Africa and solar lighting

Interesting advancements in technology are making electricity more and more feasible each day for people in rural Sub-Sahara Africa and other impoverished areas. So why is nothing happening to reduce the number of people without electricity from 1.6 billion? It is predicted that 1.3 billion will still be without electricity in 2030 (a large percentage reduction, but 1.3 billion is a lot of people). I feel this is unacceptable, considering the massive benefits electricity offers in life quality.

Solar energy is getting more and more affordable, micro-hydroelectric is very feasible (People in Alaska use it). So people can have power without the high cost of extending the already overburdened grid that exists in developing nations. I say overburdened grid because the power cuts in and out constantly in third world countries. At least that's what I experienced and have been told by people who have been in countries in central and south America and other parts of Africa. Back to the question at hand, why isn't this happening? I think there are three major problems. First, people can't afford the initial costs of these systems. Some microfinance organizations are the scum of the Earth, charging up to 50% interest rates. Also, most of these are designed to finance entrepreneurs not people who just want lights, radios, water purification, refrigeration for vaccines and other important factors. One microfinance organization that has good reviews is http://www.kiva.org/. I've heard good things and read a lot of good reviews. It's a really interesting idea at a minimum. You loan people in poor areas money to improve their business at no interest, and then you probably get your money back. They have volunteers on the ground evaluating business plans, and deciding who should get finance. Once someone has income, they can purchase small solar electric systems. One example is the nurse in one of the villages I was in. He has a good income as an educated state employee, and he bought a system that has two fluorescent lights, a radio and a small tv along with a lead acid deep cycle battery. All that for $180.
Which brings me back to the three problems hindering electricity to spread to rural areas. It is damn hard to distribute things to rural areas in Mali, and I'm assuming this is the same case in other rural third world places. It took us about 4 hours to drive 90 km (~55 miles). It would be very tough for trucks to pass certain parts of the roads, however, it is possible. The third is electrical storage devices. Batteries suck in hot environments and everyone knows this is a common problem, yet thats what everyone is using in their solutions (We're guilty too). So you have a solar panel that lasts 20 years and a battery that lasts 3 years, if it's buried in the ground.

I think there is a problem with third world engineering in general also. People go in there thinking they're going to fix everything because they're smart and educated. Clearly, this isn't the case. It takes years to develop a working solution in an unfamiliar culture and climate. Many people who do work in developing nations aren't as smart as they think either. A classic third world example is this stove that a team designed, called a Lorena stove. I'm not going to insult the team that made it, they worked hard and tried to make a difference, but the stove ended up using more wood than a 3 stone fire, due to a misunderstanding of heat transfer. The material ended up absorbing heat, not insulation. That stove is everywhere in the world. It does remove smoke from houses, which is a very good thing, as wood smoke causes TONS of health problems, including blindness and infant deaths. But, people ended up not using them since they had to go and collect more wood than previous stoves. Another stove example is a solar cooker. These are good ideas, but in some places, women called them stick stoves. This is because the women wouldn't have dinner cooked at the right time, then they would get beaten. Women in many third world countries are treated as second class citizens, who aren't allowed education and other things I would consider rights. In Mali, the women don't eat with men, and the men even say it's because they're not equals. Women work ridiculously hard. A feminist in the U.S. would probably go on a killing spree of dudes if one went to a developing nation.

Also, a lot of people just design a product here, then go and drop it off in a poor country and just leave. They never go back and redesign. They just assume it works here, it'll work there. I don't think we have any solutions that really work for any of their problems, but effort is the first step towards some success.

So our plan is currently something that is semi-new but kind of used in Kenya. Kenya sets up battery charging stations where people can pay a buck or two to charge their car battery. The charging stations are located on the electrical grid. They then use this battery to power whatever they want in their village. I'm guessing most people power fluorescent lights, although, there are probably tvs and radios depending on what people can afford. So our idea is to create a charging station off of the excess power created from the solar panels for the water systems that are installed in a few villages in Mali. We'll give the batteries to a person in the village, who will distribute the batteries. He will then charge people for recharging their batteries. He'll save 1/2 of the money he makes to buy new batteries when the old ones crap out, which will probably be 3 years. The pay back period that we estimated is two years, so the person will have a pretty good business. Just let me know what you think.

Alright, I've wasted enough of my time and yours. And I didn't proofread, so ignore the grammar and whatnot.

This post was kind of weird, since i usually try to stick with sports, but I've just been thinking about this quite a bit lately.