Audi and Litro de Luz install lampposts and solar lamps in Amazonian communities

“The partnership between Audi do Brasil, Audi Environmental Foundation and Litro de Luz was born with a very clear purpose of bringing light to those without stable energy connectivity, without CO₂ emissions. After following and being part of this unforgettable action, I can say that this is one of the projects that best shows the essence of the project partners, companies that seek clean solutions for everyone,” says Antonio Calcagnotto, chargeable for institutional affairs and Sustainability at Audi do Brasil and one of many volunteers throughout the installations in the riverside communities. “It was a joy and satisfaction to be one of the volunteers bringing improved quality of life and safety to the residents. We could make a little difference for these people,” provides Calcagnotto.

The motion in Amazon

The Litro de Luz motion in the Amazon began lengthy earlier than April twentieth, when all of the volunteers arrived in Manaus. To outline which communities will obtain the lighting options, a working group visited riverside communities and discovered three locations that suffered from the dearth of vitality in the area: Nova Canaã, Nova Jerusalém, and Lindo Amanhecer.

Some of the communities situated on the riverside of the Rio Negro have an influence generator that gives electrical energy to the native faculties and Basic Health Units, however they work for brief intervals of the day and not all the time commonly. In the Nova Canaã group, for instance, there had been no electrical energy since December in the college. Even in the communities the place the diesel generator labored, the interval of use was restricted, throughout college actions. Therefore, various options have been essential for the group members to have extra safety and illumination throughout the intervals with out energy, particularly at evening.

“On the evening of the first day that we installed the poles and delivered the lamps, we could already see the improvement in the quality of life and safety of the riverside residents, not to mention the evident joy with the solutions, stamped on the faces of the children and their families” says Calcagnotto.

For every group, two options have been offered: the battery-powered LED lantern and the LED poles charged with photovoltaic plates. The lantern has a PVC construction, with PET, LED bulbs, and an applicable measurement that permits mobility throughout nocturnal actions, inside and exterior the properties of the group. The LED pole, however, is assembled with a lithium battery (excessive efficiency and low upkeep) and positioned in strategic locations with a big motion of individuals in the communities. Both use solar plates for charging and, in the case of the poles, they continue to be lit all through the evening, with computerized daytime charging.

Tried and examined resolution

“The project was created after being inspired by the solution of Alfredo Moser, from Minas Gerais, who brought an alternative of lighting in PET bottles. It was already successful all over the world before returning to our country.We are always looking for sustainable alternatives to offer to the communities that participate in our actions, bringing light to everyone who needs it”, says Laís Higashi, president of Litro de Luz Brasil.

The methodology utilized by the NGO Litro de Luz makes the meeting course of to be carried out by way of engagement with the communities, by the residents themselves, so that they create a bond and maintain the options to final so long as doable. Local ambassadors are shaped in every group in order that the contact with the NGO is everlasting and the options have the eye throughout their use.

In addition to upkeep, one of many necessities of the Audi Environmental Foundation was that the batteries, once they lose capability and usability, be returned for recycling, and Litro de Luz will work to switch them.

For Rüdiger Recknagel, Managing Director of the Audi Environmental Foundation, “it is extremely important for the Audi Environmental Foundation to carry out sustainable actions with such special purposes, especially in the Amazon region. By signing this partnership with the NGO Litro de Luz in Brazil, we feel that our role is being fulfilled by positively impacting more than 100 families from riverside communities in the Amazon.”