environment, The Iraqis and security.
A full report has been written by Alex Felsinger
While most Baghdad residents still do not have reliable electricity inside their homes, Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity has begun to install solar-powered streetlights in the country’s war-torn capitol.
According to a recent NPR report, several thousand lamps have already been installed, with thousands more in the works. Anhar Abdullah, chief engineer of Ministry of Electricity, said off-the-grid street lights were important for security reasons. For over five years, the Iraqi government has done little to address their issues maintaining functional electricity inside homes.
Iraq intends to install the solar-powered lights in other cities, including Basra, Mosul, Karbala, Hilla, and Fallujah. But many residents think electricity inside should be made the priority. “We’re tired all summer because there’s no electricity,” said Fouad Mohammad, who lives in Baghdad. “We spend all our time and money chasing after fuel for the generators, for water, for gasoline, and for power. This is why we suffer.”
The police welcome the lights and have noticed more people venturing out after dark. “Before, we struggled in the darkness. We couldn’t see the cars clearly,” said Ahmad Ali, a 22-year-old police officer. “But now we can do our job normally, and we feel more confident staying out late in the street.”
Photo Credit: Jamesdale10 on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
http://ecoworldly.com/2008/09/23/baghdad-finds-safer-streets-with-solar-powered-streetlights/
The Iraqi government is being innovative in the fact that it has started to install solar powered street lighting. This is great for the environment, The Iraqis and security.
A full report has been written by Alex Felsinger
While most Baghdad residents still do not have reliable electricity inside their homes, Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity has begun to install solar-powered streetlights in the country’s war-torn capitol.
According to a recent NPR report, several thousand lamps have already been installed, with thousands more in the works. Anhar Abdullah, chief engineer of Ministry of Electricity, said off-the-grid street lights were important for security reasons. For over five years, the Iraqi government has done little to address their issues maintaining functional electricity inside homes.
Iraq intends to install the solar-powered lights in other cities, including Basra, Mosul, Karbala, Hilla, and Fallujah. But many residents think electricity inside should be made the priority. “We’re tired all summer because there’s no electricity,” said Fouad Mohammad, who lives in Baghdad. “We spend all our time and money chasing after fuel for the generators, for water, for gasoline, and for power. This is why we suffer.”
The police welcome the lights and have noticed more people venturing out after dark. “Before, we struggled in the darkness. We couldn’t see the cars clearly,” said Ahmad Ali, a 22-year-old police officer. “But now we can do our job normally, and we feel more confident staying out late in the street.”
Photo Credit: Jamesdale10 on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
http://ecoworldly.com/2008/09/23/baghdad-finds-safer-streets-with-solar-powered-streetlights/
Solar Energy Lights
Solar energy lights
Since most energy comes from the sun, there is something delightful about the idea of a solar-powered garden light. It time-shifts the light supply light from a time of plenty to a time of scarcity. Solar-powered lights can be freely distributed in gardens without owners having to worry about cabling, or their children being electrocuted. Solar lights also score high marks for their use of renewable energy: there is something wasteful about gardeners discharging light into the darkness merely for decorative effect.
The problem with solar-powered garden lights is that they tend to have only a small area of solar cells and a relatively modest battery capacity. The consequences of these shortcomings are that solar-powered lights have a reputation for emitting a small amount of light for a short period of time. But the technology of solar cells and batteries is improving all the time and the current generation of solar lights is superior to the first generation of solar lights which damaged their reputation.
With solar lights, as with many things, the more you pay the better the quality of the product.
Since most energy comes from the sun, there is something delightful about the idea of a solar-powered garden light. It time-shifts the light supply light from a time of plenty to a time of scarcity. Solar-powered lights can be freely distributed in gardens without owners having to worry about cabling, or their children being electrocuted. Solar lights also score high marks for their use of renewable energy: there is something wasteful about gardeners discharging light into the darkness merely for decorative effect.
The problem with solar-powered garden lights is that they tend to have only a small area of solar cells and a relatively modest battery capacity. The consequences of these shortcomings are that solar-powered lights have a reputation for emitting a small amount of light for a short period of time. But the technology of solar cells and batteries is improving all the time and the current generation of solar lights is superior to the first generation of solar lights which damaged their reputation.
With solar lights, as with many things, the more you pay the better the quality of the product.
Creating An Outdoor Haven With Solar Light
This is a useful article that I have come across
Landscape lighting is frequently practical, but it is intended to merge unobtrusively into the surroundings, it is the outcome and not the fixture, that needs to be apparent.
