"If the community is not on board, forget it. You'll get kidnapped"

Robert Foster, who spoke at the El Paso Solar Energy Association meeting last night, is a researcher at NMSU and works with USAID on renewable energy projects in Afghanistan (He said, "The beard is good camouflage in Afghanistan").

He estimated that out of about $350 million in USAID energy projects in Afghanistan, $90 million is spent on renewable energy projects. Other governments and NGOs also have renewable energy initiatives.

Foster is involved in PV projects and said there are lots of problems with orientation. Afghans need to be educated about properly orienting the solar panels to maximize capture. He also created a sanitary indirect solar food dryer that's proven popular (like the one on the right). Afghan dry fruits and vegetables before they spoil by laying slices on sunny rocks.  As you can imagine, flies have a field day with that.

Finally, Foster said that a lot of work must be dedicated to getting the population's backing for the projects.

"If the community is not on board, forget it. You'll get kidnapped," he said.

It's not always easy. They have to go from village to village asking the local mullahs permission to "electrify." If the mullah doesn't want electricity, they move on. Eventually, one out of three villages will be powered up and villagers in between will go to their mullah and say, "My cousin has electricity in his village." And the mullah will come around.

Foster believes that introducing entertainment, such as Bollywood movies, will do more to modernize the country than anything else. But that means electricity must be available.