Solar technology that will shape the future

Meet the men and women bringing solar power to the people – and fighting to transform our global energy supply.

Haiti - the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere ravaged by an earthquake in 2010 - most in this Caribbean outpost are living in darkness. Globally, 20% of people don't have access to electricity. In Haiti it's 75%.

Impoverished and without alternatives, Haiti's become a testing ground for a DIY power system that could help bring electricity to the 1.3 billion people worldwide who currently have none. It's one of many tentative steps toward a future where solar energy will play an ever larger role in powering the planet.

This is the story of the Solar pioneers and the technology they hope will shape the future.

Single mum Madeline has never had access to electricity. Today that's going to change. Until now she's used kerosene to feed lamps, spending $10 a month but her homes about to be hooked up to a groundbreaking energy system that will light her home for just $1.50 a month.

The country's limited national grid hadn't made it to the town of Leis Anglais - but this town's generating its own electricity in a groundbreaking power system that could provide a template for towns all across the developing world. This system provides enough energy for this community's current needs - from lighting people's homes to powering the town's mill. It's a model that could be the first step on the energy ladder for many others in the developing world.

Global electricity demand is projected to grow by almost eighty percent over the next 25 years with developing countries accounting for the bulk of the increase. Past increases in energy supply have relied largely on fossil fuels, which in many situations still provide the cheapest options, but they come with an obvious environmental cost.

The desire to travel is just one example of the contradiction between the energy demands of the rich world and concerns about the carbon emissions that result. All the more reason for those who profit to take a lead in finding ways to meet those demands with clean renewable energy.

The problem is that implementing an entirely new renewable infrastructure isn't easy especially in countries that are heavily reliant on oil, coal and gas.

The prices of fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas fluctuate but until recently they've all been a far cheaper option to solar - but Solar is catching up fast. Year-on-year solar power production is getting exponentially cheaper. Price means nothing without performance and one of the greatest challenges facing solar pioneers is how to make hay when the Sun isn't shining. Now one man believes he's found a revolutionary way to store solar energy.

Tesla founder Elon Musk has developed a new lithium-ion battery technology that's being rolled out as a consumer product. Powering homes is a starting point, but by releasing this video presentation to the world Musk's company was highlighting much more than the launch of a new product. In a performance tailored for a mass audience his bold claims pointed to a reinvention of the way we power the world.

In spite of all the recent progress, solar still only produces 1% of global electricity. To become a serious player it needs another game-changing logical leap.

One scientist in Oxford, England, thinks he may have the answer. In an air locked laboratory tests are being carried out on a new material that could be far more effective at capturing energy than traditional silicon solar panels. Bulky existing solar panels convert around 20% of light into electricity as it passes through. In the lab they can achieve the same results with this new super thin material. Just combining perovskite with traditional silicon panels has already been proven to nearly double their output. It's an early indication of the potential for products using perovskite to be highly efficient, lightweight and cost-effective. If a technology like this can make the jump from the lab to the mass-market, glass buildings could generate electricity in an entirely new way. With less dependence on the grid the economics of the energy industry could be transformed too.

Back in Haiti, the lights are about to be switched on in Madeline's house. Fossil fuels have served the world's energy needs for centuries but solar technology is now on the brink of being properly competitive. It's the start of a long journey but today homes in Haiti and factories in Alabama are beginning to show the potential of a different energy path - one that's clean, renewable, and urgently needed.

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[kuwait]

This was an excellent doc, ..Jesus... that family was partying because they have a light bulb inside the house.

[davidv]

We are so lucky born with energy right on our doorstep. Perhaps the next step is to be part of the contributors to promote it's sustainability.

[ronaldgarrison]

9:42 he says solar produces only 1% of global electricity. Well, by early 2018, it was 2%. Growing right on schedule.

[rustymustard]

I've been running on solar power for well over 6 years now and have invested (in my own equipment) what it would have cost initially for 3 moths worth of grid service, and over the better part of the last decade have spent about the same amount i would have for a year of grid service, even considering my modest usage, and especially with my modest usage, it would cost me more in taxes and fees than the power itself.

Even before i went solar, i compared the numbers and came to the conclusion that i'd have to be an IDIOT to pay for power when it literally falls out of the sky all day long, for well over 300 days a year here if i bought equipment that i would own instead of giving the 'man' what little i have to destroy the earth and demand payment every month like the electron mafia.

