Lighting and Renewables
Rural PV Lighting: Opportunity Lost? (IAEEL 2/98) The private-sector-based development of rural markets for PV lighting is a market worth exploring, writes guest author Robert van der Plas. He reports from a recent marketing test in Africa assessing the ability and willingness of rural housholds to pay for lighting improvments. The result pose a challenge to manufactures of PV lighting equipment.
Outdoor savings from PVs (IAEEL 4/96) Even in urban areas of industrialized countries, PV outdoor lighting could be a cost-effective alternative to grid-connected streetlights in many cases.
HID ballast for PV applications (IAEEL 4/96) The UK-based company Antares has developed a highly efficient electronic ballast for small high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps intended for use in combination with PVs.
PV Lighting (IAEEL 2/96) Efficient lighting can help photovoltaic cells go Big Time. Despite their high kilowatt-hour prices, photovoltaic solar cells are often the cheapest way to get a few watts of power for lighting in Third World villages. But if the efficiency of the lighting systems is neglected, most people in developing countries will be unable to afford PV lighting.
Hard Facts on PV Hardware (IAEEL 2/96) PV lighting may seem to be a wonderful alternative for the more than one billion people lacking access to electricity. But if quality is neglected, the investment may end up in disappointment.
Selected sources (IAEEL 2/96)
Th Future belongs to PVs (IAEEL 2/96) PVs will certainly not be the only source of renewable energy production in the future, but they are the only source with an almost unlimited technical potential.