Upon seeing each ger in the Gobi outfitted with a solar panel, Jonathan made an excellent point: no one can ever say they can't afford PVs, or that they're too much work, or that they're too delicate: we've seen Mongolian herders using them with no problems whatsoever.
One of the main tenants of my research is to seek out "non high-tech" means of climate mediation, so no PVs, complicated systems, etc, but I have to admit: seeing PVs used here so effectively, and hand-in-hand with low-tech, tried and true solutions, gives me something to think about. The PVs themselves really aren't the problem, it's the size of the load we Americans demand. If you only need to power one lightbulb, a TV for a few hours, your charger, and maybe one or two other things once in a while, the PV can be a minor [if crucial] part of your energy strategy. And, in the case of the herders, it's not a part of their climate mediation. They rely on passive technologies for cooling and refrigeration, and on localized carbon based systems [burning dung] for heating, cooking, and heating water - and all of these loads are lessened by excellent insulation. Remove those loads from the typical American energy footprint, and PVs suddenly look much more reasonable.
Oh wait, that's what we've all been trying to do for years. So maybe I didn't learn anything new here, just got some confirmation in an extreme situation, and some great pictures to prove the point.
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| Adjusting the panels to track the sun. |
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| Solar panel outside the front door. Must be late morning: the panel is facing east-ish. |
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| Not PVs, but sun powered: drying cheese curd in the sun [on the roof of the ger]. Once dried, this curd has an indefinite shelf life. It is also credited with giving Mongolians their beautiful white teeth [seriously: everyone looks like a toothpaste commercial]. |
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