This is one region of gardening where LEDs have practically taken over.. Outside lighting can be dramatic in its beauty and furnishes a safe, secure and welcoming enviroment. Put in properly the attractiveness that it brings out is unchallenged. The utilisation of solar outdoor lights can vastly improve the charm factor of any landscape project. Garden lighting is generally a wise choice, but particularly around water features, which present a specific danger after dusk and is excellent for highlighting paths.
Quite popular today are low-voltage exterior lighting set-ups. These systems normally come complete with a step-down transformer. For lighting systems in urban areas, low-voltage wiring is used for outside lighting. As an accessory landscape lighting is as utilitarian as it is cosmetic, increasing the safety and security of the dwelling, as the householder and family are able to move around the property in safely after dusk. Landscape lighting is an easy improvement that can make a big difference in the safety and security of your dwelling likewise as how it looks after dusk and is safer to run than conventional mains lighting.
Outdoor lighting is used to bring trees and plants to life at dusk, highlight particular regions around your home, light pathways and stairs for safety and security. Solar outside lighting fixtures secure and accent your property. This garden lighting alternative has been increasing in popularity the past few years. One problem with solar landscape lighting is that you may not feel it is very efficient beause they emit very little light and get dimmer as the battery runs out. Notwithstanding most solar lighting can be as bright as traditional low-voltage.
Solar outdoor lighting stores energy captured during daylight and then when it becomes dark enough, the landscape lighting switches on automatically.One common complaint is that they usually only give off a subdued light that sheds light on a comparatively small area. An added benefit of solar landscape lighting is that it is a breeze to set up, and the installer wouldn't have to dig under their walk to run wires.
Solar outdoor lighting comes in a mixture of styles from assorted makers offering solar exterior decor that befit your style. Solar powered lights are not dependent upon wiring nor do they use any transformers.
Solar outside lighting supplies many options for you to include into your gardening project including pathway, driveway lights, accent lights, lanterns, fountains, and spotlights. It is a speedy easy option that can brighten up your yard decor or landscape.Now that manufacturing systems have improved and prices are dropping , solar lighting has become the most popular in the landscaping industry. Even so, the photovoltaics panel used to charge the battery must be in an area where it will receive a great deal of direct sunlight.
Like any electrical device, exterior lighting can be moderated by �intelligent� switches, for instance timers.By employing sensors and controllers you can avoid power wastage by your landscape lighting. In the natural landscape, the majority of lighting, most of the time, is supplied by the sun, modulated by clouds and filtered by vegetation. Light, or its absence can greatly vary the visual appearance of your gardening efforts. You can always increase permanent lighting with garden candles and solar external lighting sited amid plantings to cast a luminescence around your garden.
Footings preparation for light fixtures, instalation of fixture standards, or instalation of empty conduit for future landscape lighting are chores that need to be planned ahead of setting up your exterior lighting.Try playing with your timing and using a variety of designs to change the mood over the evening such as set for evening, not too dark, and with a warm orange atmosphere. There are numerous alternatives for outside lighting from which you can pick out. When designing your forthcoming garden landscaping project, it is paramount to accurately assess the number of lights involved.
Author Info:
David is the owner at http://www.landscapelightingnet.info/ . Find further Outside Lighting guides and hints at Solar Landscape Lighting
Landscape lighting is frequently practical, but it is intended to merge unobtrusively into the surroundings, it is the outcome and not the fixture, that needs to be apparent.
This is one region of gardening where LEDs have practically taken over.. Outside lighting can be dramatic in its beauty and furnishes a safe, secure and welcoming enviroment. Put in properly the attractiveness that it brings out is unchallenged. The utilisation of solar outdoor lights can vastly improve the charm factor of any landscape project. Garden lighting is generally a wise choice, but particularly around water features, which present a specific danger after dusk and is excellent for highlighting paths.
Quite popular today are low-voltage exterior lighting set-ups. These systems normally come complete with a step-down transformer. For lighting systems in urban areas, low-voltage wiring is used for outside lighting. As an accessory landscape lighting is as utilitarian as it is cosmetic, increasing the safety and security of the dwelling, as the householder and family are able to move around the property in safely after dusk. Landscape lighting is an easy improvement that can make a big difference in the safety and security of your dwelling likewise as how it looks after dusk and is safer to run than conventional mains lighting.
