The solar good: energy ethics in poor markets

Abstract

AbstractWhat are the ethical commitments of people who design, build, and sell solar photovoltaic technologies to those living in energy poverty across sub‐Saharan Africa and South Asia? Over the past decade, dramatic falls in the cost of solar photovoltaics have seen our increased capacity to convert sunlight into electricity married to projects of governance, social or moral reform, and expressions of care for distant others. Tracing these projects across the floor of an international trade fair in Dubai and a social enterprise in India, this essay shows that the pursuit of the solar good hinges on the knowable ground that is capitalism today.