Abstract
Societal relevance plays an important role in the dissemination of solar photovoltaic home system design in rural context, as it syndicates economic benefits for livelihood improvement along with social and environmental advantage. For socially responsible design, it must cradle design that apprehends and bring positive social change. Furthermore, socially constructed design facilitates the progress of a rural community in a wider context such as upscaling the rural livelihood, generating microenterprise opportunities, etc. Energy poverty is one of the main concerns especially for the development of Northeastern states of India. This creates a disparity, leading to economic backwardness of the region. In this regard, socially constructed energy solutions may emerge as an integral part of growth and development. The noticeable benefits due to the adoption of small-scale solar photovoltaics home system in the social context of rural northeast India studied in this paper. During the field study, it is observed that such approach could overcome present challenges like lack of involvement of local stakeholders and lack of employment-related opportunities necessary to facilitate the diffusion of solar photovoltaics home system to the rural household. As a result, socially constructed energy solutions can become a part of the rural development promoting local self-reliance. In addition, this may facilitate dissemination of renewable energy technologies along with socioeconomic development of the rural community in the region.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
International Energy Agency: World Energy Outlook 2015. www.worldenergyoutlook.org/ (visited on 20/4/2016)
Government of India Data: https://community.data.gov.in/un-electrified-villages-as-on-31-05-2015/ (visited on 20/4/2016)
Bhattacharjee, S.: Energy and Power in Northeast India. Mittal Publications, New Delhi (2010)
Palit, D.: Solar energy programs for rural electrification: experiences and lessons from South Asia. Energy Sustain. Dev. 17(3), 270–279 (2013)
Chakrabarti, S., Chakrabarti, S.: Rural electrification programme with solar energy in remote region-a case study in an island. Energy Policy 30(1), 33–42 (2002)
Imai, K., Palit, D.: Impacts of electrification with renewable energies on local economies: the case of India’s rural areas. Int. J. Environ. Sustain. 9(2), 1–18 (2013)
Cabraal, R.A., Barnes, D.F., Agarwal, S.G.: Productive uses of energy for rural development. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 30, 117–144 (2005)
Kang, L.: Social design as a creative device in developing countries: the case of a handcraft pottery community in Cambodia. Int. J. Des. 10(3), 65–74 (2016)
Dhiman, B., Chaudhury, M.K., Deb, S.K., Chakrabarti, D.: Micro solar energy systems: product design intervention facilitating sustainable development for rural north east India. In: International Conference on Research into Design, pp. 117–125. Springer, Singapore (2017)
Reinders, A.H., Diehl, J.C., Brezet, H. (eds.): The Power of Design: Product Innovation in Sustainable Energy Technologies. Wiley, USA (2012)
Diehl, J.C., Verschelling, J.: Case G: From participatory design to market introduction of a solar light for the BoP market. Power Des. Prod. Innov. Sustain. Energy Technol. 317–326 (2012)
Peters, J., Sievert, M.: Impacts of rural electrification revisited—the African context. J. Dev. Effectiveness 8(3), 327–345 (2016)
Barron, M., Torero, M.: Household electrification and indoor air pollution. J. Environ. Econ. Manage. 86, 81–92 (2017)
Samad, H.A., Khandker, S., Asaduzzaman, M., Yunusd, M.: The benefits of solar home systems: an analysis from Bangladesh. The World Bank, USA (2013)
Epstein, M.B., Bates, M.N., Arora, N.K., Balakrishnan, K., Jack, D.W., Smith, K.R.: Household fuels, low birth weight, and neonatal death in India: the separate impacts of biomass, kerosene, and coal. Int. J. Hyg. Environ. Health 216(5), 523–532 (2013)
Hannum, E., Buchmann, C.: Global educational expansion and socio-economic development: an assessment of findings from the social sciences. World Dev. 33(3), 333–354 (2005)
Khandker, S.R., Barnes, D.F., Samad, H.A.: The welfare impacts of rural electrification in Bangladesh. Energy J. 187–206 (2012)
Van de Walle, D.P., Ravallion, M., Mendiratta, V., Koolwal, G.B.: Long-term impacts of household electrification in rural India. The World Bank, USA (2013)
Ahammed, F., Taufiq, D.A.: Applications of solar PV on rural development in Bangladesh. J. Rural Community Dev. 3(1) (2008)
Dinkelman, T.: The effects of rural electrification on employment: new evidence from South Africa. Am. Econ. Rev. 101(7), 3078–3108 (2011)
Rud, J.P.: Electricity provision and industrial development: evidence from India. J. Dev. Econ. 97(2), 352–367 (2012)
Grogan, L., Sadanand, A.: Rural electrification and employment in poor countries: evidence from Nicaragua. World Dev. 43, 252–265 (2013)
Kabir, E., Kim, K.H., Szulejko, J.E.: Social impacts of solar home systems in rural areas: a case study in bangladesh. Energies 10(10), 1615 (2017)
Mala, K., Schläpfer, A., Pryor, T.: Better or worse? The role of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in sustainable development: case studies of remote atoll communities in Kiribati. Renew. Energy 34(2), 358–361 (2009)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Dhiman, B., Chaudhury, M.K., Mahapatra, S., Chakrabarti, D. (2019). Socially Constructed Design in Context of Small-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Home System. In: Chakrabarti, A. (eds) Research into Design for a Connected World. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 134. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5974-3_34
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5974-3_34
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-5973-6
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-5974-3
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)