“Govt must provide an enabling environment to encourage decentralised energy”

“Govt must provide an enabling environment to encourage decentralised energy”
 
Ms Sarah Butler-Sloss, Founder & Director, Ashden Awards, advocates, “Long-term growth of the decentralised renewable energy sector will only be achieved through providing market-based solutions through the conventional banking and enterprise investment sector”
 
 
Could you share your perception on the energy access scenario in India?Some 400 million Indians have never used electric lightbulbs in their homes, nor had the power to charge their mobile phones or listen to the radio, let alone used air-conditioning – things we take for granted in richer countries. The poorest states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Orissa are among the ‘darkest’.
 
Instead, those without access to the grid use kerosene to light their homes. Its dim light damages eyesight, causes fires and contributes to harmful indoor air pollution that kills 1.6 million women and children a year.  Its dim light makes it difficult for children to study and make progress at school, and for adults to work on income-generating activities in the evening.
Kerosene is also highly toxic and damages health. It releases sulphur and nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere, both of which are directly linked to lung cancer, eye infections, pneumonia, and chronic lung disease.
 
Energy access is inextricably linked to economic growth, improved health, better educational outcomes and poverty reduction. None of these goals can be achieved in isolation.
 
Giving people access to solar power isn’t just good for the planet: it’s also good for business. People have at least four extra hours a day to work in the evening, and with electricity the productivity of businesses can be greatly increased helping boost local economies. Children have light do their homework – so they can do better at school. And avoiding dirty and dangerous kerosene improves health. It’s an all-round win.
 
Please discuss about the objectives of Ashden Awards.Through the Ashden Awards, we champion some of the world’s best green energy trailblazers then help them accelerate and expand their work through our support programmes. We advocate on behalf of our winners to inspire the wider take-up of clean technologies and alternative business models that make them affordable to all.
 
Collectively, our winners have transformed the lives of around 33 million people around the world. From solar home systems in India to smoke-free stoves in Ethiopia and low-carbon communities in the UK, we’ve worked with over 140 award-winners whose solutions light the way to a better and more sustainable future for all.

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