SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

by Tale Weavers &
The Red Elephant Foundation

On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable TALE
Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development weavers
— adopted by world leaders in
September 2015 at an historic UN weaving tales, breaking stereotypes
Summit — officially came into force.

Over the next fifteen years, with these
new Goals that universally apply to all,
countries will mobilize efforts to end all
forms of poverty, fight inequalities and
tackle climate change, while ensuring
that no one is left behind.

Stories for Awareness is a collaboration
between The Red Elephant Foundation
and Tale Weavers to engage with
children and build awareness around the
17 Sustainable Development Goals.

This story throws light on SDG 7:
Affordable and Clean Energy.

Story: Kirthi Jayakumar
Illustrations: Vini Agarwal

The summer vacations had finally

arrived! Vasanthi and Anando were very
excited about going to visit their friends,
Ashay and his sister Raakhee.
It had been a long time since Vasanthi
and Anando had seen Ashay and
Raakhee since they moved away from
the city to live in a farm in the suburbs.
From all the lovely letters Ashay and
Raakhee had written to them, they
gathered that the two of them were
having a lot of fun living around farm
animals, a beautiful river and lots of
greenery.



Vasanthi and Anando sat

in the back seat of their car
as their mother drove them
towards the suburbs.
As they drove by, their
father pointed out some
important things on the
way for them to see. “Look,
Anando and Vasanthi,
do you see those large
buildings with smoke
billowing out of their roof?”
asked their father.
“Yes, papa!” they said in
unison, their voices filled
with wonder.





“Those are factories,” explained their mother. “Do

you remember the time when you asked me whether we
make cars in the office, and I told you we make them in
factories?”
“Yes, ma!” said Vasanthi, her voice filled with pride.
“Well, this is where it’s made! But, sadly, these
factories also pollute the atmosphere around us,
and that can be harmful. So we take care to be careful
when we dispose of our waste and pollutants,” said
their mother.
“We also do that at home, don’t we? Papa, remember
how you took all the leftover vegetables and made
them into “come pose”?” asked Anando, innocently.
“Not come pose, Anando! Compost!” said Vasanthi, and
the two of them giggled.



Soon, they reached Ashay’s and Raakhee’s

house. Their father welcomed them, but Ashay
and Raakhee were nowhere to be seen.

“Where is Ashay? Where is Raakhee?” asked
Anando, curiously.

“Go on upstairs! The two of them are in the
terrace, helping their mother fix our solar
panels!” said their mother.

Anando and Vasanthi rushed up

to the terrace, curious about what
their friends were doing.
What were solar panels, wondered
Vasanthi. Was it a solar system
of their own, wondered Anando.
By the time they could ask each
other, they reached the terrace.
Ashay, Raakhee and their mother
were positioning a big rectangle
filled with shiny, blue-grey glass-
like squares, and making it stand.
They were almost done, when
they saw Vasanthi and Anando,
and in their great excitement at
seeing each other, they jumped,
cheered and hugged each other.



“What are you up to,

here, Ashay?” asked Anando,
as Raakhee led them back
downstairs.

“We were fixing our very own
solar panels!” said Ashay,
beaming.

“What is a solar panel?” Vasanthi
curiously asked the question that
was on her mind all this while.

“Is it your own solar system?”
Anando asked, amazed.

“Well, it is our very own energy
system!” said Raakhee.



They reached downstairs,

and sat down under the fan.
“Children, help yourselves
to some juice,” said Ashay’s
and Raakhee’s father.
“It’s nice and cold, too!”
The children ran up to the
table and took a glass of
orange juice each, straight
out of the fridge.
Anando finally asked the
question that was on his
mind all this while. “Why
do you need your own
energy?”



“Energy powers everything, Anando!” explained

Ashay.
“Yes, that’s right. You see, the cold juice you’re
drinking? It’s cold because the fridge is working on
electricity!” said Raakhee.
“But my teacher said that fridges cause pollution in the
form of Chloro Fluoro Carbons that have caused a hole
in Ozone Layer!” said Anando.
“That’s correct, Anando. That is exactly why we need
solar energy,” explained Ashay.

“You see, the sun is the biggest source of energy that

we have! Imagine, if we collect even 0.1% of the sun’s
energy that reaches the earth, we could supply the entire
planet with energy. Did you know, the sun helps all of
us gain energy?”

“No, Ashay! Tell us!” said

Vasanthi.

“The sun has produced
energy for billions of years,
right? Through this time,
it has helped plants gain
energy to make food, through
photosynthesis.

Some animals eat plants, so
they get that energy. Some
animals eat other animals,
and humans can be both,
vegetarian and non-vegetarian.
That way, all living beings get
energy!” said Ashay.



“Now this energy can also

be converted into electricity to
power our homes and cities!”
began Raakhee.
“One way is by using something
called solar cells – exactly like
the ones you saw on our roof!
They produce no air pollutants
or carbon di oxide! And so,
when we use this electricity, it
reduces the harmful impact of
our devices like the fridge!”
“WOW! So we are making
the earth cleaner by using
solar energy?” asked Anando,
amazed.





“That’s right, Anando! Nature

is full of sources of energy -
sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves,
and even the earth’s own heat,
also called geothermal heat!

Because they are found in nature
in great abundance, they are
renewable.

If we make the choice to switch
over to renewable energy, we
can save our planet and avoid
pollution!” said Ashay.

“Will you join us in using
solar energy too, Vasanthi and
Anando?” asked Raakhee.

The two of them nodded gleefully.

Their mother, who was listening to
Ashay’s and Raakhee’s explanation,
said, “When we go back, we are going
to install our very own solar energy
panels!”

The End



Tale Weavers is an initiative that

aims to engage with children and the
youth through stories that challenge
stereotypes and break the barriers in
creating a just society.
​
We welcome you to our world of stories
where simple conversations, colorful
illustrations, and powerful characters
help break the stereotypes and create
an inclusive learning space which is
free of bias - be it gender, religion, race,
nationality or ethnicity.

The Red Elephant Foundation is an

initiative that is built on the foundations
of story-telling, civilian peacebuilding
and activism for sensitisation on
all drivers of peace - gender, race,
nationality, colour and orientation.

The initiative is titled “Red Elephant”
to stand out as a vehicle that projects
stories that must never be forgotten:
stories that show you such courage that
you should never forget, and stories that
show the world such profound lessons
that the world should never forget. In
doing so, the initiative aims at creating
awareness and opening up channels
of communication towards creating
societies of tolerance, peacebuilding
and equality.