Uploaded on Feb 26, 2008
This video can be downloaded here: www.ashdenawards.org/winners/s… SELCO won an Ashden Outstanding Achievement Award in 2007.
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SELCO is a private business, based in Bangalore, which provides solar-home-systems (SHS) and other solar services to low-income households and institutions. Its network of local sales and service centres are set up where micro-finance organisations can provide loans to customers. All systems are sold on a commercial basis, but SELCO is committed to providing the highest quality services to poor people on financial terms they can afford.
SKG Sangha has radically improved the lives of thousands of rural families in Karnataka, South India by supplying them with both dung based biogas plants for cooking and a specially designed unit that turns the slurry from the biogas plant into high quality fertiliser. The benefits of biogas are well known. It provides rural women with a cheap, reliable source of energy as well as reducing indoor air pollution and easing pressure on forest resources. Less well known is how turning the biogas residue into high quality fertiliser can increase crop yields and, more importantly, give rural women the chance to make a profit. The units supplied by SKG Sangha produce fertiliser simply by combining the slurry with straw and leaves and then adding worms which re-digest the mixture to produce vermicompost. This vermicompost improves the yields of family crops and the liquid output from the unit can be used as an organic pesticide. The growing demand in India for organic fertiliser means that women can earn as much from selling half the vermicompost they produce as the household earns from selling the crops they grow. Since 1993, SKG Sangha has installed over 43,000 biogas plants in the state of Karnataka alone.
Category
Nonprofits & Activism
Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha was founded in 1998 to help poor, marginalised communities living in the remote Chalanbeel region of Bangladesh to develop sustainable livelihoods. Shidhulai has achieved this by building up a fleet of flat-bottomed boats, all made with locally available materials, that make their way through the shallow rivers and canals of the Chalanbeel to bring a range of educational services and renewable energy supplies to water-side families. The boats use solar PV modules to generate all the electricity they need to provide daily classes in primary education for children, libraries, training in sustainable agriculture, health advice, mobile phone and internet access and battery-charging facilities. Shidhulai has also provided villagers with 13,500 solar-home-systems, 2,500 lanterns and 15,000 bicycle pumps that deliver between 60 and 100 litres of water per minute - enough to irrigate half a hectare of land during the dry season. By putting into practice the agricultural techniques they have learnt on the boats and using the renewable energy devices, farmers have been able to significantly increase their income and reduce the use of synthetic pesticides, with about one third of farmers eliminating their use altogether.
Category
Nonprofits & Activism
Deng Ltd, an established engineering company in Accra, has developed a viable and sustainable business model for the provision of solar-home-systems to rural areas where access to grid electricity is limited. Deng has done this by venturing out of the capital and setting up a network of dealers to service the more remote areas. Deng has also set up a training centre for solar technicians in order to further expand the business and ensure the future sustainability of the scheme. The training centre, which has already trained 120 people from various sectors, is in itself a significant driver for growth of the solar PV market in Ghana. Whilst Deng does sell and install PV-powered grid backup systems around Accra, the mission and focus of Deng is in providing solar electricity to rural areas that do not have grid access. Since 1998 Deng has supplied 1,000 fixed systems and 6,000 solar lanterns to communities across Ghana.
Category
Nonprofits & Activism
Beijing Shenzhou Daxu Bio-energy Technology Company Ltd (Daxu) has succeeded in developing an innovative stove design that replaces coal by burning widely available crop waste as well as burning wood much more efficiently. Most families in China still cook using stoves that burn coal or wood which has led to severe deforestation and dangerous levels of indoor air pollution, particularly from coal use. Crop waste is widely available in China yet very few stove designs have been able to burn this waste effectively. The Daxu stove is not only designed to burn crop waste, either loose or in briquettes, it is also 40% efficient, produces hardly any smoke, cuts cooking and heating costs by 50% and, if it replaces a traditional coal burning stove, it can saves around eight tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. With its two hot plates, it also allows families to cook a stir-fry dish and steamed rice at the same time. Some Daxu stove models also come with a back boiler which provides hot running water and heating to rural families, often for the first time. It is hardly surprising that since September last year, 25,000 models have been sold, with 10,000 sold in the first three months of 2007. There is enormous potential for introducing this technology throughout China, since over 20 million wood and coal stoves are sold each year.
