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3 Ways Tesla Can Eliminate Poverty in India

Tesla Can Eliminate Poverty in IndiaIn 2019, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, publicly voiced his interest in establishing Tesla in the Indian automobile market. Before a deal was set in stone, Tesla faced a major obstacle. Toward the end of 2021, Tesla lobbied the Indian government to reduce import taxes to under 40% on electric vehicles (EVs). The Indian government declined the condition, suggesting that Tesla assemble the cars in local manufacturing plants. In 2023, however, the Indian government presented Tesla executives with an offer to construct a Giga factory in India. If Tesla accepts, which seems to be the case as the company recently finalized locations in India, the factory will become a crucial component in India’s efforts to combat poverty. Poverty has been a major focus of India’s political agenda for the past few decades. Now that Tesla is paving a path into the Indian market, India has yet another avenue to decrease poverty. With the Indian government, Tesla can eliminate poverty in India in three ways.

3 Ways Tesla Can Eliminate Poverty in India

  1. Increases Automobile Industry Output and National GDP Value: In 2022, India ranked fourth in global car sales and grew an impressive 23% in the past year, the third-largest automobile industry growth rate in the world. As Tesla aims to enter India, it has the potential to significantly increase the value of the Indian automobile industry. The Indian automobile industry is currently valued at $32.7 billion. With business from companies such as Tesla, India’s automobile industry is projected to be valued at $54.84 billion by 2027. This is because Tesla is the 11th largest car manufacturer in the world. This also means India will soon eclipse Japan as the third-largest automobile market worldwide. The Indian EV market alone is projected to be valued at $7.09 billion by 2025. This means India will become the third-largest EV market by 2025. Tesla’s potential impact on the Indian Automobile Industry also correlates to an increase in India’s GDP. This is because Tesla plans on using India as a central hub for exports across Asia. Between 2020 and 2022, India’s GDP increased from $2.67 trillion to $3.39 trillion. As India begins to export Teslas, the increase in export revenue will continue to increase the national GDP. The higher the national GDP, the lower the poverty rates. Given these trends, Tesla can eliminate poverty in India through an improved automobile industry and a higher national GDP.
  2. More Jobs: Employment is the most effective method to help alleviate poverty. While India’s overall unemployment rate in 2022 was 7.3%, this statistic is slightly misleading. Specifically, 23.2% of the youth in India were unemployed as of 2022. This is alarming as addressing poverty in India could become very challenging if the next generation faces limited job opportunities. Fortunately, Tesla can eliminate poverty in India through the creation of new jobs. As of 2021, the Indian Automotive Industry provided jobs for more than 37 million people. Once Tesla, among other car manufacturers, enters India, the automotive industry is estimated to provide jobs for more than 65 million people by 2026. One of the reasons Tesla can create a vast amount of jobs in India is that it does not require skilled labor. Jobs such as assembly line workers do not require expertise or intensive training. This will allow people who lack education or need temporary income to have the possibility to obtain a job. As a result, more people in India will gain employment, thus preventing them from falling into poverty.
  3. Promotes India’s Initiative to Address Carbon Emissions: In the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference, India set several commitments for the country’s agenda to reduce carbon emissions. One of India’s commitments was to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. To meet this goal, India has heavily pushed for renewable energy. As of 2022, India ranked fourth in renewable energy installation. With Tesla on the horizon, India has yet another approach to further its goals. Along with the recent surge in India’s EV market, Tesla has the potential to become a prominent car brand in India. This is beneficial for India as cars are one of the largest sources of carbon emissions around the world. EVs, such as Tesla, can help alleviate carbon emissions. In turn, India’s goal to eliminate carbon emissions can also help eradicate poverty. This is because changing weather patterns induces poverty as it burdens people with conflict, hunger and inhospitable living conditions and can sabotage their source of income. Therefore, combating environmental challenges can assist the poor and present them with a path to escape poverty. As such, the environmental benefits of Tesla can eliminate poverty in India. 

Tesla’s Future in India

Although the future of Tesla in India is not fully determined, its potential benefits act as another tool for India’s efforts to eradicate poverty. These efforts have been highly successful; from 2011 to 2019, the population of Indians living below the poverty line decreased by 144.89 million people. As India emerges as a global leader in the fight against poverty, the country still has much work to do. Companies that invest in India, however, can help the country complete its efforts. In this way, Tesla can be a major boon for India and further its efforts to eliminate poverty.

