The Car-Battery Computer Lab

There is a saying that if you are a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Developing countries need greater access to electricity to ensure a better future. Ideally, this just means that the infrastructure should be improved. In sub-Saharan African countries around 85% of people do not have access to grid electricity. There is no doubt that this situation is hampering further development, and even widening the urban/rural divide.  The question is what is the best way forward?

To answer this question, it is important to better understand the local requirements rather than take the "hammer" approach, and assume the energy requirements will be the same as those in Europe or the US. Ideally, people need grid electricity, and that grid electricity needs to be reliable. People also need better access to transport and education. These are significant issues that will not be fixed quickly.

Given the lack of roads infrastructure and public transport, closing the "digital divide" means providing access to distance learning. Affordable Internet access offers a lot of potential, and it is tantalizingly close. Close but not there yet.

A reliable source of energy, locally produced, and fit for purpose would go a long way toward remedying this situation quickly. Solar power works well for local lighting but is not adequate to the task of running older, power-hungry computers in schools.

In a lot of developing countries, the computers used in schools are older machines donated with the best of intentions, by European or US companies. These computers are invariably somewhat older and require a lot of power. They were originally sold into the European or US markets, so they need 110V or 220V AC. They were simply never designed with energy-efficiency in mind. The energy source required to run a lab full of these donated computers can be prohibitively expensive to buy, and require a lot of maintenance, which means that only a small number of machines can be powered at any time.

A better option is new equipment based on low, DC voltage, that can be fed from relatively low-cost solar systems, or even car batteries. The Raspberry Pi is a tiny, low-cost device that can offer basic functionality and requires a tiny fraction of the energy of an older, reconditioned desktop computer. The desktop experience can be enhanced by using the Raspberry Pi in conjunction with a single computer, to offer performance which is competitive with a standard desktop computer. This offers the best of all worlds; a low-maintenance, low-cost computer system consuming a tiny fraction of the energy required by a network of older, desktop or laptop machines.

With some additional effort, the single, central computer can be configured to be adaptive to the load, so that it too requires very little power.

Running an entire computer lab in a school from a single car battery is already a reality