Face of Energy Poverty and Why Women Engineers are Critical to Eradicating it
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Transcript of Face of Energy Poverty and Why Women Engineers are Critical to Eradicating it
FACE OF ENERGY POVERTY
AND WHY WOMEN ENGINEERS ARE CRITICAL TO ERADICATING IT
Nirupama Prakash Kumar
Sr. Operations Engineer, WindLogics
Oct-24-2014
WHAT DOES DARKNESS FEEL LIKE?
http://vimeo.com/99902423
Great place for videos on Energy Poverty
http://en-act.org/
ENGINEERING (NOUN)
THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE FOR THE OPTIMUM CONVERSION OF NATURAL
RESOURCES FOR THE BENEFIT OF HUMANITY
WHO HAS THE PEOPLE?
WHO HAS THE POWER
WORLD ELECTRIFICATION STATS
• 1.2 Billion people in the world today have no access to electricity
• 550 Million of sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa,
households have no access to network electricity.
• 700 Million people of South Asia places like India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh, of the overall population and 90% of the rural
population are not on the grid.
• 1.4 Billion people will still lack access to electricity in 2030 -
International Energy Agency
GLOBAL CHALLENGES TO FIGHT
UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
ELECTRICITY/ENERGY HELPING FIGHT GLOBAL CHALLENGES
• Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty –
• World Bank study in Nepal found that the income in communities with micro-hydro
micro grids increased by 11% compared to communities without
• The same report found that users consume 54% less kerosene than non micro-
hydro consumers
• A UNDP study found that among 1503 households in 10 districts in Nepal that were
served using 20 microgrids, there was an increase in household income of 52%
from 1996 to 2005
• Achieve universal primary education –
• Children like to study at certain times of the day and mostly when it is cool or
when not distracted about playing outside
• Children are also safe when not next to fire hazards while studying
• Promote Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women –
• Women and child safety dramatically improves with lighting at night time
• Electricity can promote industries and jobs for women, and of course education
ELECTRICITY/ENERGY HELPING FIGHT GLOBAL CHALLENGES
• Reduce child mortality – • The UNDP study mentioned in the previous slide found significant reductions in the
mortality rate of children under five (from 9.4% to 5.3%) attributed to reduced indoor
smoke as a result of electricity displacing kerosene
• Improve maternity health – • The same UNDP study saw the decrease of maternal mortality rates from 5.3% to
4.3%
• Folks like Dr. Laura Stachel who realized how electricity would be essential to help
deliver babies safely
• Email sent from Swaziland by Paul Lintott
“A touching moment yesterday as I reviewed an installation. Quote and
translated from iSizulu "I can now feed my baby at night without
paraffin smoke", that makes the development work worthwhile for me.”
ELECTRICITY/ENERGY HELPING FIGHT GLOBAL CHALLENGES
• Combat HIV / AIDS, malaria and other diseases –
• Ebola Medication needs to be kept cold to retain potency, electricity can be
tricky in several rural places in west Africa
• Many other medication and medical facilities needs electricity to operate well
• Ensure environmental sustainability –
• Better energy sources, better environmental sustainability
• Global Partnership for Development –
• UNSEA4ALL, E4C, IEEE CSI, other partnerships
COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS INITIATIVE (CSI)
• Is a signature program of the IEEE Foundation
• CSI is committed to the open-source design and
delivery of energy solutions
• To the world’s poorest and most energy-deprived
populations
CSI Solutions - Community Entrepreneur Based Electricity Generation in Rural Haiti
WHY WOMEN ENGINEERS?
• We believe our professions must impact society
• We can easily empathize with the most vulnerable
populations in many societies – its women, children
and old
• We can to be the technical minds behind translating
the problems into solutions that address the right
problems for women and children
THANK YOU!
CONTACT : [email protected]
HOW DO THESE CONNECT TO ENERGY POVERTY?
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/health/2013/02/28/cnnheroes-stachel.cnn.html
REFERENCES
Microgrids for Rural Electrification:
A critical review of best practices based on seven case studies
Authors:
Daniel Schnitzer, Deepa Shinde Lounsbury, Juan Pablo Carvallo, Ranjit Deshmukh, Jay Apt, and Daniel M. Kammen