The Charcoal Project

Human development

NEWS: The case for combining water treatment & clean cookstoves

Posted on by Jean Kim Chaix

From WASHupdate: Combined Household Water Treatment and Indoor Air Pollution Projects in Urban Mambanda, Cameroon and Rural Nyanza, Kenya, 2011– WHO.

The positive experience from these two projects concerning the apparently clear benefits of delivering household water treatment and household energy interventions in an integrated way has important implications for future programs. Specifically, the key strategic question is whether integrated delivery should be the norm, rather than, as at present, the exception and only seen in a few innovative projects.

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UNEP: Unsustainable charcoal production & consumption threaten MDG achievements

Posted on by Jean Kim Chaix

We were very pleased to receive this morning a letter from the United Nations Environment Programme that recognizes the unsustainable nature of current levels of charcoal production and consumption in sub-Saharan Africa, and the threat this poses to the progress on the MDGs. The letter, signed by Mr. Mounkaila Goumandakoye, Director and Regional Representative of UNEP in Africa, also expresses the agency’s support for The Charcoal Project’s effort to organize the first International Conference on Charcoal, scheduled to take place in the first half of 2012 in Africa. Although we regret UNEP’s Executive Director, Achim Steiner, will not be able Continue reading→

IEA: Providing electricity and sustainable energy for all is within reach.

Posted on by Jean Kim Chaix

OPINION How many economists do you know that you can call a rock star or a superhero? In our books, Fatih Birol, Chief Economist at the IEA (International Energy Agency) is up there with Superman and Captain Planet. That’s because no economist out there has so tirelessly advocated for help for the 3 billion people who lack access to electricity or depend on wood, charcoal, and other solid biomass fuels for cooking and heating. In his most recent statement, Dr. Birol points out that it would take only about 3% of the projected global energy investment of over USD 26 Continue reading→

Energy poverty alleviation: a perspective from Africa’s scientists

Posted on by Jean Kim Chaix

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→

NYT: Energy poverty on the agenda for 2011

Posted on by Jean Kim Chaix

Energy poverty may not mean much to most people because up until now no one has bothered explaining the concept. And even though “energy poverty” was not mentioned directly, the knowledge vacuum began to be filled on December 24th when the New York Times published African Huts Far From the Grid Glow With Renewable Power, an excellent overview of how renewable energy and energy efficient technologies are dramatically changing the lives of rural African populations that lack access to modern energy. The story leads with the example of a family in rural, off-grid Kenya with no access to electricity. However, Continue reading→