– Manav Yarlagadda
Photo: Unsplash

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Tesla Looks for Alternatives to Cobalt Mining

Alternatives to Cobalt MiningAs the demand for electric cars increases, so does the need for the controversial car battery mineral: cobalt. Cobalt is an essential mineral in lithium-ion batteries. These batteries help power “electric cars, computers and cellphones.” The demand for cobalt is steadily increasing with the rising sales of electric vehicles, which promises a positive environmental impact. However, cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has seen frequent cases of child labor, accidental deaths and violence between miners and security personnel of mining companies. Tesla, the best seller of electric cars in 2020, is looking for alternatives to cobalt mining with plans to eradicate the mineral from its batteries entirely.

Problems in Cobalt Mining

More than 70% of global cobalt comes from the DRC. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is responsible for producing 15% to 30% of Congolese cobalt. Over the years, human rights activists have reported strong concerns of human rights violations in mining operations. Activists have pressed for urgent attention and alternatives to cobalt mining.

In 2018, roughly 60 million Congolese people lived in conditions of extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.90 a day. Because of this poverty, ASM cannot be entirely shut down as it is the primary source of income for many Congolese people. Furthermore, removing ASM is impossible because of its involvement in the complexity of the cobalt supply chain.

Miners in the DRC, including children, work in harsh and hazardous conditions. About 100,000 cobalt miners use hand-operated tools and dig hundreds of feet underground. Death and injury are common occurrences and extensive mining exposes local communities to toxic metals that are linked to breathing problems and birth defects.

Tesla’s Plan

Panasonic, Tesla’s battery cell supplier, wants cobalt-free batteries to be ready and available for Tesla cars within the next two to three years. The cathode of lithium-ion batteries used to consist of 100% cobalt. Over the years, Panasonic has reduced the amount of cobalt to 5%. Although reducing the use of cobalt improves the environment and decreases the cost of production, it also makes batteries more difficult to produce.

Panasonic recently partnered with Redwood Materials. Redwood Materials is a recycling startup that was established by J.B. Straubel, former Tesla chief technical officer. The startup recycles battery scraps and electronics to save and reuse materials such as “nickel, cobalt, aluminum, copper” and more. As part of the partnership, Panasonic would like to reuse these materials in its battery manufacturing.

Tesla is making efforts to look for alternatives to cobalt mining. However, a massive increase in the production of batteries has created a higher demand for the mineral. In 2020, Tesla secured a deal with Swiss mining giant Glencore. Although Glencore gets most of its cobalt from the DRC, Tesla has stipulated in its contract that suppliers use “conflict-free” minerals. The contract states that it is essential that the minerals procured “do not benefit armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo.” Until Tesla can run its own battery manufacturing or until Panasonic can effectively produce cobalt-free batteries for Tesla’s electric vehicles, the company will have to continue procuring cobalt for its batteries from the DRC.

Solutions to Corruption in Cobalt Mining

While Tesla’s plan for cobalt reduction in its batteries is a promising start in the search for alternatives to cobalt mining, there is also the solution of “ASM formalization.” Some companies have used ASM formalization to regulate their cobalt sourcing. Different methods of this formalization include:

  • Putting forth regulations for mining methods and working conditions.
  • Establishing ASM regulations with fundamental stakeholders for mine safety and child labor and ensuring that cobalt is obtained responsibly.
  • Formally recognizing ASM and monitoring compliance with regulations to ensure human rights are protected.

The DRC government has put in place a Mining Code and has designated specific areas of land for ASM. However, full implementation of ASM formalization will require the aid of private companies. Although regulating the mining industry in the DRC is challenging, there are several ASM formalization pilot projects that the country can learn from. With the help of these projects and the support of companies like Tesla, the DRC is on its way to addressing the root causes of human rights issues in the mining sector.

– Addison Franklin
Photo: Flickr

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Giga Shanghai: Tesla’s Gigafactory in China

Gigafactory,Over the last few years, there has been a lot of turbulence between the U.S. and China, especially in the areas of business and trade. Through all of the challenges though, U.S. car company, Tesla, managed to erect one of its famed Gigafactories in China in 2018 — one of the world’s largest emerging markets. Other than reducing the price of Teslas globally, the Shangai Gigafactory will also continue to raise employment in China and allow the Chinese economy to better develop.

What is a Gigafactory?

Tesla has been revered for its innovation in the electric vehicle (EV) market. Every year, the company seems to attract higher demand from around the world. With demand showing no signs of slowing down, Tesla was forced to rethink how it handles production. The Gigafactory serves as a production powerhouse to resolve the demand problem.

