energy poverty

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The history of climate change negotiations in 83 seconds

Maendeleo installing solar panels on Uganda's libraries. Photo: EIFL

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Sustainable Energy

Solar panels meet Android tablets in Uganda, and farmers win

Basking on the equator, Uganda catches plenty of rays. A library database and solar power project is using them to connect rural farmers.

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Mobile, solar schools literally bring power to the powerless

Beep beep! For some students, hopping on the school bus is hopping into the classroom. Four communities are using solar-powered mobile classrooms to overcome inaccessibility to the power grid.

In Uganda, dairy farmers are on the hunt for affordable energy sources. One might be their own cows. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59367690@N00/4157487541/">Neiljs (flickr)</a>

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A dung-powered milk chiller could power profit at small dairies

Warm milk spoils—and millions of the world's energy-poor rural farmers have no way to keep it cool.

If only the bovine digestive system also produced some sort of vast and seemingly endless flow of energy-rich sludge.

From nuclear to coal, power plants turn their turbines by heating and cooling water. When water starts out warm, this gets less efficient. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bagalute/5127578547/in/photostream/">Bjoern Schwartz (Flickr)</a>

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Why warmer water will drive up poor people's electric bills

Impacts of energy use on climate change are widely discussed, but what about the other way around?

William's windmill was built using pictures and diagrams. Photo: whiteafrican<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/whiteafrican/622366993/sizes/m/in/photostream/"> (Flicker)</a>

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How a Malawi teen used junk to put wind to work

Technology doesn’t always come from experts with expensive equipment. William Kamkwamba’s junkyard windmill proves it.

A foreign domestic worker looks after her elderly client. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wongjunhao/5427024831/">Jerry Wong (flickr)</a>

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China's rise, the hidden mom economy, and soda-bottle light bulbs: our top 5 stories of 2011

From low-tech light bulbs in the Philippines to microfinance in Nicaragua, our team of young writers covered lots of ground this year.

The rail systems in India carry coal, but are too small and slow to bring in the quantity needed to make the kind of difference that Adani can. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/malawirail/3114751093/sizes/m/in/photostream/">degahk (flickr)</a>

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The Indian State Falls Behind, and Indian Businesses Eagerly Take the Lead

When the government fails to provide, the savvy entrepreneur fills the gaps—but not without criticism.

Distributors in Kenya currently sell solar panels on a small scale, unable to reach most of the large rural community in need. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/internationalrivers/5170387600/sizes/m/">International Rivers (flickr)</a>

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Lack of Electricity Is a Huge Barrier to Overcoming Poverty

Almost one in four people live without power worldwide. Without electricity, these people are at a disadvantage in nearly every aspect of their lives. Having electricity means the ability to study at night and get an education.