FAQ

What do you intend to do? 

We intend to institute a solar panel hub that would generate and distribute power to the approximately 100 household of Najafgar Bhoshal Vipauji (NBV), Uttar Pradesh, India. Presently this village cannot afford the solar panel hub.   With the installation of electricity it will break the poverty cycle, so residents no longer fear their future.

Why is your project a worthy project on its own merits? What is the need you are addressing? 

This project is worthy because we are addressing the need of in access to electricity in NBV, which constitute a higher percentage of the 44% of all rural un-electrified villages in India. The government of India has failed to connect NBV, in addition to hundreds of other villages, to the national power grid. Non-governmental organizations have also focused their efforts in other areas with a higher population.

If NBV remains un-electrified, people would continue to die as NBV represents a higher percentage of the state average of 30,000 deaths due to inhalation of soot and fire out breaks due to tipped over kerosene lanterns. Its people would also continue to live in fear that someone might be stealing their belonging at night. If this place remains un-electrified, people will continue to have their productive hours limited to sundown, and school children will be unable to study and do homework after sundown without being exposed to a health risks.   

Our approach is therefore an intervention strategy aimed at bringing about a dependable nighttime solar lighting system to the 100 households in NBV. This project is therefore worthy in that we would have prevented people form dying from preventable causes, increased the productive hours by extending the period of entrepreneurial activity and extending study time for students even after the sun goes down. This project is also worthy because it applies the use of a renewable energy form to solve a problem, while at the same time saving environment.

Why and how would your project contribute to peace in the world? 

There is what we consider two aspects of peace. Inner peace, which we define as peace that arises from rest of mind as a result of peoples’ access to socioeconomic opportunity- access to health facilities, and access to other sanitary infrastructure which are necessary to function as a human being. Without such basic necessities people in NBV are locked into the cycle of poverty.  The second is outer-peace which we define as peace that persists in the absence of conflict. This project would contribute to inner peace in that it would install a dependable nighttime lighting system in NBV, reducing the externalities of preventable deaths due to tipped over kerosene lanterns, and the associated health risk due to soot inhalation from  same kerosene lanterns.

The lack of development has led to armed conflict in states that neighbor Uttar Pradesh. The Naxalites are the best known organized armed movement in India, but unrest is most often unorganized and linked to the lack of service provision by the Government of India. This project intends to contribute to filling the gap in the public sector service delivery by providing quality and dependable nighttime lighting to households in NBV. It would meet the aspect of outer peace by acting as a preemptive measure against conflict onset. By meeting the internal and external aspects of peace, we are contributing to world peace because it makes NBV one place less in need of peace in the world.

What is creative about your project? 
  

This project is creative in that we devised a feasible sustainability mechanism. To achieve this, we will charge the NBV households a token of a $1 monthly fee to cover repairs, the over management of the solar system hub and MGPs overhead cost. This fee represents about 70% of the average rural, off-grid household’s current expenditures on alternative lighting means and totals a 30% saving per month per household. 

The project is also innovative in that we are able to devise an eco-friendly means of lighting this village which is off the Indian national power grid by taking advantage of its great energy potential. Most villages in rural India are off the national power grid, they are also endowed with at least 5 peak hours of sunlight per day all year round. NBV is one of the many villages off the Indian national power grid, but with a substantial amount of sunlight per day, per year. Figure 1, shows the typical locally crafted kerosene lanterns that NBV natives use as an alternative lighting means. This eco-friendly lighting means would displace their use of these kerosene lanterns and save them the associated monetary, social and health costs. This project is entrepreneurial as well in that we will be initiating a rural lighting scheme that is yet to reach the NBV village and its environs.  This we hope would serve as an impetus to NGO’s and other concerned private individuals to invest in the lives of the poor and disenfranchised.

How does the project addresses the question of sustainability and potential impact of the project over time? 

Aware that a lack of a structured maintenance mechanism would lead to a failed project no matter how well-intended, we have devised an avenue to ensure the sustainability of the project beyond our presence in NBV. To actualize this objective, MGP would have the following responsibilities as part of their contribution towards the project:

●  Manage and maintain the instituted solar panel system after we leave NBV: In Kanpur, approximately 45 minute drive from NBV, MGP has a director to oversee operations and an electrician to make repairs and replacements in equipment and also perform a routine inspection on the equipment. If and when a problem occurs, the electrician informs the director in Kanpur who then sends the electrician to the village to repair the system. Once spare equipment is on-hand, repairs should be made within 24 hours of reporting.

●     Feed us with periodic reports as per the general status of the system is concerned.

• Collect a monthly fee of $1 to cover for the repairs, management of the solar system and MGP’s overhead cost. This fee represents about 70% of the average rural, off-grid household’s current expenditures on biomass and totals a 30% savings for the NBV households. (The current cost of a 3 liter can of subsidized kerosene in Uttar Pradesh is Rs. 68 per month). This translates into a $0.5 saving per month per household and a $6 saving per year per household.

What specific criteria will you use to determine the degree to which you have accomplished what you set out to accomplish? 

Our objectives would be determined based on the following criteria.

1) Number of households that benefit from the project.

2) The sustainability of the project.

3) The multiplier effects of the electricity infrastructure to the NBV community.

4) The long-term impact of the project to the NBV community.

How would donations contribute to addressing the substantive needs the project seeks to address in ways that simply contributing the money could not?

The funding is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. The benefits of lighting to any people, we argue, transcends what money affords.  Its more than just the mere physical light and its associated positive externalities, but it’s also inclusive of the inner light—the peace of mind that the individuals in NBV would enjoy as a result of the project. This peace of mind cannot be bought with money and is one of the overall determinants of societal peace. We argue that war and peace cannot coexist because when a people are at peace, there is little or no room for conflict.

How will you measure the success of the project? 

Our objectives would be determined based on the following criteria.

1.   -Number of households that benefit from the project.

2.   -The sustainability of the project.

3.   -The multiplier effects of the electricity infrastructure to the NBV community.

4.   -The long-term impact of the project to the NBV community.

And therefore, success of the project would be based upon its workability. If the project runs, it is a success. Essentially, measure of success would be based on the immediate and long-term impact on the households in NBV.  Short term success includes saving NBV households money that would have otherwise been used for kerosene purchase, reducing vulnerability and deaths due to fire accidents, extending the number of hours during the day when students can study and do home work, and extending entrepreneurial activity for.  Long-term success includes reducing carbon emissions and inhalation reducing health and environmental concerns.

How can I make a donation if I don't have a papal account? 

Make donations to "LightingNBV project", Wartburg College business office. Wartburg College | 100 Blvd, Waverly Iowa, 50677. Also, note that donations are tax deductible.