Uses of Solar Energy for Health Care
Not many people
make the connection between the availability
of health care with the availability of a
dependable energy supply – maybe it
is because they take it for granted that health
care is so readily available in their own
community, that that is the case for all communities.
But there is much evidence that a community
without any adequate electricity has deficient
access to health care as well. This is particularly
true for the remote communities (such as those
in mountainous or remote plains areas, where
doctors and nurses from the urban areas find
it difficult to venture into.)
Why is solar energy a boon to such communities?
One source states that more than two billion
children die annually because they cannot
get proper vaccination – and there are
vaccines, which require refrigeration before
being administered. There are communities
with zero power supplies so that even surgery
has to be conducted by the light of a candle
or flashlight. Is it any wonder then that
people in such people die so easily? And is
it a wonder that solar energy has the capacity
to save lives when applied the right way?
Solar energy systems that are based on use
of photovoltaic (PV) panels are very important
because they allow impoverished communities
existing in remote areas to benefit from free
energy supplied by the sun. A government that
can provide such solar energy systems is providing
long-term benefits to its citizenry so that
the community can put up a village or community
health center that has adequate lighting,
refrigeration systems, and electricity to
facilitate the continuous and dependable supply
of health care to the members of the community.
In one way, we can say that these impoverished
communities are lucky too if they get their
own solar energy systems because they are
starting out development of their community
on the right foot – by adopting an emission-free
technology like solar energy. The more established
communities like cities find it harder to
adopt renewable energy technology like solar
energy applications because they are already
used to the conventional energy technologies
like fossil-fuel-dependent generators, or
their power supply and transmission systems
cannot accommodate easily a switch to solar
power technology. The small power-less communities
can start on their power generation efforts
with a clean slate because they do not have
complicated systems in place to take into
consideration. The simpler the community system,
the easier selection of, establishment of,
and management of solar energy systems become.
As with all solar energy systems, the hardest
part will always be finding the funding for
investing into the solar energy systems at
the start. But with proper care for the solar
energy system, the community will find that
eventually the system will start to pay for
itself because solar energy is absolutely
free and abundant in some places. This will
emancipate the community from being shackled
to pricey fuel sources like fossil fuels and
the need to have such fossil fuels delivered
to them for their constant use. Though no
community can ever be totally independent
of fuel source issues, solar energy is a step
in the right direction.
|
