Kopernik

Problem

Two of the biggest threats facing humanity today are climate change and poverty. These are set against a global backdrop of skyrocketing oil prices that have continuously eroded the meager resources of the poorest in society and increased the negative impacts of climate change and the reliability of energy supply. This situation is accompanied by widespread global interest in renewable sources of energy, particularly solar energy, and is increasingly calling for urgent redress. It is important to note that renewable energy technologies produce little or no greenhouse gases, a main contributing factor to climate change.

It is noted by the World Health Organization that nearly half the world’s population, or about three billion people, have no access to electricity and rely instead on traditional fuels for indoor heating and lighting. Burning biomass fuels like wood and fossil fuels such as kerosene is highly toxic and expensive. The resulting indoor air pollution impacts negatively upon poverty, health, climate change and gender equality issues and is estimated to be killing over 1.6 million people every year worldwide, more than 85% of which are women and children under five. It has been scientifically proven that climate change is mainly a result of the large-scale burning of fossil fuels for energy. This has pumped vast amounts of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. At the same time, we continue to destroy forests on a large-scale, which has released billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. By replacing carbon-emitting products like kerosene lamps with solar power, and reducing our dependency on burning wood and fossil fuels, we can alleviate global warming.

Recent research has revealed that the soot from biomass fires typically used for heating and lighting in most rural Ugandan households in poor and hard to reach fishing villages around the shores of Lake George in Kasese district and in other developing countries is only second to CO2 in causing global warming. The kerosene lamp, used widely across the developing world and in Uganda, is estimated to create around a tonne of carbon over a seven year period. Replacing these lamps with solar lanterns will lead to significant reductions in carbon emissions in Kasese. Promoting the widespread use of solar power for home lighting is a step in the right direction, particularly in developing countries like Uganda where energy poverty is endemic and widespread in rural settings. This initiative would increase access to affordable electricity, reducing rural poverty and providing poor communities with a cheaper and greener electricity source.

It is against this background that EPRUDO is seeking support from Kopernik to enable it to promote and distribute clean solar technology to isolated, poor and vulnerable communities through its grassroots network approach. We seek to combat climate change and energy poverty by promoting and bringing clean, renewable power to hard to reach fishing villages across lakeshore areas around Lake George, in Kasese district, Southern Uganda.