We have good reasons to believe the age of enlightened energy awaits us around the corner, right? Not so fast. It will be a long while before every thatched or corrugated tin roof on the globe has a photovoltaic array or a wind turbine. In the meantime, the plight of the energy poor – the 2.5 billion souls who depend on wood, charcoal, and animal dung for heating and cooking – will continue to deteriorate as they watch their environment, health, and prospects for emerging from poverty grow worse by the day. They are predictably scattered across the globe, but Continue reading
International Development
A sobering, graphic view of the world's energy poor in 2030 as seen by the IEA
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
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
On Environmental Brink, Haiti Scrambles for a Lifeline
“With any reforestation campaign, you have to find first a solution for energy.” — Antonio Perera, Program Manager, UNEP, Haiti The satellite image compares forest cover along the Haiti-Dominican Republic Border. A recent New York Times article explains what happens when a country’s energy-poor population exhausts its last remaining fuelwood resources. The country is Haiti and the picture painted is not pretty. With much of its forest cover gone, the poorest (and oldest) developing country in the Western Hemisphere’s stands now on the brink of environmental catastrophe. The story, reported by Nathaniel Gronewold of Greenwire, the web-based environmental policy and Continue reading
Charcoal Project joins Partnership for Clean Indoor Air!
The Charcoal Project is thrilled to join the global Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA)! The organization’s 330 partners contribute their resources and expertise to reduce smoke exposure from cooking and heating practices in households around the world. The partnership works on four priority areas: Meeting the needs of local communities for clean, efficient, affordable and safe cooking and heating options; Improving cooking technologies, fuels and practices for reducing indoor air pollution; Developing commercial markets for clean and efficient technologies and fuels; and Monitoring and evaluating the health, social, economic and environmental impact of household energy interventions The among the Continue reading