Solar Lighting to Rural India - MWH Contributes $50,000 USD

The donation supports The Energy and Resources Institute’s (TERI) Lighting a Billion Lives program giving non-polluting & reliable solar lighting to about 2,500 villagers and reducing CO2 emissions by 750 tonnes over the solar lantern’s useful life of 10 years.

Broomfield, Colo., Jan. 31, 2012 - MWH Global, a sustainable engineering company, today announced a $50,000 USD donation to The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), an India-based, non-profit research organization focused on finding solutions for critical energy, environmental and sustainable development issues. The funds will directly support TERI’s Lighting a Billion Lives program that aims to bring light into the lives of rural communities through solar lighting.

In India alone, 61 million rural households use kerosene and wicker lamps for lighting. Inadequate lighting has a direct impact on the livelihood, health, environment and safety of these rural residents. Lighting a Billion Lives, a program that launched in 2008, sets up a solar charging station in energy poor villages and offers certified, bright and quality solar lanterns for rent to the local community. Each village charging station is managed and operated by a local entrepreneur who leases the lanterns to village residents for an affordable fee, creating opportunities for renewable energy education and entrepreneurship in the villages.

The donation supports the multi-faceted climate change commitment program MWH developed through its partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in 2007 to advocate for sustainable practices, reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions and educate young people in our communities on the water cycle, energy use and climate change. It is estimated that the MWH donation will help create renewable energy infrastructure for 13 villages in rural India, giving non-polluting and reliable solar lighting to about 2,500 villagers and reducing CO2 emissions by 750 tonnes over the solar lantern’s useful life of 10 years further expanding the firm’s commitment to sustainability and renewable energy projects. TERI has also committed to CGI to implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, including climate change.

The contribution to the Lighting a Billion Lives program was made through the MWH Caring Foundation, Inc. The foundation was established in 2002 to fund charitable and educational causes that align with the MWH purpose of Building a Better World.

“Our purpose of Building a Better World is inherent in the way we do business and help the communities where our employees work and live,” said Alan Krause, president and CEO of MWH. “MWH and our MWH Caring Foundation are proud to support and partner with organizations like TERI that leave a lasting impact on people and the planet.”

To date, the MWH Caring Foundation has donated $800,000 USD to charitable organizations. Previous donations include the Queensland Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal in Australia the Armed Forces Foundation, Water for People, and President's Relief Fund for Earthquake Victims in Pakistan, among others.

Learn more about how MWH is committed to Building a Better World by visiting the MWH Corporate Responsibility page.

About MWH
MWH, globally driving the wet infrastructure sector, is leading the world in results-oriented management services, technical engineering, construction services and solutions to create a better world. The wet infrastructure sector encompasses a full range of water related projects and programs from water supply, treatment and storage, dams, water management for the natural resources industry and coastal restoration to renewable power and environmental services. MWH is a private, employee-owned firm with offices in 34 countries on six continent including six offices located in India with 400 employees. For more information visit the Web site at www.mwhglobal.com.

About Lighting a Billion Lives (LaBL)
LaBL is a unique and measurable sustainability initiative that effectively demonstrates how public-private-people partnership easily supports developmental schemes and initiatives particularly in the area of rural energy access. LaBL is a TERI initiative that aims to enable energy-impoverished communities across the globe to access clean and reliable sources of lighting through solar technologies in an attempt to improving their quality of life. LaBL provides a flexible entrepreneurship based energy service model in which solar charging stations (SCS) are set up in energy poor villages.

About: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
From microbiology to global climate change, from smoke-filled rural kitchens to plush corporate boardrooms, from schoolchildren to heads of state—no sphere of human endeavor is unfamiliar to TERI. Headed by world-renowned economist and Head of the Nobel Prize winning UN Climate panel, Dr. R K Pachauri, TERI is best described as an independent, not-for-profit research institute focused on energy, environment, and sustainable development and devoted to efficient and sustainable use of natural resources.
A dynamic and flexible organisation established in 1974, all activities in TERI move from formulating local and national level strategies to suggesting global solutions to critical energy and environment-related issues. Headquartered in New Delhi, TERI has established regional offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Guwahati and Mukhteshwer in the Himalaya’s and International centers in Japan, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Washington DC, London and Utrecht, The Netherlands.

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