Two billion people lack access to safe drinking water today. The impacts are dire — on human health, on food security, on gender equality, and more. When we look at who lacks clean water, the alignment with energy poverty is stark. It’s rural people, mostly (but not exclusively) in Sub-Saharan Africa.

These patterns live on, not because we lack the technology, but because we continue to assume that large-scale solutions, whether the electric grid or conventional water systems, will someday reach these rural villages, given enough time. We need to think bigger — or rather, smaller. We need to embrace decentralized energy technologies. And the solar industry has an essential role to play.

Read more in Solar Today.