With the addition of the Shanghai Gigafactory, or Giga Shanghai, Tesla now says that it can produce roughly half a million vehicles per year. Gigafactories centralize production and allow for more parts to be made in-house. This cuts time and costs which ultimately results in lower prices for the consumer.

Tesla also made it paramount to make the Gigafactories as environmentally friendly as possible. All three Gigafactories are zero net energy. This means that they only rely on energy from renewable sources. In the case of Gigafactories, this means lots of solar power and no harmful byproducts.

How Giga Shanghai Helps Impoverished Chinese Citizens

Perhaps the most obvious way that Giga Shanghai helps is by providing jobs in China. Since its completion in 2019, the Gigafactory has employed roughly 2,000 people. Many of the jobs are in the production line so they are attainable for everyday citizens with no formal secondary education.

In addition to jobs, Giga Shanghai serves as a solution to the city’s immense pollution problem, with the most impoverished citizens living in the hardest-hit areas. Shanghai usually has an air quality index (AQI) that hovers around 150. Good air quality levels mean an AQI of between zero and 50. In a country where up to 1.24 million people die from pollution-related illnesses every year, Giga Shanghai proves that factories can still operate on a massive scale without relying on fossil fuels and other non-renewable energy sources.

If the energy technology used in Giga Shanghai is applied to other factories in the city, thousands of lives can be saved every year, especially the lives of the most impoverished citizens who cannot afford to move out of the most polluted areas.

Cutting Costs and Bolstering Relations

Before Giga Shanghai, the price of the world’s most popular EV (Tesla Model 3) remained too high for many people in China and abroad. Now, with the ability to produce the Model 3 in China, production and transportation costs have been slashed across Asia and Europe. Compared with the U.S. models, the production cost of the Chinese Tesla Model 3 has dropped by up to 28%. Now more than ever, Chinese citizens can access clean and reliable personal transportation that does not pollute their cities.

Giga Shanghai has also opened the door for new trade opportunities with European nations. Now, countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Portugal and Sweden prefer to purchase Teslas from China since the cost is lower. Trading in higher volume with developed economies means that China is inching closer to becoming a fully developed economy.

Giga Shanghai and the Future

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has stated that he would like to see 10 to 20 Gigafactories built over the course of the next couple of decades. Giga Shangai is the “guinea pig” since it is the first Gigafactory outside of the United States. So far, things appear to be running smoothly.

Soon, Gigafactories could be popping up in other emerging markets like Argentina, Mexico and Morocco. Gigafactories may be a stepping stone to help emerging markets become better developed. Job creation is a significant benefit of a Gigafactory. They advance industry, create new opportunities to trade with other countries and offer a clean alternative to gas-powered vehicles. Ultimately, Gigafactories can serve as a catalyst for global poverty reduction.

– Jake Hill
Photo: Flickr

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How Elon Musk Is Helping Diminish Global Poverty

diminish global poverty
Self-driving cars and trips to Mars might be the first things that come to mind when thinking of Elon Musk. His massive-scale innovations will help humanity as a whole, but Musk’s initiatives are also helping to diminish global poverty. Since he was in college, Musk has sought to help humanity through space exploration, global internet and energy efficiency. The mission of Tesla, which Musk founded in 2003, is to accelerate the world of sustainable energy for the good of humanity and the planet. This mission will also have numerous benefits to the poor and overlooked populations of the world.

Tesla Powered Water Plants

In the coastal village of Kiunga, Kenya, water is available but contaminated. With most water sourced from saltwater wells, communities must bathe and cook with saltwater. Washing clothes and bodies with saltwater leads to painful sores that are hard to heal. On the other hand, drinking and cooking with saltwater leads to health problems like chronic diarrhea or kidney failure. These complications inhibit a healthy and productive society.

Tesla and GivePower offered a solution to Kiunga’s lack of potable water: a desalination plant that solar power and a battery reserve power. GivePower is a nonprofit organization aiming to provide resources to developing countries; it was acquired by Tesla Motors in 2016. A solar water farm that Tesla Powerwalls facilitated stores energy from solar panels to fuel the Kiunga facility at night and when there is a lack of sunshine. This plant produces about 70,000 liters of clean water every 24 hours, giving clean water to 35,000 people daily. This project has improved Kenyans’ lives, and GivePower aims to reach Colombia and Haiti next.

