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2 May 2002
Blessings rain down for a solar future
The Thai village of Ban Krut is the site of a proposed coal-fired power plant, but today the community received from Greenpeace the kind of energy they truly want: clean, renewable solar power.
Directors
from 26 Greenpeace offices gathered today in Ban Krut, Thailand, and received
the blessing of Buddhist monks after handing over two systems of solar
panels to the local community (see
full press release).
Greenpeace installed the solar panels at a temple in Ban Krut and at a school in the village of Bo Nok to show the Thai government that the local community is serious in its desire for renewable energy alternatives to the proposed coal fired power stations.
For the past 8 years, the people of Ban Krut and Bo Nok in the province of Prachuap Khiri Khan have opposed plans by US energy company Edison and the Thai company Gulf Power to build two coal fired power stations in the region. A consortium of US, Japanese, Hong Kong and Thai companies is funding the proposed plants.
Greenpeace
executive director Gerd Leipold said, "Thailand does need energy
-- energy from the sun, wind and the ocean. But not from dirty, old fashioned
technology dumped on them by big international companies like Edison."
"Two billion people globally live without access to electricity. Greenpeace is asking governments at the Earth Summit to kick start the renewables age by committing to massive investments in safe, clean power to these people without harming the climate," said Leipold.
In January when the Prime Minister of Thailand visited the site of the proposed coal-fired power plant, 20,000 protestors met him. He is expected to announce a decision on whether or not to cancel the plants in the very near future.
Links:
The full
press release
In-depth information on the project:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/cleanenergynow/edison_out.htm
.