The residents of the high mountains in northwestern Argentina lead a tough and frugal life. Their villages lie at an altitude of up to 4200 meters, where the solar radiation is intense in the thin air and it gets bitterly cold at night, even in summer. The people have cut down large swathes of the vegetation to heat their homes and the region is no under threat of becoming a desert. It’s hoped that simple solar systems can halt the development. An increasing number of villages are being outfitted with solar systems - in schools, but also in homes for cooking.