The Charcoal Project (TCP) is pleased to announce its participation in organizing the first International Conference on Charcoal. The conference will take place in Africa in 2012. To lay the groundwork for the conference, TCP and its partner, CIGA (Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), are preparing a Symposium & Workshop to be held in Arusha, Tanzania, between June 12 – 16. Titled “The role of charcoal in health, local environments, climate change, and poverty alleviating initiatives,” the June event will bring together some of the world’s leading experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities Continue reading
Events
Can’t make it to Lima for the 5th PCIA Forum? Not to worry. We’ve got you covered!
If you’re stuck back at the home-office, in the field, and you can’t make it to Lima for the 5th Annual PCIA Forum, then visit us online (er, that would be right here) starting on Monday, February 21st for some behind-the-scenes coverage, interviews, program highlights!
Energy poverty alleviation: a perspective from Africa’s scientists
A few facts about energy access and electricity production in Africa: * About 70% of Africans have no access to electricity. * The entire electric capacity of sub-Saharan Africa is 68% that of Spain. * South Africa’s electricity generation accounts for more than half of all SSA capacity. * Commercial users register power outages over 50 times a year, whereas the US standard is one day in ten years. * 80% of the African continent still relies on biomass as cooking fuel. African scientists issue policy recommendations to increase access and generation of electricity Often missing from ambitious global campaigns Continue reading
Cancun: A flat-line or heartbeat for energy poverty alleviation?
OPINION
When it comes to deploying energy efficient technologies — like clean cookstoves, improved charcoal-making kilns, and sustainable alternatives to wood, charcoal, and animal dung fuels for the world’s three billion energy poor — the ratio of words to action and funding has, until recently, been woefully lopsided.
Cancun and what it means for clean cookstoves, briquettes, and other appropriate sustainable energy technologies
Today marks the opening of the Cancun talks on Climate Change. They are a follow-up to last year’s Copenhagen discussion which, as everyone knows, did not yield the expected global agreement to effectively reduce greenhouse gases. A review of media coverage leading up to the Cancun event downplays expectations for any significant breakthroughs during this round. And if nothing substantive comes out of this week-long meeting, it will mark another nail in the coffin of the UN’s attempt to establish a globally binding agreement à la Kyoto Protocol. The outlook is not improved by the outcome of the US mid-term Continue reading