In Haiti and Rwanda, Renewable Energy Helps Power National
Recovery At the close of a summer in which environmental news
was dominated largely by record temperatures, devastating
drought in the U.S. Midwest, and lackluster progress at the
Rio+20 summit, reasons for optimism can seem few and far
between. But in two seemingly unlikely places—countries commonly
(though simplistically) associated with poverty, ecological
disaster, and violence—renewable energy projects are
demonstrating their ability not only to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, but to power economic and social recovery. |Solar
panels stacked atop the roof of Mirebalais National Teaching
Hospital just north of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. (Partners in
Health)| In both Haiti and Rwanda, recent stories of progress
and achievement reveal how renewables are powering national
development from the ground up. Haiti: Building back better In
the wake of Haiti’s disastrous 2010 earthquake, which thrust the
country once more into the international spotlight as tra