enPower.life at the Intersolar Europe 2022 in Munich: Success for solar energy and sustainability!

26th May 2022

The world’s leading trade fair for everything to do with solar energy takes place in Munich every year – Intersolar Europe. Under the motto “Connecting Solar Business”, solar companies and experts come together to get up to date on solar energy, solar technology, and the solar economy.

Of course, enPower.life was also present at Intersolar 2022 and we were able to exchange ideas with old and new friends from the solar industry. Things are looking good: Within Europe, Germany remains the leading solar market. The installed photovoltaic capacity in Germany is to be increased from the current 60 GW to at least 215 GW (by 2030) and 400 GW (by 2040).

A survey conducted by the German solar industry association Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft (BSW) at the beginning of May 2022 among more than 1,000 building owners in Germany showed that almost every sixth homeowner would like to install a solar system within the next year.

We look forward to continuing good cooperation with our partner companies and the positive development of solar energy.

enPower.life solar energy: A powerful solution to cushion spiking electricity prices in Uganda due to Ukraine war

21th April 2022

We have big news to share: enPower.life has ordered the solar panels and inverters for the 35 kWp solar plant for the sustainable business community Yujo Izakaya in Kampala, Uganda. We spoke to Hanif Rehemtulla, the founder and director of Yujo Izakaya. In the video he gives insights into how the war in Ukraine has affected the prices for electricity and wheat products in Uganda. As CEO of the Yujo Izakaya restaurant, after which the business community is named, he is looking forward to the upcoming installation of the solar plant: It will improve independence and help all companies to remain profitable, save costs, and lower CO₂ emissions.

For everyone who is still considering investing in this project (and benefiting from the attractive interest rates): Join us now! You can find out more and invest sustainably here:

To the current sustainable investments

Prefer reading to watching a video? Sroll down for the transcript!

Video transcript

Hello again!

I’m Hanif from Yujo Izakaya. I’m reaching out to give you an update on the solar plant installation for Yujo Izakaya. We have some great news this week: the contract has been signed with Equator Solar [enPower.life’s partner company, specialized in the installation of solar plants in East Africa] for our roof – yay! The first funds have been collected and the orders for the solar panels and the inverter have been placed. If all goes well, we’ll have everything up on the roof in a few months, and we’re thrilled! We are really overjoyed that our solar plant is coming soon.

We are experiencing a lot of pressure on prices for various things for the Yujo Izakaya restaurant. The prices for wheat and wheat flour have risen sharply. A lot of the grains for Uganda and East Africa come from Ukraine. And so the Ukraine war affects the price of the flour that goes into our pasta, our dumplings, and other items on our menu. Prices have only just started to go up and I think they will continue to do so throughout the year.

Energy costs have been hit even harder; the oil and gas prices and the resulting electricity prices. This is due to the use of fossil fuels for electricity production in Uganda, and this has a significant impact on our energy prices. So the installation of this solar system will really make a big difference, for us and for the tenants throughout the site; to offset the amount of carbon we put into the environment and keep our costs down for all of our businesses. So we are very much looking forward to the enPower.life solar plant coming soon.

And for those of you who are still considering investing sustainably – we hope you will take the opportunity to participate in the last investment round. We are really looking forward to this project. The solar panels will be installed right here on this roof behind us. I’m recording from up here with the three roofs as you can see. Here above the brewery Banange Breweries and Yujo Izakaya is where everything will sit and all the electricity will be produced for us by the sun. See you soon, I’ll be back with more info soon.

How can you compensate your carbon footprint and protect the environment with a small investment in an emerging market?

15 February 2022

Author: Behzad Aghababazadeh, CEO enPower.life Uganda SMC LTD

We started our journey at enPower.life with a successful round of crowdfunding and 192 investors who want to make an impact helped us raise an incredible 144,950 Euro. We allocated almost one forth of this investment to our first project at Aquarius Kigo Resort, the first 5-star eco-hotel in the region Kigo near Kampala, Uganda. But how can such a small investment of about 35,000 Euro in one small project make a difference and positively impact the environment in Uganda in a short period of time?

For the first phase of this project, we installed a solar power plant that is connected to the normal power grid. The grid connection is necessary, because without a battery we have no way of storing the solar energy, and if the sun does not shine, such as after sunset, and the hotel still needs energy, this energy will come from the grid.

Let’s look at the solar power generation from 26^th June 2021 when commercial operation commenced to date of writing this article on 10^th February 2022:

The chart demonstrates the different amounts of solar power that were generated during each month, accumulating to a total of 18,368 kWh.

But what does it mean in terms of the environmental impact? How much CO₂ did we save so far? How many trees would we need to safe an equal amount? How if we compare it to the number of kilometres that driven by an average passenger vehicle and the associated emissions? All these estimations have been done by our online monitoring platform provided by our inverter manufacturer, Fronius International GmbH and illustrated in the following picture:

From 26^th June 2021 to 10^th February 2022, the solar plant for the Aquarius Kigo Resort avoided a total of 9.73 tons of CO₂ emissions, similar to the amount that 250 tree seedlings grown over a 10-year period would sequester, or an average car would emit over the course of 39,065 km. 

As you can see with a small involvement in a small project a lot can be accomplished in short amount of time. So far, each investor invested in more than one tree (grown over 10 years!) or has already compensated the carbon emissions equal to driving more than 200 kilometres by car. And this investment is going to run for at least another 19.5 years!

So don’t wait, take action now and make a difference for the environment! Our target at enPower.life is helping and supporting our community to compensate all their carbon emissions, but we need your support and involvement. You can set targets and invest to compensate:

• all your carbon emissions caused by driving your car
• all your carbon emissions caused by cooking
• all your carbon emissions caused by travelling by airplane, train, bus, etc.
• all your carbon emissions caused by turning on your lamps, appliances, heating and cooling systems at home
• or all your carbon footprint

And the best: Whilst your investment helps you compensate your carbon emissions, you are actually going to make money yourself: We offer competitive interest rates higher than at any bank!

So act now and give us your target! Just send us an email to info@enpower.life and our team will help you accomplish your goal.

Early-Bird-Investments announcement: All details here! Meet our new client

Sorry, this entry is only available in DE.

(DE) Jetzt unverbindlich registrieren und Chance auf Early-Bird-Bonus sichern!

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COP26: The most important facts about the world’s biggest climate conference.

02 November 2021

COP stands for Conference of the Parties and is an annual climate conference. For three decades, heads of state, experts and climate activists have come together to talk about climate protection. The goal is to formulate an international response to climate change.

A milestone was the COP21 in Paris in 2015, at which 196 countries agreed to the so-called Paris Agreement and thus, to limit the global temperature rise to 2°C compared to pre-industrial temperatures – if possible, to 1.5°C. However, the countries did not have to specify any plans or measures to achieve the climate protection goal.

They now have to do so in the form of the so-called NDC’s (National Determined Contribution) at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. COP26 should actually have taken place last year but was postponed due to the corona pandemic and is now being hosted by Great Britain in partnership with Italy. Around 120 political leaders, 30,000 delegates, as well as 100,000 climate activists and demonstrators from 197 countries are expected. Some famous guests will also be present, including the Queen and the Pope.

The success of COP26 depends largely on how ambitious and how binding the plans of the individual countries are. In general, it can be said that the industrialized nations are the biggest contributors to climate change, the damage of which is most devastating in the developing countries. In order to help the developing countries make the urgently needed adaptations to climate change and to support measures to avoid further greenhouse gas emissions, the richer nations agreed at COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009 to make 1 billion US dollars available every year. But the countries did not agree on who pays how much, and the target was missed. By how much, however, is unclear: According to an article in Nature, there is major disagreement about how much the rich countries have given the developing countries: The rich countries say they paid a lot, but the poorer nations didn’t receive what was promised. Read more about this, here:

Nature Article

As a host, the United Kingdom has an outstanding responsibility: If the United Kingdom, as one of the richest nations, fails to meet its climate targets, it will be difficult to get other countries to act in a climate-friendly manner. The United Kingdom is facing critical questions: On the one hand, Great Britain has reduced its CO₂ emissions by 42% compared to 1990 levels, minimized the use of coal, and turned into the world’s largest producer of off-shore wind energy. But the political direction seems to be twofold: while the UK plans to invest £ 11.6 billion in international climate finance over the next five years, it will also invest £ 6 billion in fossil fuels.

The hope remains that the international community agrees on ambitious goals despite political disagreements such as between China and the USA, and that they work towards the achievement of their goals as soon as possible through binding agreements. One positive point is that the US rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement instantaneously after US President Joe Biden took office, following the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under former US President Donald Trump.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOwsFt981qc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12q3WcTJYgM

New enPower.life client: The sustainable Japanese-inspired restaurant Yujo Izakaya

05 October 2021

“The opportunity offered by enPower.life enables us to take the most significant step towards our sustainability goal so far. By harvesting the suns’ power during the day, we will reduce the strain on our local electricity grid and encourage others to follow our example, while at the same time drastically reducing our electricity costs.”

– Hanif Rehemtulla, director of the Yujo Izakaya restaurant in Kampala, Uganda

We welcome our new client, the Yujo Izakaya restaurant under the direction of Hanif Rehemtulla in the heart of Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

The kitchen specializes in Japanese-inspired dishes, and Hanif Rehemtulla is committed to making the dining experience at his restaurant an overall positive and sustainable experience: His dream is to ultimately absorb more CO2 than what is released. To get even closer to its goal, the Yujo Restaurant wants to cover its energy needs with solar energy in the future and is working with enPower.life to do this.

This also means that we will soon be able to offer you another sustainable investment offer! Because investments don’t have to be unethical 😊

We’ll keep you up to date!

Energy Payback Time: When does a solar plant contribute to climate protection?

21 September 2021

Before a solar plant can produce sustainable electricity, a lot of energy goes into the production of the solar panels. The question is: When does a photovoltaic systems start contributing to climate protection?

The answer lies within the so-called Energy Payback Time. The Energy Payback Time describes how long it takes for the energy system to produce the same amount that was required to manufacture the energy system in the first place. The higher the incoming solar radiation, the faster you can get the energy needed for the manufacturing process back. In addition, the grid quality and the electricity mix also play a role in the Energy Payback Time.

Now the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has determined the Energy Payback Time for roof-based solar systems. The study found that the Energy Payback Time for solar roof systems ranges from a minimum of 0.44 years in India and a maximum of 1.42 years in Canada. In Europe, the Energy Payback Time lies between 1 and 1.3 years. With 1.05 years, Sicily comes in first amongst the European countries. With a lifespan of 20 years, such a system can thus produce around 20 times the amount of energy that was needed to produce it.

The study was published in the Photovoltaics Report (PV Report) and looked at monocrystalline solar modules with an efficiency of 19.9% ​​that were produced in China. But how would the Energy Payback Time change if the modules were produced in the EU? According to the institute based in Freiburg, the Energy Payback Time would decrease from 1.05 to 0.97 years for a roof-top solar system in Sicily, and from 1.28 to 1.16 years for the average for the EU.

You can find the full report here:

Photovoltaic Report by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE

Image by Aron Visuals on Unsplash