In the spirit of the energy reconversion that half the world is about to undergo in the next decade or so, I thought it appropriate to post some of the sobering slides produced by the International Energy Agency which suggest a completely different perspective for the world’s energy poor. The takeaways are that (1) the number of people who will be denied electricity access and who will rely mostly on biomass to meet their energy needs will grow in the future and, (2) this great disparity will continue to be most evident between rural and urban zones. Per Capita Energy Continue reading
December 2009
Stove project in Congo selling carbon credits on voluntary market
A December 3rd article in the Financial Times reports how a Mercy Corps-operated stove project in Goma (eastern Congo) is selling carbon offsets to western companies on the voluntary market. It is partially reproduced below but you can only read the complete article on the FT site. Among the more interesting facts reported are: * Projects like these are attractive to private investors in the the voluntary carbon market (as opposed to CDM) because the provide a social benefit as well as an environmental one. More bang for your buck, so to speak. * A project on this scale does Continue reading
Teutonic-Zambian union yields CDM stove project
And now for a heart warming project from Zambia. What is there not to like about this story? It’s got a CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) component, a complex partnership involving German engineers at a powerful utility and local Zambian church groups. And at the center of it is a nifty little stove with amazing tech specs. If indeed this works out, let’s hope we see more projects like this sprouting elsewhere. Is there anyone on the ground who can tell us how meaningful this all this? Hello? Lusaka? hello…? The stove in question, the Save80 cooking system, is well documented Continue reading
REDD as a Human Rights Disaster: Fact or fiction?
From IPS news came this item in the context of Copenhagen. The thesis is that REDD — Reduced Emissions through avoided Deforestation and Degradation, the proposed mechanism by which developing nations will be compensated for protecting and restoring their forests under a global greenhouse gas reduction agreement — would encourage countries to cordon off their forests, and therefore restrict access to the indigenous and rural inhabitants that depend on the forests for their survival and their identity. How real is this scenario? We thought it worthwhile to examine the piece in detail and see how much water this theory holds. Continue reading