Support for India's rural population

EPCOS is backing an initiative to promote the use of renewable energy in rural India. To further this aim, it is donating 20,000 euros to the Karl Kuebel Foundation that heads up the project.

A global outlook and cultural diversity are deeply ingrained in everything TDK does. With development and production sites, sales offices, employees, customers and partners in many countries, the company has cultivated a keen sense of solidarity with local populations wherever it has a presence. When looking for a suitable project to support, it was therefore only logical to concentrate on a country in which it already does business. Another requirement was for the thematic focus of the initiative to fit in seamlessly with TDK business context.

Thanks to the Karl Kuebel Foundation, a project has now been found that meets precisely these conditions. TDK currently has three factories and numerous sales offices in India, employing around 2700 people. At the same time, renewable energy applications are one of the megatrends that are driving component business worldwide.

Nurturing environmental awareness and providing practical assistance

The project focuses on 5000 people who belong to small farming or landless families in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The staff of the foundation organize information events in the region to foster greater environmental awareness among the local population. Eco-friendly technologies are presented and people are shown how to use them. Locals thus learn better ways to protect and make sustainable use of their natural resources. Two of the aims of the project are to reduce the use of wood as a fuel by 30 percent and to equip at least 50 percent of the target communities with smokeless ovens and solar lamps.

The switch to solar lamps realized by the project will avoid around 0.1 tons of CO₂ per year that would otherwise be caused by using kerosene lamps. Besides contributing to a cleaner environment, these robust lamps provide a reliable light source to help children read, write and do their schoolwork even after sunset, for example. This in turn will improve the communities' long-term educational and income prospects.

Collaboration with a recognized partner

The Karl Kuebel Foundation has borne the Seal of Approval awarded to charities by the German Central Institute for Social Issues (DZI) since 2006.The seal attests to the charity's prudent financial management and its transparent use of donations. In 2010, the Karl Kuebel Foundation invested a total of around 10 million euros in charitable projects, nearly half of this sum being channeled into projects outside Germany.

Find out more about the project EPCOS is supporting.

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