ZAYED FUTURE ENERGY PRIZE FINALISTS GIVE POWER TO PEOPLE
▶ From a solar-powered suitcase to energy-saving street lights, their ideas are helping build a better world
Zayed Future Energy Prize finalists are providing access to power to communities around the world, changing – and saving – lives.
“I am very concerned about high rates of maternal mortality,” said Dr Laura Stachel, co-founder and executive director of finalist We Care Solar.
“In 2008, after working as an obstetrician for 14 years, I went to northern Nigeria to study why so many women died in pregnancy and childbirth.
“At the time, 500,000 women around the world died from childbirth complications and 11 per cent of these deaths were in Nigeria, which is the same as two 747s filled with pregnant women crashing every day.”
Dr Stachel decided to conduct research in a state hospital for two weeks to find out what could help lower the rates of maternal death.
“I saw that electricity was available for no more than 12 hours a day,” she said.
“They couldn’t use diagnostic equipment, didn’t have a way to store blood and there was no light for much of each evening.
“Electricity would go off during C-sections, and procedures were postponed or cancelled.”
The hospital lost between three and eight mothers a month.
Dr Stachel’s husband, a solar expert, suggested designing a solar electric system for the hospital, and this reduced maternal deaths by 70 per cent.
“We developed a small solar power kit I could carry in my suitcase on each of my trips to Nigeria, and that’s how the solar suitcase started,” Dr Stachel said. Soon after, the initiative was picked up by The New York Times and requests started flooding in from around the world. Today, the suitcases are present in 2,800 health centres in more than 20 countries, including Sierra Leone and the Philippines.
Anshul Patel, 33, the vice president of business development at finalist Bboxx, said energy is a fundamental part of any economy. “But most developing market governments don’t have the resources to electrify their population,” said Mr Patel, who was born in London and raised in Kenya before pursuing his studies in the UK.
“And in any case, the traditional forms we’ve all been used to are very expensive in comparison to what we have to offer for exactly the same service.”
Bboxx designs, makes and supports hardware and software solutions needed for the off-grid energy market, mainly in Africa. It also builds businesses there. Seven years ago, Mr Patel went back to Kenya to join the solar revolution.
“We provide solar energy on a service model and customers make daily or weekly payments in exchange for a service from us, like lights or TVs,” he said.
“It starts from US$6 (Dh22.04) on a monthly basis.”
Around 160,000 households have been impacted by their work.
Sunna Design’s solar street lights project is another finalist.
It has helped a number of people in Mali.
“I did volunteer work for a very large electrification organisation in India in 2009,” said Thomas Samuel, the company’s chief executive.
“It was a very big market at the time, but there were some technological barriers that led to technical failures in the field and in providing good quality, long-lasting products.”
The company’s produces an integrated solar street light manufactured in collaboration with governments, municipalities and industries who want reliable and sustainable products suited to their environment. Seven more projects are planned next year, including one in the UAE.
“It took us €10m and three years of research to be able to develop and industrialise what we consider today the best [solar street lights] in the world,” he said. “It is an honour to have come this far in the Zayed Future Energy Prize. We are proud, and it is confirmation that we are on the right track to positive global impact.”