solar energy

Hundreds of millions of people do not have access to electricity, seriously hampering their ability to improve their development prospects.

In Arua, northern Uganda, where employment rates are low and poverty is high, the UN is supporting a company that is providing pay-as-you-go solar energy services, putting the benefits of electricity in reach of villagers who would otherwise never be able to afford it.

North-east Nigeria’s problems principally due to “development failures”

An airplane that runs entirely on solar power, is circling the globe with “no fuel, but much energy” according to UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

The plane, Solar Impulse, and its two project founders and pilots, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, touched down in New York this week as part of their journey around the world.

They were greeted by the Secretary General, who voiced his support for their project.

Janie Cangelosi reports from JFK airport.

Duration: 2'58"

Zimbabwe activist champions sexual reproductive rights for women

Solar energy is lighting the pathway to a better future for rural youth and women in West Africa; that’s according to an engineer from Burkina Faso who attended a recent UN conference in Turkey devoted to the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

The young people are being trained to install and maintain solar panels, water heaters and other items through a project called MAMA-LIGHT for Sustainable Energy.

Good farming practices and solar energy have helped to save a women’s agricultural cooperative in Senegal.

The 65 members were about to give up on growing vegetables due to soil degradation caused by low rainfall.

However, investment by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has brought solar-powered pumps—and a steady supply of water—to their community.

Sam Cole has the story.

Duration: 3'32"

More than 600 families are expected to benefit from a new solar power project supported by the UN in Tanzania.

The US$150,000 project, which is centred around the capital, Dodoma aims to help local communities mitigate the effects of climate change.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) helped to launch the initiative, which includes innovative energy solutions, as well as new land and water use technologies.