Putting Solar Panels on a Grass Hut

Distributed clean energy, such as this solar PV system being installed in Ethiopia, can reduce the need for kerosene lamps and provide energy access in remote areas (Source: Flickr user Bread for the World).

This image is taken from a Re-Volt blog post, the criticism arm of the world-renknown development thinktank World Watch. Re-Volt describes its mission as seeking to cause a revolution in the development and aid policy conversation.

The development community fails to appreciate the dangers inherent in unstructured aid and the wide array of institutional dependencies it creates. Despite an abundance of research data, [international development organizations] have failed to steer the world from a point of action to the point of understanding. It is now clear that the creation of stable institutions, new modes of development, and a new sustainable aid economy requires a true revolution.

I'm a big fan of World Watch, and have a few friends in international development who would agree, putting solar panels on a grass hut is a daft proposal. Theory suggests that investment into basic infrastructure (water, electricity, safe transit, access to medical care, etc.) is the most cost effective way to transform lives and create a foundation on which a society can exit poverty. However in practice, thousand dollar pv panels tend to weigh more than some grass roofs can support. The tensile strength of inch-diameter support beams and long twigs fluxuates depending on local environmental conditions, but are are frequently substandard in areas where houses are made out of nearby biomass.