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Renewable Energy Has Proven to Be One of the Most Cost-Effective Alternatives in the Market, Could This Be the Solution to Help During Droughts in Rural Areas?
The concept of solving rural poverty with renewable energy seems strange in rural areas. The problems affecting renewable energy, such as costs, efficiency, and return on investment, render it virtually unsuitable for poor rural environments. After all, it’s in places like this that there is hardly any opportunity for such bold initiatives. However, in Brazil, where an abundance of renewable resources like hydropower and sugarcane (ethanol) generates electricity every day, the country is optimistic about solving one problem with another.
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Common Rural Problem and a Localized Solution
A typical problem faced by impoverished communities, like those in Brazil, is that families have little to no access to electricity. These villages are underdeveloped and outside the national grid; their location in rural areas makes centralized electricity costly, and yet these families earn much less money than typical urban households.
Fortunately, a variety of available renewable resources, such as geothermal, solar, and wind energy, are localized, not requiring expensive connections to a centralized grid.
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With 160,000 m² of collectors, an area larger than 20 football fields, Silkeborg, in Denmark, hosts a solar thermal plant that heats 19,500 homes and could become the largest solar heating plant in the world.
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A study reveals the expansion of renewable energy procurement in Brazil and shows how companies are taking advantage of opportunities to reduce expenses, ensure energy efficiency, and strengthen strategic environmental commitments.
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Mato Grosso do Sul excels in the sugar-energy sector: the state reaches a milestone of 22 operating mills and accelerates the production of clean energy in MS with a focus on sustainability.
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National energy dilemma: Brazilians support clean energy but reject increases in tariff costs to finance the sustainable transition.
Despite the high initial price, maintaining these resources is quite inexpensive, which is perfect for the developing rural communities of the country. The main challenge in deploying these forms of energy is the initial cost.
The Power of Renewable Energy in Geography
Interestingly, Brazil’s landscape can provide a solution to its problems. Due to its extensive coastline, Brazil has excellent access to wind energy and with a variety of flowing rivers, including several tributaries of the Amazon River.
Hydropower is abundant, supplying 12% of the nation in 2016. Given the current environmental conflicts in the country regarding the Amazon Rainforest, Brazil has an extensive history of responsible use of its natural resources.
Over the years, while explicitly stating that its main goal is universal access to electricity, the government has also focused on implementing strategies that utilize the country’s renewable resources. International organizations see this as a wise moral, strategic, and economic decision. For example, it would implement a localized system in rural areas.
How Can Renewable Energy Change the Lives of Brazilians?
In Brazilian rural communities, basic access to electricity can change the lives of millions of poor families. Issues like flooding, droughts, and availability of arable land affect the poorest rural areas of Brazil.
Optimistically, studies on the subject show that increased available technology not only boosts agricultural productivity but also allows for safer preservation of grown food, not to mention easier access to drinking water.
Despite optimism regarding technology-based solutions, the country still has much to do to address rural poverty. In the Northeast, a predominantly rural region, 7.5 million people live in extreme poverty. Exclusion remains the biggest challenge for these individuals.
However, the implementation of bold projects by the government and private organizations is starting to show positive signs. An initiative to provide water to the state of Ceará has improved the quality of life for 100% of the affected citizens.
The government hopes these individuals will have more opportunities for access to electricity, and so far, the solution to this problem is renewable energy.
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