A perspective on the rise of "Soft Power", a phenomenon propelled by billions of human networks throughout the world seeking economic efficiency, and the ongoing human and planetary costs of legacy hard power development.
Paradigm Shift In Personal Energy Production by Steve Banhegyi
Once upon a time, before mice and windows, mainframes ruled the earth. The big machines were used for serious military, scientific and commercial applications and were enshrined in air-conditioned high security buildings. All this was run by dedicated priesthoods of administrators, programmers, system analysts, consultants and project managers each with their own mysterious language and rituals. And, to reinforce some very real macho fantasies of centralised power and control, countless billions were invested in the machines and complex infrastructure needed to support them. If you wanted to do anything computing related, you’d need access to the host via a dumb terminal. And just a few seconds of CPU time (in those days it was called ‘core’ time) cost thousands of Rands.
But all this started to change in the late 70s with the arrival of personal computers. First a trickle of small machines like the the Sinclair ZX81, Commodore PET, Apple and then in the early 80s, a flood of IBM PCs and Taiwanese clones. As the personal computer became more powerful, the majority of mainframes and the companies that made and serviced them disappeared from the earth.
But all this started to change in the late 70s with the arrival of personal computers. First a trickle of small machines like the the Sinclair ZX81, Commodore PET, Apple and then in the early 80s, a flood of IBM PCs and Taiwanese clones. As the personal computer became more powerful, the majority of mainframes and the companies that made and serviced them disappeared from the earth.
The Rise of Soft Power Innovation
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A similar paradigm shift is occurring in energy right now. Disruptive technologies are perturbating centralised energy production in much the same way that mainframe manufacturers were upset by PCs all those years ago. The energy crisis has stimulated a wave of innovation that changes the game of long term power station planning and the use of dirty fossil fuels. We’re already in the zone where solar panels are available for under US$1 (R10) per watt. There is on-going talk of innovations in wave energy, hydrogen, cold fusion, geothermal and wind energy. Many of these innovations are on the same scale as the PC – small, environmentally friendly, personal, cheap and very useful. Like the age of the PC, the age of Personal Power or ‘Soft Power’ has dawned and the writing is on the wall for the energy behemoths.
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Vision of CommunityLED ~ "To fight climate change and poverty by developing solarpreneurs to grow their own sustainable businesses increasing awareness and use of solar and renewable energy throughout Southern Africa." |
Above: Poster communications for the soft power enterprise, "Community LED", a poverty alleviation and empowerment initiative based on low voltage #LED and #solar technology.
In contrast to ‘hard power’ or electricity produced on a megawatt scale by coal, nuclear and gas involving long term investments in the billions of rands, ‘soft power’ refers to personal energy generation that allows liberation from ‘the grid’. As with the PC, low power generating technologies are getting better and becoming cheaper; this will prove to be as disruptive for the grid as it was to mainframe computing.
Although ‘soft power’ systems generate only a few Watt hours per day, the efficiency of low voltage LED lighting has made it possible to provide 12 hours of light per night from as little as 40 Watt Hours per day. This technology literally changes lives – it means less time foraging for money to buy candles and paraffin and more time to read, socialise, learn and make things. There’s also the advantage of improved safety and air quality, vitally important for growing children and for people with lung or immune-system diseases like HIV.
Although ‘soft power’ systems generate only a few Watt hours per day, the efficiency of low voltage LED lighting has made it possible to provide 12 hours of light per night from as little as 40 Watt Hours per day. This technology literally changes lives – it means less time foraging for money to buy candles and paraffin and more time to read, socialise, learn and make things. There’s also the advantage of improved safety and air quality, vitally important for growing children and for people with lung or immune-system diseases like HIV.
Steve Banhegyi, Co-Founder, CommunityLED, talks about innovation with solar power to replace paraffin and provide electricity in lower income areas in the video above.
While estimates vary considerably, millions of people in Southern Africa live in informal settlements. It is difficult, costly and unprofitable to provide these communities with grid electricity and this is the space where soft power decisively beats grid power. Soft power requires no line infrastructure, can be deployed immediately and, unlike the grid, personal ownership of power generation means that people will care enough to look after their own technology.
In studying the energy economics of marginalised communities, we found that basic lighting costs around R800 per annum in paraffin or candles per 5×5 meter room. If we add the cost of charging cellphones at the spaza shop to this, that is another R1 200 per year which excludes the cost of return travel to the spaza shop. That’s a total of R2 000 a year spent on non-renewable resources which, in South Africa translates to around 2 months of old age pension. A solar-powered personal power system costing around R600 can immediately offset these expenses.
The Dark Side Of Hard Power
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There’s also a dark side to hard power that soft power solutions can easily counter. This is the environmental impact of hard power where in South Africa each KW/h produced by a coal-fired power station produces around a kilo of atmospheric CO2 . The emissions also include mercury, sulfur and particulate matter which ultimately damage the human body whether through air, soil, food or water. Soft power produces virtually no emissions and the impact is immediately observable in the environment as people stop using paraffin, candles and firewood for lighting.
The key driver of the soft power market is billions of people throughout the world who need soft power solutions. The result is a surge in the same kinds of technological innovation that stimulated development of the personal computer. As in the computer world, we will see better, smarter and cheaper technologies emerge based on low voltage DC. The future is here now and it brings lower costs, improved performance and new possibilities. |
"Mpumalanga is a province of South Africa. Extensive mining is done and the minerals found include gold, platinum group metals,
silica, chromite, vanadiferous magnetite, argentiferous zinc, antimony, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, tin, coal, andalusite, chrysotileasbestos, kieselguhr, limestone, magnesite, talc and shale." - Wikipedia |
Thanks very much. I hope this article was helpful to you. Add your thoughts in the comments section below. I'd like to hear from you.
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Steve Banhegyi, is a facilitator, consultant, speaker, and media developer based in the Johannesburg Area, South Africa region and works in the Management Consulting industry. Steve is Co-Founder of CommunityLED-Alternative Energy and Empowerment for Africa.
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