Journal of Sustainable Development
Vol 7, No 2 (2014)
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/issue/current

Design trade-offs for sustainability in humanitarian markets: The case of off-grid energy
Brita Fladvad Nielsen
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/32723

Abstract
Contextual challenges and conflicting interests within the humanitarian market prevent a satisfactory impact of energy-generating technology introduction in humanitarian relief settings. Interviews with product design enterprises and humanitarian customers reveal that the current lack of follow-up and end-of-life overview prevents the information flow and cooperation necessary to increase the performance of products in field. This affects the trust between customer and enterprise and more importantly prevents technical performance in field due to lack of contextual insight about end-user and resource availability. Six design trade-offs represent dilemmas that designers must make in order to balance short term objectives and long term, triple bottom line, sustainable development goals within their off-grid energy designs.