The Thrilling Potential for Off-Grid Solar Energy | Amar Inamdar | TED 

We live in Colorado. Installed 24 panels on our barn roof. Leased them so our cost was $8,000. These panels produced all the energy needed for our home. In the daytime, we generated more electricity than needed which was fed to the grid. At night, when the sun went down, we drew from the grid. Used a solar panel rake when it snowed to keep the panels clear which worked perfectly. Solar is not just for Africa. We had all the appliances, a hot tub, etc. Right now the US offers a 30% tax breaks and solar companies offer payment plans that allow the consumer to pay a monthly payment similar to what it costs for their electricity. Combining solar with energy efficiency, e.g. insulation, LED lights, turning off things like computers when not in use, etc., we can all enjoy low cost, renewable options that will enhance our lives rather than continuing down the road of assuming that non-renewable energy is the way to go. According to an IEA report, "China alone is responsible for over 40% of global renewable capacity growth, which is largely driven by concerns about air pollution and capacity targets that were outlined in the country’s 13th five-year plan to 2020." It's about time we become as progressive as other countries!

Local energy production is the best idea.

Cleaner electrical power is good for all of us. We naturally like *clean air :-)*

Solar energy fits perfectly for African nations energy needs.

Power companies and the politicians in their pocket make it difficult to use more eco-friendly technology like solar. They need to re-think and allow more consumer solar and they can focus on industry. That's where the bigger $ is for them anyway.

When solar panels are combined with batteries, then it becomes interesting.

Energy independence on an individual level.. it's really exciting. Sure, at some point you want to connect to a smart grid. Find ways to save the energy for the night, power larger facilities with the energy of several individuals.. It's an interesting approach and totally different from the centralized energy production we know in the first world.

I can't wait to see this near future 🙌

2:45 : "When it comes, it often doesn't come with sufficient robustness" ... I see, so coming robustly is the key... ... I am a child. That is what I took out of this Ted Talk, thanks.

The "democracy of energy"..great thought...👍

Huge difference in consumption between Africa and USA. You show systems from $150-$300 while a typical off-grid system in the US would run about $25,000. The power demands in a typical US home come from AC/heat, water heater, stove/oven, well pump, refrigerator(s), freezers, TV's, computers, lights, fans, etc.

Bravo! Hoping to be a small part of this journey!

Nice talk. And he addressed the biggest issues with the questions at the end. Really look forward to seeing where this goes in Africa. In place like the U.S., the government and private market doesn't want to lose the revenue and control an infrastructure grid provides. "We can shut you down if you don't pay us". If we were running on solar panels on our roof and batteries in our houses, that control is gone. Of course, the benefits of localized power generation far outweigh a large grid. Imagine being able to have power throughout natural disasters like hurricanes. Imagine not having to develop communities around power poles and burying wire in the ground. You can have power anywhere, with no regard to distance from power source. I really hope we have a power revolution in the next 10 years that gets power to those without it and cutting those with it off large grids at reasonable costs. Much better than fossil fuels and large wind and solar projects. Those types of facilities will still be needed for areas with less solar access, but drastically be reduced.

Another thing that makes me excited is seeing that this video already has 15 000 views. Excellent.

Great to recognise your British-Kenyan accent - lovely! Good job on the energy revolution

Empowering message.....the Sun is only going to get bigger and hotter..lol.....SOLAR is well and truly the future. Thank you

This is a great opportunity. Combining this with 3D printing and cold chains in agriculture and you can have a circular economy driven by clean energy.

Solar energy and internet gives us, the people, total autonomy from the system and its corrupted politicians. This is a chance for Africa to make it right. I hope they see it

Amazing TED, THX!!

Such an interesting video I added it to my favorites account and I'm going to go watch it again

His speech summarized by one startup company in Australia called "Power Ledger"...

I want to contribute in solar tech company. I'm studying nanotechnology now. Hope I can have technological company in my home country soon 🙏

Or we can use Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactors (LFTRs), Molten Chloride Fast Reactor (MCFRs), Pebble Bedded Flouride salt-cooled High-temperature Reactor (PB-FHRs), or any properly design Molten Salt-cooled Reactor (MSR).

The reason solar goes so slowly is that it's correct implementation is basically this way for everyone. The smart grid is the solution created by industry to ensure central power control remains. Solar is inherently distributed, and making it part of a grid actually takes extra work/expense, and of course batteries are needed for high end self-sufficient solar needs.

