Avengers fighting for Technology Justice

Jamie Oliver
May 4th, 2012

Last night I went to see Avengers Assemble 3D. I’ve been looking forward to it all week and it’s been one of the most eagerly anticipated films of 2012.

With Ironman, Captain America, Thor and The Hulk blended together with more special effects than seem necessary, I was looking forward to two-and-a-half hours of pure action. What I wasn’t expecting was to start thinking about Technology Justice.

If you haven’t seen the film yet, I don’t want to ruin it for you so I’m avoiding any spoilers – please read on. In summary, the storyline is the battle for ‘The Tesseract’ – a sustainable energy source with unknown potential. This battle would have torn the world apart if it weren’t for the band of super-humans and a demigod who stood in the way.

I’m not saying our world is at war over energy, but there certainly is an unbalance. Whilst I was sitting in a dark room with silly glasses on with 200 others, there were 1.3 billion people with no access to electricity. And yes, it’s a shame that they won’t be able to see the theatrical delight that is Avengers Assemble, but there are far more basic needs that these 1.3 billion people don’t have access to. What if someone needs seek medical attention after dark? Once they get to the medical centre, there may be no power for lighting or refrigeration to keep the medication cool, or to adequately light a surgery room.

That certainly seems like an injustice to me.

Now these 1.3 billion people don’t have a Hulk to fight for their technology justice. They have Practical Action, and we want to see a world where everyone has access to clean sustainable energy (not necessarily The Tesseract) by 2030. If you want to see a world of technology justice and want to be a superhero then check out http://practicalaction.org/energyforall.

Girls needed for Clean Energy jobs

Julie Brown
London, UK, St. James's Ward
April 27th, 2012

”We need All of humanity not half of it to work on the clean energy revolution”

That’s the opinion of David Sandalow from the U.S. Department of Energy at the Women, Innovation and the Clean Energy Future reception held yesterday at Lancaster house, as part of the Clean Energy Ministerial.

Whilst there are some incredible women working in the clean  energy sector, such as Juliet Davenport, CEO of  Good Energy, these role models are few and far between.   Lack of understanding amongst young women of the opportunities available as well as a lack of women in middle management positions taking that next step up were discussed as the main reasons.

Yet it was felt by both the  women and men present that women do bring  a different perspective to the sector so should be encouraged to be a bigger part of it.

So please do encourage your female students to find out more about this interesting work that is key to our future.

To see how  members of Practical Action who work on clean energy and other technologies for the developing world got their dream jobs please visit our careers page for a poster and case studies.

Sustainable energy – a great conversation

Margaret Gardner
London, UK, St. James's Ward
April 25th, 2012

Today Practical Action, together with One and Christian Aid, organised what’s called a “civil society consultation” on UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative.

We had four members of the High Level Group, three members of the Technical Panel and about 50 representatives from charities, social enterprises, etc all working on energy access in the developing world.

Great conversation.

Helen Clark who runs UNDP kind of took the party line. She affirmed the Action Report they launched yesterday, given out to us today, but stated that we shouldn’t overstate the role of the private sector and should hold them to account. She also made the point that the key thing was implementation and this would happen in country.

Bunker Roy of Barefoot College and another member of the High Level Group came next. He held the report away from him, and for the first time ever I saw someone literally turn up their nose. He rubbished it! No real civil society engagement, incomprehensible to all but a few technocrats, top down, sustainability considered only in terms of business finance not impact, no thought of how parachuted in solutions would be maintained in the long term, no real mention or consideration as to the role of women and so on.

Andrew Steer from the World Bank, the third member of the High Level Group, navigated a route between the two previous speakers. I’d summarise what he said as: This is not ideal but if you trash it there is no hope of progress, we need to accept that this was a genuine initiative from the Secretary General, who himself grew up without electricity and go forward from here.

While the frankness was brilliant, on reflection it was quite unsettling. I’m not left with the feeling that we, as civil society trying to hold people to account, have a position to respond to that’s owned and supported.Is this final or just a first draft that we can all critique? I’d understood it was meant to be final.

What is clear is the need for much more engagement with communities who will be impacted and/or benefit from the initiative. Engagement too with Southern governments. And better communication – writing that people can understand and a timetabled process that’s transparent.

