Get rich on poverty

An article on WorldWatch says that homes in India are being powered for a few hours each day on solar instead of kerosene.

"local and national banks to finance small loans—usually $300 to $500—for a system that typically contains a roof-installed solar PV module, storage battery, charge controller, interior wiring, and switches and fixtures with the capacity to power two-to-four low-watt compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and a DC fan."

Right now this seems to be a humanitarian mission costing a reported 1.5 million dollars. Maybe a savvy reader will find a way to fuse all the elements of this plan -- micro-lending, solar manufacture, infrastructure construction -- into a viable business plan.

This isn't a get-rich-quick scheme, but think about the scale: ~450 million people (1.5x the United States) suffer through grid outages daily. Millions more have no access to the grid access whatsoever. That is a vast market, and an even more awesome opportunity to help.