Energy Saving and Renewable Energies
One of the four key thematic areas of the ELA program
12.03.2009 | Gero Fedtke
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SAVING ENERGIE and RENEWABLE sources of ENERGIE
Energy poses a great challenge to the rural population. With central supply systems more often not working than functioning, the questions how to keep the house warm in the cold winters, which fuel to use for cooking, how to reduce dependency on electricity assume alarming dimensions.
Addressing this issue, WECF partner UNSION demonstrates the benefits of thermal insulation in a remodeled school in South Kyrgyzstan. Solar collectors demonstrate how solar energy can be used instead of firewood or gas to heat water for washing, but also for heating a house. The Georgian NGO Society Development Center of Akhaltsikhe installed such collectors to make warm water available at the toilets for washing hands. In Kazakhstan and Georgia, Biogas plants were constructed to generate gas for cooking in families. An excellent demonstration site for these technologies is a convent in Georgia, where both solar collectors and a biogas plant are in use. The convent attracts many visitors, and the nuns wield high authority.
Smaller projects being conducted by 9 NGO in the South Caucasus within the project “Support of climate protection via sustainable energy”, financed by BMU, include solar fruit driers in Armenia and in Georgia, insulation of a school in Azerbaijan, and a feasibility study on micro finance systems for biogas and solar installations in rural areas in Georgia. In the framework of this project, WECF conducted conferences, workshops, and study tours for ELA partners in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. In Central Asia, solar collectors for house heating systems were installed. As preparation for this training, two members from partner organizations had completed a three week internship at Solar Partner Sued, Kienberg, Germany, in October.
Contact:
gero.fedtke@wecf.eu
This article is part of the ELA annual report 2008.
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