A Strategic Endeavor

Abstract

The lack of access to electricity worldwide contributes to the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) – living on less than $2.50 per day – being trapped in poverty. Household holds spend a considerable amount of their income on what they think are cheap, but polluting resources due to lack of education and the desperate situation they’re in. Not only are consequences of the use of biomass resources polluting for the environment, it also results in a great decay of the health as these resources are used inside to cook and to provide lightning. Women in particular have the the responsibility of carrying out these time-consuming chores of searching and using biomass. Instead they could have been used to educate themselves or do paid work. With the knowledge that only 7 % of Tanzania is electrified, and the fact that cleaner alternatives are mostly out of reach due to high prices and lack of financing possibilities, the problem is set. This master thesis describes the look for alternative ways to generate energy. The main goal was to search for and strategically place a feasible electricity generating product-service for low income households in Tanzania. Focus was to reduce the use of polluting sources with the help of education and habit change. It also entails the journey of alternating between desk research, prototyping and doing on site research. In conclusion a strategy to deal with energy generation as well as with reducing the use of polluting sources is encompassed. Following this plan can result in the first step of long journey that fulfills the promise to low income households to offer an alternative, affordable daily usable electricity generating product-service.