I’ve been saying that for years...unfortunately we live in a world where greed seems to have more power than providing free energy to everyone’s home

I want to move to Canada and build a off grid home in the future, I think living off grid makes you value what you have and a plus side is it’s cheaper too :)

Let's also for instance music ... Fantasy on Greensleeves is a very beautiful melody ... You can combine pleasant with the help and give yourself more fun and satisfaction ... The current original version is not always very easy to play. On the guitarist page I found a template in the form of a | G a | E (...) C | G a | E | and ... It's easy to play ... Look how many great hits are built in the style of e | D | e | Polish H (B) | and it turned out that it sounds very nice again ... The chorus can be played in a simple way, that is, G | D | e | H (7) (B7) e ... I do not want to take away pleasure, so I will focus only on a few of the potentially available possibilities to play a template of this majestic melody ... The possibility of d | C d A | d and refrain F | C d A | d, it's probably easier to just play the template a | G a | E | and ... Curiosity has urged you to check the template b Gis | b F with chorus Cis Gis | b F b ... Starting melodies from Fis molla immediately requires playing on crossbars ... The melody is just as cool as any other ... Standard fis template | E | fis | Cis fis and then A | E | fis | Cis fis ... I liked it ... So nice melody that it could not get away from C sound ... A logical "axiom" template for prelude and later melody is, for example, c | Bb (Polish B) C G C then Dis Bb (Polish B) C G C ... In order for something to remain for others, the last template will be g | F g D | g then Bb (Polish B) F g D | g ... We combine a very nice melody and simple chords ... Playing what you like is everything, you do not even need special motivation because it is immediately ...

The only problem I see is the crime. It is nigh impossible to steal grid and sell it, when standalone and standardized systems may run into this problem. Just imagine knocking from house to house and getting (~) 2 years worth of credit value, when still ending up with something that is relatively easy to carry and in high demand.

Great 👍 video!

I'm thinking if you have the BioLite light and battery you should have the BioLite Basecamp rocket stove that also generates electricity.

Poor thing is he is missing power storage. Beyond maybe a light or radio you need a way to provide a steady power supply.

Off gird and wireless energy is a way forward and it will be a future. However, people has to be united and there are so many ways to produce energy. Nature is wonderful.

If they could charge us for sunlight, we would have been solar decades ago. Same reason they went the route of internal combustion engines instead of electric motors in cars. We've effectively stood still in terms of energy technology for over 100 years simply because of the choice of greed of a few over what's best and cheapest for all. I'm glad we are finally getting somewhere, though!

I like the idea of solar energy and the technology has certainly improved but it still has a long way to go for popular use in the US. For individual African home, yea, it is there.

No doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy. ... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago

How do you protect your investment as a family buying this, how do you protect it when you go to get water or food.

Warms countries have big advantage of energy

There are interesting projects that are at the verge of scaling up community solar like "Africa GreenTec" in Mali or "M-Kopa" in Kenya. I think also western people should start investing (the first one for example does crowd financing).

"What about clean, endless, beautiful coal?" ~standard TED comment

The lack of any facts or figures is disconcerting. African insolation seems to be in the 4 to 8 kWh per square metre per day range, compared to the UK's 4.5kWh summer figure. The real advantage they have though is that the winter/summer variation is much less than here. So you might expect between 1x and 2x the UK summer output, but for most of the year. There is also the question of how to store solar energy until it's needed, which is usually when the sun isn't shining. Batteries are an extremely costly way of doing so, and this has to be factored in to the overall energy cost. Then, there is a huge difference though between powering a small TV and powering other household appliances. The major problems faced by Africans are not having any way to safely store or prepare food. Grid electricity provides power for a fridge and a cooker. When you're on a subsistence level, that's one helluva lot more use than a small TV set or a torch.

A thought I have currently. The third world countries where there arent any infrastructure already in place might just rise pretty fast. Think about it. In general they dont have a big grid system. A big portion of their land are greenfields. When the time reaches when centralised power e.g. coal, gas, etc. has become really obsolete, all those systems will only be a liability, and money needs to be spent to strip them down, or maybe they dont, and risk suffering for it. Like how copper cables for internet are still in use, and to switch to new fiber optic internet is cost prohibitive, hence the people who used to be the first people to have internet might just be the ones who are suffering now. The underdeveloped places can accept new technology with impunity. How funny it would be to think of a world where power is so localised that we only use DC appliances. Interesting thinking of the future

I hope energy Democracy will come sooner. 👌👌👌❤️❤️❤️👌👌👌

Working on this business model...

