The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

The Rimba Raya project proponents intend to make available toall Project Zone communities the Envirofit B1100 Clean CookStoves. These inexpensive, well-­‐designed stoves significantlyreduce the amount of fuel wood required to cook and theamount of smoke generated during cooking. InfiniteEARTH plansto provide every family bordering the project area with anEnvirofit stove. This program will not only reduce resources usedfor medical treatment and thus improve the health andlivelihoods of community members, but will also decrease illegallogging inside the Project Area, thereby preserving carbon stocksand habitat for biodiversity.without light after the sunset, since they do not have access togrid-­‐connected electricity.The unavailability of electricity and, consequently, lighting in suchrural areas affects not only the lifestyle of the inhabitants butalso the economy, the culture, and the safety of communities.Without lighting, the majority of working activities must besuspended, and productivity is significantly penalized. Reading,studying, and interacting with other people become activitiesmore difficult to realize when the sunlight is no longer available.In much of the world, these communities still create light bytraditional means by using fire, while more advancedcommunities may use candles or kerosene lamps.All of these methods have their own disadvantages includingcost, indoor air pollution (exposure to smoke and toxic fumes),fire risk and environmental degredation, while flashlightspowered by batteries are used as portable sources of light forintermittent use.Examples of the Envirofit B1100 Clean Cook StoveLow Maintenance -­‐ Small Scale Solar Lighting. Sincethe dawn of mankind, fire (light) has been one of ourmost coveted technologies. It is hard for manypeople to imagine living at night without being ableto obtain light at the flick of a switch. However, about half ofhumanity (from China to Latin America, from India to Africa) livesThese sources are cheaper than any form of electricity. On theother hand, the low efficiency, the poor quality of the light andthe intrinsic fire risk of all combustion light sources supports theuse of electric lighting in off-­‐grid locations.Among the various possibilities to fulfill this need, solar LEDlighting solutions are gaining more and more consideration.These solutions combine the use of an ecological and renewableenergy source with an efficient way to convert energy into light.140