About 20% of the Earth’s population – roughly 1.5 billion people – live without electricity. Mostly, these people are in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, along with some in Latin America and the Middle East.
Without electricity, access to food, modern medical care, sanitation, clean water, and safety after dark are all difficult challenges.
Awareness of the problem of energy poverty is growing and the famous and powerful are increasingly trying to do something about it. Often, the solution they try to implement is in the form of solar energy.
Oprah Winfrey has solarized schools in Africa. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding development of a solar-powered portable toilet. But not all the funds come from celebrities. Crowd funding is also starting to play a role in these projects.
A leading force in this global effort is the Solar Electric Light Fund (or SELF), which has completed solar projects in more than 20 countries, partnering with many governments, institutions, businesses and foundations.
Efforts include solar-powered drip irrigation systems and pumps, refrigeration for perishable foodstuffs such as fish, and general electrification. With its Solar Market Garden program, SELF is helping communities overcome food scarcity and develop viable income from the sale of crops. In places where infrastructure is primitive and the cost of extending transmission lines into new regions is prohibitively expensive, solar technology is the path to modern life.
Solar technology is more than just an environmental technology; it is also a humanitarian technology.
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Web Links
Solar Electric Light Fund
Photo, taken on February 10, 2011, courtesy of USFWS Mountain Prairie via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.