Environment

Solar energy has the potential to create thousands of jobs and help strengthen our economy while providing a direct benefit to the consumer. But many homeowners lack the resources to harness this abundant source of clean energy - particularly the low-income homeowner that may need to choose between paying an energy bill and feeding their family.

With all the current discussion on topics like renewable energy, policies to incentivize solar investment, product cost and pricing, and different technologies and which one will emerge as the consumer choice, is anyone asking how the 2 billion people who currently do not have access to electricity obtain that access?

To recognize the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the leaders of Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society asked that very question to experts in the field at a conference sponsored by Applied Materials last month. Billed as “Power to the People, Renewable Energy for Underserved Communities,” a number of subject matter experts explored the topic with business and community leaders, community benefit organization leaders, and Santa Clara students.

There is a place where technology giants - Intel, GE, IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Oracle, Cisco and Applied Materials - are pooling their brainpower to try out the best ideas for distributed solar electricity generation and "smart grid" technologies. Where an electric utility is opening up its power grid with 338,000 customers so these companies can experiment outside the lab, in the real world - and see what really will work.

I learned a lesson in tree planting while in Bangalore, India recently. The job is much easier and more fulfilling when you team with children, especially from orphan schools, to accomplish the task. Their eagerness, enthusiasm and elbow grease was a perfect compliment for the dozen Applied Materials India employees who ventured to the outskirts of the city to do a good act for mother nature. We partnered with the NGO Trees for Free who made all the arrangements, found the location and provided volunteer experts to show us the proper tree planting methods.

For 12 year old, Savitri from Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh, India, school was only till dusk and she had to manage with a kerosene lamp, which used to cast shadow on the books and gave limited amount of light. Throughout rural parts of India, many children work in the fields during the day and attend school only at night. Due to electricity outages there is often not enough power to light the classrooms after dark.