At CO2balance we believe that our projects have the biggest impact on the ground if we work in strong partnerships with local communities and organisations, which is why CO2balance welcomes similar partnerships whereby international support meets local knowledge and skills.
The African Centre of Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (ACREST), our partner NGO in Cameroon has been working with engineers from Purdue University in the United States to harvest energy from the local river through a micro-hydro plant. Besides providing electricity for more than 50 families in the neighbourhood, the plant is essential for ACREST for a continuous work on its cook stove, solar and water purification projects.
Students at Purdue University wanted to take this initiative to a higher level in order to build a ” locally-sourced, locally-fabricated, financially-sustainable micro-hydropower plant” by upgrading the existing one with innovative engineering techniques to reduce operation costs. The project “Beyond “empowerment”: the realization of community power” has reached the final stage of the prestigious Clinton Global Initiative University 2014 commitments challenge, being one of the 16 finalists of the competition (http://press.clintonglobalinitiative.org/press_releases/16-student-teams-advance-to-compete-in-the-clinton-global-initiative-university-2014-commitments-challenge/). The Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) was launched by President Clinton in 2007 to engage the next generation of leaders on college campuses and to provide the necessary finance needed to realize the selected projects.
Well done ACREST and Purdue University!
You can also read about our existing partnership with ACREST here: https://co2balance.wordpress.com/tag/acrest/
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