Post by unleashed on Oct 10, 2009 1:23:03 GMT -5
SUSYA, West Bank – Residents of a West Bank village with no electricity have been helped out of the darkness by unlikely benefactors — a group of Israelis who installed solar panels and wind turbines to illuminate the Palestinians' makeshift homes.
The villagers of Susya live in tents and caves with power lines darting right above their dwellings, connecting a nearby Jewish settlement to the power grid while bypassing them entirely.
It was this lack of basic services that drew the physicists from Comet-ME, a group of pro-peace Israeli scientists and activists, to this dusty, desolate area. Now the entire village of 300 people has access to power that is reliable, free and green.
At night, rudimentary streetlights dot the otherwise pitch-black village and each home is lit by an energy-saving bulb. Villagers have no access to phone lines, but the power allows them to charge their cell phones.
"Life is easier now," said Susya villagers Widad Nawaja, standing below the solar panel that powers her home. "We have light. Children can do their homework at night if they couldn't finish it during the day."
The residents also hope the new amenities will help them make more money: an electric butter churner means they can produce butter faster than by hand, and two green-powered refrigerators can preserve their produce until it can be sold.
"The communities here are in deep poverty. The project is targeted to help them make more revenue from their own work," said Noam Dotan, an activist and physicist with Comet-ME.
Comet-ME says it seeks to use renewable energy to empower Palestinian communities like this one, which is among the poorest in the West Bank.
My comment:-
Heads up to israel for this start!!
Source:-
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_west_bank_green_peace;_ylt=Ap.FxRN_x292f7tUh8S5Fi0PLBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJwanJwbW5pBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkxMDA5L21sX3dlc3RfYmFua19ncmVlbl9wZWFjZQRjcG9zAzIEcG9zAzUEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDaXNyYWVsaXNicmlu