A new era of SDGs – Kens. co;ltd under his associated partner company GOR ( GOODS ON ROOF) has installed an LED lantern power station at primary school in Benin 2021.
The Republic of Benin is located in West Africa with a population of approximately 11 million. As you move from the city to the suburbs, the number of utility poles will gradually decrease. A rural town with no electricity. In elementary school, the brightness of the classroom was influenced by the weather.
To improve this situation, this year, a Japanese general incorporated association has begun efforts to install “film-type solar panels” on the roofs of elementary schools. Compared to the conventional glass type, it is thinner and lighter, so there is no need to reinforce the roof.
In fact, installing solar panels in elementary schools had the effect of not only illuminating the classroom. A “lantern” charging station is installed in one room of the school building. It is said that it is rented out to children for 20 yen a day. This lantern can be used as a home light and can also be used to charge smartphones. In fact, in the Republic of Benin, smartphones have become very popular as a means of remittance, but because there is no electricity, it is necessary to go out to the city and charge them.
Nobuhiro Kawaguchi, Managing Director of General Incorporated Association “GOOD ON ROOFS”: You have to go to the city for 3-4 hours to charge your smartphone. If you can rent a lantern at an elementary school, that kind of thing can be solved at once. As a parent, you can’t borrow a lantern unless you send your child to school. You will tell your child, “Go to school instead of farming.”
Nobuhiro Kawaguchi, Managing Director of General Incorporated Association “GOOD ON ROOFS”:
Urban areas are as well-developed as Japan. However, if you drive for 30 minutes to 1 hour, a completely different world will spread. There are by far more people living in the suburbs, so I would like Japanese companies to take a look around at what they can use the technology they already have. If you think about it with plus alpha, I think that a very big blue ocean is spreading there.
