Bangladeshi officials have announced that there are now over one million homes powered by solar energy in the country.  In a flurry of expansion, Bangladesh went from 7,000 solar-powered homes in 2002 to the one million mark only 9 years later.
The reason solar power has caught on so quickly there is that most rural homes are off the electricity grid and renewable energy is the easiest way to for those people to get access to power.  Approximately 60 percent of the population doesn’t have access to reliable electricity, so non-governmental organizations have been working in the country to provide low-cost loans for solar panel installations.
The country hit the one million milestone 18 months ahead of schedule and officials believe that there will be 2.5 million solar-powered homes by 2015.
via Yale e360
(Source: www.ecogeek.org )