Renewable Energy and Education Support (REES) System
The Renewable Energy and Education Support (REES) System includes an energy generating (usually solar) and billing system, conferencing system and a large offline education eLibrary (eg. RACHEL eLibrary). To help cover the cost of its ongoing maintenance and an Internet connection, part of the electricity produced by this system is sold to the local community. The remaining electricity is provided to a local school, college or university along with access to its communication system and offline education eLibrary. In this way, this REES system can provide sustainable power, communications and educational resources to this nearby educational institution.
Each of the components of the REES System have been successfully implemented by us or our partners. The first key component is the solar power system to provide power to the training center and some people in the community. The personnel from Infrastructure for Sustainable Development (i4SD) have been installing and improving these power systems in communities for over 4 years. Next, our Conferencing eStation has been in use in Afghanistan for over 4 years and continues to be refined. Finally, the initial sections of our education eLibrary (e.g., RACHEL) were created by World Possible over 5 years ago and it continues to expand.