發(fā)展中國家消費(fèi)者的強(qiáng)大力量

????已故著名管理教授C.K.普哈拉曾在《金字塔底層的財(cái)富》（The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid）一書中稱，通過為“金字塔底層”人群設(shè)計(jì)產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)，公司不僅可以盈利，還能造福社會(huì)——這部分人群每天的生活費(fèi)不超過2.50美元，總數(shù)大約有30億人。

????太陽能制造商d.Light的CEO唐恩?泰斯在芝加哥大學(xué)（University of Michigan）學(xué)習(xí)時(shí)就師從普哈拉。總部位于舊金山的d.Light制造平價(jià)優(yōu)質(zhì)的太陽能燈，近幾年已成為平價(jià)太陽能行業(yè)的排頭兵。d.Light是2013年150萬美元扎耶德未來能源獎(jiǎng)（Zayed Future Energy Prize）的獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)撸總€(gè)月向全球賣出40萬盞燈。

????泰斯覺得，d.Light的成功證明了普哈拉的理論。他說：“太陽能是個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)，既能給全球帶來巨大改變，也可以實(shí)現(xiàn)企業(yè)盈利和個(gè)人利益。”

????在太陽能創(chuàng)業(yè)者中，市場化解決方案能改善民生是一個(gè)重要的信念。煤油常常被談及。這種“臟光源”會(huì)降低室內(nèi)空氣質(zhì)量，而且成本也很高。貧窮的非洲人口將近三分之一的收入都花在煤油上；整個(gè)非洲大陸每年這上面的花費(fèi)約為100億美元。同時(shí)，這種燃料也很危險(xiǎn)。d.Light的一位創(chuàng)始人山姆?古德曼曾在西非為和平工作隊(duì)（Peace Corps）工作了四年，曾經(jīng)目睹過一場由煤油燈引發(fā)的火災(zāi)造成了孩子的毀容的慘劇。與此類似，F(xiàn)enix的漢德勒2009年在肯尼亞鄉(xiāng)村為一家非營利機(jī)構(gòu)工作時(shí)，一場煤油燈引發(fā)的火災(zāi)造成了鄰舍的一個(gè)嬰兒死亡。

????但是，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)落后于需求增長的電網(wǎng)擴(kuò)張并不足以削減當(dāng)?shù)貙γ河偷热剂系囊蕾嚒＿@是一個(gè)全球性問題。發(fā)展中國家的人們正在變得越來越有錢，電力需求也在增長。更多的人，更多的收入，等于能源消費(fèi)的增長。

????“它造就了一個(gè)龐大的需求生成回路，”泰斯說。“供應(yīng)不可能跟得上。集中化的電網(wǎng)體系無能為力。核能過于資本密集化，而且具有高風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。”他說，太陽能提供了一種可擴(kuò)展的平價(jià)方式來緩解能源荒。

The vast power of the developing market consumer

????In The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, the late C.K. Prahalad, a prominent management professor, argued that companies can make a profit and do good by designing products and services for the "base of the pyramid" -- the roughly 3 billion people who live on $2.50 or less a day.

????Donn Tice, CEO of solar manufacturer d.Light, studied at the University of Michigan under Prahalad. San Francisco-based d.Light -- a manufacturer of high quality, affordable solar lamps -- has been for several years at the vanguard of the affordable solar industry. A 2013 recipient of the $1.5 million Zayed Future Energy Prize, d.Light sells 400,000 lamps a month worldwide.

????For Tice, d.Light's successes are proof of Prahalad's thesis. "Solar is an opportunity to both make a big difference in the world and to do it profitably and in a self-interested way," he said.

????Among solar entrepreneurs, the notion that market-based solutions can improve lives is a key article of faith. Kerosene often comes up. The "dirty light" source deteriorates in-house air quality and is expensive. Poorer Africans spend nearly a third of their income on kerosene; the continent as a whole annually spends about $10 billion on it. The fuel is also dangerous. One of d.Light's founders, Sam Goldman, spent four years in the Peace Corps in West Africa and witnessed its hazards in the form of a child disfigured by a kerosene fire. Similarly, in 2009, Fenix's Handler was working for a non-profit in rural Kenya when a kerosene fire claimed a neighbor's baby.

????Yet local dependence on fuels like kerosene will not be alleviated by grid expansion, which lags too far behind demand. This is a global problem. Populations in developing economies are getting richer and are demanding more power. More people with more income equals rising consumption of energy.

????"It creates a powerful demand generation loop," Tice said. "Supply can't possibly keep up. The centralized grid system is broken. Nuclear is too capital intensive, and high risk." Solar, he said, offers a scalable, affordable means to alleviating energy poverty.