Roduner Emil, Rohwer Egmont R
Chemistry Department University of Pretoria Pretoria 0002 South Africa.
Institute of Physical Chemistry University of Stuttgart 70569 Stuttgart Germany.
Glob Chall. 2023 Nov 27;8(1):2300263. doi: 10.1002/gch2.202300263. eCollection 2024 Jan.
Ninety percent of the large interior, rural part of Africa is not an abundant user of fossil fuels and is not connected to an electricity grid. This limits habitability and leads to significant migration to larger cities in attempts to improve economic and social welfare, which happens at the cost of its rich cultural diversity by inevitable adaption and mixing of societies. A direct transition from a firewood to an off-grid renewable electricity age can mitigate this detrimental development. This perspective discusses the interdisciplinary requirements linking cultural, sociological, economic, and technical aspects for a transition to modern life without loss of valuable traditions. Photovoltaic power and wind energy can provide local affordable electricity in off-grid locations. Intermediate storage for day-night cycles is catered for by novel types of batteries. Purifying and recycling water, refrigerating food and medicine, and benefitting from contact with the world via electronic media permit a tremendous increase in living conditions and significantly lower the pressure of migration into cities. Access to energy is a fundamental requirement for the preservation of the rich cultural diversity with family and tribal bindings, local languages, traditions, and religions, and allows for a more moderate transition to a modern society.
非洲内陆广大农村地区90%的人口并非化石燃料的大量使用者，且未接入电网。这限制了居住适宜性，导致大量人口迁移至大城市，试图改善经济和社会福利，而这一过程不可避免地会因社会的适应和融合而牺牲其丰富的文化多样性。从柴火时代直接过渡到离网可再生电力时代可以缓解这种有害的发展趋势。本文探讨了在不丧失宝贵传统的情况下向现代生活过渡时，将文化、社会学、经济和技术等方面联系起来的跨学科要求。光伏发电和风能可为离网地区提供当地可承受的电力。新型电池可满足昼夜循环的中间存储需求。净化和循环利用水、冷藏食品和药品，以及通过电子媒体与世界接触，都能极大地改善生活条件，并显著降低向城市迁移的压力。获取能源是保护丰富文化多样性（包括家庭和部落纽带、当地语言、传统和宗教）的基本要求，也有助于向现代社会实现更为适度的过渡。
