This expression means something for 50 families who
live in Angola (San Vicente de Cañete), two hours away from Lima, Peru. They’ve
waited more than 20 years for electricity, as they had no access to the regular
network or were not included on the national program for access to
energy. Do you know what that means on a daily basis?
It means that you spend
a great of your earnings on candles. It means that you get used to the dark,
because candles don’t last that long. So, you blow them out and go to
bed, instead of studying or enjoying any other social activity with your family
and friends. It means that you don’t have energy to recharge your cell phone or
even have a nice cup of cold water or soft drink or a beer. It also means that
you and your family are in danger. There’s one villager who left her baby
next to candle. She turned her back for a moment, and the candle had been
knocked over and a fire had started.
Unfortunately this
situation is not only happening in Angola. There’s 1.3 billion people, 20% of
world population, living in similar conditions. In South America, you’ll find, at least, 30 million.
Schneider Electric, believe that geographic isolation is no longer a barrier or
an obstacle for access to energy. And believe that energy brings social and
economic development.
The solution, for this community in particular, was to
install solar panel system with batteries, one controller and three luminaries
in their 32 houses and their 2 common rooms. It
is environmentally-friendly, reliable, affordable and, equally important, a
scalable solution.
It means that the
villagers no longer need to spend 60 Pervuian Soles (~$20 USD) a month on
candles or 20 Soles (~$7 USD) a day for 4 hours of light generated by a diesel
engine that produces 1.5 tons of CO2 per year. They now have lighting and
communication. They can watch television and use a refrigerator to store their
products.
Now, they own the
system and with the savings they make monthly and through the local association
they have created, they can make the system grow to support their growing
energy needs, without damaging the environment and not putting their families
in danger!
They have also been
through a training program in order to learn on how to maintain their devices
and make the most of their energy.
Source: Schneider Electric.
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