We follow energy and build sustainable livelihoods.
We develop sustainable energy and community projects. Expeditions, tools and Field Notes are how we learn what works and find the people to build it with.
See the projects →Why this exists
The world has an infinite energy source.It just isn't infinite for everyone. Yet.
In roughly one hour the sun delivers about as much energy to Earth as the world uses in a year. Meanwhile nearly 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa still live without electricity.
Clean, reliable energy sits under many other stories: why people leave home, why forests get cut for charcoal, why a workshop stays small, why a clinic cannot keep its vaccines cold. Close that gap and a lot of other problems get easier to solve.
Our key
Energy that people own, run and earn from.
A system a community keeps running long after the funders and the photographers have gone home. That is the test every project on this site gets measured against.
The Common Ground Project develops sustainable energy and community projects, and collects what actually works along the way: practical, real-life lessons from the field, from models, and from the people already building.
What we explore: four angles, one question.
Energy
Systems that help communities, businesses and places thrive: designed around the local context, with batteries where the grid doesn't hold.
Places
Infrastructure, terrain and nature, read together. Designs that respect what is already on the ground.
People
Ownership built through collaboration and shared decision-making, not delivered from a head office.
Expeditions
In the field to learn, tell the story and meet the people already building, so the projects get better.
In planning · seeking partners
Solar Tuktuk Rally
Three electric tuktuks, Netherlands to the Gambia. The trip tells the story of a project in the making and takes us to the people already building. A working expedition, not a holiday with a good story.
Follow the route →The Common Ground Map
What's happening, plotted as we find it.
Initiatives, startups and organisations doing practical work on electrification, plotted as we find them. The map grows as the expedition moves.
Explore the map →Latest from the field
Field Notes
View all →How the Gambia stole my heart
+ 13.4549°N 16.5790°W · BANJULField NotesGambiaElectric mobilityReliability from the ground up: the Gambia’s power system and where it could go
Guest blogsKnow something in depth? Write it here.
We publish practical, well-sourced writing from people who do the work.
Tools
Models, not demos.
Energy · market design
Nanogrid Market Lab
Design a two-price market for a cluster of solar nanogrids and see whether interconnecting them is worth it before any hardware ships.
Systems · explainer
Africa Electrification Ecosystem
Who funds, coordinates, measures and builds electrification across Africa, and how the main organisations connect.
Places · business case
E-Tuktuk Profitability Model
Fleet-operator economics for an electric tuktuk business in the Gambia, stress-tested against real prices.
Got a project, a route, or a reason we should talk?
Partners, sponsors, NGOs and fellow travellers. This is where that starts.
Work together →