LIRE 5th Year Anniversary
Friday, 25 November 2011
Five years ago, Lao PDR saw the birth of its first institute dedicated to renewable energy. The end of November 2011 marks the 5th anniversary of this unique place, which enables the development of environmental and energy solutions in Lao PDR.
The Lao Institute for Renewable Energy (LIRE) is a local non-profit organization with the mission to continuously look at a range of alternative energy solutions. Unfortunately, rural populations usually pay the price for their limited access to technology by living in difficult conditions. LIRE works to alleviate this poverty by providing affordable and appropriate solutions. Over the last 5 years LIRE has expanded and begun to address more basic needs relating to environmental concerns. LIRE’s expansion confirms its founders’ expectation about the need in Lao PDR for an independent organization dedicated to research, testing, modeling and implementation of alternative energy solutions and the answers to environmental issues.
Over 5 years, LIRE
- Has produced more than 60 data studies covering topics from agriculture, such as “Micronutrient of Jatropha fertilization”, rural electrification economic models, participation in the biofuels national policy, and technical studies, such as “Bio-Renewable Energy Financing Study”.
- Has produced over 10 manuals dedicated to end users, such has, “How to grow Jatropha curcas manual”, “Safety installation pico-hydro manual”, “Let’s learn water environment, hygiene and sanitation”, and “Water purification training manual”.
- Has welcomed more than 20 Lao interns and provided them with their first work experience.
- Has welcomed more than 12 international interns and 10 international volunteers.
LIRE has been proving its dynamic approach and the quality of its work for the past five years. Thanks to key funding partners (such as Sunlabob), LIRE has grown steadily and has been able to work with an increasing number of donors in order to integrate more diverse projects into our work in Lao PDR, such as the long term collaboration with BORDA on decentralised drinking water purification and wastewater treatment.
What to expect in the future
LIRE will register under the latest Lao decree to comply with NPA status. LIRE will welcome this opportunity to change its name to reflect the reality of its activities and create a new LIRE section dedicated to environmental management.
Nowadays, LIRE’s activities engage with climate change issues and we constantly work to meet the challenge of encouraging Lao PDR to adopt environmental solutions (including energy alternatives). LIRE with its diverse mix of staff from different backgrounds, both foreign and Lao, realises well the challenges in the development here. The primary needs are for local capacity building, training, and developing both knowledge and expertise in the area of sustainable development, especially with respect to economic, environmental, social development. This capacity and expertise gap is one of the key challenges that LIRE faces ahead in the years to come.
Five years ago, Lao PDR saw the birth of its first institute dedicated to renewable energy. The end of November 2011 marks the 5th anniversary of this unique place, which enables the development of environmental and energy solutions in Lao PDR.