Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
things of true value; instead we've become satisfied with new apps and simple entertain-
ment improvements. You can argue with the view, but certainly in regard to infrastruc-
ture there's some truth to it. Theil believes that serious innovation has stagnated and that
talented technologists should be concentrating on meaningful engineering, the way our
predecessors focused on crossing oceans and continents and rocketing to the moon.
We were promised jet packs, though the current crop of high-profile startup “innov-
ators” are rehashing old technologies rather than changing the way we live in the world
for the greater good. As wrong as they may have been, the pioneers of the oil age, and
the advocates of the steam engine before them,
thought
they were bettering the human
condition;andnowwereallydohaveatechnologyandaresourceinsolarpowerthatcan
truly improve our lives. It's for this reason that we need rooftop revolutionaries—solar
entrepreneurs and solar activists. The good news is that there are many among us now
like Eden Full; the bad news is that we need many more.
Mobilizing the New Greatest Generation
Clearly we need more diversity in this effort. We need more women involved and more
work done at the bottom of the pyramid, to provide electricity services for the hundreds
of millions of people who still can't take it for granted. A company called Simpa Net-
worksinIndiaisadaptingthesolarleasemodelfromtheUnitedStatesandapplyingitto
small solar solutions for families across the subcontinent.
AtSungevitywesupportaprogramcalledEveryChildHasaLight,whichisdonating
solar charging solutions to Zambia so the country can develop its education system. This
abilitytotaptheirhouseholdsuperpower—tocreateelectricitywhenandwhereitismost
needed—can improve the lives of millions of people and can change the course of a
nation. At one level they are replacing toxic kerosene—an oil byproduct—in people's
houses but at another they are providing the opportunity to learn to read and write and to
join the modern world without dependency on something that causes pollution and death
and that costs money.
The flow of opportunity it unleashes is like the flow of electrons on a solar panel,
building from a trickle in one kid's life into a torrent of value creation. The big breaks
from the Solar Ascent will be downstream. As in information technology, the jobs were
not simply in making motherboards or modems but rather in the creativity that was
opened up by the power of the personal computer and the productivity gains created
with the advent of networked computing. So too will solar power unleash many oppor-
tunities beyond the nuts and bolts of building solar systems. If we can foster the in-
genuity required to maximize our solar potential—especially in developing countries,
where electricity is needed most—there will be enormous benefits, especially jobs. I
