Contemporary Issues and Current Solutions

There are many obstacles that lie in the path of providing electricity for the world's populations that do not currently have it. Many of these obstacles are technological. However, economic and political obstacles do exist. A great example of one and how it has affected the effort to get electricity to the populations that do not have it is occurring right now in India. Yet this conflict presents opportunities for new ways forward.

The headline in Forbes Magazine was “Investors Hope New IndiaGovernment Scraps Subsidies To Poor Farmers.” This article was published on 22 June 2014. It related the fact that India's wealthy business class is politically opposing the country's subsidies program. This program is an effort to subsidize poor rural farmers in order to keep them competitive. As stated in the article, much of this program's funds go to subsidizing electricity.

This article demonstrates how political and economic disagreements can cost at-risk populations to lose their access to electricity. This fact presses an obvious conclusion. We must work toward making it so that no population is at risk for losing its access to electricity. In such a world, the investors would have no gripes and the government would have no loss of money in this area. Traditional methods that were more about sustaining weak systems are costly and outmoded. They need to be replaced by new technologies which are here today.

What great answers are found in the article “Cleantech in the developingworld: from solar power to refrigeration” published in The Guardian on 13 July 2014. Kristine A. Wong discusses three groundbreaking technologies that could invalidate the circumstances of the aforementioned threat to access to electricity for at-risk populations in India.

First we have the Solar Pump, as designed by Paul Polak of Colorado. Mr Polak's solar pump is more expensive upfront than a traditional pump powered by fossil fuels. However, its energy is self-sustaining because it is solar powered. In fact, Mr Polak promotes his product in areas where government subsidies were cut, thereby putting the power to be electrified in the hands of the consumers themselves. Overall, these cost about 80% less than traditional pumps.

Yet this brings us to another problem commonly associated with green technologies for producing electricity. While they cost less in the long run and are cleaner and more sustainable, they typically cost more up front. This issue is commonly brought up by proponents of fossil fuel electricity sources for rural development due to their lower upfront costs. So the company producing them plans on utilizing a leasing program in order to resolve both of these dilemmas. Communities in need can utilize these tools and they can do it right away thanks to the leasing program.

Another technology is helping to keep dairy products from spoiling by providing farmers with 

power for refrigeration. Using solar power to charge batteries of refrigeration units, developers were able to provide sufficient power for about 30% of the community that lacked electricity. Although there is still 70% to go, this move points out one of the key reasons that electrifying the world is important. Because farmers without cooling capacities do not have as many options since their milk will spoil fast, they cannot compete in the marketplace. Electrifying communities that do not have it is a major leg up in marketplace participation, and a necessary component for any development in the world today.

Has anyone else seen any technologies in the news that might be a solution to the problem of providing electricity to the world?