For me, it’s also about old lessons that need to be re-learned or remembered. Development must start with people. Sustainability is not just about finance. It’s about community support, ways of working that help things work for the long term. It’s about people having a say in things that affect them and a choice. It’s about our environment.

Forty years ago Fritz Schumacher called for a new form of development, development that started with people and technology because people matter.

Sustainable Energy for All is a great initiative. It is, I believe, genuinely motivated. As it goes forward it needs to listen to the lessons of good development.

Margaret Gardner
Marketing & Communications Director

Energy lies at the heart – Clean Energy Ministerial

Margaret Gardner
April 23rd, 2012

 I’ve just put up a blog railing at poor communicators –  now my team have come back to me and said I need to include some figures – without them people can’t get an idea of the scale of the problem.  Always happy to be critiqued – don’t … if you can’t take it etc.

One in every 5 people on our planet lives without electricity. Nearly 3 billion people use wood, charcoal or dung to cook.  According to the UN fumes from these cook stoves damage health and kill nearly two million people every year. I’ve also heard it said that 85% of those who die are under 5. 

95% of the people who lack energy and/or cook on deadly cook stoves are in sub-Saharan Africa or developing Asia.

Scientists warn that if we continue on our current energy path our world could warm by on average 4 degrees this century – maybe more. Poor people will be hit first and hardest.

We can continue along this path – we can gamble with our planet and push even more people  into poverty.

Or we can do something different – we can commit to tackling climate change, we can commit to sustainable energy for all – we can commit to technology justice.

The Clean Energy Ministerial is important. Lets encourage our politicians to give a lead.

Once upon a time…

….there was a little girl who loved stories. As a little slip of a thing, she used to stand and swing on the garden gate, waving to passers-by in the hope that she could chat to them and ask them questions to find out their stories (she was a very curious little girl). A few years later, her very patient, very wonderful mother would read her favourite Maurice Sendak stories Outside Over There and Where The Wild Things Are to her every night. When she was at school, she’d set her alarm super early so she could wake up and read Enid Blyton books before going to lessons. English was always her favourite subject, and characters such as Elizabeth Bennett, Scout Finch, Jo March and Scarlett O’Hara were as familiar to her as her oldest friends. And then she studied the art of telling a story – for it is an art – during an English Literature degree at university.

Now that little girl (who’s not so little anymore) works for Practical Action.

I am that girl. And I work at Practical Action because I want to change the world. But my passion is storytelling: both discovering a good story, and then telling it in the best possible way. But how do you change the world with a story?

Well, this week, we at Practical Action launched our next five year strategy. It is bold and ambitious and exciting – but challenging too. The targets, both in terms of fundraising and impact at scale, are high.

But that’s because there are huge problems to solve. Right now 1.3 billion people across the world don’t have clean, safe water. 1 billion people don’t have enough food to eat. 2.6 billion people don’t have adequate sanitation. And 1.6 billion people don’t have access to modern energy. Too many people live in abject poverty. It is a world of great technology injustice.

There is no question that this needs to change. So over the next five years we will work towards four universal goals:

1. Sustainable access to modern energy service for all by 2030
2. Systems which provide food security and livelihoods for people in rural areas
3. Improved access to drinking water, sanitation and waste services for people living in towns and cities
4. Reduced risk of disasters for marginalised communities

And by the end of this next strategy period, in 2017, we will have transformed the lives of 6 million people.

That is an exhilarating prospect for me.

Because 6 million people = 6 million stories to find and tell.

Each of those 6 million is not just a ‘project beneficiary’ but a living, feeling, thinking human being with their own unique life story. And those 6 million life stories are 6 million more reasons to support Practical Action, today and for the future.

I can’t wait to get started.

What is energy access? And how do people get it?

Drew Corbyn
Bourton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire CV23 9, UK, Bourton on Dunsmore
March 7th, 2012

The development community is gearing up for the target of Universal Energy Access by 2030. A large movement is gaining pace to challenge global poverty through access to energy, with the UN Secretary General at the fore.

But what is “energy access”? And how can every person in the world get it?

