Renewable energy: Grameen Shakti

I would like to share some of the project that Grameen has developed through the Shakti Grameen Company (Shakti means energy).
Bangladesh lacks of a stable energy source. Electricity comes from some areas of the country. Areas that receive electric power distribute the energy equally among each other. There are some days that some places have power and some other don’t, and vice versa. Grameen Shakti has developed sun panels hoping that GB borrowers may buy some of them with small loans. Thanks to these panels many houses have electricity now.
Women form part of the tech staff that generates these panels, they work assembling batteries and special plug-ins. I visited one of these centers and the area manager explained how the panels worked. They charge daylight and if there is no light the battery lasts for 3 days. They also produce devices to deal with battery charging. Borrowers have a certain amount of years to pay back the loan. These panels allow them to have 4 lamps and some other appliance turned on at home.
Another kind of energy which has been developed by Grameen is called the biogas. This gas is a mixture of cow dung and water that produces a gas which is used as a kitchen gas fuel. The amount of dung needed is 70 kilograms and the same amount of water, this mixture is put into a blender as you can see in the picture. It goes through a pipe and it is stored in a small cylinder. The waste of dung is reused as a fertilizer. This amount of gas is enough for 6 hour of work.
They also develop more efficient kitchens to minimize the use of wood which is very expensive.
It is quite interesting to hear the managers of these projects. They are so proud of their work… they detail everything with such passion that it is inevitable to get more interested in their projects.
I also liked the kind of publicity they use for their products. They have signs that describe the product with words and drawings for all villagers to understand what it is about (even if they do not know how to read or write).
Sometime it is difficult for a woman to interact with Bangladeshi men. Normally man and woman (outside marriage and family) do not establish any physical contact. When I met these managers or employees of Grameen, most of them just greeted me with a nod, with male interns, they shook hands. Only a few shook hands with me. Usually they are the bosses; they speak poor English and I could tell that they were used to relating with western people. I truly believe it is a great challenge for them to shake hands with a woman. I think they do it out of respect and appreciation for the visitor.
We were asked which country we came from. To tell the truth, a lot of people asked me if I was Bangladeshi. They told me I look like a Bangladeshi because of my clothes and dark hair. But when I told them I was from Argentina…they opened their eyes and shouted "Great football team!!! Maradona, Messi...great players! They are real fans of our football team.