by K. Jordan

Recently, concerns have been expressed that if the international goals of reducing fossil fuel combustion are met, the world’s poor will suffer economic disadvantages.  Clean water, food, medical care, education, economic lighting and transportation are essential priorities, not solar panels or wind generators, claim critics, citing concerns that resources for these essentials will be redirected towards solar and wind generators. However, is it an either/or proposition, or could smart deployment of renewable energy help to provide the essentials for economic prosperity to the world’s impoverished people?

The Poor Spend a Disproportionately Large Percentage of Income on Fuel

The world’s poorest may spend 30% or more of income on kerosene for lighting, sometimes having to choose between food and lighting, or between lighting for students to study or read at night and money for other basic essentials. Costs tend to be higher in poor rural areas compared to cities due to transportation and middlemen. In industrialized nations, lower income people also spend a larger percentage of their income on utilities and fuel for transportation.

Off-Grid Renewables Are a Bargain

Solar or wind and energy storage are often the cheapest way to power in locations without a grid over the lifetime of the equipment, it is generally cheaper than running diesel generators. Additionally, the price has been dropping rapidly in recent years, with further rapid reductions and technological improvements predicted, especially in the realm of energy storage. Solar or wind is often the most cost effective solution in terms of initial-lowest cost option or rapid-payback for off-grid applications compared to grid installation. The financial benefits tend to be especially lucrative with more remote locations. Oil companies were among the first to develop photovoltaic (PV) solar panels for use outside of the space program for this reason. It was far cheaper to run solar panels with rechargeable batteries for remote oil platforms than to run diesel generators or replace disposable batteries every 2 weeks. Microloans for quality renewable energy installations, which can often be quickly paid off often cost the same or less than fuel costs with less risk of volatility.

Fossil Fuel Subsidization

The subsidies that fossil fuels have benefitted from are complex, myriad, and include both direct and indirect means. The Rural Electrification Act in the U.S. subsidized traditional rural grid landline construction in the U.S. for more than half a century through low interest 25 year loans. While this and other subsidies facilitated the provision of electricity to people in more remote areas, it has favored the use of large coal power plants over more traditional means of remote energy production such as wind and subsequently solar. Currently in the U.S. specialized tax breaks are available to fossil fuels including Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), Intangibles, Deep Water Drilling Support, etc. Additionally, the U.S. subsidizes its railroad infrastructure and investments. Coal by weight accounts for 47% of goods transported by rail. The U.S. is effectively subsidizing the cost of coal shipment to Asia.

Education, Lighting and Electricity

Economically disadvantaged school-aged children and young adults often must work during daylight hours in the developing world. Low-cost renewable energy solutions such as LED solar lanterns are making it affordable to study and read at night. Laptops cell phones and other portable electronic devices have become more affordable, and recharging them with renewables is practical.

Medical Access

Remote villages are able to use solar power to provide lighting for hospital clinics, and refrigeration for medications and vaccinations that otherwise might require travel for days to obtain. Solar Suitcases provide quality medical lighting, communication, and fetal monitoring. By providing reliable and effective safe lighting and equipment, survival rates for infants and mothers during childbirth have improved dramatically. Organizations such as SELF, The Solar Electric Light Fund, work to fully power clinic equipment 24/7 in impoverished remote locations. Larger hospitals in countries with low incomes and extremely unreliable grids have also benefitted greatly from solar power. In 2013, Haiti opened the world’s largest solar powered research-teaching hospital on a grid that is down an average of 3 hours per day. Even with traditional diesel generators for nighttime power backup, the result is a very economic fuel savings. The system generates reliable electricity for the hospital, and saves the hospital approximately $379,000 per year that will pay off in less than 6 years, far shorter than the expected lifetime of the system. (PV solar panels have a demonstrated history of durability and lack of moving parts and quality certified PV panels typically have a warranty of 25-30 years, though the inverters will probably need to be replaced more often, depending on the quality and warranty length.) Savings for fuel costs enable more money to be spent on medical essentials.

Business and Economic Benefits

Bringing a hat to the barber or going under cover of darkness was a useful strategy because so often the electrical grid in his village in Malawi would fail halfway through a haircut, writes William Kamkwamba. He became famous after building a wind generator from salvaged scrap parts at the age of 14. Doubtless, most businesses have better odds of thriving with a reliable source of electricity.

