Bright lights for the kids

Imagine what it would be like if, once the sun goes down, there was only darkness until dawn.

For many people in Nepal this is a daily reality, as 73% of the population don't have electricity. The mountainous landscape makes it difficult to extend the electricity grid. With little access to energy for lighting, cooking or heat, life is a constant battle. To light their homes, people buy kerosene from the local market, a long trek up and down the mountainside. Added to this, kerosene is very costly, and can easily catch fire if it is knocked over causing serious injuries.

Yet there is a solution - renewable energy. Solar panels, wind turbines, solar lamps, biogas, fuel efficient stoves and micro hydro schemes are all Practical Action projects lighting people's lives up. Also they are all carbon neutral.

The Renewable Energy Village project demonstrates these low-cost and community-managed renewable energy technologies and aims to raise awareness in the area of how people could make best use of locally available natural resources.

A particular success has been solar powered WLED (White Light Emitting Diode) lamps. Practical Action has helped the community to install 58 of these lamps in 29 households which provide 4w of light per night. When fully charged, these lamps provide 4-5 hours of power.

For Kul Bahadur Chepang having these lamps has transformed his family's life. Their home now has two WLED lamps. One lamp in the kitchen helps during cooking, and the other lamp is used by his three children to give them help to study by. Now they can make use of the evening because the light quality is much better than their old kerosene lamps.

Before, Kul Bahadur's children would go to bed as soon as darkness fell. But he's already seeing the difference that the WLED lamps are making; 'these lights are not only improving my children's study habits, they are also helping me to save money that I used to spend on kerosene. Practical Action has helped to show us the way towards light'.

Even local teachers are noticing the impact, "The children that come from the renewable energy villages who have solar light are bright and sharp. They are progressing well" said Sunita Lama.

Read more about the renewable energy village

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Improved cooking stoves use one third of the amount of firewood as a traditional fire. They also reduce household smoke levels, with benefits to the health of women and children. Micro-hydro plants can be used to mechanise crucial tasks like grain milling, and to power small businesses, as well as to bring community and household light.

Small scale wind power generators can charge up the vehicle batteries which are used by hundreds of thousands of off-grid households to light their homes. Biogas plants can provide 75% of household cooking needs, run lights and heat up irons - with a by-product of enriched fertiliser for farmers' fields.

Access to these energy options brings greater income, reduced drudgery (in firewood collection and cleaning utensils, for example), better education for children who can study in a lighted home, and access to public goods like information through TV and radio, or lighting for community centres.

Read more about Practical Action's energy expertise and project work on our international site