Energy Poverty
“Poverty means, among other things, limited access to energy sources.”
~Elizabeth Cecelski, Director for Research and Advocacy, Energia
The communities we serve live in energy poverty. Energy poverty is when a population has little or no access to energy, electricity or running water. Energy poverty takes a tremendous toll on all aspects of peoples’ lives. It affects their health, their ability to have safe, sanitary food and water and even their ability to achieve a basic education. Energy poverty impacts a community’s entire livelihood. Schools, homes and health clinics have no lighting. Electrically powered medical equipment is impossible to run. The community lives with no connections to the outside world through radio, telephone, television or Internet. People must travel long distances to communicate with each other - even if it is just to get close enough to a wireless tower.
But energy poverty is not an insurmountable obstacle. What all these communities do have is an opportunity is to harness the energy from the sun. MotoMedics International is committed to helping bring solar energy to these rural areas. The primary approach, to date, has been to install a solar panel in each community. We are currently in the process of identifying additional communities eligible to receive solar panels donated by Energy Seeds, a joint project of the Foundation for Environmental Education.
Our goal is to provide the means and support, with the full participation of the people in these communities, to determine priorities and scope for these projects. Self-sufficiency is the key. The communities will be trained to install and maintain their own solar-powered systems in order to better their own lives.
Solar panel installation at community center in El Desbastardero, Argentina