Tesla Powered Micro-grids

In many regions, people take electricity for granted. In Africa, hundreds of millions live without it. According to the International Energy Agency, 55% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa lack basic electricity access. Energy is essential to power schools, homes and healthcare facilities. A lack of modern energy in developing countries hinders the ability to study, work and modernize. For instance, in Zimbabwe, widespread violence and poverty contribute to a declining economy. One beacon of hope is the money trade, which takes place almost completely electronically. An innovative mobile payment system called Ecocash facilitates financial transactions for customers with mobile phones. To be effective, this process relies on consistent power infrastructure.

One incident in July 2019 exposed the vulnerability of Zimbabwe and its markets. A power outage occurred, and Zimbabwe’s Econet generators failed to power up, resulting in a mobile money blackout. This consequently had detrimental effects on the country’s economy, as the majority of financial systems halted. Over 5 million transactions occur daily through mobile money markets, adding up to around $200 million. Interruptions to power cause Zimbabweans to lose millions of dollars.

Microgrids are the answer. Generated by Powerwalls from Tesla, these self-contained systems of solar panels and batteries can provide power across the globe. Above all, no community is too remote to benefit. Tesla’s Powerwalls will alleviate uncertainties that unfavorable weather, unstable prices and fuel shortages cause. Although they require an investment of $6,500, solar-powered batteries replace archaic diesel-powered generators to ensure stability and diminish global poverty.

StarLink: High-Speed Internet Access Across the World

A lack of internet and mobile applications make life harder in developing countries. Without educational, communication and health tools, the cycle of poverty cannot be broken. According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, an estimated 750 million people over the age of 15 cannot read or write. Access to educational tools and resources through the global internet can reduce drop-out rates and improve education levels.

Elon Musk’s StarLink internet would deliver high-quality broadband all over the globe, reaching communities that historically lack an internet connection. The internet can bring education, telemedicine, communication and truth to people oppressed in developing countries. It gives isolated and overlooked communities a chance to become more secure. Using Starlink is straightforward: Plug in the device and point it toward the sky. The costs and benefits of Starlink can be shared across multiple families. The Starlink project strives to place a total of 42,000 satellites in space by the end of 2021, enabling internet access and helping to diminish global poverty.

A Sustainable Future for All

Musk’s focus on energy technologies benefits everyone, including the world’s poor. One obstacle to ending global poverty, especially in extreme cases, is that the poorest populations are usually the most remotely located. However, with Musk’s innovations, even remote rural communities can advance with modern technology.

– Tara Hudson
Photo: Pixabay

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How The Production of Smartphones Harms Children


Now, more than ever, the world is becoming more interconnected. While the new societal and political inter-dependencies are obvious, even fields like manufacturing are a part of this trend. One product serves as a glaring example of this phenomenon: the smartphone. This hand-sized piece of technology has a shocking amount of components from a shocking number of places. Tech giant Apple sources materials from nearly 45 countries to make its products. While global interconnectedness can certainly be a positive thing, especially in worldwide manufacturing arrangements, at-risk communities in this process can pay a price. Though there is potential for exploitation at many stages of production, it is especially bad at the raw materials stage. Mining toxic minerals like nickel, cadmium and cobalt can come at a high cost to human health. Unfortunately, the production of smartphones harms children in poverty.

To explore the specific threats to child laborers, it is helpful to focus in on one microcosm within the larger mining industry. One particularly harmful mineral in cell phone production is cobalt. Largely mined by hand, cobalt is a silvery-gray metal that people use for many different products, including metal alloys in jet engines and powerful magnets. It is also common in lithium-ion batteries, which are rechargeable energy sources that power mobile devices. The rise in the prevalence of electric cars, which use the same technology, means the demand for cobalt is only rising.

What Conditions Do Children Face?

While countries like Russia and Cuba produce this ore, workers mine more than 50 percent of the world’s cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Due to this high rate of production, most of the exploitation in cobalt mines occur in this country. As mine operators struggle to keep up with demand, the poverty rate in the DRC stands at nearly 65 percent.  That means that many desperate people are willing to work in dangerous conditions for hardly any money.

In January 2016, Amnesty International published an investigation into human rights abuses in the DRC’s cobalt mines and it found horrifying conditions. Workers face permanent lung and skin damage, as well as immediate physical harm from cave-ins and other accidents. Not only that, but the investigation also found children as young as 7 years old employed in these conditions. This is how the production of smartphones harms children in poverty.

