Sustainable business developers raise 75.000 Euro on Symbid and serve a 1.5 billion people market.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands – February 2, 2012 -­‐ Off-­Grid Solutions, a solar energy developer from the Netherlands, raised 75.000 Euro for their WakaWaka Solar Light using equity-­‐based crowdfunding platform Symbid. The WakaWaka Light was able to attract 320 investors from all over the world. Off-­‐Grid Solutions will use the 75.000 Euro to invest in solar LED-­‐light development in developing countries.

This success shows the promise of using crowdfunding as way of raising capital for small companies.

WakaWaka focuses on the ‘base of the pyramid’: the 1.5 billion people living without electricity. According to Off-­‐Grid Solutions, their WakaWaka light will help people get out of poverty, breathe clean indoor air, get better school results and much more. The quality of the light is better, compared to the current kerosene-­‐lights there are no toxic fumes, it prevents severe burn incidents, the LED light has no operating costs and climate change is suppressed. Not only is it environmental friendly, the WakaWaka solar LED-­‐light provides 8 hours of bright light, 16 hours of reading light or 80 hours safety light and its battery is up to three years operational. It’s no wonder that such a magnificent initiative has been fully funded in as little as 5 weeks.

Not only their product is well thought out, so is their crowdfunding strategy. Maurits Groen, one of the three founders, says: “After we used up most of our own savings, we needed additional funds for further development and pre financing initial order runs. We realized we could not and did not want to wait for the perfect moment to start talking to investors. I am fortunate enough to know a few media people who have given a significant boost to our campaign. But other than that it has been a lot of hard work. My fellow co-­‐ founders Camille van Gestel and Kim van der Leeuw have both put in a lot of effort making our campaign personal. Spreading the word on Facebook, Twitter and personal networks. Though the real work starts now, we made a good start through Symbid”.

This crowdfunding transaction is special because all investors become actual shareholders in Off-­‐Grid Solutions. Symbid, the platform used for this campaign, offers the first international equity based crowdfunding service in the world. Investors become actual owners of the company, and receive a return on investment in the form of dividends and have the ability to sell their shares. This way, everyone benefits.

About WakaWaka

WakaWaka is a highly efficient solar LED-­‐light thanks to Dutch Intivation technology. Currently the WakaWaka team is working hard to service prospects from over 40 countries. Coming June the first WakaWaka’s will be received by off-­‐grid families in Africa, India, Indonesia and elsewhere. For more information http://www.wakawakalight.com

About Symbid

Symbid is the first investment platform where investors can directly invest from as little as € 20,-­‐ in the equity of start-­‐ups or existing businesses. Any entrepreneur is able to achieve growth or to raise capital via Symbid. Symbid recently reached the finals of the Shell Live Wire Award and is among the most innovative companies in the Netherlands. For more information http://www.symbid.com

To help us succeed in what we do, we are looking for a part-time office manager, who will help us with the overall running of the back-office.

For a full description of the position (in Dutch), please go to Job Openings. Or download the PDF here.

If you are interested in applying, please keep in mind the deadline of 15 February.

Together with India’s economy, its commercial building sector is growing rapidly, bringing with it a surge in demand for electricity, heating and cooling.

Mumbai at night

To meet this demand, commercial buildings generally rely on the Indian electricity grid.

However, electricity consumption from India’s electricity grid, which is dominated by coal-fired power plants, results in high emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG), particularly CO2.

Electricity tower under construction

To tackle this issue and reduce GHG emissions from commercial buildings, Do-inc is working together with Standard Bank Plc and the Indian energy services company Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions Pvt Ltd, in setting up a platform programme under the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism.

The programme involves installation of so-called cogeneration systems that run on natural gas.

By installing these cogeneration systems:

• Electricity is derived from natural gas combustion, instead of the more carbon intensive electricity grid;
• Cooling is derived from the waste heat left over from the natural gas combustion and no longer from the electricity grid;
• Heating is derived from the waste heat left over from the natural gas combustion and no longer from the electricity grid (or diesel generators in case of boilers).

Cooling via electrical chillers

Cooling via electrical chillers (shown in this picture) connected to the grid will be replaced by cooling from waste heat remaining from natural gas combustion

Banner for the Stakeholders' Consultation

As part of the programme’s development, a Local Stakeholder Consultation was held on 15 December, to present the programme and solicit feedback from and answers questions of stakeholders (such as building owners, tenants, cogeneration equipment suppliers, energy distribution companies)

Lucas Koolschijn presenting

Stakeholders

The programme will contribute to India’s economic sustainability through the more efficient use of electricity sources. India’s power demand is expected to increase strongly over the next years due to economic growth and rising electrification levels.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA), attached to the national Ministry of Power of India, estimates that the national electricity demand will double during the next ten years reaching a total of 1,915 TWh in 2020/2021.  Demand Side Management (DSM) – as foreseen by the programme – provides for a cost-effective way to cope with the increased electricity demand in India. It will effectively contribute to reducing the pressure on the Indian power system.

Central Electricity Authority, Report on the 17th Electric Power Survey of India (2007).

