Sustainable + Available, energising our future leaders
By Sophie Stewart
The Leadership Review
Merging his passion for education and the environment, social impact entrepreneur and humanitarian, Simon Doble, is solving energy poverty and climate change one light at a time through SolarBuddy.
SolarBuddy is a Brisbane based charity with a global reach, helping to engage the future generation while eradicating energy poverty. Founded by Mr Doble in 2016, SolarBuddy has delivered more than 120,000 lights to children, creating more than 20,000,000 safe study hours across 19 countries such as Papua New Guinea and Sub-Saraha Africa.
Mr Doble enjoyed a highly successful career having founded an environmentally focused building company and worked for the UNHCR and their innovation committee, designing solar-powered refugee tents, still used globally to this day. In 2011, Mr Doble stumbled across a devastating article exposing the severity of energy poverty around the world, and how this affects children’s education and health. The TIME magazine article, The Worst Kind of Poverty: Energy Poverty, was his call to action. Almost a decade has passed since the TIME article, yet 800 million people still live in energy poverty. Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon poignantly states, “Energy poverty condemns billions to ill health, unfulfilled futures and repeated cycles of poverty.”
“Millions of people are plunged into darkness every night, depending on primitive forms of energy like charcoal and firewood to ignite their way through the night,” says Mr Doble. “These forms of energy have a devastating impact on the health and well-being, economic stability, educational outcomes and the environment they live in.” SolarBuddy’s research reveals that four million deaths are caused by indoor air pollution, and up to 40 per cent of annual incomes are spent on lighting and cooking fuels. Furthermore, many children are unable to study after dusk.
“I have three young children and was afforded good schooling myself. I was empowered by my parents not to shy away from the issues of the world and feel empowered,” says Mr Doble. “I wanted to give that opportunity to children living in energy poverty by giving them the means to study after dark and improve their quality of living.” Mr Doble was determined to find a solution that generated immediate impact, away from mainstream channels such as the United Nations, speaking volumes to his leadership style that practises impact and positive change above all.
As an established inventor and entrepreneur, Mr Doble developed SolarBuddy’s first product, JuniorBuddy in 2016; a solar-powered compact light designed to eliminate energy poverty. The small light is sleek, portable and holds 10 hours of light when charged in the sun. To Mr Doble, harnessing renewable energy was the obvious solution to help solve energy poverty, rather than trying to build new infrastructure that relies on non-renewable resources. “In developed nations like Australia, our houses are fed by the main grid. This has ongoing costs and contributes to climate change,” says Mr Doble. “People in energy poverty are living off the grid. In many ways it is those living in energy poverty that is driving innovation for a renewable off-the-grid solution to energy poverty.”
SolarBuddy’s impact has been swift and lifechanging for many, as Mr Doble and SolarBuddy set out to unite a global community to gift six million solar lights to children living in energy poverty by 2030. To measure their impact, SolarBuddy has aligned its programs with the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. “Once we created SolarBuddy and perfected our solar packs, we took it to the UN to help them reach their Sustainable Development Goals,” says Mr Doble.
SolarBuddy’s unique delivery is its unique point of difference. Mr Doble is committed to engaging and educating those lucky enough to live with energy at our fingertips. The lights are assembled in Australia; during this process, children and families learn how the lights work and receive information and activities that encourage collaboration, inter-cultural understanding and critical thinking. “Our Solar Buddy programs bring energy poverty to the forefront of education and make it a topic of conversation, rather than an afterthought,” says Mr Doble. Currently, the small compact light you see is Junior Buddy, aimed at children under the age of 12. The children build them, learn and then donate them to children living in energy poverty. Today SolarBuddy has educated more than 200,000 children through their education programs. “Our next venture in development is StudentBuddy, a more complex and powerful solar system to be programmed and assembled by older school children. The pack incorporates USB charging capabilities and a 3D printing accessory to make the light more versatile and practical.”
“Our Solar Buddy programs bring energy poverty to the forefront of education and make it a topic of conversation, rather than an afterthought. “Solar Buddy inspires students to consider how innovative design solutions can transform lives,” says Mr Doble. SolarBuddy’s programs have also been widely successful in the corporate sphere, as organisations donate SolarBuddy packs in large quantities. The social impact organisation has received widespread recognition from the United Nations and other major global players, partnering with the likes of Google, WWF, Flight Centre and Origin Energy.
Mr Doble and the SolarBuddy team’s work has been recognised as a critical innovation to help eradicate energy poverty. His leadership is proactive and forward-thinking with the needs of others truly at the crux of his work. “We are dedicated to educating and empowering future leaders to be skilled in sustainable technologies and versed in equity issues,” says Mr Doble.