I already knew everything presented here... 5yrs ago, in 2013.

This was a good forward thinking video and I truly hope the business in it is run by people who want to progress more than they want to capitalize. _raises glass_ Cheers to eventually becoming a Type-2 Civilization!:D

I really wish people would learn the difference between democracy and liberty. This is not the democracy of electricity. It is about Liberty.

How can i purchase the $100.00 kit 3 lights + Radio + torch for a one parent family in a village in Thailand please Paul.

Gravity batteries?

In real estate its location, location, location. In energy revolution it all storage, storage, storage...

I wish that small private investors all over the world become able to invest these small business in remote areas.

I don't know what new information I got from this.

reality. Neighbourhood with ca 20 solar roof. you can do it with co. neighbours - eff factor over 50% by now

Great. But what about rainy season when sun is not shining

how old is this?

meanwhile in america we have tariffs, so we have that going for us, which is nice.

This is one of the greatest and most important TED talk I've ever seen.

WUUUU! Damn straight!

1500$ per household to connect to the gird? O.o?

It’s wonderful to see people gaining access to energy! Electricity is so important to human progression. However, we have to be realistic. As a step toward energy access, distributed solar is wonderful. But.... as a primary energy source for a fully developed economy, solar energy is just simply too diffuse and completely inadequate to scale without covering too much of the landscape. The environment is more than just CO2. We have to ask ourselves if we are willing to trade carbon intensity for environmental consumption. The kind of consumption that isn’t just a higher temperature but actually environmental displacement in favor of solar panels? If we are logical, the answer has to be “no!” So how can we allow these wonderful people in developing nations to achieve the same levels of life changing energy consumption that we enjoy in the developed world without CO2 and global warming? And without the environmental destruction of landscapes destroyed by intensive solar farming? We have to accept the only no carbon energy source that is dense. That is Nuclear Energy. I’m sorry, the grid is still a necessary component of the future. A grid based largely on nuclear energy providing base-load power.

My dream house isn’t a large standard house, my dream house is off grid. Solar panels, use a well for water, fruit trees, berries and land enough to farm my own food. I want an electric car, gas is expensive and unnecessary unless I’m cooking.

I'm not trying to be a downer, but the economics might not make sense for most Sub-Saharan Africans (perhaps I'm wrong). I grew up in Zambia, where money is really unfairly distributed (it's like America's wealthy 1% situation, but on steroids). So most people don't have money to spend. More than that, Zambia's GDP per capita is roughly $1170 (quick Google search based on the year 2016). So paying $500 for a basic solar power kit, representing just under 50% of their expected annual income is a crazy ask. Certainly, some people can afford these distributed technologies, and your market-potential might be as high, or higher, than you suggest, but it's unlikely -- in my opinion -- to really change entire populations. I've lived in the US for a few years now and have found that the cost of maintaining a home is excessive: you have to pay for your AC, heating, lighting, rent/mortgage, water, garbage disposal, cable, .... Best believe the cost of solar is far from trivial. I actually think distributed energy systems are the best way to go: more efficient because of much lower transmission losses, and improved resilience to external factors (it's harder to plunge an entire city into darkness if everyone's running a completely independent power station). I think solar will be part of the solution, but not in the way people assume. The key, it seems to me, is breakthrough battery technologies. Give me a battery that costs $250 to manufacture, about the size of a soccer ball, that can hold more energy than 60 Tesla Model S P100D Extended Batteries, that charges in no more than a few hours, and with more reliability than a solid state battery, and you've solved Earth's problems. I'd fly said batteries to space, charge them from a high-efficiency Gallium-Arsenide Solar Panel Station, and return large batches to Earth for use. Figure out how to get the operational costs (manufacturing, transportation, etc) down to $1500 per battery, all in delivered, and the grid wouldn't be able to compete. On a side note, I think space is key to solving many of our problems on Earth (in case that wasn't clear from the last paragraph). The main point is, we need economics that actually make sense coupled to technologies that are insensitive to variations in our environment. The future is coming. Disclaimer: I'm working on 2 core technologies related to the vision I described, above. Good luck Earth.

Off-grid is like isolation. It is not too bad but not really something you want on purpose.

