Better lives in Bangladesh – through green power

[Coventina]

Source: Christian Science Monitor

Here in the Bangladesh countryside, amid the emerald-green rice paddies and farmers threshing crops with their bare feet, are beige cows, giant haystacks… and solar energy panels – 200,000 of them scattered throughout the country.

This clean-electricity source is part of an innovative program conducted by Grameen Shakti, the environmental arm of Grameen Bank, which won a Nobel Peace Prize for its pioneering use of microloans in Bangladesh.

Its projects also include biogas production, improved cookstove technology, and solar power training centers for women.

Grameen Shakti (meaning “village energy” in Bangla) was started in 1996 as a way to bring electricity and better living standards to the country’s rural poor. “At that time, 85 percent had no electricity,” says Dipal Barua, the nonprofit group’s managing director.

Read more: http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/06/24/better-lives-in-bangladesh-%E2%80%93-through-green-power/

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Why can't we do stuff like this here in the US?

This sort of thing would be great for our economic recovery.

[WriteDown]

1. This is only for a very small amount of electricity per

household. As long as all you need is one or two lightbulbs running, then maybe this is for you.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. because you have bigger houses, and need more lighting?

this is fairly dim lighting in one bedroom/kitchen houses.

also shakti doesnt mean energy it means power

[Javaman]

3. The really tragic part of this is: in roughly 2060, the seas will have risen enough

due to global warming, this nation, that is really trying hard to help, will be underwater.