Solar Lanterns and CFLs

In the afternoon of Monday the 17th of January, the Green Village Ventures team visited the Pilot Project in Barshi taluka. There, we witnessed the new Solar Lanterns and CFLs being used, and had a look at the new Communal Biogas Production Plant.


The Green Village Ventures team visited Dhembrewadi, one of the villages that took part in our pilot project. The GVV responsibles for the project, Mr. Chitalia and Ms. Rajmane, guided us through the various parts of the village, together with Mrs. Thombre, who was very actively involved in the realization of the project.

We were warmly welcomed by the village head, Mr. Shivaji T. Kalel, and were immediately taken to one of the households that had exchanged its kerosene lamps & ICLs for cheaper, more environmentally friendly rechargeable Solar Lanterns & CFLs. The house was brightly lit by a CFL and we were informed that the Solar Lanterns were a great asset to their daily business.

We were shown to the Solar Kiosk, where the locals could recharge these lanterns and experience a great change from the costly and polluting kerosene. The villagers bring in the lanterns and leave them for 4 to 5 hours to recharge, after which they can pick them up and continue their daily business. The charging is done by a set of solar panels, strategically positioned on the roof in the middle of the village. Every time a villager gets his Lantern charged, he gets to sign a ledger: This ledger allows GVV to track the use of the lanterns and us to notice problems as soon as they would occur.

Next to the CFLs and the Solar Lamps, the village also sported a Communal Biogas Production Plant. This is an ingenious construction that allows the villagers to turn cow dung and food waste into liquid fertilizer and biogas. This reduces the emission of Methane (a Greenhouse Gas 21 times more powerful than CO2) that is usually associated with the digestion of cow dung and food waste. It also reduces the need for conventional fossil fuels, saving money and the environment. One Communal Biogas Plant is linked to 8 households, that all contribute equally in terms of dung and waste.


The villagers seemed genuinely happy about all the clean technology, which is a great incentive to continue with the project on a larger scale.