Project: Sustainable Living System through Renewable Energy in Africa

This project outlines a plan to implement sustainable living systems in Africa through the use of renewable energy, focusing on providing basic renewable energy systems to families with a budget of $2000 per family and an overall project budget of $400 billion. The project details five key areas: ele...Read More

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Environmental Science
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Introduction:
Sustainable living system implies a lifestyle that intends to reduce the use of natural
resources along with personal resources. For maintaining this sustainable living system, a
society decreases its carbon footprint through substituting energy consumption, transportation
and other necessary products (Schaeffer, 2015). This project also considers sustainable living
for Africa. To fulfil this plan, a budget of $400 billion has been approved. The chief focus of
this project is to provide some basic renewable energy systems to each family under $2000.
The five simple and renewable energy systems are related to electricity supply, water
purification system, cooking system, communication system and refrigeration system
(Whiteside, 2014).
Analysis:
It is essential to describe about each of the renewable system before analysing the
budget for every household. Total budget to provide sustainable energy systems is $400
billion while cost for each family is considered up to $2000. Therefore, this program can
provide sustainable energy system to 2 billion families in Africa.
Electricity Supply: Supply of electricity is an essential component for a society to develop.
It is impossible to sustain without electricity. It will be convenient for a country of Africa to
use solar power, as the entire continent is greatly influenced by sun. This country receives
comparatively more hours of sunshine in a year than any other country (Chelanga & Tonui,
2018). According to the report of International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), solar
power is one of the cheapest sources of energy for powering many areas of Africa. To meet
the energy requirement of a household for one year, the cost of solar energy is $700. For each

2ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
watt, the cost of solar power is $1.30. Each family consumes minimum 230 kWh per month.
This system also requires maintenance charge.
Water purification system: The system of water purification can save many lives on Africa.
This is considered as a serious problem for which many people die every year in this country.
The cost of a water purifier in Africa is around $68 (Mnguni et al., 2018). This purifier can
supply water for more than one year. However, each family needs to spend some
maintenance charge for this machine.
Cooking system: Solar photovoltaics (PV) have changed living style of many households
across Africa. In this situation, using of solar cooking can be beneficial for the household.
Therefore, it could be beneficial to provide solar electric cooker for each household within
budget. The price of a solar cooking stove is $60 (Amuzu-Sefordzi, Martinus, Tschakert &
Wills, 2018). With the help of this a household can easily produce their minimum amount of
food.
Communication system: Traditional communication system in Africa implies the process
through which messages, ideas, orders as well as information are conveyed between two
places or two people. To bring sustainable living system in communication process,
technological improvement can play a significant role. Internet connections and mobile phone
facility can help people to maintain strong communication with each other compare to
traditional system. Internet connection in Africa is higher than that of the US and other
developed countries. The monthly expense for broadband service is $80 on an average. In
some areas, minimum cost for monthly broadband service is $50.
Refrigeration system: In Africa, many people have died due to insufficient system of
cooling. Due to heatwaves, the number of death people has increased in each year. Therefore,
refrigeration system in this continent is essential. To reduce consumption of traditional

3ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
electricity, solar system for energy production can be used in this purpose. The price of
refrigerator, which uses photovoltaic system, is around $286 to $ 650 (Wu et al., 2018). For
household with lower budget, refrigerator with minimum price will be used.
After obtaining these values, budget for a family can be calculated. The following table has
represented the cost for supplying sustainable system to a family under the budget of $2000.
However, the approximate cost does not consider other maintenance expenses.
Table 1: Budget for each family to provide sustainable living system:
Electricity
Supply
Water purification
system
Cooking
system
Communication
system
Refrigeration
system
Total
cost(
$)
700 68 60 600 286 1714
Conclusion:
Hence, for each African family minimum $1714 is required. The above table has
considered all five elements that the UNDP has decided to provide in Arica. The above table
shows that the budget is appropriate for the household, who earns less maximum $2000.
Therefore, around 2 billion families can receive sustainable living system through obtaining
solar electricity, water purification system, cooking system along with communication system
and refrigeration system in Africa.

4ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
References:
Amuzu-Sefordzi, B., Martinus, K., Tschakert, P., & Wills, R. (2018). Disruptive innovations
and decentralized renewable energy systems in Africa: A socio-technical
review. Energy Research & Social Science, 46, 140-154.
Chelanga, J. K., & Tonui, J. K. (2018). Evaluation of Performance of a Solar Tunnel Crop
Dryer in Drying of Two African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs). Kabarak Journal of
Research & Innovation, 5(2), 100-114.
Mnguni, S. B., Schoeman, C., Marais, S. S., Cukrowska, E., & Chimuka, L. (2018).
Determination of oestrogen hormones in raw and treated water samples by reverse
phase ultra-fast liquid chromatography mass spectrometry–a case study in
Johannesburg South, South Africa. Water SA, 44(1), 111-117.
Schaeffer, J. (2015). Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook: The Complete Guide to
Renewable Energy Technologies and Sustainable Living-Revised and Updated. New
Society Publishers.
Whiteside, M. (2014). Living farms: encouraging sustainable smallholders in southern
Africa. Routledge.
Wu, J., Guo, S., Huang, H., Liu, W., & Xiang, Y. (2018). Information and Communications
Technologies for Sustainable Development Goals: State-of-the-Art, Needs and
Perspectives. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.