Solar Energy for Low Income Rural Households

The project focuses on making solar energy affordable to meet the basic energy needs for low-income, rural households. By focusing on solar energy as the source, this project addresses the societal challenge area relating to global change & amp; sustainable energy.Our goal is to substantially reduce the system cost to address essential energy needs, providing on the order of 10kWh per day with energy storage to operate after the sun goes down or on cloudy days. Essential energy needs are divided between electrical and thermal loads. Thermal loads include space and water heating as well as space cooling. Electrical loads include lighting, communications, cooking and computers as well as controllers and DC pumps for the thermal loads. By reducing the size of the loads, smaller solar photovoltaic and thermal systems can be used to meet the needs at a lower overall cost.If successful, the project will introduce new products that will create jobs and increase rural economic opportunities. Societal-impacting climate change is addressed through reduced dependence on fossil fuels and reduced greenhouse gas emission for meeting basic energy needs.