Wednesday 29 July 2009

Solar power cuts down pollution, and is part of the answer to Third World energy poverty.



The sun provides enough energy in one hour to supply the needs of the earth for one year. Those in most need of energy are those in the Third World, yet in the main they are in the areas where there are the most sunlight hours.

Solar lighting enables hospitals, homes and businesses in the third world to operate in safer conditions when it gets dark, as often the only other available source of light is from paraffin lamps which are fire hazards and give off toxic fumes. In India alone the average household without access to electricity uses around 120 litres of expensive paraffin a year, which equates to around 310 kg of carbon released into the atmosphere, multiply this by millions and I am sure you will get the picture. In the poorest and remotest areas of the world, where paraffin is not available, the inhabitants have to use wood for lighting as well as cooking and these are usually the areas where wood is a now a scarce resource. Were you aware of the fact that inhaling smoke from indoor fires is the fourth greatest cause of death and disease in the third world?

A UK based charity, Solar Aid, has the aim of fighting both global poverty and climate change by bringing clean, renewable energy to the world’s poorest people.

Please play the above video and see just what can be done for so little cost and wonder, perhaps, why governments are not involved.

Deuteronomy 4:19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

So the power of the sun is for all people and for such little cost, they can be enabled to share it...

2 comments:

MyBulletinBoard said...

Was just looking at some YouTube videos this evening about solar cookers. I sure like the free energy-supply aspect. Does take some tending. Maybe we could mount them with a small solar-powered motor to track the sun and safely maintain high heat? Would love to try it for bread baking. Liz

equa yona(Big Bear) said...

Fr Peter, you ask, "and wonder, perhaps, why governments are not involved." Free energy is the key. The world is not run by people with your and my values. It is run by people who seek wealth, whatever the cost in human suffering. It is run by a bunch of hungry ghosts.