Sustainable energy – a great conversation
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
Sustainability or quick fix?
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.
2 Comments » | Add your commentEverything was in the dark
Yesterday’s launch of the Poor People’s Energy Outlook 2012 began with Stephen O’Brien, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development, briefly describing his journey to Ghana. He explained that when the sun went down, “everything was in the dark”.
His objective is clear; we need to ‘help the poor in developing countries work their way out of poverty’. What Practical Action’s report will do is deepen our understanding of how energy access can do this. His statement that the UK government will be held accountable if progression does not materialise, should be sufficient in believing this campaign will make things happen.
When Mr. O’Brien left, Grace Mukasa, East Africa Regional Director for Practical Action, detailed the importance of energy access. This proved to me just how important some of the projects Philips Lighting have been involved in which have brought lighting to otherwise ‘dark’ places. The effect this has on the community and enterprise and profound.
Simon Trace, CEO of Practical Action, then explained that the definitions and models we have today regarding energy access are not good enough and far from realistic. And this is also what the report hopes to achieve.
‘When there’s a will there’s a way’.
Finally, the ongoing Malawi project was illustrated, which is examining exactly how we can supply an energy access eco system at national level and help move from a project approach to a system basis. And this is where sustainability is really achieved. But first, we need to fully understand a countries policies & regulations, the flows of finance and the gaps and opportunities. From there we can progress.
No Comments » | Add your commentRenewable energy policy and poverty reduction
The climate negotiations, also here at COP17, are based on the understanding that first the industrialised countries should reduce, then the developing countries shall reduce later, as they should not be constrained in their development because they need to solve their poverty problems first.
A side-event on Friday at the end of the first week of the COP showed a somewhat different side of the big picture: climate mitigation with reduced emissions can go hand in hand with poverty reductions in many developing countries.
At the event, seven representatives from NGOs in the INFORSE network showed successful solutions from their countries on local solutions that can help the poor to get better access to energy and at the same time mitigate climate change.
They told about improved cookstoves from Mozambique that saves 40% of the wood for cooking, Indian biogas plants that replace other fuel for cooking and retain the fertiliser in cow dung, solar lanterns that replace kerosene lamps, Jatropha plants for oil for local power production in Mali, and several other good examples.
The side event went on with proposals for scaling up the successes to national level, for instance, with reduced investments with subsidies and reduction of taxes & import duties (for solar photovoltaiq panels), with easier permissions to make mini-grids in off-grid areas, and with feed-in tariff for renewables in areas with electric grid. This could partly be financed with climate financing, and could give basic energy access to all for just a fraction of the 100 billion US$/year that the industrialised countries have committed to give to climate mitigation and adaptation in developing countries in 2020.
It is very promising that basic energy access and reduction of poverty does not need the large increases in CO2 emissions that it caused in industrialised countries during the last 200 years. And if universal energy access with renewable energy could be part of climate agreements, it would give enormous benefits for some of those that need it the most.
On the other hand, universal energy access will not solve the climate crisis. For that we need sharp reductions in the industrialised countries and also actions by the large emitters in the global South. Only then global emissions can peak in the next few years and then be reduced.
The presentations of the side event are online at http://www.inforse.org
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Giving people the energy to make a living
GVEP International are supporting Practical Action’s Energy for All – Make Your Point campaign. We have asked them to share some of their experiences of helping people to earn a living by improving access to energy.
Endless examples exist, demonstrating that reliable energy access can give people the power to work their way out of poverty and generate employment opportunities.
A small business in an area with no viable power supply or subject to frequent power cuts cannot realise its full potential.
The main problem for Mr Bocar Diaw, director of the Jullam Dairy in Senegal, is the milk supply. The processing unit is running at less than 20% of its capacity, while demand is high.
To tackle this, Mr Diaw wants to establish several storage and collection points in the surrounding area, that do not yet have energy supplies, so that he can buy milk from other farmers. This means an investment in solar refrigeration.
The extension of the dairy is playing a part in the region’s struggle against poverty. It involves many players from farmers to shopkeepers and requires technical and financial assistance. GVEP International is involved in providing this type of support to ensure that the benefits ripple out far beyond Mr Diaw’s business onto the entire community.
In sub Saharan Africa, 85% of the population lack access to energy, whether in the form of efficient stoves or clean fuel for cooking or power to run a business. GVEP aims to help establish and grow small and medium size energy businesses in rural and poor periurban areas so that they can achieve lasting access to modern energy and improve the quality of life for millions.
