The program manager for the Institute for Energy and the Environment at NMSU and a collaborator with USAID, Foster is bringing direct-use geothermal development to greenhouses and aquaculture industries in Kenya. He tells PLANET that nearly 30 years into his career as an engineer, designing and applying renewable energy technologies in over 30 countries, he often views decentralized systems as the best approach for rural locations.

“My personal preference is putting PV (Photovoltaic) panels on the roof and giving a person power that way,” he says. “Rural people don’t usually want a dishwasher or a microwave. They just want a few lights, maybe a satellite TV would be nice, and a radio. They just need a little bit of power.”

Foster has contributed to more centralized government-donor projects in some instances but points out the operators and maintenance workers that are needed to run those mini-grid networks. That option involves considerably more resources and institutional hurdles, he says, than simply sticking a solar panel or two on someone’s house, showing them how to take care of them, and setting up a small local infrastructure for battery replacements. While he’s mainly used as an engineer on larger projects organized by governments, NGO’s, or the World Bank, he acknowledges that some of the most interesting things happening right now are on a smaller scale with the advent of solar lanterns. LED technology represents a huge shift, not only because of the increased efficiency for lighting but because of the dual function many light emitting diodes perform as chargers for cell phones. All it takes is a few watts of power for an enormous cultural shift to occur. Solar irrigation and water purification systems are arguably the most revolutionary of all.