The Charcoal Project

IEA: Cookstoves are great but energy poverty still looms large on the horizon

The IEA said in an excerpt of its 2010 World Energy Outlook that some 1.2 billion people, equivalent to China’s population, would still have no electricity by 2030 if governments made no change to existing policies, down from 1.4 billion currently. The $36 billion per year only represented 3 percent of global energy investments projected by the agency to 2030.

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News compilation of today’s annoucement by Sec. Clinton

Today’s announcement by Sec. Hilary Clinton and the ensuing coverage is undoubtedly a landmark for the improved cookstove community and all those who have sought to address the risks posed by indoor air pollution around the world. For the people who have toiled in obscurity for decades trying to improve the stoves, for those who have lobbied to draw attention and financial support to the issue, and for those who are hard at work around the world today implementing cook stove programs, today is a very special day, and hopefully the beginning of larger sustained global effort. So, congratulations to Continue reading

USA to provide $50M in seed money for launch of global clean cookstove campaign

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to announce a significant commitment to a group working to address the problem, with a goal of providing 100 million clean-burning stoves to villages in Africa, Asia and South America by 2020.

The United States is providing about $50 million in seed money over five years for the project, known as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

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The big win: energy efficiency for the BoP

Will 3 billion people ever see this? …on this?… … or this?  This week 150 heads of state and a Who’s Who of global celebrities will gather in New York to make a last push for the Millenium Development Goals (MDG), the UN’s flagship antipoverty campaign which aims to improve conditions by 2015 for more than half of the planet’s citizens mired in poverty, disease, and environmental degradation. Noticeably absent from the meeting will be the One Tool that can measurably and directly deliver results across all eight MDGs: better energy efficiency for the almost 3 billion people on Earth Continue reading

A personal report and appeal on the devastation in Pakistan

We found this letter from Acumen Fund’s CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz, poignant and important, which is why we’ve chosen to share it with you. Pakistan needs all the help it can get. Please do what you can to help. Kim & Nina Dear Kim & Nina, I just spent five days in Pakistan with my husband, Chris Anderson, invited by Acumen’s community to see for ourselves what is happening on the ground regarding the floods that have displaced 20 million individuals and destroyed 1.2 million (and damaged 4-5 million) homes. Over 5,000 miles of roads have been washed away, and some Continue reading