Solar-Powered Computers for Off-Grid Schools

      In 2009, a 19-year-old graduating senior from Hong Kong's International School, Charles Watson, carrying a rudimentary computer, had took off a year from entering a university to travel to Nepal to work on a project he came up with while still in school: to provide off-the-grid schools with solar-linked computing power. "Once I got to Nepal, I was running a blog, taking photos and so on, saying 'We need computers,'" he says. "I did a fundraising run in Nepal and that raised enough to buy 30 computers at $300 each - $10,000 if you include the solar panels."
      Watson, an American who has be raised in Hong Kong, is currently 23 and still is not attending a university, despite being accepted at the University of Illinois, and doesn't plan on attending any time in the foreseeable future. Instead, he is the founder and chief of SolarLEAP, a nonprofit organization company whose computers are often assembled by his parents at their kitchen table, but they are delivering computing power to schools without reliable electricity, or none at all, in countries as diverse as Nepal, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and, he hopes, across the world.
       "As many as 1.3 billion people, a fifth of the world's population, remain without access to electricity," he says. Ten countries--four in developing Asia and six in sub-Saharan Africa--account for two-thirds of those without electricity. Unless further action is taken, it is projected that close to one billion people will be without electricity still in 2030.

Charles Watson and friends

        Watson has since branched out to Ghana, where he has installed 24 computers, each running on solar power in off-grid schools. After the projects in Nepal and Ghana were completed, demand in rural communities began to grow. Within weeks, organizations in India and Ethiopia were looking for unique low-power consumption computers to run in schools without electricity. Furthermore, Watson was looking for a way to continue the work without his direct, on-the-ground involvement, and thus SolarLEAP was born.
        Today, he has installed 200 of solar-powered computers in five countries with funding from non-governmental organizations and anybody he can solicit money from. "The transformation of schools is dramatic," he says. In 2010, after installation of his computers in Canumay School near Antipolo in the Philippines, the school moved from last place to a first ranking in its school district. He provided the first solar-powered computers to any school in India. "One in four people around the globe don't have access to electricity," he said. "More than 100 million children don't have access to education and a large share of students fortunate enough to be in school don't have access to quality education materials."

Sachin Tendulkar Helps Light India's Villages

      Sachin Tendulkar, an Indian cricket (the most popular sport in India) player widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen in One Day International, has helped bring light into lives of over thousand residents of Velunje, in Nashik.

Boys in South India playing "Cricket"

Last year, the villagers were specially selected for a pilot project, where they are provided with electricity through free solar home lighting kits, in courtesy to a non-profit organization "Spreading Happiness." Encouraged by the pilot project's results, currently Schneider Electric, a French-based energy company, has another location in India and is offering similar benefits to over 25,000 villages across the country to celebrate Tendulkar's 40th birthday this Wednesday.
     This initiative actually has been started when Tendulkar was introduced to Schneider Electric's "In-Diya Lighting System," an innovative, affordable and flexible solution to bring reliable, efficient and green lighting to people living without proper electricity access. "In-Diya is a specially designed LED-based lighting system that operates on main power supply and/or solar power. It provides a backup of 8-15 hours for indoor use with 50,000 hours of lighting across its life-cycle," said an official.
      Aware of such challenges faced by many Indian villages, Tendulkar expressed a desire to Schneider Electric to help use "In-Diya" to light up the lives of Indian villagers, whom have been living in the darkness for years. "Sachin Tendulkar and Schneider Electric India have come together for 'Spreading Happiness,' a non-profit organization, to provide access to rural electrification by installing solar home lighting systems for the benefit of over 25,000 villagers in India," Schneider Electric said in a release. "This initiative has already begun a pilot project in Nashik and is currently impacting over 1,000 villagers," it added. Commenting on the initiative, Tendulkar said: "As a country, we cannot have our citizens still struggle with darkness in their lives with the setting of the sun. We have to use advancements in technology and the capabilities of international majors like Schneider Electric to deploy solutions which can brighten the lives of our countrymen."

Sachin Tendulkar

Shopping for Solar Panels are easy!

      Are you interested in obtaining a solar panel onto your rooftop to save money on those utility bills that just never seems like it's going to end? Well, maybe this will help your matters: there is a new free online solar panel shopping service that can help you research and shop for solar power systems from solar power companies that will offer the best incentives for you.
      It is known as the Online Solar PV Marketplace, which Distributed Energy Research & Solutions, Inc. (EnergySage) had announced and released recently. It has been developed for the convenience of interested consumers, forming an open-market platform between potential customers and solar panel installers and for President Obama's Sunspot Initiative. The term "sunspot" has been formed as the President's call for a "Sputnik movement" to stimulate American innovation as the foundation for economic revival. It originally was developed in the year 2011 to make solar power as cheap and accessible as fossil fuels. Simply put, it tries to obtain information for potential solar consumers, which as said, Online Solar PV Marketplace offers.
     Because of this development which no longer barricades the opportunities between solar consumers and solar providers, EnergySage has been awarded $500,000 from the Department of Energy as a Sunshot startup investment. "EnergySage is thrilled to receive this Sunshot award," said Vikram Aggarwal, CEO of EnergySage. He also claims "by making it easier for consumers to navigate the solar PV system purchase process, we are lowering customer acquisition costs, lowering prices, helping installers improve profitability and ultimately, expanding the market exponentially."
     As you may be curious in the shopping experience, it opens as you take an online survey to outline relevant details about your property. You are, then, able to list your property on the marketplace and EnergySage's preselected network of solar companies will start bidding on your job. Instead of having to compare different types of variables from different companies, you will receive all bids in clear, standard format for easy access to be able to decipher. EnergySage only participates in this relationship by obtaining a small commission fee from the solar companies, which you do not have to worry about because the marketplace is, once again, free for use to businesses, nonprofit organizations, or even residential buildings.
     Check the marketplace out here to start looking!