Agreeing on a definition for energy access – a seemingly basic task – is actually riddled with difficulties and the subject of much debate. When does a person move from not having energy access to having energy access? Is it when grid electricity arrives at their home? Or does a solar panel suffice? Is cooking on gas or electricity a must, or can we count an efficient wood stove as access? And do we only consider energy access for households, or do we need to broaden the definition to businesses and public services that also rely on energy?

 
How we define energy access is hugely important in determining how we tackle energy poverty. This is an increasingly important question as the big donors, banks and governments begin to channel vast sums of money and efforts into the Universal Energy Access initiative.

 
Furthermore, determining a plan of action for how billions of people can gain energy access – whatever that is – in the next 18 years is also a hot topic for debate. What can countries do to make the transition to modern energy systems for a whole population? And how can we ensure poor people are empowered to improve their lives through the process?

Practical Action recently launched the Poor people’s energy outlook 2012 report that helps to answer these questions.

You may have seen the PPEO 2010 that reported on energy use in the home, and how important energy is in improving people’s lives. This year the PPEO looks at the linkages between energy access and earning a living. It shows all the ways that energy is used for people’s livelihoods and businesses, and maps out how people can move from gaining an energy supply to increased incomes.

 
We hear from business owners in Kenya, Nepal and Peru describe how modern energy helps them increase their incomes. Mrs Sanchez owns a restaurant in Yanacancha village in Peru that gets electricity from the community micro-hydro system: “we’ve got electricity in the store, so I can run a fridge and the lights as well as the television which the customers like to watch while they eat”.

 
Change in energy access can start with one person, but it must eventually be at the level of the whole system. The PPEO outlines the policies, finance arrangements and necessary skills required to foster the change that could lead to universal energy access.

 
Practical Action is taking a lead role in contributing new knowledge on the linkages between energy and development, and presenting a poor people’s perspective at international debates. We are working at the highest levels to influence the approach and direction of the Universal Energy Access movement; promoting our understanding of people-centred development and the voices of people we work with.

Power to the people?

katiewelford
Kisumu, Kenya, Kisumu
February 27th, 2012

I have always thought of electricity pylons as giants walking across the land. I am not sure I have ever thought where they are going, just that they look like they have a sense of purpose.

Visiting a rural charcoal producer in Bondo district, western Kenya, made me think again about where these metal giants were off to. They walk through rural Kenya, but they do not stop there. They are striding along to towns and cities where people who can afford to pay for grid electricity access welcome them home.

Households in the countryside sit underneath electricity lines, but they do not benefit from them, relying instead on charcoal for cooking their food, and candles or kerosene for lighting.

Another thought struck me, though, as I stared up at this powerline: Is this energy access? And if so, for who? When it comes to collecting data, the terms ‘access to energy’ or ‘energy access’ are hard to pin down, and there is not one single definition. A government employee may pass through this village and, seeing the electricity lines, record them as having ‘access to energy’- the connection is possible, but, given the costs involved for these households, certainly not probable.

This is the main issue with using supply side data- you can count all the available pylons and the megawatts of electricity running through them until the cows come home, but if people can’t access it, then it’s just numbers really, isn’t it?

With the Poor people’s energy outlook reports 2010 and 2012, Practical Action has proposed a way of measuring energy access from the other perspective. They look at whether someone actually has a light source, and if so, the quality of that source. They measure what people really cook on, and how they keep their food cool. All of this can build up a more genuine picture of how poor people use energy, rather than if they have the potential to do so.

Half of humanity, 3 billion people, cook on traditional fuels every day, and their energy needs are not going to be met through connections to the grid any time soon.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Practical Action has shown for over four decades that off-grid sustainable solutions are possible to provide households with an energy supply.

However, we can’t do it alone. That’s why we campaign for Energy for All by 2030 with a broad network of civil society organisations. Why we have released the Poor people’s energy outlook report 2012. Why we have asked all of you to Make Your Point.

So what are you waiting for? Join us.

Now that’s razor sharp!

katiewelford
Bondo, Kenya, Bondo
February 14th, 2012

I’m lucky enough to be in Kisumu, Kenya at the moment for some PISCES project meetings (more on that in later posts). Today we went to a small town called Bondo to do some research on the charcoal markets and the challenges involved in producing this vital energy source sustainably.

