Access to reliable energy has far-reaching effects for social inclusion, with low-income communities most at risk across the world. In developing countries, safe and affordable energy services can be a powerful tool for improving basic education or health services whilst giving the individual a chance for entrepreneurship and income generation. For example, with a light, a fruit vendor can sell later into the night; with a dehydrator, a tomato farmer can make sun-dried tomatoes, a year-long, high value product.
But 70 per cent of people in the developing world still have no access to electricity in their homes, health clinics or schools. India has more people without adequate access to energy than any other country. Despite extensive government spending on a large-scale electrification, half of all Indian households in lower income communities lack access to the grid. This project sought to understand local needs and create scenarios and solutions that allow these communities better access to energy and more control over their powered environments.
Concepts created range from a ‘hook plug’ that enables light fixtures to be hung anywhere to a micro-metering system that enables small communities to manage their energy use better. Interestingly, such ideas could in time become more relevant to the developed world. As the price of energy rises and fossil fuels become scarce, energy poverty is expected to increase dramatically everywhere. Concepts arising from this study could therefore have relevance for both extremes of the energy spectrum.
The 'Hook plug light' is exhibited in the London Design Week 2009.