Microgrid solar lighting has also facilitated business in remote villages. Marketplaces are able to remain open after dark, reducing the need to travel longer distances at night to towns with limited on-grid lighting.
In some parts of Africa, women must leave children all day to walk for miles to collect fire wood for cooking. Simple, inexpensive reflective solar cookers greatly reduce demand for wood and don’t require semiconductor materials. Solar ovens provide high levels of labor and time savings and also reduce the cutting of trees for fuel which can contribute to dust bowl conditions and additional crop failure. Additionally, in countries such as Malawi, mass deforestation has increased flooding and severe erosion, making hydropower less reliable as it must be shut down frequently for dredging. In this way, the increased use of renewable power could make hydropower more reliable.

Cell phones are now surprisingly ubiquitous amongst low income people in less industrialized nations and are essential in countries like Kenya where they promote business and provide a safe way to pay for purchases. However, walking many miles to pay substantially to recharge cell phones is a burden. Off-grid solar is providing a convenient and economical way to recharge these and other portable electronic devices.

Including Apartment Dwellers and Renters

Shares in solar gardens available for apartment dwellers can be purchased in small increments or leased for a discount on a utility bill. Also, economic incentives can facilitate time-of-use plans providing cheaper electricity when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. Automated cycling, air conditioning compressors when the grid is in danger of overload is already available in many places, utility companies pay customers who choose to participate in that program. This could easily be expanded to include refrigerators and freezers, the topping off of EVs, and portable electronic devices.

Increase Reliability While Improving Distribution

Energy independence is important in countries with unreliable, limited grids, potential for supply-chain or grid disruption due to terrorists, social unrest, and corrupt governments.  Traditionally fossil fuels have had difficulties with control by powerful groups adding in corruption or abuse, the lower to middle classes may suffer price gauging.  Additionally, some solar panels can be folded away for the night, reducing the danger of theft.  In the case of businesses where operations are critical such as hospitals, renewables such as PV solar have been shown to increase reliability while decreasing fuel costs

Air Pollution

Low-income people are disproportionately affected by air pollution both in cities and in impoverished rural areas. Air pollution has negative health impacts and the medical costs are also a greater burden for the world’s poor. Lower income individuals often live in polluted inner cities, near coal power plants, near highways and busy roads and are less likely to benefit from partially protective factors such as filtered air conditioning, trees and greenbelts, and high quality regular medical care. Air pollution is associated with a higher risk of heart attack death, strokes, asthma, lung cancer among non-smokers, etc. Substantial epidemiological work has been done to control for lifestyle and sociological factors such as smoking, diet, and exercise but as with cigarette smoking, the effects of air pollution maintain significance. Indoor air pollution is a far greater problem for impoverished people in more rural areas in less industrialized nations due to kerosene lighting and fuel-based cooking. Eye disease is more common from combustion indoors and poorly ventilated smoke. Additionally, fires, burns, and poisonings are more common with indoor combustion such as kerosene lighting, with children at higher risk.

Noise Pollution

Noise pollution in addition to air pollution has been found to have significant independent negative impacts on human health, including heart attack fatalities and low infant birth weight. Lower income people also tend to be exposed to higher levels of noise pollution. The reduction in the use of piercingly loud diesel generators can greatly reduce noise pollution in remote areas. In contrast, solar energy has the advantage of being particularly quiet. Living near busy roadways also has a noise pollution risk factor. The increase in the use of regenerative braking technology as found in hybrids, plug-in hybrids and EVs could greatly reduce both noise pollution and air pollution in cities and along busy roadways while saving fuel costs and reducing additional maintenance costs associated with mechanical brake pads and oil changes.

Water and Renewables

Water is a limited and often increasingly scarce resource, and severe drought often imperils hydropower. Unable to afford to move or ship water in from other locations and particularly subject to price escalations during drought and subsequent crop failure, the world’s poor are the most vulnerable to water scarcity. Cooling and Steam Turbine based electricity generation for traditional power generation such as coal, gas, and nuclear is water intense, requiring approximately 200 to 1200 times the amount of water compared to wind or solar, and in the U.S. fresh water withdrawals are greater for electricity generation than for any other purpose (41%), including crop irrigation (37%). Coal ash waste also threatens water safety if improperly stored and requires monitoring. Continual fracking and mining for fuel contributes to the heavy water usage of fossil fuels. While cleaning solar PV panels can increase productivity and small improvements in efficiency are magnified in large grid-scale solar installations, most residential systems do not require cleaning as long as they are installed at an angle so that the occasional rain can wash away dirt.

