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ECPA initiative on Access to Clean Energy in Honduras Hosts Photo Exhibit

Tuesday, November 12, 2013


(Photo credits: Darren Mahuron photography)

Since 2011, the NGO Trees, Water & People (TWP) is implementing an ECPA initiative to improve the quality of life and livelihoods of impoverished communities in Peru and Honduras by providing them with reliable access to basic energy services. Through their work, people are learning how to build clean cookstoves and develop new markets for solar products.

As of November 13, 2013, and for three months, the Organization of American States will host a photo exhibit featuring the work of photographer Darren Mahuron who traveled to Honduras to document the stories of families living without power. The display “Illuminating Opportunity: A photography exhibit for social good” shows the daily routines of people who are not connected to the grid, and whose lives were changed by the ECPA initiative on Improving Access to Clean Energy in Latin America implemented by TWP.

The ECPA initiative on clean energy implemented by TWP is improving access to clean energy by means of personal and home solar technologies. The new market for small and affordable solar appliances and cell phone charging stations is providing rural residents with improved access to energy. These small scale solar systems are dramatically improving people’s quality of life and household finances, increasing productive hours in the home, and reducing the need for expensive, polluting and dangerous kerosene lamps. In addition to solar products, TWP is mainstreaming the use of fuel-efficient clean cookstoves.


(Photo credits: Darren Mahuron photography)

Through its Renewable Energy Education & Training Centers, TWP is teaching local communities to better manage their energy needs using clean energy. A growing sense of local responsibility is fostering a fast-paced uptake and deployment of renewable and energy-efficient technologies. Additionally, the initiative is advancing the ability of communities to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

More than 30 million people in Latin America do not have access to modern energy services. In Central America alone there are 7 million people without access to electricity. The photo exhibit will provide tangible evidence on how this ECPA initiative is improving people’s lives as well as the environment.