This year, Massachusetts broke its record for the amount of snowfall, a full 108 inches. With every winter storm came the threat of power outage and the thought of the 650,000 people living in Boston losing power all at once was terrifying. Through advanced technology and some luck, the energy grid in Boston withstood the nine feet of snow that fell. Though the interconnectedness of the grid system works for the United States, it might not reasonably work for the rest of the world.

According to the International Energy Agency, 19 percent of the global population lives without electricity. In Africa, it is closer to 58 percent. Is it a reasonable goal to get the last 19 percent of the world on the grid system?

The problem is, in many countries such as Tanzania, the population is predominantly in rural villages, which are scattered far apart. Interconnecting all these places would be a huge challenge. The areas of Africa that have energy are using coal, charcoal, and wood. All these energy sources produce indoor air pollution that causes over 4 million deaths a year.

This is where solar energy kicks in. The Utility In A Box idea is “a bundled package of mini-grid components that can be easily integrated and installed” (Fast Company). This package would allow individual households to use and store solar energy; it would give families a single unit that could provide energy for low-power appliances. It is safer for users than coal or charcoal, as well as cheaper and faster to build.

However, Utility In A Box is not universally supported, despite its clear advantages for developing countries. Utility In A Box will allow developing countries to leapfrog the grid system and go straight to renewable energy, cutting the grid companies right out of the equation. If the technology is made and becomes successful, developed countries will adopt it too, running the large energy companies out of business.

In fact, this is already in motion. Tesla has made a home battery system that will store solar energy for an individual household, a product that will allow people to be partially or fully off the grid. In a report by the Rocky Mountain Institute, big cities in the United States could partially rely on both individualized solar energy and the grid system within the next 10 to 15 years.

The increased reliance on solar and battery systems like Utilities In A Box would decrease the capital going into grid companies and increase the price of electricity in developed countries. So then the question is: Is it worth creating a solar-plus-battery system for developing countries that could change our own multi-million dollar corporations?

– Hannah Resnick

Sources: Fast Company, Mother Jones Rocky Mountain Institution
Photo: Wikipedia