How and why did SolarAid come about?

SolarAid was set up by employees from SolarCentury, the UK’s largest solar company, which gives 5% of its net profit to SolarAid. The idea is to follow the model of WaterAid and make SolarAid the charity of choice for the solar and energy industries.

SolarAid is the first and only UK charity focusing solely on solar power for developing countries. Other more general international development charities also work on solar energy, although their key expertise does not lie in this sector. So we felt there was a need to set up a charity that would lead the way in this area and bring together the fights against global poverty and climate change.

Your mission is, one, to relieve poverty by providing clean energy and, two, to advance education in matters relating to the environment. How does this work in practice?

We aim to enable the world’s poorest people to have clean, renewable power. This is because solar power leads to better education, health, safety and income by allowing poor communities to cook, pump water, run fridges, store vaccines, light homes, schools, clinics and businesses, power computers and homes, farm more effectively, and much more. Furthermore, by replacing carbon emitting technologies, solar power can mitigate global warming. For example, the average kerosene lamp, used widely across the developing world, creates around a tonne of carbon over seven years. Replacing such lamps with solar lanterns leads to significant reductions in carbon emissions.

On the educational side, we train local partner organisations in how to set up solar businesses and build small solar products that they can sell to earn an income. We also plan to do educational work in the UK, going into schools to teach pupils about the links between climate change and global poverty, particularly the fact that the poorest people will be hit the hardest by climate change, as we are now seeing in Africa.

What are the benefits and challenges of ‘thinking globally’ by ‘acting locally’? And do you find it difficult to garner support for your work – at both grassroots and supranational levels?

Thinking globally is crucial because it allows us to have the big picture, particularly since issues such as climate change and global poverty are such massive problems. The global vision ensures we keep everything in the larger perspective and context. However, acting locally is crucial because this is where a lot of the changes for the poorest communities can take place.

Garnering support for our work was difficult at the start, particularly in the UK. Climate change and poverty are climbing up the agenda, but there is still not enough concern about them. At the grassroots level, it’s very different. Local communities have such a desperate need for affordable and clean sources of energy that they are extremely interested in working with us.

What kind of projects are you currently involved in?

We have just finished a project in Malawi. We built the capacity of the Kaliya Youth Group – a partner organisation that works with young people affected by HIV/AIDS – by training its members in small business planning skills, marketing and building solar products. They have now set up their solar micro-businesses and are earning a living by selling the solar devices they build. Our engineer trained them how to build solar powered radios, mobile phones and lanterns using local materials and amorphous PV. For example, a solar lantern can be made for $5 and may sell for around $15. It replaces the unhealthy kerosene lamps that many Africans use and will reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Why did you get involved in the Vodafone and Global Cool mobile phone recycling campaign?

Global Cool is one of the few organisations that is leading the way on global warming in a holistic way. It brings together the campaigning, the education, the project funding, the carbon reduction and the poverty reduction under one banner, which is excellent. It is also partnering with big corporations such as Vodafone, which are a crucial part of the solution. Bringing all this together is a big step towards addressing the problem. That’s why we were so interested in working with Vodafone and Global Cool.

Furthermore, mobile phones are playing an increasingly important role in the development of Africa, so the mobile phone recycling campaign has a strong symbolic meaning, particularly since the solar chargers that our projects build can be used to power mobile phones in areas where power is lacking.

Global Cool is a celebrity-backed campaign, and we believe using talent is one great way to reach a lot of people at the same time. Cate Blanchett is your patron – how important do you think using famous faces is when it comes to spreading your message?

Celebrities are an excellent way to promote brands and messages, particularly when the celebrity has strong credibility in the area. Cate has solarised her home and has always had a strong interest in environmental issues, so people listen to her when she speaks about SolarAid. We live in a culture where the media are extremely powerful and are dominated by political and financial interests, making it very difficult for charities to get their messages across. Having a well-recognised and admired celebrity enables us to break through.

Our campaign is very much about empowerment – equipping individuals with the tools and know-how to begin to make a difference – and we believe the solution to climate change starts with the individual. Tell us more about your campaign and its focus on education and, ultimately, empowerment.

Education is one of the best and most proven ways of changing people’s behaviour. And combating climate change is fundamentally about behaviour change, from the individual to the corporate and national levels. We need to change what and how we consume in order to move to a more sustainable model. That’s why we believe education is crucial. People need to understand how their small, individual actions can make a huge difference when hundreds, thousands and millions of people all start changing their behaviour together. However, most people do not believe they can make a difference or sometimes do not want to change their behaviour. It’s known as the free-rider problem in economic and social theory. So we need to overcome that and empower people so that they start taking a more pro-active approach.

Climate change is happening now. But with any problem, there are reactive and pro-active solutions – looking at prevention as well as the cure. What’s SolarAid’s pro-active, long-term vision for the problem of development?

Our vision is of a world where everyone has access to clean, affordable, renewable energy. The earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than the world uses in a whole year. 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. When you look at a world map of energy consumption, you realise that it mirrors all the economic, political and social injustices of this world, with the North amassing all the wealth and energy, and the South slipping into further poverty. So at the centre of our work is a vision for justice, so that the world’s poorest people can climb their own way out of poverty and not have to suffer the results of our mistakes.

For more on SolarAid, click here.

And for more on our mission to recycle 500,000 mobile phones, click here.

Photo: Copyright Andy Bodycombe.