Every now and then, one is hit afresh by the stark divide separating the technology haves and have-nots. A photo exhibition now running in London provides one such instance, by depicting people`s daily struggle to get by without an amenity billions take for granted.

Called “Life without lights”, the project aims to illustrate the realities of the many people who lack access to electricity, with the most recent instalment focusing on a village in northern Ghana. Scenes of eerie shadows and darkened silhouettes quickly make apparent the hardships that come with a life devoid of power. Imagine, for example, giving birth by candlelight, or marking an entire school`s exam papers by the dim glow of a torch.

This portrayal reflects the broader picture of a continent housing two-thirds of the 1.5 billion people without access to electricity. In an age of iPads and personal fitness monitors, almost a quarter of the world`s people still can`t switch on a light or a stove.

Arguments that getting power to people is expensive and infrastructure-intensive are no longer valid. Off-grid solutions are neither new nor novel, but the idea of connecting people via the grid remains the default method in many minds. In small, remote villages, however, grid connection is just not feasible, and often scalable, site-based solutions are far more practical, allowing for cleaner environments and healthier livelihoods.

Increasingly, these types of solutions are borrowing from the ICT industry in their structure and approach. After all, what brings efficiency and cost-savings in one industry can often be translated effectively to another. The Rural Village Energy Hub by Kudura, for example, shares many features with the container-based data centre, promising the flexibility, ruggedness and plug-and-play design characteristic of a DC in a box.

Just like container data systems combine scalability and reliability with speed of deployment, the Kudura energy hub provides key facilities in a mobile, easy to set up structure: four services integral to rural villages – electricity, potable water, cooking fuel, and fertiliser – are all produced in one hi-tech unit. The hub employs four integrated sub-systems consisting of a solar PV plant, a biogas and organic fertiliser plant, water purification facility and a central monitoring system. It`s described as a “scalable, self-contained and completely standalone rural energy solution, with typical installations requiring less than 24 hours until switch-on”. Tell me that doesn`t ring a tech jargon bell.

A buzzword by any other name

Many of the demands placed on technology in the business world are also integral to a reliable rural energy service, merely in a different guise. The former may prioritise uptime and processing performance for well-running corporate systems, while the latter look to these features to keep communities well-fed and productive. Increasingly, the design thinking driving enterprise technology is overlapping with development scenarios where an injection of efficiency can mean the difference between prosperity and misery.

In business, for example, much is made of preparing for unpredictability, adapting at the speed of change, and keeping up with constantly shifting demands. If you want the epitome of unpredictability and constantly changing demands, then look no further than your average rural village. As climate change worsens, external conditions will become more unstable than ever, impacting health, food security, water supply and employment along with it. If energy systems aren`t adaptable and robust, then the `network` crashes, and the fall-out is far more serious.

Another hot tech trend, the indomitable move to cloud computing, offers similar promise. With virtually every aspect of business being offered `as-a-service` these days, the pay-as-you-go approach is being extended to all manner of areas. Purchasing energy based on this model can be a highly effective option for individuals in rural areas who cannot or don`t want to own their energy infrastructure (in the case of buying a solar installation or wind turbine, for example).

In this instance, paying for necessities `as-a-service` could be less of a burden than trying to pay off an expensive piece of infrastructure first. Back to the Rural Village Energy Hub, which converts untreated water, solar energy and animal manure into potable water, electricity, and biogas and fertiliser, all of which are stored and distributed on a prepaid basis. This kind of four-in-one energy hub is far too big an investment in terms of output and cost for a single family, but as a central feature in a village, which people can purchase services from as needed, it makes sense. Organisations are realising they don`t need to be locked into long-term payments for infrastructure that isn`t their core business, and rural energy consumers are applying the same logic.

Apart from the fact that employing decentralised renewable energy can be far cheaper than connecting people to the grid (which according to the World Bank can cost between $8 000 and $10 000 per kilometre, rising to around $22 000 in difficult terrains) there`s also the fact that Africa is an ideal location for renewable deployments. Abundant solar resources, windy coastlines and large lakes and dams all contribute to massive potential for renewable energy implementations. Most of Africa, for example, boasts around 325 days of strong sunlight a year, equating to a massive amount of free, clean energy – if it can be tapped. Radiant energy is a virtually inexhaustible source – the sun provides enough energy in one minute to supply the earth`s energy needs for a year.

The more the world looks to technology to make things simpler, better and faster, the more frequently compelling IT solutions will be applied across sectors, as their benefits beyond the business world become clear. Frost & Sullivan predicts this will lead to a natural evolution from `green` solutions to ones that simply make the most sense.

In a report on green technologies last December, the firm argues that while `green tech` and `clean tech` will remain popular subjects, the tag `smart` will replace `green` come 2020, as seen in the concepts of smart grids, cities, buildings and materials. These combine efficiency, intelligence and environmental sustainability as simply the `smartest` way to approach solutions.

So as the discrepancies between technology access are still glaringly present, then so are the overlaps, which are growing by the day as solutions like the rural energy hub make their way to communities across the world. Ultimately, the litmus test for advanced technology won`t be what it does for a few niche applications, but whether it helps solve the most basic of problems facing the majority of the world`s people.