Rural Electrification: Here It's a Thing of the Past | Blog

Since learning about GreenMicrofinance’s mission, connecting the world’s poorest to clean, renewable energy, I’ve been reading about village life with no electricity. Activities which for us are so insignificant here in the first world – plugging in an appliance, turning on the light – are still dreams for many in the world. One of the articles I read spoke of “rural electrification” and a light – sorry about the pun – went off in my head.

I heard this term last when I was a little girl. I was born in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1952. North Dakota is a vast prairie state, predominantly agricultural, sparsely populated.

Rural electrification programs were launched during the Depression, and in the 1950’s, the state was still actively proud of the electric coop movement which supplied power to farms. (We learned all about North Dakota’s lignite coal reserves in grade school. Electricity in North Dakota was generated by burning it, creating very dirty energy, but of course we didn’t see the implications of that in the 1950’s.) I remember one election when I was a little girl – it took three days for the last precincts to report in. Imagine how much technology we’ve transversed in 55 years in the United States. Now Off-Gridders are eco-pioneers who want to generate their own clean energy to avoid fossil fuel energy generation and its polluting emissions, intentionally unplugging from the grid.

GreenMicrofinance gives us an opportunity to extend the benefits of clean energy to those who do not take these activities for granted, for whom they would be a giant step forward. Even the presence of a recharging flashlight is a giant upgrade in quality of life – so imagine what an overhead light, refrigerator, and a stove could do? And greenmicrofinancing means delivering sustainable energy, so it adds nothing to the world’s climate change/global warming challenges. It is a golden opportunity for us to help the world’s poorest enjoy the benefits of electricity without the environmental detriments – leapfrogging right to the clean energy options of the future!

You can read more of the specifics at our very loaded website – www.GreenMicrofinance.org
Betsy Teutsch, Director of Communication @ GreenMicrofinance

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magdaline muovya

March 11, 2009

41.206.52.203

Votes: +1

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Greetings:
Am Working for a company that deals with water and sanitation in Africa ,we are the leading water and sanitation providers in Africa.My work involves a lot of strategic planning and working on projects with rural women groups,to date i have build a successful 5,000 working women groups in Kenya and a further expansion will be beginning soon in Uganda and Tanzania.I have a lot of sound knowledge on the issues affecting women in this regions.Am seeking for more elaborate discussions and see if we could expand on some opportunities i.e. research,hosting students for practicals and field day studies.Right now we are developing BIOGAS units for domestic use in the rural villages/schools.This will go a long way in the provision of gas at a cheap and affordable price to the rural women and reduce greatly on the cutting down of trees and spending a lot of time looking for firewood.( We can discuss more)Thanks