Access to clean and sustainable energy is critical to alleviating poverty.
Energy access
About one billion people worldwide still do not have access to electricity.
In rural Nepal, 30% of the country’s households still lack access to electricity (World Bank) and nearly 80% still use biomass for household cooking (Clean Cooking Alliance).
In India, while efforts have been made to electrify all households, most rural village homes are still without power or have unreliable power access, and urban slums are often neglected from the grid due to their semi-permanent structures.
Without reliable access to electricity, productivity is significantly diminished— women take longer to cook and perform household chores, children cannot do homework or study at night, and sweltering heat prevents families from sleeping and creates discomfort for newborns and children.
Common traditional alternatives to electricity, such as biomass or kerosene, have significantly negative health side effects when used for prolonged periods of time including pneumonia, stroke and lung cancer (World Health Organization, 2018). In India, 700,000 premature deaths occur each year due to household air pollution caused by traditional cooking energy sources (International Energy Agency, 2017).
The kerosene lamps burned by families we work with are extremely polluting, releasing high proportions of black carbon which has a warming effect 680 times that of CO2. The adoption of clean energy reduces carbon emissions from these toxic fuels.
What is energy access at Pollinate Group?
For Pollinate Group energy access is providing access to affordable, reliable and clean energy, aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 7. It includes access to light and clean and modern cooking facilities, replacing biomass, coal and kerosene. It also includes access to solar fans, to combat the humidity, heat and mosquitoes.
Simply connecting a neglected community to the grid does not solve energy access. For instance, in communities with access to electricity we create access to products such as irons, mixer grinders and sewing machines, to help women and families save time and create opportunities to generate income.