Outdoor lighting is used to bring trees and plants to life at dusk, highlight particular regions around your home, light pathways and stairs for safety and security. Solar outside lighting fixtures secure and accent your property. This garden lighting alternative has been increasing in popularity the past few years. One problem with solar landscape lighting is that you may not feel it is very efficient beause they emit very little light and get dimmer as the battery runs out. Notwithstanding most solar lighting can be as bright as traditional low-voltage.
Solar outdoor lighting stores energy captured during daylight and then when it becomes dark enough, the landscape lighting switches on automatically.One common complaint is that they usually only give off a subdued light that sheds light on a comparatively small area. An added benefit of solar landscape lighting is that it is a breeze to set up, and the installer wouldn't have to dig under their walk to run wires.
Solar outdoor lighting comes in a mixture of styles from assorted makers offering solar exterior decor that befit your style. Solar powered lights are not dependent upon wiring nor do they use any transformers.
Solar outside lighting supplies many options for you to include into your gardening project including pathway, driveway lights, accent lights, lanterns, fountains, and spotlights. It is a speedy easy option that can brighten up your yard decor or landscape.Now that manufacturing systems have improved and prices are dropping , solar lighting has become the most popular in the landscaping industry. Even so, the photovoltaics panel used to charge the battery must be in an area where it will receive a great deal of direct sunlight.
Like any electrical device, exterior lighting can be moderated by �intelligent� switches, for instance timers.By employing sensors and controllers you can avoid power wastage by your landscape lighting. In the natural landscape, the majority of lighting, most of the time, is supplied by the sun, modulated by clouds and filtered by vegetation. Light, or its absence can greatly vary the visual appearance of your gardening efforts. You can always increase permanent lighting with garden candles and solar external lighting sited amid plantings to cast a luminescence around your garden.
Footings preparation for light fixtures, instalation of fixture standards, or instalation of empty conduit for future landscape lighting are chores that need to be planned ahead of setting up your exterior lighting.Try playing with your timing and using a variety of designs to change the mood over the evening such as set for evening, not too dark, and with a warm orange atmosphere. There are numerous alternatives for outside lighting from which you can pick out. When designing your forthcoming garden landscaping project, it is paramount to accurately assess the number of lights involved.
Author Info:
David is the owner at http://www.landscapelightingnet.info/ . Find further Outside Lighting guides and hints at Solar Landscape Lighting
Solatube
I have just read the following article which is really useful if you want to bring light into your home. It is an excellent idea and saves energy too!
Thanks to Climate X website
'One of the more interesting things we decided on is called a ‘solatube’. The solatube is a small dome which sits on the roof and collects natural light, channels it down reflective tubing, and illuminates the room below – completely naturally. Our decision to use one was prompted by the fact that our new bathroom is windowless and we were reluctant to use a light every time we used it - day or night. From the inside all you see is a round frosted skylight, which filters in the light, and takes away the glare – and from the outside, an odd looking dome (which I really like and think is a design statement in itself). I had no idea what to expect from such a product. It cost around £300, but has been worth every penny. You would have to look twice in our bathroom to notice that there are in fact no windows. At dusk the ceiling light looks beautiful and glows a pretty orange color. Under clear skies and a full moon, there is enough shimmer to take the edge off the otherwise complete darkness, enabling me to ‘safely’ stagger to the toilet in the middle of the night! Of all our energy saving tips – this is by far my favorite.'
With imagination this idea could be utilised in so many places. I am now looking into placing one in my stair well which is normally a dark area.
Thanks to Climate X website
'One of the more interesting things we decided on is called a ‘solatube’. The solatube is a small dome which sits on the roof and collects natural light, channels it down reflective tubing, and illuminates the room below – completely naturally. Our decision to use one was prompted by the fact that our new bathroom is windowless and we were reluctant to use a light every time we used it - day or night. From the inside all you see is a round frosted skylight, which filters in the light, and takes away the glare – and from the outside, an odd looking dome (which I really like and think is a design statement in itself). I had no idea what to expect from such a product. It cost around £300, but has been worth every penny. You would have to look twice in our bathroom to notice that there are in fact no windows. At dusk the ceiling light looks beautiful and glows a pretty orange color. Under clear skies and a full moon, there is enough shimmer to take the edge off the otherwise complete darkness, enabling me to ‘safely’ stagger to the toilet in the middle of the night! Of all our energy saving tips – this is by far my favorite.'
With imagination this idea could be utilised in so many places. I am now looking into placing one in my stair well which is normally a dark area.
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