Green Business Opportunities - India

Green Business Opportunities aims to provide energy security for low-income households in India with the goal of improving incomes, education and health.

Fast facts:

Women-formed self-help group members are benefitting from four to six hours of lighting at night, when they need it most;
Currently, this activity has reached more than 10,000 low-income rural families;
Green Business Opportunities plans to reach 25,000 more households in the coming year.

The problem

Most of the households in rural Bihar use traditional means like kerosene lamps, lanterns and mud cookstoves for lighting and cooking purposes on daily basis. Women are affected worse by using traditional fuels for lighting and cooking as they are responsible for fulfilling the energy needs of the family. Use of kerosene and wood results in increase in greenhouse gas emissions and also causes health issues to the members of the households.

The solution

For mitigating the risk of greenhouse gas emissions, an innovative model has been conceptualized to bring stand-alone 'Integrated Domestic Energy Systems (IDES) to the households of rural Bihar. Women-run community organizations are involved in the entire energy delivery value chain from need analysis, designing the system, demand aggregation, on-field supply chain management, endpoint storage, installation and after sales service. This has ensured that the adoption happens much faster by bringing in the local demands and needs. Women are forming self-help groups and members are taking decision making roles and granting loans to their fellow members and managing the entire repayment cycles for the credit.

Helping the planet

The use of IDES helps reduce rural families’ dependence on fossil fuels and fuel wood for their energy needs. Switching to solar energy for lighting and efficient clean cookstoves for cooking is reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Helping people

Rural women are empowering their community to eradicate poverty and promote activities that enhance income and reduce vulnerability to climate change. With IDES, rural low-income women are now using their time and effort in more productive livelihood generating activities.

Scaling Up

IDES is reaching out to marginalized sections of Bihar that are deprived of a clean and reliable source of energy. The adoption rate has been significantly high, a stand-alone IDES could fill the demand supply gap with a much cleaner source of energy, which would not only address climate change but also create a wide scope to test consumer response to solar energy in rural areas. Currently the IDES has reached out to more than 10,000 households in one district and is in the process of reaching out to 25,000 households across nine districts. This activity wants to reach out to 10 million rural households in the coming years.