Rusinga Island, located in the eastern part of Lake Victoria in Kenya, is having solar panels installed on homes to not only provide electricity but to aid in the fight against malaria. Malaria kills an estimated 1.2 million people per year and is a big problem for the 30,000 inhabitants of Rusinga Island. If fitting homes with solar panels that power insecticide-free (more…)

Anyone who discounts what Bill Gates says on any issue has some explaining to do. Recall that, when he ran Microsoft, Gates would famously make himself available to talk with employees who wished to present their ideas, but was aggressively unforgiving of people who hadn’t done their homework, and were unable to support their positions in reasoned (more…)

A team of student entrepreneurs from India called Greenway Grameen Infra has won the Grand Prize earlier this month at the 8th Annual Intel Global Challenge at UC Berkeley. The global business plan competition rewards student entrepreneurs who tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues with innovative ideas. (more…)

A new U.N. fund designed to manage billions of dollars to help developing nations combat climate change and called The Green Climate Fund will be based in South Korea.

The Board of the fund has selected Songdo, Incheon City, South Korea, the board of the fund over Mexico, (more…)

While at most conferences on solar energy, people talk about the BoS (Balance of System), at the SOCAP 12 conference held last week in San Francisco, it was all about the lessons learned from the BoP (Bottom of the Pyramid)—or the world’s largest, poorest demographic. That’s not only because the many renewable energy businesses working in developing (more…)

An Italian designer has created an ingenious solution to the fresh water problem that many people in the developing world face. It’s called Eliodomestico, a ceramic solar still designed by Gabriele Diamanti as a way to produce fresh water with a product that could be made locally. For his ingenious, open-source design, Gabriele received a special mention at the Well-Tech (more…)

With the United Nations Rio+20 summit on sustainable development set to open next Wednesday, negotiators from developing nations walked out of a key working group over disagreements with wealthier nations about funding environmentally responsible development and the transfer of green technology. (more…)

Billions of people live without access to modern electricity services and clean energy could lift them out of the economic exclusion zone, improve their education and make their lives generally better. It can also save some lives, literally.

Of all the reasons to advocate clean energy, this may (more…)

A new portable solar light option was exhibited at the last Salone del Mobile in Milan, which took place between 17 and 22 April. Called NOMAD solar lamp, it was developed by Belgium company O-Sun and will start selling in September for €95 (US$125).

Like several other portable solar light developers, such as LuminAID, SolLight and Wakawaka, (more…)

Solar power works best of course where the sun is brightest. However, another major factor is the capital cost for a solar installation. If your are poor, you cannot get started easily. One of the big opportunities positive climate action has presented the developing world is the chance to leapfrog a generation of energy technology straight into clean, green generation (more…)