Please note we only accept email applications for the Ashden Awards.
By Sarah Butler-Sloss, Ashden Founder Director
While the rising urban middle classes in India’s big cities increasingly take their mod cons for granted, some 400 million Indians have never used electric light bulbs in their homes – let alone had the power to charge their mobile phones, listen to the radio or watch TV.
Share this storyBy Julia Hawkins, Ashden PR and Digital Media Manager
It may come as some surprise to you, but the Ashden Awards are about more than a fancy ceremony, a few rousing speeches and canape-fuelled networking.
They're about recognising and rewarding the few amazing people out there who don't just shrug their shoulders at increasingly disturbing climate change predictions, or rising fuel prices, or poverty statistics, but who are determined to make a positive difference to this planet and all of us who live on it.
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It seems only a few short months ago that I was recapping the progress of Ashden winners in 2010, but somehow we’ve reached the end of another year! During 2011, Ashden winners have been just as successful. They’ve reached major milestones and continued to take their work in new directions as they promote sustainable energy.
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If you or anyone you know is travelling to a remote area of a developing country, the chances are it will be off the electricity grid, or at least be prone to regular power cuts. If that's the case, you may want to take with you some of the solar-powered devices produced by our award-winners D.light and Toughstuff.
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As you may know, 1.5 billion people in world lack access to electricity and all the benefits that it brings to livelihoods. A solution as simple as solar energy can go a long way to improving this situation and enterprises across the world are finding ways to make sure it can reach those most in need: rural communities. The latest edition of Renewable Energy World highlights the most innovative ways used to distribute pv and draws on some of the best examples, including, several Ashden Award winners.
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Last year's winner of the Ashden 2010 Gold Award, d.light design, has one of its solar lanterns on display at the British Museum as the 100th Object in The History of the World in a 100 Objects.
Today d.light launches its latest low-cost solar lantern, the d.light S1, which it describes as a "solar study lamp for young people withe big dreams".
The d.light S1 provides four hours of bright light from one full day of solar energy and has an adjustable handle that allows the product to turn easily in the direction of the sun.
Sam Goldman, d.light's Chief Customer Officer, says the product "addresses a top priority for our customer: their children's education".
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Our 2010 Gold Award winner D.light design has launched a micro finance project, in partnership with Christain Aid, that will bring solar lighting to 4,400 rural households in three Indian states in its first year. Share this story
2010 Ashden Gold Award winners d.light design has been shortlisted for the prestigious FT ArcelorMittal "Boldness in Business" Awards. From an initial list of 250 nominations, d.light has been selected as finalists in the "Newcomer" category along with five other organizations, including Groupon, MetroBank and Zynga. Last year's winner in this category was Twitter. Share this story
This week the Ashden Awards team celebrated the selection of a solar lamp and charger as the 100th object in the BBC series 'A History of the World in 100 Objects'. We were lucky enough to view the 100th object, exemplified by 2010 Gold Award winners d.light design's Nova lamp, at a reception in the British Museum. Share this story
In the last in her series on award-winning presents, Juliet Heller suggests lighting up someone’s Christmas with a solar LED lamp Share this story Share this pageThe views expressed on this blog are not necessarily those of Ashden.
