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The Big Chill record label are releasing a downloadable album called Busking for SolarAid which features the artists that played on the SolarAid Buskers' Stage at The Big Chill festival this summer.

Last night saw the first of three events in the next two weeks in London to launch the celebrate the launch of the album! Featuring last night were acoustic performances by Oystar, Doppler Shift and Seeker.

Busking for SolarAid features Fran and Josh , Aleister Kelman, Nimmo & the Gauntletts, Dr Butler's Hatstand Medicine Band, Catrina Davies, James Tarling / Big Toe, Charlie and the Martyrs, Emily White, Archipelago, Marcina Arnold and more. 50% of the profits from the album, will go directly to SolarAid.

The next two launch events are on 25 and 28 November. For more info about these, please visit the Big Chill Label website..

SolarAid has been nominated for two more awards. This time, for the Archant London Environment Awards. The categories are for: Best Small Environmental Business and Environmentalist of the Year.

Our nominee for Environmentalist of the Year is Gwyn Roberts. Gwyn, who is currently in Egypt, is on his way from London to Cape Town overland in a part solar-powered vehicle, raising money and profile for SolarAid on his way.

Gwyn's vehicle which is powered, in part, by solar photovoltaic panels.

You can read about Gwyn's trip on his website or on Facebook or Twitter.

The winner of both these awards will be announced at a ceremony on Friday 20 Nov so watch this space!

Following weeks of preparations, we're just about to launch our macrosolar programme which will see us bring solar systems to schools across rural Kenya.

A special thank you has to go out to our franchisee Romonah who is particularly keen to see solar systems reach rural schools. Romonah has compiled a list of all the primary and secondary schools in her district (over 70 schools!). This list will enable us to contact the schools and invite them to apply for a solar system. So watch this space in the coming months as more and more schools turn on the lights!

For more up to date news from the field in Kenya, visit our Kenya blog.

SolarAid's Executive Director, NIck Sireau, recently met Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative.

ABOVE: President Bill Clinton congratulates SolarAid Executive Director Nick Sireau at the Clinton Global Initiative for SolarAid's new commitment to scale up a solar microfranchise network across East Africa.

If so, please visit our jobs page, to read about our latest paid and voluntary vacancies.

SolarAid is delighted to announce that it received special recognition by the judges at the Islington Giant Green Awards last night.

The panel expressed their admiration towards our organisation; which they felt has strong ambitions and is doing fantastic work in carbon reduction both in East Africa as well as here in Islington, London.

SolarAid volunteers and Interns were at the awards ceremony. From left: Christina Lott, Anna Nesbitt, Christina Liapi and Henry Mackintosh. Photo by Steven Woodward.

SolarAid has recently entered Islington's Giant Green Awards. We entered two awards within the 'small business' category for: Carbon Reduction and Innovation. However, the judging panel was so impressed by SolarAid's work and endeavours to run a sustainable organisation in London as well as in our programme countries that they put us forward for the Green Champion award too.

The council-led award scheme was set up in 2008 to encourage local businesses in Islington to lower their carbon emissions and support imaginative environmental schemes and innovation.

Below are just some of ways SolarAid's London office has tried to lower its impact on the environment:

• We use environmentally-friendly suppliers for all our printing, stationery, advertising and brand material.
• All of our newsletters and most of our communications with donors is in digital format to avoid printing and paper wastage.
• Our SolarAid t-shirts are made by the ethical clothing company howies who have strong green credentials.
• We never use air conditioning or fans in our office.
• All the furniture in our office is recycled or second-hand.
• We recycle all IT hardware including wireless routers, laptops and phones and send them out to our programmes in Africa when one of the staff is returning, to minimize waste.

The awards ceremony is on Tuesday 13 October so watch this green space!

SolarAid is excited to announce that this Sunday - 11 October 2009 - a team of adventurers will depart from London's Marble Arch, bound for Cape Town, South Africa.

Unlike most however, they won't be flying. Instead, the group will be driving the 18,000 miles. The OverlandintheSun team will drive through 18 countries in 10 months, aiming to raise an impressive £20,000 for SolarAid!

One third of the world's population has no access to electricity. Solar energy is often the cheapest, cleanest and most reliable solution. OverlandintheSun will be highlighting this.

Seeking to reduce the team's carbon footprints even further than that of avoiding everyday life in the UK for 10 months, the vehicle is partially powered by solar.

A Solar Vehicle
Up to 30% of an engine's power is used for equipment other than propelling the vehicle forward. The OverlandintheSun Landcruiser has 300 Watts of electricity-producing Solar Photovoltaic's (PV). This electricity will charge batteries that power the assisted steering and cooling fan. It will also power a kettle (all drinking water in Africa will need to be boiled) laptops, mobile phones, stereo, lights and a small fridge.

The vehicle that will be taking the team from London to Cape Town, via SolarAid's projects. The Toyota Landcruiser is fitted with solar PV to make it run more efficiently.

Gwyn Roberts - a long standing volunteer of SolarAid's - is leading the adventure. He will be accompanied by Ryan Sanderson-Smith and Shaun Lane. Gwyn has coupled this sense of adventure with a love of tinkering with solar technology and vehicles to create the 'OverlandintheSun' concept.

Leaving Europe by ferry to Tunisia, the team will then drive through Libya before travelling through Egypt. Christmas will be spent in Sudan, before crossing into the cooler highlands of Ethiopia. In the New Year the drive will take them into East Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi), visiting all of SolarAid's projects on the way. The team will enter South Africa in July 2010 - just as all eyes will be focusing on the Football World Cup.

On their trip, the team will be highlighting how solar energy can enable people to use light for education, improve communication by powering radios and mobile phones and improve health by powering vaccine fridges, pumping water and reducing the risk of burns or inhalation of harmful fumes emitted by kerosene lanterns or candles.

If you're based in London, why not come along and wave the team off at Marble Arch on Sunday 11 October from midday onwards? The team will leave at 4pm.

Please support OverlandintheSun and SolarAid by sponsoring the team here: www.justgiving.com/overlandinthesun/

For more info, go to: www.OverlandintheSun.com
Follow the team on Facebook by clicking here

Panasonic is working with SolarAid for the next six months, as part of its 'Talent for Tomorrow' programme. Panasonic will be working with us to improve our micro-solar products. The relationship came together through CAN Engage, a social enterprise that connects progressive corporate organisations to small enterprises.

Panasonic are providing SolarAid with support in a number of areas; product testing, quality assurance, sales forecasting, incentive schemes and marketing materials. They are also giving us legal advice on our protocols for Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction of Hazardous Wast (RoHW), helping us look in more depth at what goes into our products.

By putting these formalised processes in place, SolarAid can scale up to reach a larger community and provide high quality products at a fair and affordable price.

This is a great partnership that we're very excited about.

A SolarAid supporter, Helen Kemp, is walking the Great Wall of China for SolarAid. The adventure starts next weekend on 9 October. This will be Helen's first visit to the Great Wall and the first time she's done anything like this, so we're thrilled that she has chosen to support SolarAid!

Helen is taking part in an organised tour including around 40 other adventure-hungry fundraisers. The trip will take the group 10 gruelling days.

To sponsor Helen, please go to: www.justgiving.com/helensolaraid

Photo: Strape TV

If you're interested in taking part in an exciting and thrilling adventure yourself for SolarAid - from skydiving to climbing Kilimanjaro and from cycling in Vietnam to trekking in Iceland, check out Skyline events or visit our sponsored events page.

We wish Helen the best of luck in her adventure. Look out for updates and photos from Helen on SolarAid's Facebook page.