Children told Amnesty International that for 12 hours of work, they could expect to earn only $1 or 2. When government or industry authorities visited mines, supervisors order the children to hide or stay away from the mines for a few days so others would not spot them. These poor conditions and ill-policed regulations are the reasons why cobalt is known as “the blood diamond of batteries.”

How Can People Fix This Problem?

Some companies have taken the initiative to reduce child exploitation, especially in the years following the 2016 Amnesty International report. Electric car-maker Tesla and its battery provider, Panasonic, have worked hard to pursue cobalt-free battery alternatives. These companies managed to cut cobalt use by 60 percent in six years. However, current technologies have reached their limits. Removing more cobalt will start to pose a longevity problem, as well as a fire-risk.

Because cobalt will remain in use for at least the near future, it is essential to protect impoverished child workers. Most simply, because this issue seems far away, it is easy to forget its gravity. For that reason, remembering the power of consumer impact is important. Pay attention to how companies operate and support businesses that perform the necessary due diligence to run responsibly.

For example, Apple, like many large tech and development companies, has a website with details about the ethics of its supply chain. Read up on brands’ efforts, and make sure to voice any concerns (or potentially, any support) at a website like this one.

What Can People Do to Make a Personal Impact?

Direct habits also make a difference. Try to avoid buying new electronic devices if possible. There are many websites, such as Gazelle, where customers can buy like-new phones to prevent the need for mining new cobalt. Additionally, if a device bites the dust, consider recycling its components. While lithium-ion batteries cannot go into the usual blue recycling bins, resources like this one at call2recycle can help identify the most convenient option.

Lastly, consider learning more and keeping up with the latest news on the Cobalt Institute’s website. This group is a non-governmental trade association that provides information and assists in identifying and solving problems in the cobalt industry. With 62 years of experience and all of the major producers in membership, this group has great influence in these matters.

While today, the production of smartphones harms children in poverty, improving conditions are just around the corner. With responsible choices, better supply chain management and technical innovations, this problem could soon be one of the past.

– Molly Power
Photo: Wikipedia Commons

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After Maria: Building a New Tech Infrastructure in Puerto Rico

New Tech InfrastructureThe recent ravaging of the island territory of Puerto Rico, first by Hurricane Irma, then by Maria, is a reminder of the sheer destructive mayhem Mother Nature can wield—but also of the ability of individuals, businesses and governments across the globe to come together to solve problems and help those in need. Although the storms undoubtedly caused major problems, they also offered opportunities for change and innovation.

One such possibility is the chance to build a new tech infrastructure from the ground up. Many U.S. companies are stepping up to join in on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Under the direction of Elon Musk, Tesla is sending its Powerpack battery system to Puerto Rico to help homes, businesses, hospitals and schools use their existing solar panels by providing energy storage. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is sending special balloons to help restore cell phone connectivity in areas where the infrastructure is down. Meanwhile, Facebook pledged $1.5 million in relief money to various charities and sent employees to Puerto Rico to work toward restoring internet connectivity to the island.

In an interview with USA Today, Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló spoke about talking with Elon Musk. He affirmed that they were looking into batteries and solar panels as a long-term solution to transform energy delivery and bring down costs for the island.

The new tech infrastructure is direly needed. As The New York Times notes, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) was already $9 billion in debt before the two hurricanes hit. PREPA declared itself insolvent in 2014 and ceased making debt payments, forcing a debt restructuring deal that has yet to be finalized. To make matters worse, PREPA has been at the center of a corruption scandal, making it harder to unify the public behind its mission and importance.

But, according to Puerto Rico resident Gabriel Rodriguez, tech company aid to the island has been very polarizing. In his words, “People are really for it or against it. There are the people that say that of course it’s going to be a great improvement for us… but then there’s a lot of people that are very mad because they say we are selling the island to outside interests.”

Ina Fried of Axios speculates that the American companies currently volunteering side-by-side on the island will eventually compete with each other for larger-scale rebuilding contracts. The heavy lifting won’t come free, and this is likely the source of some Puerto Rican worries.

One of the challenges of rebuilding will be to do it in a way that respects Puerto Ricans’ autonomy and independent identity. These fears of selling out to foreign interests are similar to the ones that inspired the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s that toppled Fulgencio Batista and put Fidel Castro in power.

While the two situations are not politically analogous, the tales of government corruption and fears of foreign influence are, and those U.S. companies interested in helping would do well to approach the situation with sensitivity. There is room for all parties to share in the profits and rewards that a new tech infrastructure in Puerto Rico can yield.