So far over 6 years there have been a LOT of grid outages, a few times for a day or two, or so i've noticed when i looked out the window and see the town blacked out, then go back to whatever i was doing, coding, graphics, recording music, grinding metal. In summer here the sun is a problem, it's HOT! But fortunately, a small usb powered pond pump and a computer fan retrofitted into an evaporative cooler keeps me chillin', as well as all those solar panels shading the roof.


The key here though, is modest usage. I use only LED lighting, and low power devices when i have the choice, and my high power devices like drills, angle grinders, are intermittent devices. The system is oversized for my essentials like lights, computing, audio and music gear like mixers, microphones and guitar amps and such, so it's rare that i run out of power unless i run power tools for extended periods after sunset.

With so much green power, sometimes i turn lights on for the hell of it, or because i'm too lazy to shut it off, but it doesn't matter, because it's more free, zero footprint power than i have time to use in a day.

So basically solar power, for me, has been a massive advantage that i've been leveraging to generate income in the form of my solar powered business. I've got a tricycle vending operation that also runs on solar. My trike sits parked in the sun and charges all day, providing me with clean onboard power that i can turn into profit.

With the next system upgrade i'll be getting an inverter with enough power to run my welding equipment, and with those tools i'll really have the ability to fabricate metal and build stuff like solar e-bikes, powertrailers (like a Tesla powerwall on wheels) and a variety of hyperefficient, solar-electric/human powered vehicles.

If i had been paying for grid power fort all this time i'd probably be sitting here sweating a disconnect notice instead.

[eddieh]

This is amazing. Let's change the world!

[ahmedalimam]

come on world, ditch the fossil fuel and welcome the solar energy

[MarkHatlestad]

I'm disappointed that Virgin's Sponsorship of this video was not disclosed until the final 4 seconds... It is a potential conflict of interest given the videos content.

[Indi_Prashant]

We are the first generation to feel the climate change and we are the last generation to do something about it.

[Coachnickhawley]

This is really exciting. We live in such an amazing time!!!

[jasminevillas]

Think about ow many hours of sun there is in a day. Then think about ow many time zones here are in the USA.. we need a wire around the world and solar systems feeding into it. This would solve the battery problem to a certain degree.

[robinhoodstfrancis]

A system which lets the people keep paying. Very American mainstream. The next step is letting people in communities own their generators.

[InternetsTuber]

The environmental costs, first locally and then globally, as the domino consequences expand across countries and the planet, means fossil fuels are Not really cheaper for anyone. They appear cheaper because they cost less to obtain in the immediate, but their total cost is much more. The long-term costs of environmental damage, loss of taxes and jobs as governments give huge subsidies to the fossil fuel industry (corporate welfare increasing corporate profits at the expense of rival technologies and start-ups that could provide jobs and be made cheaper to consumers if subsidies were directed to them instead while they need it to gain footage), and public monies spent on wars protecting access to fossil fuels and protecting their industries, all add up to far far more than the public is aware of. It is time the world stopped thinking only in the economic short-term. It is time documentaries and public service campaigns started making the true economic impact of fossil fuel reliance clear and stop repeating the misleading and oversimplifying line of "it's cheaper."

[imaakillaa]

anyone in so cal wanting to get solar for their home send me a message! i work for a solar company

[almightyalious]

Elon Musk can place all of his Gigafactories in our continent Africa, where the sun never disappears, and make the world and Africa a better place

[philipb]

There are far more jobs created by alternative/renewable energy suppliers, Alas, these other jobs are not concentrated within the electoral college of West Virginia. #Make My Campaign Contributors Greed Again

[kingrichee]

Electrical companies in the United States 🇺🇸 people in the state instead of paying for electricity home owners can place Solar panels on homes that will power their light heat their homes their hot water 💦 power their appliances their can even power up their electrical automobiles 🚙 but they don’t want to put out this Solar panels technology out because their won’t need these Electric company is out of service everything all you would need will be given to you by the sun ☀️ you won’t need to have Solar panels on the top of your roof you have solar panels windows or have solar panels mounted on the side of your home 🏠just like they do for satellite 📡 dish tv all you need is a solar panels company to take initiative of the circumstances that people in the United States don’t need to put out unnecessary money to these Electric company’s anymore will be self-sufficient and saving money the problem is the United States is Incahoots with the Middle East still buying their oil depending on the oil to keep the rich people rich and the poor people poor and they got the never and show poor people dancing around because they screw in a light 💡 lol when in real fact the government is the one screwing the people of the America

[dnldmor]

What the fuck happened to the Economist? Terrible.