Last week I mentioned a Canadian not-for-profit working in Peru in the small home solar business. Light Up the World (LUTW) was founded by University of Calgary professor Dr. David Irvine-Halliday and his wife, Jenny On a trek in Nepal in the late 1990s, the couple noticed that local populations were lighting their homes with paraffin and kerosene. Dave, an electrical engineering professor, thought that a small solar panel connected to an LED light could provide safe, sufficient and sustainable energy for the people he was meeting. Since then, the organization has provided solar energy and lighting to people in 54 countries affecting more than one million people. Since 2012, the organization has focussed its efforts on Peru by building larger scale solar systems for off-grid communities and schools and micro-financing small home solar systems for families that cannot get power from a grid..Due to the difficult geography of Peru, it is impossible for the government to provide electrical energy to all its citizens. From the steep and very high terrain of the Andes Mountains to the densely forested and low-lying jungles of the Amazonas, approximately four hundred thousand Peruvians do not have access to power and will never have access to power — unless someone sells them a small home solar system. These self-contained systems provide up to 120 watts of power that are battery stored for evening use. The power is sufficient for five or six bright LED lights, cell phone chargers and DC radios, televisions, and other home appliances. Over the four years of its existence the social enterprise sold 750 home solar systems on a micro credit basis and the company website has testimonials for how life changing this technology was to those who made the purchases. Children can do homework in the evening without breathing the fumes from candles or kerosene lamps, small warehouses are lighted and so accessible even when the sun goes down and yard lights provide safety in isolated communities..Covid travel restrictions within Peru resulted in an inability to sell more home systems but the demand has not gone away. The organization is finding its financial feet once again through volunteer projects in both the Andes and the Amazonas and may one day restart its social enterprise to provide credit to Peruvian families who want to bring sustainable energy into their homes. During the covid hiatus, the life changing potential of the newly emerging, high speed satellite internet potential from a Starlink modem was researched..Working with students at NAIT in Edmonton, a solar system to support a Starlink modem with WISP (wireless internet systems provider) transmission system was designed. The system allows individuals to buy the equipment and build small internet businesses selling the signal to friends and neighbours. Hundreds of thousands of children around the world lost two school years because Zoom calls with teachers were not available to them..As relevant as solar power may be to Alberta homeowners, the relative importance of this technology to the estimated 1.2 billion people around the world without power is immeasurably more. If we want to change the world, then ending energy poverty one home at a time in the developing world is a good place to start. There are many Alberta organizations which are advancing solar energy availability around the world and they are all companies of which all Albertans can be proud. If the work of these solar energy not-for-profits is of interest, I am sure they would like to hear from you..Next time I will tell a story of why I think that this is important stuff. .Follow Murray Lytle here.
