2050: Verania Andria – The Solar Weaver 

What is your job? 

Senior Advisor for Sustainable Energy, UNDP Indonesia. I supervise our energy portfolio. I also advise management on new initiatives and help mobilize resources to support Indonesia’s clean energy and climate agenda, and develop and share new programs and policies with stakeholders. Our energy projects which comprise hydro, biomass, solar, and energy efficiency resources within the portfolio strive to speed the availability of clean energy in remote areas, to spark investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and to assist the government and stakeholders to build enabling policy, institutional, and capacity-building environmentS.

How are you helping cool the planet through your work? 

By boosting the availability of renewable energy on our grid in cities, and by replacing diesel fuel with renewable sources in rural areas. Our work improving buildings’ energy efficiency also helps decrease emissions by reducing electricity consumption. Among our other programs are a Sustainable Energy Fund for solar PV (photovoltaic) rooftop installation on homes and medium-sized businesses. It provides roughly 2,300 cash-back vouchers to consumers who install a total of 5 MegaWatts of solar panels on their rooftop. That adds up to 1.2 tCO2eq/year fewer greenhouse emissions. Standardization also helps. By guiding commercial facilities to earn ISO 50001 Energy Management Certification they will cut energy consumption up to 30% with little investment. Also noteworthy is our ACCESS project, comprising 23 mini-grid solar PV power plants in un-electrified remote villages. A total of 1.2 Mega Watts in solar power from these plants will replace diesel fuel commonly used for electricity and water pumping.

What most surprised you about your job? 

The constantly challenging nature of my work. Solving development problems encourages me to bring my best skills to bear, to solve problems.

What can we do to get more young people into public service?

Through media narratives that show how those in public service solve problems daily. We can also provide rooms, resources, and facilities for young people to pool efforts to solve big problems. Generating enthusiasm about the satisfaction of contributing our skills to do good for ourselves, for others, and for the planet, on a grand scale by working with large institutions that share one’s vision will also inspire young people to join the government. By working with UNDP, I can pursue my passion and interest, for people and the planet.

 

 

20 People Helping Cool the Planet by 2050

Carolyn Whelan

Carolyn is a writer, editor and analyst who covers the nexus between business and social justice issues. She broke into journalism at the Rio Earth Summit where she interviewed Al Gore and environmental pioneer David Brower. Topics covered since then range from climate change and higher education costs to drugs pricing, geopolitical strife, business ethics, artificial intelligence, gene editing, alternative energy and the search for good jobs -- and innovation in all these areas. Her pieces, reported from Europe, the US and South America have appeared in Fortune, Newsweek, the International Herald Tribune, the Wall Street Journal and SciAm.com. Previously she worked for the Economist Intelligence Unit, Barrons.com, Columbia Business School, WWF, the UN and PwC. Carolyn is fluent in French and Spanish and resides in Brooklyn.

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