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Interview extracts with Dipal Barua number 2 at the world's most sustainable bank
and CEO of Grameen Solar In Bangladesh we have 340 days of sunshine. This is a gift which we are wasting every day we fail to energise it. And solar energy
is economical for the poorest of the poor. For the cost of kerosene that a typical family uses, you can buy a solar home system
by installment through Grameen Bank. When you burn kerosene you get lots of pollution, and you have to transport bulky quantities
of the stuff, but with solar energy you are environment friendly and everything is there- a system that
plugs you in for 25 years. Our installation of solar units is growing exponentially. A few years ago we installed 10000 units
a year, now its 10000 a month. Imagine The Bank for the Poor now installs more solar units than the whole of the USA. There
is a joy of practising microeconomics that is entrepreneurially better for people than theorising over macroeconomics. .
This is our moral responsibility as a citizen
of Bangladesh to give the poor energy in a cost effective
way. And women produce all our accessories, so this reduces the cost of the system and provides local work.
And we save foreign exchange at the same time by not importing kerosene.. And now we have
a scale worth signing up for carbon emission benefits with the World Bank. Bangladesh is a country of green. Green leaves,
green biomass, green everything in our agricultural country. Solar can save the green trees we can produce some green things
that we can recycle. The Bangladeshi way ahead involves replicating sustainable franchises, a thriving sustainable development
economy, a sustainability knowledge export economy. Along with solar energy we are making great progress with biogas cooking
stoves, everything energy efficiency and energy conservation and biomass. With 8 biogas plants we can supply a small town
and this is all generated from agricultural waste, and kitchen waste which we use to producethe biogas.You are cleaning the
environment, improving the environment at the same time you get gas and electricity.
There
is a lot of enthusiasm from our customers and the social excitement is growing daily. So we are opening offices, branch offices,
networking seriously. When we started even my board didn’t believe that women would be seen installing solar on building
roofs, now women are the solar champions.
Ar Grameen, we happily admit that our innovations come
out of a kind of desperate situation. And once you are thinking and you try hard , you can find solutions. So once you trust
to that kind of a commitment and you have a cultural dedication and you set a target, then you network by uniting 3 empowering
flows as one -the economic, the social and the environmental. Sustainability exponentials are not earned in a day but once
you reach them, community entrepreneurship is the most wonderful dynamic. This is how the free marketing of ending poverty
is won by unleashing the entrepreneur in everyone. | I dont understand how we can have
league tables for every trivia - tennis, golf, football - under the sun but not a way of understanding who's installing
the most solar in communities. Solar is not just the moon race of our generation - it is the sustainability race of all human
races. And what is so ridiculous is: - the main ingredient of solar is free
- solar is one of those
sectors that we can wait for decades (if ever) for big organisational systems to be effective on whereas micro-up
community systems are ready, clean and economical to use - replicating knowledge of solar can be very good news - it can literally empower Obama Yes We Can and generate microentrepreneur jobs through community-building america
so can you help us search out who's who -top of community
solar in terms of being installed in by and for the communities -which of the citings below belong in the top 9 box?;
which others do you nominate? info@worldcitizen.tv |
please help search community
rising solar models of yes we can rsvp info@worldcitizen.tv | Grameen Shakti Bangladesh | | | Barefoot Power, Source China- application countries various | | | | Selco, India | | | Other candidates include STA Brazil RAPS, S. Africa Solar Electric, Philippines Incafex Uganda Zara Solar, Tanzania Enersol Bolivia Soluz: Hinduras, Dominican Republic Tecnosol Niaragua Afrison, MoroccoLotus Energy, Nepal
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