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You are here: Home / Right Livelihood Award / Bangladesh on its way to a „solar nation“

4. July 2014 | Blog-Team

Bangladesh on its way to a „solar nation“

Dipal Barua
Listening to Dipal Chandra Barua might cause astonishment every time one hears him talk about his work and his vision: He wants Bangladesh to be the world’s first “solar nation”!
This might sound like daydreaming at first, but if you have a closer look at the work of Dipal Barua, laureate of the Right Livelihood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”), there is reason to be optimistic. At the conference “Teaching Right Livelihood” in Kassel in May, I had the privilege to meet him and could participate in a workshop in which he presented his work and afterwards discussed his actions and vision with the audience.

One notices quickly that Dipal Chandra Barua not only complains about worldwide problems and wrongdoing, but is active himself. He gets down to the root of a problem and offers long-term solutions. Dipal Chandra Barua has already visited thousands of villages in Bangladesh and has gotten an idea of the situation. Often people living in these rural areas of Bangladesh had to get along without any connection to the electricity grid (in 1996 this was so for about 85 percent of the population). That is why they spent the time after sunset in absolute darkness. Their light source mainly consisted of kerosene-fueled lamps.

After the non-profit organization Grameen Shakti was established in 1996 the situation changed quickly in those rural areas. That is due to Dipal Chandra Barua’s model for implementing sustainable light and energy – both of which provides a win-win situation: On the one hand the rural population of Bangladesh gets the chance to raise its standard of living by installing its own solar home systems (SHS), on the other hand and at the same time they support the expansion of renewable, climate-friendly energy sources. A financial mechanism helps to reduce the cost of the installation of an SHS to the monthly cost of kerosene. The model is successful: Up to now about 3 million solar home systems have been installed in rural areas of Bangladesh. It is also remarkable that Dipal Chandra Barua with his Green Technology Center (GTC) explicitly supports and encourages women to complete a technical training. He does so with great success! Many women work as “green entrepreneurs” in the growing market of renewable energies. This causes, in addition to the environmental benefits, a change in the reputation of women in the Bangladeshi society, in which the majority of the people belongs to the Muslim religious community.

Dipal Barua demonstrates how the expansion of renewable energies in developing countries can become a success: it takes a decentralized supply with renewable energy and additional value for health, education, and productivity. Now it remains to be seen whether Dipal Chandra Barua’s vision comes true a 100 percent, which would mean that 75 million people in Bangladesh benefit from the use of renewable energy.

Filed Under: Right Livelihood Award

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Appointments

March 28, 2023: Keynote at the Automotive Industry Association VDA on “New Solutions for Climate Neutral Drives” Read more about the conference here (in German).

March 30, 2023: Participation in the real estate congress of the Federal Association of Free Real Estate and Housing Companies (BFW). Discussion in the panel “Departure into the circular economy.” Click here for the program (in German).

April 4, 2023: Announcement of the “Potato of the year” in the open-air museum at the Kiekeberg

April 19, 2023: Open excursion of the Klimabeirat Buchholz to the Fischbeker Höfe in Hamburg with Matthias Korff, managing director of DeepGreen Development. The topic is ecological building.

April 20, 2023: Start of the four-day nature film festival Lüneburger Heide under the patronage of Monika Griefahn. You will find the program here shortly (in German).

May 2, 2023: Guest speaker on “Sustainability & Cllimate Policy” at the annual German-American Conference (DAK) of Atlantik-Bruecke and American Council on Germany (ACG) in Washington, D.C.

 


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April 20-24, 2023: 2nd Nature Film Festival Lueneburg Heath with Monika Griefahn as patron. At four venues in the region of the Lüneburger Heide Nature Park, after 2021, it is once again: “Film off!” Visitors can expect fantastic nature films, stirring documentaries and, above all, great conversations with filmmakers and experts. From now on, check the status of the program planning at www.films4future.de (German).


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Cradle to Cradle Congress 2021: Because of the Corona pandemic the C2C Conress took place in three parts this year: The first one was on June 14, 2021 in Freiburg. The second took place on September 7, 2021 in Mainz, the third November 4, 2021 in Mönchengladbach.


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Climate committee

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In May 2021, the climate committee was constituted in the climate forum at my place of residence in Buchholz in the Nordheide. I am pleased to be chairwoman of the advisory board! The city has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral and there is still a lot to do to achieve this. The committee advises the municipal  administration on fundamental questions of climate policy.
To the article on the Buchholz website (in German)


Right Livelihood Laureate 2021

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They stand up against violence and climate change and address the most pressing questions of our time: Marthe Wandou (Cameroon), Wladimir Sliwjak (Russia), Freda Huson (People of the Wet’suwet’en, Canada) and the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (India) are the winners of the Right Livelohood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) 2021. Please find here the award ceremony documentation or read more about the laureates in our blog.


Federal Order of Merit

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

Our CEO Dr. Monika Griefahn received the Federal Order of Merit. Please read more about her biography and about the award ceremony in our blog.


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