My grandfather Cosmas Binyavanga installed solar panels on the roofs of some of his properties before he passed away recently. I like to think that Grandfather was ahead of the curve because the trend is growing. He did it because it primarily was cost-effective -- our ancestral home is far from Uganda's capital city, Kampala -- also it was an organic approach, closer to his pre-British colonialist philosophy of being clean and good to the land which gave him, as a gentleman farmer, so much. Solar is gaining traction across Africa and throughout the Third World.

To put it into perspective, one quarter of the world's population does not have reliable electricity. Kerosene lanterns and candles, in much of the world, are a way of life and not part of some romantic period drama. Leaving aside the cost-effectiveness argument of solar energy, there is also the gendered perspective to consider. The division of labor in much of Africa places great burdens on women. Collecting wood, cooking and the endless search for water -- a growing casualty of environmental changes caused by global warming and greenhouse gasses -- are difficult responsibilities that fall on women. Solar energy may be able to remedy some of that.

Solar energy comes from sunlight, of course, which is a clean natural resource that Africa has in abundance. One might even go so far as to say that sunlight is the continent's most abundant natural resource (that, and potential). So why not harness that unused energy? For more information on Solar Energy in Africa, go here. You can now follow Solar Africa for regular updates on Twitter.