Good info - but takes him until the 11th min to make his point => the Democracy of energy

Enphase IQ8 with ensemble microgrid technology!!

the echo is annoying, I hear it even on my cell phone

We need better battery's li-ion are OK but we need a much longer life.

An opportunity, instead of broadcasting movies, soap operas and novelas, there can be a network to broadcast documentaries to these people, to educate, to have schools play these for children, Windmills are another choice. Battery technology needs to be advanced in order to buffer energy to night.

I have A technology that makes batteries last for decades longer than expected. It also makes them have about ten percent better capacity. This technology could be used when making solar panels and it might help them become more efficient as well. My 20 year old battery is the proof that this technology works. Also have an eleven year old car battery as well. Regardless I need the equipment and resources to even attempt making solar cells more efficient.

Charmin Ultra Less is More!

The world need solar power revolution and battery revolution

He expected that they clap 9:09

Not the best speaker, but wow what a speech.

30% tariff on solar panels. People gotta REALLY want solar power now.

If America needs this they have to get more energy saving appliances with a rating system in place.

… and what's the collection plan for these (very complex and expensive to recycle) lithium-ion batteries in 8 years time when they no longer harvest energy and are spread across these rural areas, numbering in the thousands?

yes!!! #wedonotconsent

Never thought I'd find Indian Jeremy Irons

Time for electricity to be a human right. WITHOUT Government interference.

when World governments won't let you do that any of that stuff you're talking about having free electricity or any other thing else for that matter just ask Nikola Tesla where he's at just think about it GP Morgan told him his people won't have nothing free referring to us at the time before we were even born this is what he told Nikola Tesla

Why is no one talking about Geothermal? The cleanest, cheapest and most sustainable form of energy known to man? Hmm, I wonder....

Super concept, except, a huge huge percentage of people in rural areas can't afford food at cents on the dollar. Then there's politics. That on it's own creates huge issues.

Hmmm. . . You have a town where all the houses are producing their own power. Then a natural disaster hits such as a tornado, flood, etc. today, in the industrialized world the Power Companies work hard and get power back to homes still attached to the grid and repair the lines to those which have lost connectivity. If each house is independently producing their power, each building owner is responsible for fixing their own damage and paying for it right then. Think of having as few as 15,000 building owners trying to buy replacement parts all at once!

cheap large multicycle supercapacitor batteries, for houses

The part that interests me is the fact that Susan and her kids are no longer breathing the fumes of the kerosene lamps. This has to give better long term lung benefits.

Maybe solar power water purification?

This is AWESOME! We talk about this stuff on our channel. Estamos basados en México, y en Invictus estamos buscando cambiar a la mayoría de los hogares e industrias a energía 100% renovable! Si te interesa este tema, pasa por nuestro canal!

Hi

Solar power is the future

We still need coal or nuclear to blend with green energy at this point in time

Best way to conquer and defeat Africa demographically, give them electricity and TV.

A hydrogen driven economy could be quite sustainable. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in this universe. The by-product of a hydrogen fuel cell is basically pure water, and the world needs more pure water too, so, win-win.

work goes much faster with Avasva plans.

1. USD500 is too expensive for those with slightly above USD1000 GDP per capita.. Maybe not for the Top 20% crust of the countries' society who wants alternative source of reliable electricity.. 2. Someone here highlighted on theft issue.. How to guarantee someone won't steal those PV modules? 3. Solar PV technology is already commercially feasible.. With the right business model catering to the right target market, the solar business can become bankable..

Like the host said "it could happen here". That's what we call a crowd teasing free energy talk. Unknown company working somewhere on eastern Africa. Not very convincing!

Why wouldn't people steal solar panels

There is plenty of room on the "Energy Generation Landscape" for all kinds of producers. No single type will fit every need, so don't put all of your eggs into one basket.

This guy should be the voice of scar in Lion King

can the sun provide enough energy for the rising popularity of the bitcoin miner, with the hardware we have today?

Hemp ... food , housing, clothing , and batteries.... it grows in 90 days ....HEMP

you know these electric companies that we have here in the United States are very greedy right here usa. where I live in Florida power companies are very greedy they don't want us to have solar power and they don't want us to disconnect Off the Grid so they create laws so you can't do that so local municipalities constrict change laws in the counties that we live in. they want to put meters on people's private Wells on water right here in Florida in the United States so before anybody thinks that someone is going to get something free you better ask their local government first cuz they're going to want something from it and if they already have a system in place they're not going to let go of the money they're getting