'Grid not always the answer': what's the best way to get power to 1.3bn people?

There are still 1.3bn people worldwide without access to regular electricity supplies – what’s the best way to connect them to the grid without harming the environment? We asked our readers what they thought.

"Invest in using local wind, solar and/or water power, as usually one of these energy types will be available in remote areas."

David Mee

"I don’t think that you can do it without harming the environment in some measure, but I would use solar to generate electricity and any spare to generate hydrogen to supply gas for cooking."

Vanessa Richards

"I do not think that connecting to the grid is always the answer. We should make more use of locally generated electricity, perhaps with mini-grids (such as linked villages) to give some security of supply."

Andy Brown

"Don’t connect them to the ‘grid’. Localised energy generation and storage from all available carbon-free sources is the solution."

Chris Elliott

"There is no way to provide a regular supply without any harm to the environment. It can be minimised using wind, solar and battery back-up."

Gary Lock

"It is surely impossible to avoid harming the environment altogether and even the least harmful methods will vary with location. Local power generation on a reasonable scale is probably the best bet in many cases."

Simon

"Integration of mains with battery storage would make a big difference. We need infrastructure that can easily accept a wide range of power inputs."

Tim Mitchell