

A billion people lack electricity, but microgrids are powering up rural areas - stichers
http://www.nature.com/news/energy-islands-of-light-1.14860

======
Litost
I still find it slightly bemusing, that 2.5 billion people lack access to any
sanitation [1], but only 1 billion lack electricity and access to a mobile
phone, especially given that it's estimated that 700,000 children die every
year through lack of access to sanitation alone before you consider all the
other negative effects [2].

Obviously we've the luxury of taking both for granted, but given the choice,
how many people on here would pick the phone over the toilet?

And whilst a lot of us in the west, complain quite vocally about the 1% who
own something like 46% of the world's wealth, to the 2.5 billion that don't
have sanitation, we might as well be the 1%.

[1] [http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/25/more-people-have-cell-
ph...](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/25/more-people-have-cell-phones-than-
toilets-u-n-study-shows/) [2] [http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/girish-
menon/lack-of-toilets...](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/girish-menon/lack-
of-toilets-is-costing-us-the-earth_b_4767258.html)

~~~
incision
At a glance, it all seems fairly logical to me.

Sanitation as we know it in the US at least depends on a lot of very expensive
infrastructure with annual spending of about $100 per capita.

It's surely far cheaper to stand up a cell tower, backhaul and all than design
and build out modern plumbing and sewage handling for the same coverage area.

If someone invents a toilet with similar upfront, recurring costs and ease of
use to cellphones - the pipeless, waterless analog to a wireless phone - I'm
sure they'd have no shortage of customers.

Difference is, mobile phones are consumed in abundance in wealthy countries,
driving advancements in cost and efficiency which trickle down to make them
widely available in poorer countries. As far as I can tell, there's no such
driver for toilets as those who have them seem largely content.

Perhaps this will change if/when water conservation becomes a more serious
topic.

~~~
toomuchtodo
> If someone invents a toilet with similar upfront, recurring costs and ease
> of use to cellphones - the pipeless, waterless analog to a wireless phone -
> I'm sure they'd have no shortage of customers.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting_toilet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting_toilet)

Although, I admit, ease of use compared to a cellphone may be subjective.

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noonespecial
Just like they skipped land lines in favor of mobile, it's quite likely
they'll skip straight to distributed power as well. There's a not altogether
implausible scenario where culture in these areas lights like a fire, they
deal with their corrupt political system and then leap-frog the "developed
world".

------
silverthorn
Note the key roles of financing, payment platforms, and software. It's not
just about LEDs and cheap photovoltaics: in almost every project mentioned,
the users prepay for energy through electronic cash transfers (directly from
their phone), and the systems are profitable to run. The primary barriers to
adoption are (i) upfront financing and (ii) software for managing these
systems at scale. There are at least several SF-area companies working on
hardware and software for the off-grid energy market, including ours
([http://www.angazadesign.com/](http://www.angazadesign.com/) \- we're
hiring). It's an exciting area.

------
jotm
This might be a good application for Toshiba's 4S micro nuclear reactor - 10MW
for the win. Disposing of waste may be a big problem for these areas,
though...

~~~
ctdonath
Seems most cultures have to go thru a "dirty" phase to go from 3rd to 1st
world conditions. Considering the now-and-soon benefits, it's easy to ignore
the costs of disposal decades/generations hence.

Helps that it's a sealed box. Stick it on a truck and haul it away somewhere
suitable, or even just leave it buried where it is - the contents are not
going anywhere, it should just sit there and be warm forever.

------
midas007
Just curious if anyone knows the wholesale price of a lowish-cost, low TCO
solar setup.

~~~
maxerickson
The answer is going to be different based on size and the general sketch of
the system, so you might want to be more specific (a 3 day battery bank will
cost a lot compared to no battery bank, capacity to run a washing machine will
be very different than capacity for lighting and small appliances, and so on).

(I don't know much regarding the prices...)

~~~
midas007
Washing machines, hair driers, refrigerators and similar are probably not
practical for solar. Shared resources such as solar-powered water pumps would
probably be very beneficial, but obviously power requirements would vary
widely.

Here's one vendor for a "complete" setup, probably not a turnkey nor setup for
fool-proof & low maintenance:

[http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/off-grid-solar-
system_...](http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/off-grid-solar-
system_315721325.html)

On the article overall, the biggest concerns about for-profits coming in is
whether they intend to monopolize community resources as has happened with
water.

~~~
maxerickson
There is some definition of practical that says you have enough panels and
batteries to meet arbitrary needs. Which is why I thought you should be more
specific. I guess in the context of this story (and you asking about low
costs) a smaller system could be assumed.

