Welcome! This blog presents the details of a prototype village lighting project. I hope you will read follow the links that describe the project details.
Posted by: Mitch Silver | January 24, 2010
An Affordable Village Lighting Project
Posted in Project Overview | Tags: better light, Himalayas, kerosene lighting, LED lighting, Nepal, Nepal development project, Village lighting
The Village Lighting Project 
My initial response is that it was a lot of information. Add pictures and video whenever you can. Maybe start with the caption of each section, print a few lines to give readers the gist of the section and then hide the rest with a continue button which can be clicked which will then show the rest of the section.
Also remember that you can deviate from the topic from time to time as it is your blog. Funny family stories, other aid projects that interest you and etc.
One of my favorite blogs is http://addictedtobicycles.blogspot.com/. This guy is to the point, sometimes irreverent, sometimes off topic but always a joy visit.
Throw up a current weather report for Nepal. People are always interested in what the weather is. Put a music list on the site, maybe some hot Nepalese hip hop. Links to your sponsors and their products is also a good idea.
I hope I was a help and not a pain.
Donnie
By: Donnie McGean on January 24, 2010
at 7:46 am
Donnie –
Thanks for the valuable input. I’ve restructured the site, and added links and images. It’s coming along, but certainly lots more work to do. I think I’ll pass on the hip hop for now and although irreverence is my middle name, I’ll maintain a more serious tone for now.
Namaste!
– Mitch
By: Mitch Silver on January 25, 2010
at 7:10 am
These folks have a similar mission and might be able to give you some advice on your project – Light Up The World ( http://www.lutw.org/).
An article called Let There Be Light in the Winter 2010 edition of Verge magazine ( http://www.vergemagazine.com/index.php) describes one of their projects.
By: Lorraine on February 21, 2010
at 1:36 pm
Thanks for your comment. I am familiar with LUTW and some of the other organizations doing work with solar powered lighting in villages. Our approach is different. We are using different lights: our lanterns are portable and very high quality and produce a very even quality light. We are designing the system with a centralized charging location. This has significant cost savings (as compared to a PV panel for every home), as there is only one solar panel (or panels) in one location. By organizing the village to cooperatively take ownership of the project, every household in the village will get lighting. The social organization should also provide additional benefits to the village. We are also providing backup batteries for the lanterns and as these are standard AA rechargeable NiMH batteries, costs will continue to decrease and they will become more widely available in remote locations. Stay tuned.
By: Mitch Silver on February 21, 2010
at 1:54 pm