socio-cultural dimensions of cluster vs. single home photovoltaic solar energy systems in rural nepal社会文化维度的集群和单个家庭光伏太阳能系统在尼泊尔农村.pdf

Sustainability 2010, 2, 494-504; doi:10.3390/su2020494 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/sustainability Article Socio-Cultural Dimensions of Cluster vs. Single Home Photovoltaic Solar Energy Systems in Rural Nepal Kimber Haddix McKay Department of Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA; E-Mail: kimber.mckay@; Tel.: +1-406-243-4106; Fax: +1-406-243-4918. Received: 2 December 2009 / Accepted: 25 January 2010 / Published: 2 February 2010 Abstract: This paper analyzes the socio-cultural dimensions of obstacles facing solar photovoltaic projects in two villages in rural Nepal. The study was conducted in Humla District, Nepal, one of the most remote and impoverished regions of the country. There are no roads in the district, homes lack running water and villagers’ health suffers from high levels of indoor air pollution from open cooking/heating fires and the smoky torches traditionally burned for light. The introduction of solar energy is important to these villagers, as it removes one major source of indoor air pollution from homes and provides brighter light than the traditional torches. Solar energy is preferable in many villages in the region due to the lack of suitable streams or rivers for micro-hydroelectric projects. In the villages under study in this paper, in-home solar electricity is a novel and recent innovation, and was installed within the last three years in two different geo-spati