Solar and wind are useful for powering pumps for watering crops or filtering clean drinking water which is stored in tanks, no battery is needed. Clean drinking water is critical, and the lack of access to it is responsible for more fatalities worldwide than virtually any other preventable factor. Impoverished infants and children are the most vulnerable to contaminated water. Similar to the quest for fuel, in many poor countries women and older children must walk great distances to carry water back home for drinking, cooking, and sanitation. Solar powered pumps are greatly reducing labor and time spent hauling water. While traditional fossil fuel powered desalination plants have been prohibitively expensive even for California, recent developments in solar desalination technology has brought the cost down. Solar desalination can provide drought-prone countries with palatable water and irrigation for crops. Solar desalination can be achieved with relatively simple trough mirrors and can run when sunlight is available; water can be stored for later in reservoirs.

Resource Level Considerations

Many of the world’s developing countries have high levels of sunshine or solar irradiance, and are located near the equator, making the economics of solar power more lucrative and less seasonal. The U.S. averages more than double the solar irradiance of Germany, a cloudy northern latitude country, while some parts of Africa have nearly 3 times as much solar energy available. Matching resource levels with time of use also is a consideration: Germany does not have air conditioning, while countries like the US have the greatest electricity demands on long sunny days for AC use.

Sanitation

Fuels such as Methane and Hydrogen can be produced from waste, and provide useful on-demand or continuous energy sources that reduce the need for more expensive energy storage. Conventional sewage systems require a lot of energy. However, anaerobic means of using human waste to produce biogas can yield a net energy gain while reducing the spread of deadly diseases like cholera.

Transportation

The most efficient ICE vehicles waste 70% of energy in form of heat and noise, and are not a forward looking long-term cost effective use of the embodied energy of liquid fuels. The costs and challenges of competing technologies such as electric vehicles are dropping rapidly as large scale mass production increases. The total cost of ownership for some plug-in hybrids are already competitive with ICE vehicles, and some pure EVs may be competitive by 2017. Currently, plug-in hybrids may be especially practical for people with modest incomes as they can run inexpensively on 100% electric for daily commutes and errands and seamlessly switch to conventional fuel for longer trips, eliminating range anxiety, while keeping the battery size relatively small and maximizing its full use.

Cheaper Energy Storage

The price of batteries has been dropping 10-20% per year, and used EV batteries are useful for 10 years for energy storage after they are done being used in a vehicle, further facilitating the implementation of wind and solar.  Cost savvy off-grid wind and solar owners have long utilized used batteries from golf carts and conventional vehicles.

Anyone who’s ever driven a EV or plug-in hybrid for a long distance downhill and watched the range increase the further they go knows the advantages of electric motors for energy production.

Imagine trains bringing people to a city marketplace located up on a hill with price incentives (or free) for those going up to the city market during peak solar times mid-morning through mid-afternoon and for traveling downhill back home in the evening during peak evening demand after sunset

Costs Plummet with Mass Production Manufacturing

Similar price drops have been seen in the price of LED bulbs in the past 10 years, from around $70-100 USD per 60W equivalent bulb to around $5-10 dollars today.  Mass production on a large scale can reduce prices exponentially.

Investments are Scalable

Renewable energy can be gradually scaled up from meeting basic essentials to running modernized energy-efficient buildings, homes and businesses. The ability to start with small investments that pay off and enable larger investments is essential to economic growth, especially to people who have limited access to business loans.

Risk Reduction in Finances and Health

Investing in further fossil fuel infrastructure may constitute a greater risk for people of limited means, both in terms of fluctuating costs of fuel requiring substantial portions of impoverished people’s incomes and the greater risk of expensive health consequences.  Construction of new coal power plants may seem economical due to relatively low start-up costs, but the long term fuel and maintenance costs alone over 30 years may negate savings and result in premature shutdown or stranded assets  particularly when accounting for the falling costs of wind, solar, cellulosic biofuels, and waste methane as well as demand response and energy storage.  Carbon capture technology has so far involved large cost overruns and severe underperformance while extensive pollution controls may result in more polluted water.  Coal ash storage has also created health risks and long term expenses.  China’s recent history may be an example, as reeling from starvation and lingering severe poverty from Mao’s revolution, they poured massive investment into a largely unregulated coal and fossil fuel based industrialization, resulting in air pollution that kills 1.6 million people a year.  Facilitated by the dramatic price drop in technologies such as solar, wind and energy storage, less industrialized nations and regions have the advantage of being able to skip that step, much like the skipping of landlines for phone service and going directly to cell phones has economically benefited nations around the world.   Additionally climate change due to fossil fuel use is increasing risk due to ocean rise, flooding, drought, and other weather pattern changes, in part due to the fact that warmer air evaporates water faster than normal.  People in the lowest economic tiers have greater challenges relocating and compensating for changes.

