GigaWhat: Creating rural jobs with renewables

GigaWhat: Creating rural jobs with renewables

Author: Mongabay.com August 22, 2022 Duration: 20:07

Lack of energy access limits the rural economy. But reliable electricity creates an infrastructure for rural entrepreneurs and gives people a chance to work on their aspirations.

In rural India, decentralised renewable energy options – primarily solar power – are creating livelihood and business opportunities. Decentralised renewable energy systems are primarily independent of the central power grid and the energy is generated close to its area of use. To address daily issues that arise out of lack of power, startups and organisations are creating and modifying decentralised renewable energy (DRE) solutions in India's villages, burgeoning towns and metros.

In this episode of GigaWhat, Mongabay-India Contributing Editor and the podcast host, Mayank Aggarwal, speaks with startup founders and managers to learn the innovations happening in the DRE sector that are helping to boost the livelihoods of people in India's hinterlands.

 

Produced and scripted by Kartik Chandramouli

Edited and mixed by Tejas Dayananda Sagar

Copy edits by Priyanka Shankar

Production assistance from Ayushi Kothari

GigaWhat artwork by Pooja Gupta

Guests:

Ananth Aravamudan,  Sector Lead - Climate Action, Villgro (Powering Livelihoods

Kunal Vaid, Director, Resham Sutra

Abhishek Pathak, Founder, Greenwear

Manish Kumar, Staff Reporter, Mongabay-India

Links:

Mongabay series: Clean Energy

Solar mini-grids fuel women-led enterprises in Jharkhand's Gumla district

Decentralised solar setups give power access to small farmers, facilitate innovations

Framework to promote decentralised RE livelihood applications

Powering Livelihoods Globally through Clean Energy, a GCF-CEEW report.

The Future of Distributed Renewable Energy in India


From the team at Mongabay.com comes Everything Environment by Mongabay India, a podcast that digs into the complex and often overlooked stories shaping India's natural world. This isn't just about headlines; it's about connecting the dots between biodiversity, climate change, and the natural resources that underpin daily life across the subcontinent. Each episode is a deep dive, whether it's examining the real-world impacts of the country's clean energy transition, uncovering lessons from ancient paleoscience, or giving a voice to lesser-known species fighting for survival. The conversations move beyond abstract problems to focus on tangible solutions and the people on the front lines. By weaving science and news into compelling narrative, this podcast places environmental discussions exactly where they belong: central to our understanding of India's present and future. You'll hear clear analysis and on-the-ground reporting that makes intricate topics accessible, fostering a deeper appreciation for the interconnectedness of ecology, policy, and community. For anyone curious about the forces shaping our environment, this series offers essential listening.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 28

Everything Environment by Mongabay India
Podcast Episodes
Trailer: Environomy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:30
The economic reforms of 1991 caused a radical shift in India's economic and social structure. It gave a new life to the middle class. But did you know that the reforms also changed how India dealt with its environmental…
Imprints: Lake hopping with Anoop Ambili [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:06
Lake-hopping is Anoop Ambili's thing. For Ambili, a paleoclimatologist, the Lonar Lake in Maharashtra, Tso Moriri in Ladakh and Renuka in Himachal Pradesh hide clues that help him reconstruct past climate changes going b…
Imprints: Sifting through microfossils with Rajani Panchang [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:04
Looking at sediment under a microscope is a window into past environments and climates. In a dot of sediment, you may find thousands of microfossils - tiny remains of bacteria, protists, fungi, animals, and plants. Rajan…
Imprints: Digging up bones with Advait Jukar [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:21
Imagine this: When modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa, they saw creatures such as giant prehistoric elephants, a hippopotamus and a zebra-like horse, alongside other great beasts. Infact, these…
GigaWhat: What not to do [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:57
India's renewable energy dreams have been big since the country shifted gears post-Paris climate summit in 2015. The country is now working towards achieving 500 GW of installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2…
Imprints: Finding molluscs with Devapriya Chattopadhyay [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:38
What can shells tells us about marine paleoclimate? Shells and molluscs store a wealth of paleoclimate information. Molluscs build their shells with calcium carbonate from the sea water. Their shells record the sea water…
Imprints: Lake and archive diving with Atreyee Bhattacharya [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:11
It is fascinating how scientists unearth data for climate science in unusual locations. Atreyee Bhattacharya's work takes her to lakebeds and libraries. She's a paleoclimatologist who looks back at past climates to devel…
GigaWhat: Fuelling startups [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:18
India has an ambitious clean energy target that needs technology and innovation. While government and private sectors have their role to play, startups are critical for innovation and faster execution. They identify loca…
Trailer: Imprints [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:21
It is fascinating how scientists unearth data for climate science in unusual locations. Fossils, trees, lake sediment, other natural objects, and archival documents are like time portals. They tell us when and how ancien…
GigaWhat: Building the backbone [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:43
We are all familiar with the buzzing sound under high-voltage power lines and transmission towers. The electricity passing through it is generated from coal power plants, solar parks, wind farms, dams and other sources.…