Immaculate Nakitende - Energy Entrepreneur
Immaculate Nakitende, 51, received training in 2009 which helped her solar lantern and improved cook stoves business become a viable way of making a living. “My aim is that everyone without electricity has a solar light instead of using candles,” she explains. “The GVEP staff inspired me to start the business. I had never thought about an energy business before.” Through the training, Immaculate learnt about book keeping, costing, marketing and record keeping and customer care.
Ben Good, GVEP’s CEO adds: “Supporting the development of small and medium businesses can have a far reaching effect on poverty alleviation as they play an active role in facilitating skills transfer, in providing alternative livelihood opportunities, in developing infrastructure and services and ultimately, in generating employment and promoting socio-economic development.”
This is just a start and there is plenty of room for more to be done, which is why the EU is also being called upon in this campaign headed by Practical Action. Ben Good says “The EU is a major champion of sustainable development and has a critical role to play in mobilising stakeholders to support the priorities of universal energy access and economic growth”.
‘A woman’s work is never done’ – MEP Delegation to Kenya – Energy for All
I never imagined that a 5am start, for a 3km trek, ankle deep in leech-infested water would make for one of the more memorable experiences of my life.
It’s day one of our fact-finding visit and today we are in Kisumu, Western Kenya. Here we are learning about energy poverty and simple energy solutions for rural communities.
… and what better way to do that than by collecting and carrying wood for the family fire.
The entire community of Kadibo, Kisumu live without electricity and, like half the world’s population, cook on traditional open-fires in their homes.
Fuelling that fire is gruelling work … and it’s also women’s work.
We meet Philshongo, Dorothy and Joyce who each spend a day per week collecting, cutting, stripping, drying and carrying firewood.
It’s no easy task, and not just for me as a ‘novice’. Even for the ‘experts’ felling trees with machetes and head-loading 15kg of wood breaks a sweat.
One small tree (of say five years), once stripped and cut, equates to just a couple of days firewood.
But these women have no other option – there is so little firewood to forage that they have to jeopardise their tomorrow – i.e chopping down trees, to meet their needs today – i.e feeding their families.
As the least domesticated female I know (I’m no ‘Nigella’) I’ve never felt any association with the phrase, ‘A woman’s work is never done’ but here in Kadibo it’s the most true of truisms.
I can’t wait to see the Practical Action’s giving these, and thousands of other women, the opportunity to make their lives that little bit better.
Helen
Campaigns
MEP delegation – Kenya – Energy for All 2030
With the final tweaks made to the itinerary, the briefing packs sent and Members of the European Parliament on their way to the airport, we are ready to embark on our fact-finding visit to Kenya.
Five intensive days, four diverse locations, three Members of the European Parliament, two huge rucksacks each and one objective – to provide key decision-makers with the information and inspiration to take action on energy for development.
With the formal preparation complete, last night I set about preparing myself for the delegation:
* On-line check in …
* Print boarding card …
* Shower …
* Dry/Straighten hair …
* Iron clothes …
* Charge phone …
* Last-minute Lonely Planet reading …
… none of which could have been completed without the power being [ON].
A simple and telling ‘note to self’ that i couldn’t live my life without access to energy and nor should women and men across the developing world.
In Kenya, where 2 out of 3 families live without electricity, Practical Action is providing communities with the skills, technology and power to challenge their poverty.
The solutions exist. We can achieve Energy for All in the next two decades, but not without political will and international financing.
Let’s hope this visit convinces the decision-makers that it’s a challenge worth tackling.
Helen
Campaigner
Africa-EU Energy Partnership Day Two
Access to energy was the focus of discussion on the second day of the High Level Meeting of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP). Having formally adopted the day before a target to provide access to modern and sustainable energy services to an additional 100 million Africans by 2020, the Partnership is faced with the question of how to deliver it.
The delegates’ debate was primed by an introductory, lively speech from Dr Kandeh Yumkella, Director General of UNIDO and Chair of UN Energy, the somewhat invisible institution that co-ordinates energy matters across the UN agencies. He is also Chair of the Advisory Group to the UN Secretary General on Energy and Climate Change, whose report earlier this year proposed ambitious international targets for universal access to energy and reducing energy intensity. Dr Yumkella emphasised the need for energy for productive purposes, not just lighting. To paraphrase: just providing solar panels on roofs is like shining a light on poverty.
The debate that followed picked up on Yumkella’s his emphasis on providing energy for productive uses, but the chicken and egg question whether to provide electricity first to stimulate future productive activities, or to provide electricity first for productive uses, had advocates of both views. The discussion on the respective roles of the public and private sectors in providing access also had advocates of different viewpoints.