We met a feisty group of young women who sell charcoal in the town market. During the rainy season, it is harder to make charcoal and transport it to town, so these women can struggle to buy any off the transporters and sell it for profit.

In order to combat this, as well as some of the other ups and downs that go with being self-employed, they have set up the Charcoal Sellers Bondo, a 17 member collective of men and women who transport and sell charcoal in the town. If someone doesn’t have any cash due to a sudden shortfall, then the rest of the group can help out, and they hope to put some money into a storage facility so that they can store charcoal in the dry season and sell it in leaner times.

It’s not rocket science, but helping to organise markets more effectively is so essential to their incomes, and something we work on at Practical Action. We left the ladies with a joke about the fact that many of them are unmarried or divorced, so they look after their charcoal better in the absence of a man- we all agreed the charcoal was probably better behaved anyway!

Just as we were about to head out of town, we saw a touch of genius. A gentleman riding a bike, but rather than heading down the street, he was stationary, and using the mechanical power to spin a stone that he was using to sharpen knives. Judging by this photo, you can see he was a bit of a poser, but I would be more than smug with myself if I had cornered that market. What a simple, brilliant use of an everyday technology.

What a brilliant day. Thanks Bondo!

The importance of energy

Mariana Gallo
February 9th, 2012

During my research with the PISCES programme in Kenya I investigated the benefits of biofuels for development, and difficulties and politics associated with it.

Working with such a controversial topic, I have learnt that the challenge for development is not only about providing energy, but also about developing knowledge and facilitating policies that ensure technologies will benefit those who need it most. I have seen, for example, how farmers can gain an income and a fuel for lighting from their jatropha plantations, or how ethanol is changing the lives of women that can now cook with a clean, affordable fuel:  I have learnt that energy is about livelihoods, possibilities and freedom.

Hanna produces jathopa oil on her farm in eastern Kenya

The Kenyan experience demonstrated the importance of energy, reaffirmed by the UN declaration of 2012 as the ‘International Year of Sustainable Energy for All’.  Energy affects all aspects of life and development: livelihoods, access to water, agricultural productivity, health, population levels, education, and gender-related issues. Considering that wood smoke is a cause of 1.5 million deaths a year is enough to realise these strong links. Moreover, the estimation that 900 million people will not have access to electricity by 2030, helps understanding how energy access is also linked with inequality.

Energy goes through all our development work, affecting people from their participation in markets to reconstruction efforts. Thinking about energy in this holistic way places energy access as one of the main challenges for development. Providing energy is not only about delivering appropriate technologies, but understanding needs and facilitating long lasting solutions that can boost development and growth in those places in the world that need it most. Practical Action’s work on energy and the Poor people’s energy outlook 2012 constitute big steps towards a sustainable energy future.

Sustainability or quick fix?

Amanda Ross
February 6th, 2012

Temporary restrictions to energy supply, nationally or internationally are a frequent occurrence. I can recall energy shortages caused by striking miners in the 1970s, the OPEC embargo of 1973, the Iran/Iraq war in 1980, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and last year’s Fukushima nuclear reactor shutdown in Japan to name just a few.

Renewable technologies use freely available resources such as wind, water and sunshine and are not dependent on the fluctuating world price of carbon intensive fossil fuels. It seems an obvious solution to focus our investment on these.

But the prevailing wisdom amongst developed countries is that quick fix high tech ‘geo-engineering’ solutions will solve the problem of global warming.

There is a history of environmental disasters associated with meddling with our planet’s ecosystems in unproven ways. Cane toads were introduced to the sugar plantations of Queensland, Australia in 1935 to control a pest called cane beetles. Over the years, with no natural predators, these toads have become a much greater pest than the original beetle. The Nile perch was introduced into Africa’s Lake Victoria for food and sport fishing. It has already eaten its way through 200 native fish species, and is still going. I could go on….

Developed countries already make too many demands on the resources of our fragile planet while a third of humanity lacks access to modern energy. We should surely be concentrating our scarce resources on improving this situation rather than lavishing time, money and scientific expertise on unproven vanity projects. Practical Action has a wealth of experience to show that small scale renewable energy drives development.

2012 is the UN year of sustainable energy for all – we must ensure that is exactly what is does.