According to the latest issue of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) monthly Energy Infrastructure Update, renewable energy dominated new U.S. electrical generation put into service during 2016. See: Renewables dominated new US power generation in 2016.
Governments and their sponsors from the fossil fuels sector can continue to waste energy and other resources fighting against this common sense evolution or they can figure out ways to adapt and evolve with it. In a world of falling employment and wages, cheap, clean power could not come at a better time for the cash strapped masses in all countries. See: 10 reasons to be optimistic for a low-carbon future. This low-cost financing for households to harness solar power in Africa, can be replicated in larger scale across developed countries as well. This is what smart looks like:
Pay-as-you-go solar companies, made possible by mobile phones, are the rage in Africa. M-Kopa Solar has leveraged the mobile money phenomena to sell more than 425,000 household solar systems in East Africa. With a $30 deposit and daily 50-cent payments, all by cell phone, customers get a solar panel, a couple of lights, a cell phone charger and a solar powered radio. After the first year of payments, customers own the system outright. Similar off-grid solar companies are now sprouting up across Africa and they’ve attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in financing.
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