– Chuck Hasenauer

Photo: Flickr

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Could Tesla Help Bring Power Back to Puerto Rico?

Bringing Power Back to Puerto RicoTowards the end of this past summer, a series of hurricanes swept across the Caribbean and Southeastern U.S., damaging communities in Houston, Miami and – in particular – Puerto Rico.

Not only was Hurricane Irma also followed by Hurricane Maria, another devastating storm, but the disaster response from the White House has been rather slow to provide relief, during a time when over one million people are struggling with – or even entirely incapable of – accessing electricity. Needless to say, bringing power back to Puerto Rico is no small task. However, Puerto Rico may have found an unlikely ally: Elon Musk’s Tesla Corporation.

Tesla is primarily famous for its manufacturing of electric cars and spaceship equipment (through its sister company, SpaceX). However, the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, has recently stated on Twitter that there may be a possibility of Tesla bringing power back to Puerto Rico. “The Tesla team has done this for many smaller islands around the world, but there is no scalability limit, so it can be done for Puerto Rico too,” wrote Musk on the social media site.

But are Musk’s goals realistic, or even possible at all? According to National Geographic, a solar panel-based subsidiary of Tesla – SolarCity – managed to single-handedly switch a small island in American Samoa from diesel fuel to solar power. The island, known as Ta’u, not only managed to switch over completely to an extremely eco-friendly energy source but did so in the aftermath of a Category 5 hurricane – and the solar panels in place on the island have been specially built to deal with such powerful winds and flooding.

Of course, Puerto Rico’s population of three million is far more than Ta’u’s modest population of less than 600, and therefore rebuilding the Puerto Rican infrastructure is a far greater task to undertake. Furthermore, the U.S. government has had a dubious past with intervening in Puerto Rican affairs, including early testing of birth control pills on women. Musk has, however, pointed out that any efforts made in solar power installation in Puerto Rico “must truly be led by the Puerto Rican people.”

After weeks of recovering from the devastating effects of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, however, Musk’s comments about not only bringing power back to Puerto Rico but reinforcing it both ecologically and structurally to withstand future storms, are ideas welcomed by many. Nevertheless, the plan is still in its embryonic stages and there is much more discussion that must take place before Tesla can spring into action.

– Brad Tait

Photo: Flickr

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Silicon Valley and Global Energy Poverty

Silicon Valley & Global Energy Poverty
Over one billion people around the world do not have reliable access to electricity. Furthermore, 2.6 billion people are reliant upon biomass to cook, which causes harmful indoor pollution. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately four million people die each year due to habitual inhalation from these toxins.

The Silicon Valley is at the apex of technological achievement and is inhabited by some of the brightest and most creative minds on the planet. There has been a mounting international appeal to Silicon Valley to use their intellectual tech brilliance for philanthropic efforts.

There has been criticism for focusing on solutions to micro problems that intend to only service the individual, as opposed to global humanitarian issues. Responsibility, however, cannot rest solely with the entrepreneurs themselves. Widespread global issues do not always necessarily lend themselves to the venture capitalist system.

Tech entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa notes this struggle: “Investors believe that the quickest hits come from building apps or games that go viral, or from creating websites that automate business processes. This was surely the case in the social-media era, when even children who had not completed their college education could write apps. But we’ve built enough messaging and photo-sharing apps, and have bigger opportunities now. It is possible for the young and the old to solve real problems, to great effect.”

Continents like Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, have limited access to electricity and are being viewed as a possible new frontier for tech consumption. In some parts of the continent, Africans walk miles to the nearest power grid just for a cell phone charger. Even then, because of the demand, it can take hours and it is expensive. For this reason, solar energy has recently seen a boom in usage particularly by telecom companies being funded by tech investors. The rationale is that broadening electrical access across the continent will hopefully cause a surge in mobile phone usage.

Tesla has created a Powerwall home storage 10kwh battery that is capable of powering 1,000 watts of current for 10 hours. In comparison, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates the average American household uses 1,200 watts, 24 hours per day. The battery is capable of recharging via solar or wind energy. The only downside is that the battery unit costs $4,000, which does not include installation. The average per capita income in Sub-Saharan Africa is well below $3,000, making the unit well out of most price ranges.

Nonetheless, the Powerwall home storage stands as a promising, albeit a rudimentary example of Silicon Valley creativity and ingenuity being applied for a global purpose.

– The Borgen Project

Sources: National Geographic, Huffington Post, Wadhwa, Forbes
Photo: Silicon Beat