10Power provides third party finance for renewable energy projects in emerging economies and empowers communities to promote clean water, gender equality, and ecosystem restoration.
Energy is the backbone that supports advancement in quality of life, yet close to one-fifth of humans on the planet, 1.3 billion people, lack access to electricity. Without consistent power, it is impossible to provide running water, refrigeration of food or vaccines, or access to information technology and global markets. Growth in developing economies will cause the entire world’s energy usage to increase by 150% over the next 15 years. We are at the most crucial crossroad in human history. One direction carries us further down the road that degrades well-being, burns fossil fuels and emits carbon dioxide. The other path is up to us to define. Working with local partners, 10Power finances solar projects to create regenerative growth that reduces global carbon emissions, and economically empowers stakeholders.
Imagine a woman named Angelique living in one of the worst slums in Haiti, Cité Soleil. She lives in a house with no electricity, no running water or toilet, no trash pickup. She works grueling hours in a factory, but barely makes enough money to cover her commute and a little bit of food for her and her child. She is one of the few people in her community with a job, but is she truly fortunate?
10Power’s business model disrupts the hand-to-mouth poverty cycle. The team identifies site-specific appropriate renewable technology, works with local suppliers to install storage, smart meters and inverters, enables customers to pay month by month for their equipment using mobile pre-pay systems, and in the commercial and industrial segment, is working with local entrepreneurs to take renewable energy to their communities.
Team Earthr
Alice Min Soo Chun, a designer and professor at the Parsons New School for Design, wanted to design something that could be used in relief efforts after a 2010 earthquake hit Haiti. After years of research, she invented the SolarPuff, a foldable lantern inspired by the principles of origami.
Small-scale solar panels promise many off-grid applications for renewable energy, and the SolarPuff is a particularly elegant example. This solar-powered lantern folds flat and weighs just 2.3 ounces. It pops open easily to disperse the light from its ring of LEDs, without a harsh brightness. Because the SolarPuff folds flat, one can pack dozens into a box that would carry only a few flashlights. And because its lithium-ion battery is re-charged with a thin solar panel, there’s no need for extra batteries. It charges in about 4 hours and lasts for 8 to 10.
The lantern is water-proof, so it can be used outside in stormy conditions—or for more enjoyable water activities. In fact, the SolarPuff has many potential applications. In addition to providing light after a disaster, it can also be a replacement for kerosene lamps, which contribute to global warming and create unhealthy indoor air conditions. It could also be an off-grid light solution for the 1.6 billion people around the world who don’t have access to electricity. The light’s simple cube design also makes it attractive to anyone who wants a sustainable light for their home or for camping.
Team Earthr
Roughly three billion people worldwide spend a disproportionate amount of their time and income, seeking out electricity to power portable lights and mobile phones. This “energy poverty” also forces them to cook over smoky open fires that create enough pollution to cause four million premature deaths each year—more than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. The BioLite HomeStove is the world’s only ultra-clean, electricity generating biomass cookstove. The HomeStove provides gas-like cooking, reduces smoke emissions by 90% and fuel consumption by 50%. The HomeStove co-generates electricity from the flame via BioLite’s patented Direct Conduction Thermoelectric System, enabling users to charge mobile phones and LED lights via a USB port. Bundled with mobile adapters and BioLite’s FlexLight, the HomeStove’s selling proposition is complete, clean home energy for low-income, off-grid households.
The stove weighs about seventeen pounds and includes a fuel tray. The company claims a five-minute boil time for 1 liter of water and 18 minutes for five liters of water. Outdoor consumers will be helping communities in need by purchasing the HomeStove, as a percentage of each purchase will be reinvested into BioLite’s work to help bring safer and more reliable energy to families living off the grid.