Category
Nonprofits & Activism
Cumbria Energy Efficiency Advice Centre is scaling up simple energy efficiency measures throughout Cumbria with an integrated and highly professional service offering advice, funding and insulation. In just two years it has insulated the cavity walls of over 9,000 homes and provided loft insulation for over 5,000 homes, saving 12,500 tonnes of CO2 a year and reducing fuel bills by over £1.6 million a year. CEEAC helps local people who are faced with a bewildering array of grants to make sense of the options and access the right funds for them. One of CEEAC’s greatest strengths is the stringent management controls it has developed which ensure that contractors carry out work to consistently high standards.
Category
Nonprofits & Activism
This video can be downloaded here: www.ashdenawards.org/winners/seaton Seaton Primary School won an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy in 2007.
Seaton Primary School in Devon lives out its school motto of ‘Caring now for the Future’, and is one of a few UK schools to install a range of renewable technologies. A 2.5 kW wind turbine and a 4.7 kW PV array on the roof of the school hall supply electricity directly to the school and have helped reduce CO2 emissions by about 2 tonnes a year. In addition, 48 m2 of solar water heating panels heat the school’s outdoor swimming pool. Other green initiatives include class ‘Energy Agents’ to help reduce energy waste; the after-school ‘Eco Club’ to monitor energy use; a 2006 Energy Audit resulting in a host of energy efficiency measures; an orchard to provide fruit for pupils and save food miles; and a grey water collection system to supply the school wildlife pond and demonstrate small-scale water power.
Category
Nonprofits & Activism
This video can be downloaded here: www.ashdenawards.org/winners/solarcentury Solarcentury won an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy in 2007.
Solarcentury is a beacon for the UK’s solar power market, showing how attractive, flexible and easy to install solar PV can be, even in crowded urban areas. The company has used innovative design to develop a range of excellent solar products — mainly solar PV panels and some solar water heating — and mounting systems to fit a wide range of buildings, including industrial estates. It has designed and installed 550 solar systems across the country, meeting the rigorous standards of planners as well as clients.
Solarcentury’s total installed capacity is around 3.3 MWp generating around 2,370 MWh/year which prevents the emission of about 1,350 tonnes of CO2 a year. One of its best known installations is the CIS tower in Manchester with the largest commercial solar façade in Europe.
This video can be downloaded here: www.ashdenawards.org/winners/woodheys Woodheys Primary School won an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy in 2007.
Woodheys Primary School in Sale, Cheshire has an excellent programme of practical energy saving across the school and is proud to have achieved the Eco School green flag status. Working closely with expert organisations such as WWF it has created a high-quality curriculum for its pupils which has been widely praised and replicated. An energy audit in 1999 prompted energy efficiency actions which reduced gas consumption by 30% and a solar PV array was installed on the school roof in 2005 with an electronic display that allows pupils to easily monitor its electricity generation. Other measures include ‘Eco Monitors’ to encourage good energy saving and a Travel Plan encouraging cycling and walking to school. There is a strong emphasis on carrying behavioural change through to the pupils’ homes and local community.
Category
Nonprofits & Activism
This video can be downloaded here: www.ashdenawards.org/winners/enworks ENWORKS won an Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy in 2007.
enworksinabox.com/sites/default/files/EREiKS%20Evaluation%20FR.pdf
ENWORKS based in Greater Manchester is helping businesses in the North-West reduce their use of resources, cut their waste production — and make huge cost savings. Almost 1,000 businesses are participating in the programme, saving them about £12 million a year from a total capital investment of only £5.5 million. The ENWORKS scheme is reducing CO2 emissions by an impressive 18,000 tonnes a year. An innovative online programme — the ENWORKS Online Resource Efficiency Toolkit — is used to identify ways each business can save resources and compare the savings, payback period and environmental benefits of each option. ENWORKS allocates specialist advisors to support each business through the process of making the appropriate behavioural and technical changes. The concept is now inspiring similar programmes in other parts of the country.
Category
Nonprofits & Activism