Caveats, Challenges and Potential Improvements

Countries such as the U.S. need to increase availability for shared solar community gardens which allow apartment dwellers, renters, and others without a good roof for solar to buy or lease a share of a larger solar array for a reduction in electricity costs.   Demand has often far exceeded supply for shared solar, which combines a larger cost-saving installation and often ideal latitude tilt or tracking with individual investments or leases that can be small enough for all socioeconomic levels.  Utilities also need to have an incentive to increase efficiency and reduce fuel costs.  Currently in the U.S. utilities often lose the financial benefits of the effort and investment to shift to renewable energy with the next rate approval as fuel cost savings are passed on to the consumer.  Since adding renewable energy to the mix also may often require ramping down of fossil fuel power plants when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, utilities need to have an ongoing vested interest in maximizing renewable use.

Regardless of country of installation, care should be taken in quality control for durability, maximizing efficiency, environmental production practice, and that renewable energy resources are not placed in the control of corrupt officials.  Locals should be trained in the installation, maintenance, and repairs, with a strategy in place for locally financed maintenance.  Increasing education and developing local production of renewable energy components can facilitate jobs and improve affordability and accessibility.  Manufacturers, shippers, installers and owners should have a vested interest in renewable energy system performance. This can be achieved through continued implementation and improvement of existing independent test lab standards, warranties, local well-trained installers with a reputation to preserve and owner fiscal responsibility via microloans.

 

Conclusion

One of the benefits of renewables such as solar, wind, and waste methane is in their ability to bring power, light, cleaner water, irrigation, health benefits and education to people facilitating the independent production of energy and wealth. Individuals and businesses are able to create their own power rather than waiting on government or monopolies to resolve grid inadequacies. Sound investments often make the difference between people who live precariously from paycheck to paycheck or from harvest to harvest and wealthier people who have a financial cushion when adverse events occur. Ultimately, by providing renewable energy knowledge and access to economically disadvantaged people, they are empowered to create their own energy and wealth.

References and Further Information

http://www.movingwindmills.org/

Cell phones have become critical for people in Kenya, people use it to pay for almost everything as it is safer and more practical than carrying money. However, recharging them is challenging: solar is helping:

http://www.vignetteinteractive.com/work/energy-poverty-in-sub-saharan-africa/

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope (P.S.) 2010 by William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer.

Ron Binz, formerly of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, “How to get Utilities to Stop Favoring Fossil Fuels”. Feb. 25, 2016, Jefferson Unitarian Church, Golden CO.

“Health risks of Fuel-based Lighting” by Evan-Mills,-Ph.D

http://www.africa.undp.org/content/rba/en/home/presscenter/articles/2015/09/25/solar-panels-improve-health-care-in-rural-zambia.html

“These Three Nonprofits Are Changing the Lives of Millions with Solar” By Aven Satre-Meloy, March 18, 2014 https://joinmosaic.com/blog/developing-nations-go-solar/

Portable solar powered surgical tool sterilization from Rice University: http://news.rice.edu/2016/03/23/sterile-box-offers-safer-surgeries-2/

Solar Suitcases for reliable medical quality lighting, communication, and fetal monitoring http://wecaresolar.org/solutions/

“Caribbean Sun Powers Flagship Haiti Hospital, And Then Some” Sandy Dechert, January 7th, 2014, Clean Technica. http://cleantechnica.com/2014/01/07/caribbean-sun-powers-flagship-haiti-hospital/

“Solar Powered Hospital” Tom Lombardo, June 13, 2013, Engineering. http://www.engineering.com/ElectronicsDesign/ElectronicsDesignArticles/ArticleID/5883/Solar-Powered-Hospital.aspx