Sadly a whole morning’s debate on access to energy in Africa talked only about access to electricity – despite being reminded at the start that it is women who bear the main burden of providing energy to African families, and the energy they provide is for cooking. When discussion in the Partnership is confined to people whose primary, sometimes only, interest is in electricity generation and distribution – and at a large scale as well – the AEEP risks completely overlooking the most important energy service for the great majority of the people in Africa.
Further reading: briefing paper on the Africa-EU Energy Partnership – high level meeting
No Comments » | Add your commentAfrica-EU Energy Partnership
The Hofburg in Vienna, once an imperial palace, has no doubt witnessed many political declarations in its long history. This week it was the turn of the High Level Meeting of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership, which agreed a Declaration that sets political targets for co-operation between the European Union and the African Union up to 2020. These targets cover access to energy, energy security, renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as a commitment to dialogue on “energy issues of mutual interest”.
No sooner than the proverbial ink had dried, representatives from the 20 plus countries attending the High Level Meeting began questioning whether the targets went far enough. Is the target of 10GW hydro-power capacity ambitious enough in relation to the potential? What about a target for geothermal power capacity? Is the target of 100 million additional electricity connections by 2020 enough? An observer could be forgiven for wondering what was going on, given that the text of the declaration and the targets have been in circulation amongst governments for months. This observer wonders whether these are these political targets or technocratic targets?
The gilt chambers of the Hofburg repeatedly heard of the crucial importance of energy for development and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Ministers and Commissioners listed all the statistics and arguments. Commissioner Piebalgs went so far as to say energy should be central to international development policy. But this rhetoric, all of which could have been scripted by Practical Action, did not seem to square with the Declaration. Compare, for example, the AEEP’s energy access target of 100 million additional people connected to electricity by 2020. This could still leave over 400 million Africans without electricity in 2020, and amounts to saying the MDGs are not going to be met in Africa until after 2020. The Declaration’s access target does not appear to match with the African Union’s goal of reducing by half the number of people without access to modern energy services by 2020, an it falls some way short of the target of universal access by 2030, recommended by the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change.
Though there is a pretty clear gap between rhetoric and practice, the AEEP High Level Meeting remains significant for international policy on energy and development. In the absence of any internationally agreed goals and targets on energy for sustainable development, the AEEP provides a forum for one of the largest donors, the EU, to agree priorities for energy, with the group of countries, the AU, which has the greatest need.
Further reading: briefing paper on the Africa-EU Energy Partnership – high level meeting
No Comments » | Add your commentThe coldest night…
Unsurprisingly, at this altitude, the climate is very variable, with temperatures reaching up to 17oC in the day and plummeting to -10oC at night.
Sunset over Lake Titicaca
This year, however, over 400 people have died in the Peruvian Andes during ‘El Friaje’ (the cold wave), which saw temperatures plummet to -23oC, far below the normal lowest temperature of -10oC.
The night I spent in this family’s house was the coldest I’ve ever experienced. Whipping out my Tesco’s Emergency Blanket, I drifted off to sleep. This didn’t last long, as I remember waking up to the sound of incessant coughing, it was the worst cough I’ve ever heard, and it was haunting to hear that sound coming from an 8 year old child. I went to the next room to see if my overstocked first aid kit could be of use, and was astonished to find that the mother was trying to sooth Stefania (the 8 year old) by the light of the fire.
Stephania
While this may sound like a normal situation for such an isolated location, and sadly it often is, the reality was that the fire was filling the room with smoke, stinging my eyes on entry, and certainly aggravating the illness and cough. Open fires are often the only means of providing warmth and light, but without proper chimneys to remove the smoke, smoke inhalation causes more deaths a year than Malaria. Access to modern energy would eliminate the need for children, particularly ill children, to be sleeping in smoke-filled rooms. I dread to think how the family coped with the unprecedented temperatures of ‘el friaje’ this year.
Half of the world’s population have no access to modern energy, and predictions show that if we continue with ‘business as usual’, that figure will be exactly the same in 20 years time. This is why Practical Action are launching a campaign called ‘Make the Call: Energy for All’, which asks people to leave a ‘missed call’ for their MP or MEP, telling them the importance of access to modern energy. Energy access impacts on every area of development, modern energy allows maternity wards to have much higher survival rates, it can provide light so that children can study after dark, or warmth to families suffering the most from extreme temperatures.
Modern energy can also provide refrigeration for lifesaving vaccines, access to the internet (which as you probably know if you’re reading this blog, provides access to a wealth of information, especially things like Practical Answers, which are vital for further escaping poverty) or even the ability to start small businesses such as sewing syndicates. Modern energy is the link which allows that much needed escape from poverty, modern energy is the catalyst out of poverty.
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