Once in a while at least we should look to helping others. Like in an old Hindi movie Amar Prem Rajesh Khanna tells the villian “Even animals look up while eating, as if thanking God for the food that it has got”. As human beings let us do our bit. There is an organisation (UK based) which does charity work in Africa – by encouraging solar power usage. In India NDTV ran a program about solar power to reduce / eradicate poverty. Let us see some facts about solar power:

(nothing original as usual) – a cut past job from the solar aid site:

1.The earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than the world uses in a whole year. That’s why SolarAid believes solar power is so important for development.
2.Two billion people in the world have no access to electricity. For most of them, solar power would be their cheapest electricity source, but they cannot afford it. SolarAid helps to redress this through small-scale solar projects for poor communities.
3.Building a small solar charger for a radio can cost around £5 and can sell for three times the price in Malawi. That’s why SolarAid is helping rural villages in Malawi set up small solar businesses so they can earn a living.
4.SolarAid is the only UK charity specialising in solar energy for poor countries.
5.Most rural poor in Africa use kerosene lamps, which are heavily polluting in CO2 and bad for their health, but a solar lamp would be cheaper and better for the environment.
6.Solar panels are guaranteed typically for 25 years and have a life expectancy of at least 50 years.
7.Lack of access to affordable electricity is a major cause of poverty in rural areas in Africa, which is why SolarAid focuses on these regions, using solar power for education and health.
8.Africa has the lowest fossil energy use of any world region, yet the continent is the most vulnerable to climate change. Signs of a changing climate have already emerged there: disease and melting glaciers in the mountains, rising temperatures in drought-prone areas, and sea-level rise and coral bleaching along the coastlines.
9.Respiratory diseases caused by toxic smoke from cooking fires kill 1.5 million women and children each year. Yet a solar cooker, which is much safer, can be easily built from cardboard and waste reflective material.
10.SolarAid is a unique charity that has been set up to help fight climate change and global poverty at the same time.

Can we do something about using Solar in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, India….and the world….