Developing world Small scale innovation brings vital help to poor communities
Post on: 2011-11-02 By: admin
In the developing world, where many citizens lack access to power or clean water, a wave of innovation is bringing these vital services to growing numbers of people, often using renewable energy and water-saving technologies. And in some cases, clean-tech solutions may provide lessons for wealthier countries. Many of the innovations replace expensive, dirty and inefficient systems. In countries such as India, Tanzania and Kenya. For instance, d.light offers affordable but high-quality, solar-rechargeable LED lights as an alternative to kerosene lamps.Meanwhile, in India, SBA Hydro and Renewable Energy have developed micro-turbines to bring hydroelectric power to villages in the Himalayas. Many of these clean-tech innovations use small-scale, distributed systems that are often easier to set up in developing countries than they would be in mature economies, since they compete only with lack of access or inefficient solutions rather than attempting to displace legacy infrastructure."There's an interesting opportunity for someone to come in with something more efficient," says Raj Kundra, deputy chief investment officer at Acumen Fund, a non-profit venture capital outfit that invests in companies such as d.light and SBA Hydro and Renewable Energy. He adds: "You're not competing with existing pipes - you're competing with no access."Small-scale distributed innovations are also found in systems that deliver access to clean water. For example, Grundfos Group, which manufactures pumps and water technologies, has developed a solar-powered water pump that people can pay to use with their mobile phone. Some systems allow communities to spread the cost of technology. In rural villages in Uttar Pradesh, India, Mera Gao Micro-Grid Power (MGP) is installing rooftop solar photovoltaic panels that generate power that can be shared by other villagers. "Everyone shares the cost, which might be too high if you were putting it on every house," says Dax Lovegrove, head of business and industry at WWF. Its Green Game-Changers study highlights such innovations, many in the developing world.Mr Lovegrove points out that such products and systems go beyond technology. "New financing models are emerging as well as co-ownership between suppliers of technology and communities that want to own renewable energy schemes," he explains. "So it's the applications and the uptake that's the interesting bit."And while existing infrastructure might make some of these models hard to integrate into mature economy infrastructure, Mr Kundra says opportunities do exist in wealthier markets to think differently about how services are delivered. He cites the example of street lighting. "Questions are being asked as to whether it makes sense to extend power lines and connect them all to the grid - or whether to put up individual solar panels," he says. "So the models are being challenged."Daniel Nocera, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology energy and chemistry professor, goes further. He believes the developing world will show the rest of the world how to use sustainable technologies.Prof Nocera has developed an artificial leaf as a source of power for developing countries. It is a small silicon panel that uses light to split hydrogen from water to create energy.He believes his invention could also solve global energy problems. "If you can get great discoveries to the poor, they will adopt them because they're the ones who need energy," he says. "So you can head off climate change most quickly - and they can teach the world."
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