Sacko 1

Mohamed Sacko
Debra Dagher
Writing and Inquiry Academic Context II
25 May 2015
Solar City in Mali
1. Inquiry question: How can I build a solar city?
The first question I asked myself was: What does it take to build a solar city?
2. Primary Purpose: Explore
Feasibility and Context: What makes Mali a good place for this project?
Background: Who has done it before? What were the results?
Conception: How can I collect the sun energy? Where can I get the resources?
Implementation: What set of knowledge do I need?
Sustainability: How efficient is the technology? Could it replace conventional energies?
Adoption: How easy would it be to get people to abandon conventional energy sources and
switch to solar?
Cost: What about the cost of implementation?
3. Beliefs, assumptions, preconceptions, ideas or prejudices
Assumptions: In Mali, there are 12 hours of sunshine for 8 months and people are not taking
advantage of that. Most countries in Mali still rely on technologies harmful to the environment
such as biomass or fuel. Sun energy is free and inexhaustible. The process consist of converting
its radiation to electricity via photovoltaic panel. Solar energy has shown promising results and
has been used to supply energy for an entire communities in the case of SolarCity
(http://www.solarcity.com/).

Sacko 2
Personal experiences: I remember one Sunday afternoon, it was 120 degrees outside and my
room was hotter than a sauna because there wasnt enough energy to keep the AC on. The next
day, I have ordered solar panels and used the alternative energy to power the AC. Everybody
was amazed and that was probably the best day in my life. I had actually created something
truly useful for my community.
Before developing working knowledge: Before digging into the subject, I believed that
obtaining sun energy was just about placing some solar panels on a rooftop. But, as I did more
researches I realized that to have a fully operational system I will need to have a set of
knowledge in areas such as Computer Programming, Electronic circuits and Engineering.
After developing working knowledge: I believe that I have the tools and knowledge
necessary to make this project a reality at my disposal. I am hoping to lay down the foundations
through this inquiry project.
My peer evaluator, Nathan, brought a few remarks to my attention and I have decided to
incorporate some modifications to my proposal. I have changed my place of interest to Mali
rather than Africa to be more specific. Nathan has also asked me if I will limit the project to Mali
or expand to other places. That is something I will be looking into in the future once the
feasibility of the project has been established.