With the reconstruction of Afghanistan in progress, there are countless Good Idea Fairies circulating renewable energy as the solution to peace and harmony for Afghanistan and the Middle East at large.
Unlike the satellites that support the video phones NTM-A is buying, at least Afghans can feel the wind and see the sun, so solar and wind power would seem logical possibilities to the enthusiastic do-gooder. Enter the solution: a combination windmill and solar panel built within the past year.
Set against the idyllic Little Ghar, the energy farm looks like a picture of environmentally responsible modernity. Closer inspection reveals that the solar panel is caked with dust preventing even a small amount of electrical generation. What you cannot see is that, in spite of the breezy day, the windmill was frozen.
But someone was able to get a generator installed and running!
Afghans practice the time-honored method of break-down maintenance. With U.S. funding, that usually means repair-by-replacement. The one renewable energy solution the Afghans implemented themselves–other than the U.S. dollar–was working quite effectively (a formerly common American fixture–the clothes line).
In a dusty environment with equipment that requires regular attention, renewable energy is not a great solution for the technologically dearth Afghanistan. Ultimately, Afghans resort to what they know and trust–clothes lines and generators.
Assuming a 30kw generator, the nearly $1,000,000 ‘renewable energy farm’ could have purchased enough fuel to power the generator at full load for 4 years. . . and pay for the generator!
The reality is that, if/when Afghanistan becomes self-sufficient, their growing affluence will be able to afford and sustain advanced technologies that are better for the environment. While academics may discount Kuznets curves (because of the belief that ‘dirty’ industries are just exported by richer countries to the poorer), as society at-large has progressed it has moved to cleaner forms of energy; free markets incentivize the reduction of waste in delivering any product, including power (at least in free-market societies), as it makes that product more affordable and attractive over a dirty, wasteful option.
On the bright side, renewable energy does make us feel good about ourselves while enhancing a great corporate welfare program.
It ain’t easy being green.
Afghan Good Enough 