Overview

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Solar power is a renewable technology with huge benefits for both the Global North and South - but with an unavoidable byproduct: waste. This book - the first to examine the off-grid solar industry in Kenya - questions the technology's sustainability and is based on ethnographic fieldwork with the independent repair workers at the sharp end of the solar revolution. Declan Murray proposes that, rather than imposing an external blueprint, energy development projects in the Global South should adopt the approach of the 'bricoleur' - which means learning from past experiences, drawing on resources at hand and prioritising function over form. He concludes with realistic and practical solutions to the problems of solar product breakdown, disposal, repair and recycling.

Full Product Details

9781529250879

Table of Contents

Reviews

'The Repair Mindset offers a long overdue, in-depth take on matters of product design and distribution which fundamentally shape the options we have as an industry when products reach the end of their life. This book is a must read for anyone investing, advising or working in the industry.' Jamie McCloskey, SolarAid

'The Repair Mindset offers a long overdue, in-depth take on matters of product design and distribution which fundamentally shape the options we have as an industry when products reach the end of their life. This book is a must read for anyone investing, advising or working in the industry.' Jamie McCloskey, SolarAid 'Murray’s engaging ethnography of off-grid infrastructures shows how repair critically makes technology work, offering thoughtful alternatives to disposability in development.' Jacob Doherty, University of Edinburgh

'The Repair Mindset offers a long overdue, in-depth take on matters of product design and distribution which fundamentally shape the options we have as an industry when products reach the end of their life. This book is a must read for anyone investing, advising or working in the industry.' Jamie McCloskey, SolarAid 'Murray’s engaging ethnography of off-grid infrastructures shows how repair critically makes technology work, offering thoughtful alternatives to disposability in development.' Jacob Doherty, University of Edinburgh ‘This delightful ethnography not only offers a rich account of the solar industry in Kenya [but] by placing 'repair' at the centre of solar assemblages and afterlives, it also provides new ways for thinking about the possibilities of waste in developmental economies.’ Hannah Brown, Durham University

Author Information

Declan Murray is Research Associate in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. He previously worked as a consultant in the off-grid solar industry.

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