The research focuses on post 2012 mechanisms to combat climate change in developing economies from a private sector perspective. Since the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is coming to an end this year, it is time to make up the balance sheet and investigate what possible post 2012 mechanism is most suitable for the private sector.

During non-office times Mas Yoris works in an art-house movie theatre in the center of Amsterdam; he lives next door. He enjoys playing football in the weekends and likes to go out with friends to concerts and parties. And occasionally he just likes to be home and read a good book.

The proposed programme is owned and developed by local company Technologies for Renewable and Efficient Energy (TREE). By introducing the pellet stove a complete shift to renewable biomass can be achieved, as pellets are made from agricultural remnants as rice husk and Jatropha seed cake.

The programme envisions to distribute 30,000 cookstoves reducing nearly 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ until 2020. Registration of the programme under the UNFCCC is scheduled for January 2013.

In that light, we recently conducted the Validation site visit of the programme of activities we are developing for Ener-G systems. The CDM PoA concerns the capture and subsequent use of methane gas from the landfill for flaring and energy production.  During the site visit, Carbon Check, the DOE, visited the first project (CPA) site: Shongweni.

The visit went smooth, and we will update you once validation has been finalised.

Pressure on international policy makers was high. The Kyoto Protocol is running out by the end of 2012. COP 16 in Cancún left us with a cliffhanger – with a global community still far from an agreement on whether to put down new comprehensive obligations for all big emitters of greenhouse gases (GHG).Despite initially heavy opposition from the US, China and India (the mayor GHG emitters), as well as Japan and Canada, it looked like negotiators saw the light in the early hours of Sunday morning. The so-called Durban Platform was reached. With the Durban Platform, World governments intend to commit themselves for the first time to a global agreement to reduce emissions, covering both developed and developing countries. Over the next years, an ad-hoc working group will prepare an appropriate agreement text. The agreement itself shall be adopted by 2015 and come into force by 2020.

Although meager, the Durban Platform is a breakthrough after many years of fruitless discussions. For the first time, it  tries to combine developed and developing nations under a common agreement with mandatory emission cuts. However, the respective agreement is yet far from being realized. Many observers now fear – rightly – that the adoption and implementation of mandatory emission cuts for all countries will be further delayed or diverted in the future. This will make it very difficult to meet the 2-degrees global warming target agreed in Cancún last year.

Will the CDM continue?

The future of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has been guaranteed administratively. It will continue to be an offset mechanism for compliance of countries that have adopted emission reduction beyond 2012, such as the European 2020 targets under the European Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). The UNFCCC secretariat in Bonn will continue to manage the CDM. Demand for carbon credits beyond 2012, however, is impossible to predict at this stage. Yet, we are likely to see the emergence of several other national offset markets (outside the ETS). In fact, a shift from centralised regulation and management of carbon markets (in particular CDM under the Kyoto protocol) to regional and national approaches can be witnessed over the last years (e.g. Japan, New Zealand, several US states, etc.). This is in sharp contrast to the slow negotiation process at international level and although in Durban, the intention for a global comprehensive framework has been confirmed, in the meanwhile the tendency towards fragmentation will continue. For Do-inc this opens up new opportunities.

New market mechanism?

In addition to the Durban Platform, it was agreed that a new market mechanism will be included under the new agreement. However, the nature of this mechanism is not substantiated. Modalities and guidelines for this new mechanism shall be developed until the end of 2012. Possible options could be bilateral agreements where one country sells clean technology to another in return for credits or a sector-wide global offset schemes as proposed by the EU. For more clarity on this new mechanism, practitioners will have to wait until next year’s annual international climate meeting in Qatar.

Durban and forests

As there is no certainty of long-term emission reduction requirements and an international framework in which offsets could function, there is also no certainty about any market opportunity for carbon forest projects. This is especially true for the mechanism that would account credits for avoiding deforestation (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation REDD) The negotiations on REDD centered around four key areas: finance, safeguards, reference levels, and monitoring, reporting and verifying (MRV) of carbon emissions from forest activities. Progress on safeguards, reference levels, and MRV were achieved quite early in the negotiations, while a piecemeal decision on REDD finance only came about after much deliberation. Discussions on whether finance will be based on markets, funds or a combination of possibilities prolonged the negotiations.

However, as confidence in the verification of carbon offsets grows, the private sector may increase their financial support role to REDD programs. California’s recently legislated cap and trade program may allow companies to buy carbon credits to offset part of their emissions from outside the US and allow funding to flow into REDD schemes as early as 2015. This outcome is mediocre and forest carbon markets will still go forward as experimental. There is only a certain amount of time that people are willing to experiment, however for the moment it seems that more and more private sector parties get involved. Maybe as reaction to the disappointing governmental action.

In the last hours of 2011, Waka Waka reached its funding goal of $ 30,000.- ! This is excellent news, that can really make a difference for millions of people still living in the dark. And of course, you can still contribute to this great initiative. Just go to Kickstarter.com to pledge, before 7 January!

If you want to learn more; Kim van der Leeuw and Camille van Gestel, two of the initiators of the WakaWaka solar LED light were interviewed by Kickstarter crowdfunding. Read the full interview here!