Nepalis will get a safe and affordable way to have access to light, allowing night-time activities.

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Give Pedal-Generated Light to Millions of Nepalis

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Summary

An alternative to dirty & dim kerosene lamps, a 70-watt Pedal Generator easily lights two lamps in more than 100 homes for 3 hours every night & our individual home-lighting kits also let kids study. read updates from the field

How Donors Like You Helped

Thanks to donors like you, a total of $31,081 was raised for this project.

More Information About this Project

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

For millions of Nepalis, night brings darkness, broken only by the dim light of a kerosene wick or hearth fire. Both make smoke that causes lung disease. Access to the electric grid or to clean power from local hydro, solar or biogas sources is often impractical or unaffordable. After dark, families cannot work and children cannot study. In the day, schools cannot access recorded educational material. Batteries cannot be recharged. Telecommunication is impractic

Activities

EcoSystems' team is upgrading the equipment with ongoing field trials. Manufacturing and distribution will begin by mid 2008. GG contributions are expanding the number of home lighting systems we can provide.

Funding Information

Total Funding Received to Date: $31,081

Funding Information

This project is now in implementation and no longer available for funding. Received funds will be used to accomplish concrete objectives as indicated in the project's "Activities" section. Updates will be posted under the "Progress Report" tab as they become available.

Donors' contributions and pledges to this project totaled $31,081. The original project funding goal was $50,000.

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).

Resources

Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

With electric power, many lives will improve. Families will have light for studies and housework, spend less on kerosene, suffer less lung disease. Schools can use TV to dramatically improve teaching. Rechargeable batteries become an option.

Project Message

“For years I’ve wanted to build a human-powered generator—to bring light to thousands of dark homes I’d seen. Now, this generator and the LED technology will make this happen.”
- David Sowerwine, Managing Director of EcoSystems

Who is Running This Project

Contact

David Sowerwine,
Managing Director
999 Olive Street
Menlo Park, California 94025
United States
650-380-5008
Email:

Project Sponsor

The Tech Museum Awards

Organization

VillageTech Solutions (VTS)
999 Olive Street
Menlo Park, CA 94025
United States
650-853-1713
http://www.villagetechsolutions.org

Learn more about VillageTech Solutions (VTS) and the project team.

Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in Nepal and can also be found under Climate Change (GG Green).

For more information about Nepal, read the Human Development Report on Nepal or the Wikipedia entry for Nepal.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on December 09, 2008.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on October 10, 2005.

Latest Update from the Field

EcoPower: One chapter ends, another begins

By David Sowerwine - EcoSystems Managing Director, December 09, 2008 03:29 PM

More than 200 households will be equipped with EcoSystems' latest home lighting kits in the next six weeks. Recharging energy will come from various sources: grid chargers, solar panels and the PedalGenerator. Funds from GlobalGiving's partners help to make this happen.

One installation may be with the same Sukaura community with whom we start building a bridge this week. Other communities will receive stand-alone solar lighting kits that we can acquire from local manufacturers.

After installilng the current phase of equipment, we will focus for some time--six months to a year--on substantial improvements to technical performance and cost reduction. During this time we do not plan to work in the villages so will not enlist donations.

Photographs and anecdotes we collect while organizing the current lighting program will be sent to GlobalGiving to share with those who have generously supported this program.

Read 5 more "Updates from the Field" | Comment on this update

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