3 ms·

Provding access to electricity to people in less-econmically developed nations. South, East and West Africa still have massive issues with providing one of the

Provding access to electricity to people in less-econmically developed nations. South, East and West Africa still have massive issues with providing one of the most transformative technologies ever, to their populations, particularly in rural areas. Average rural electrification rate across Africa is 29%, with places like Zambia at only 11%. https://www.usaid.gov/powerafrica/zambia https://www.usaid.gov/powerafrica/zambia Access to electricity obviously has impact across many aspects of life, but for many of the people I have spoken with, their immediate priority is improving their kids education. If you don't have electricity you can't study after dark. This particuarly impacts girls, who not only don't get the light to study after dark like the boys, they are also responsible for collecting firewood, which is used to get even a little (crappy) light. So after a day at school, the girls go out to collect additional firewood to create light, then are obvisouly exahsted, don't have very good light to study and fall behind in school. That's just at the bottom of the ladder. All the way up industry, they are all impacted by poor electircity supplies. In my opinion, it's a transformational area to be working in.

eternityforest 3y ago
Seems like the tech side is solved on that, we just need more people actually making and distributing the stuff. I wonder what the goal of all the education initiatives are over there though. Are they planning to go to college and do STEM? Do they intend to come to the US, or work there? Is better math skill more useful in daily life aside from STEM than it is here? Seems like the stuff that comes after getting an education is just as important.
- MrsPeaches 3y ago
  I’d strongly disagree that the tech is solved. We are talking about providing an 1/8th of the worlds population with electricity for the first time. That is a huge challenge. Now add into that doing it in a way that won’t destroy the planet and the fact these people are in some of the remotest areas of the world, it’s definitely not a solved problem on the tech side. We haven’t even figured out how to supply the current population sustainably let alone another 850 million.
  - eternityforest 3y ago
    Electricity might not be solved, but just providing lighting is much easier. It takes less than a watt to make enough light to study by more comfortably than firelight, and you only need it when it is neither daylight outside or time to sleep. Poor places also tend to have plenty of sun. I would think that you only need a 1W LED, maybe 12Wh LTO battery (It lasts 20 years), and a 10W solar panel per 2 or 3 people, if that, for the use case of not burning stuff just for light. The groups distributing things like that already seem convinced that's enough to really change their life.
  - em-bee 3y ago
    yes, but the tech needed to bring electrification from 11% to say 50% or maybe even 80% is there already. i read for example that uganda is capable of producing much more electricity than they need themselves. and there certainly are more untapped resources in africa that can be accessed with existing technology before we reach the point of needing new tech to reach everyone else. let's not perfect be the enemy of the good here. as more people get access to electricity and better education their combined wealth will rise creating the financial resources to tackle the harder problems. on step at a time.
    - MrsPeaches 3y ago
      > but the tech needed to bring electrification from 11% to say 50% or maybe even 80% is there already. Do you have any basis for this claim? If this were true, why are so many of the companies working in the field tech and innovation-led? https://www.ruralelec.org/current-members https://www.ruralelec.org/current-members Just as example of the kind of problems faced: how do you electrify thatched roofed houses made from mud bricks? Can’t really insert plugs.
      - em-bee 3y ago
        that particular problem doesn't seem very hard to me. how do you put electricity in any house? you lay a cable and attach an outlet to it. what does the wall have to do with it? i'd need to read up and learn more details to understand how this is really a serious problem that can't be worked around. seems to me the major problem is scale and distribution and cost, getting electricity to remote areas. and sure, maybe there are some technical solutions that can help make things easier and cheaper, but i don't see any problems that could not be overcome. but i have only spent a short time in africa so my understanding of the reality there is quite limited. i'd really like to know more about what the actual roadblocks are and where technological innovations are required to move forward.

eternityforest 3y ago

Seems like the tech side is solved on that, we just need more people actually making and distributing the stuff. I wonder what the goal of all the education initiatives are over there though. Are they planning to go to college and do STEM? Do they intend to come to the US, or work there? Is better math skill more useful in daily life aside from STEM than it is here? Seems like the stuff that comes after getting an education is just as important.

MrsPeaches 3y ago
I’d strongly disagree that the tech is solved. We are talking about providing an 1/8th of the worlds population with electricity for the first time. That is a huge challenge. Now add into that doing it in a way that won’t destroy the planet and the fact these people are in some of the remotest areas of the world, it’s definitely not a solved problem on the tech side. We haven’t even figured out how to supply the current population sustainably let alone another 850 million.
- eternityforest 3y ago
  Electricity might not be solved, but just providing lighting is much easier. It takes less than a watt to make enough light to study by more comfortably than firelight, and you only need it when it is neither daylight outside or time to sleep. Poor places also tend to have plenty of sun. I would think that you only need a 1W LED, maybe 12Wh LTO battery (It lasts 20 years), and a 10W solar panel per 2 or 3 people, if that, for the use case of not burning stuff just for light. The groups distributing things like that already seem convinced that's enough to really change their life.
- em-bee 3y ago
  yes, but the tech needed to bring electrification from 11% to say 50% or maybe even 80% is there already. i read for example that uganda is capable of producing much more electricity than they need themselves. and there certainly are more untapped resources in africa that can be accessed with existing technology before we reach the point of needing new tech to reach everyone else. let's not perfect be the enemy of the good here. as more people get access to electricity and better education their combined wealth will rise creating the financial resources to tackle the harder problems. on step at a time.
  - MrsPeaches 3y ago
    > but the tech needed to bring electrification from 11% to say 50% or maybe even 80% is there already. Do you have any basis for this claim? If this were true, why are so many of the companies working in the field tech and innovation-led? https://www.ruralelec.org/current-members https://www.ruralelec.org/current-members Just as example of the kind of problems faced: how do you electrify thatched roofed houses made from mud bricks? Can’t really insert plugs.
    - em-bee 3y ago
      that particular problem doesn't seem very hard to me. how do you put electricity in any house? you lay a cable and attach an outlet to it. what does the wall have to do with it? i'd need to read up and learn more details to understand how this is really a serious problem that can't be worked around. seems to me the major problem is scale and distribution and cost, getting electricity to remote areas. and sure, maybe there are some technical solutions that can help make things easier and cheaper, but i don't see any problems that could not be overcome. but i have only spent a short time in africa so my understanding of the reality there is quite limited. i'd really like to know more about what the actual roadblocks are and where technological innovations are required to move forward.