28 May 2011

Energy Inclusion ~ Hande on Social Innovation

Compelling piece by SELCO founder and D-Lab advisor Harish Hande on India’s Growing Energy Disparity: Need for Energy Inclusion and Social Innovation in the Schwab social entrepreneurs blog where he notes the...
"Majority of world’s 1.6 billion un-electrified population lives in India. More than half of the women and children who die in the world because of indoor air pollution are Indians. [...] at-least 500 million people in India survive on one dollar or less per day. Most, if not all of them, are the very population that do not enjoy the benefits of energy services which most us, in urban India and rest of the world take it for granted. The growing disparity, in energy consumption, which is resulting in the increasing divide between rich and the poor is socially, economically and environmentally unsustainable for India. [...] To provide energy access to the poor, a complete ecosystem needs to be built. The sustainable ecosystem consists of the poor as clients and owners, customized solutions, innovations in business and financial models (many of them do not exist today) and pro-poor policies."
And SELCO's been one of the pioneers in doing just that. But much more is needed, especially the replication and scaling of affordably customized solutions.

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