“Indoor Air Pollution in India: Implications on Health and its Control” Ankita Kankaria, Baridalyne Nongkynrih, and Sanjeev Kumar Gupta http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4215499/

Low socioeconomic status associated with greater exposure to air pollution and greater consequences: “Health, Wealth, and Air Pollution: Advancing Theory and Methods” Marie S. O’Neill,1 Michael Jerrett,2 Ichiro Kawachi,1 Jonathan I. Levy,1 Aaron J. Cohen,3 Nelson Gouveia,4 Paul Wilkinson,5 Tony Fletcher,5 Luis Cifuentes,6 and Joel Schwartz,1 with input from participants of the Workshop on Air Pollution and Socioeconomic Conditions* http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241758/pdf/ehp0111-001861.pdf

http://www.portablesolarpower.biz/blogs/portable-solar-power-biz-blog/17001276-a-refugee-woman-in-burkina-faso-cooks-rice-with-a-blazing-tube-solar-cooker

http://inhabitat.com/maasai-women-are-the-new-solar-warriors-of-africa/

https://www.trevolta.com/trips/solar-e-cycles-empowering-people-in-kenya-29164

Buzz Gets Bigger Over Tiny California Solar Desalination Plant

Water & Energy Facts (Blog Action Day on Water)

Ares Gravity Train Energy Storage http://www.utilitydive.com/news/first-of-its-kind-rail-energy-storage-project-targets-role-in-caiso-ancilla/417817/

SELF (Solar Electric Light Fund) Brings Solar PV, Light and Power to Haitian Health Care Centers

June 1st, 2012 by Andrew http://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/01/self-brings-solar-pv-light-and-power-to-haitian-health-care-centers/

State of the Plug-in Electric Vehicle Market EV Market Outlook JULY 25, 2013 http://electrificationcoalition.org/sites/default/files/EC_State_of_PEV_Market_Final_1.pdf

In 2008 the majority of U.S. withdrawn water went to power plants, more than the amount used for any other purpose such as irrigation, drinking, industrial, or other use. http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/energy-and-water-use/water-energy-electricity-overview.html#.VvWX2eIrJ1s

Noise Pollution: The Sound Behind Heart Effects. M. Nathaniel Mead http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2072857/

The Energy-Water Collision: 10 Things You Should Know. Union of Concerned Scientists

“The Burden of Thirst: If the millions of women who haul water long distances had a faucet by their door, whole societies could be transformed.” Tina Rosenberg, National Geographic, April 2010. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2010/04/water-slaves/rosenberg-text

http://www.dw.com/en/renewable-energy-how-realistic-is-nigerias-vision/a-18235831

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_poverty

“I Was Wrong About the Limits of Solar. PV Is Becoming Dirt Cheap.” Harvard’s David Keith revisits his assumptions about solar costs: “Facts have changed.” by David Keith, April 28, 2016 http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/i-was-wrong-about-the-economic-limitations-of-solar-power

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/05/26/batteries-or-train-pumped-energy-for-grid-scale-power-storage/#58d4dbb87de5

Solar Energy Prospecting in Remote Alaska: An Economic Analysis of Solar Photovoltaics in the Last Frontier State by Paul Schwabe, National Renewable Energy Laboratory http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/02/f29/Solar-Prospecting-AK-final.pdf

LOW-INCOME SOLAR POLICY GUIDE http://e67ti2w9ws71al8xmnhsozd3.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2016/03/LowIncomeSolarPolicyGuide.pdf

Rural Electrification Administration: Market Failure in Delivering Electricity to Rural Areas Before 1930

Laurence J. Malone, Hartwick College https://eh.net/encyclopedia/rural-electrification-administration/

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Solar-LED alternatives to fuel-based Lighting for night fishing
Evan Mills, Tim Gengnagel, Philipp Wollburg. Energy for Sustainable Development 21 (2014) 30–41
bhttp://evanmills.lbl.gov/pubs/pdf/night-fishing-esd.pdf
Pay-As-You-Go Solar Energy Finds Success in Africa, David Wogan Scientific American, November 22, 2013, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pay-as-you-go-solar-energy/

 

3NREL Releases “Qualification Plus” Testing Protocol
By Sarah Kurtz, NREL http://www.semi.org/en/node/49716
Full “Qualification Plus” Protocol: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy14osti/60950.pdf