In reading up on the IEA’s World Energy Outlook released today, I stumbled upon the most compelling and sobering picture of what it means to be energy poor in this world today. The excerpt comes from a the acceptance speech given by WOE director, Dr. Fatih Birol, in 2006. Read the whole speech here. Energy Economics: A Place for Energy Poverty in the Agenda? Fatih Birol* Unfortunately, the energy-economics community has given far less attention to the challenge of energy poverty amongst the world’s poorest people. Over the past five years, less than 20% of the articles that have appeared Continue reading
Poverty
Peru: A millenary tree's last stand
Today’s NYT article titled Ecosystem in Peru Is Losing a Key Ally tells the familiar story of how poverty and cultural tastes are rapidly sealing the fate of the arid-dwelling huarango, a unique species of trees that can live more than one thousand years. According to the article, haurango rivals teak in hardness and its embers are prized for outlasting any other form of wood charcoal. It is also viewed by Peruvians “as the prime wood for charcoal to cook a signature chicken dish called ‘pollo broaster.’ ” (Judging from the online recipes, comments, and images, the dish might make Continue reading
MIT's Amy Smith: Visionary, inventor, genius.
Speaking at TED a few years ago, Amy Smith, the MIT professor and McArthur Genius Award recipient, made a compelling case for the widespread introduction of simple technologies that could solve major environmental, public health, and poverty problems in developing countries. Her bio on the TED page sums it up best: Invent cheap, low-tech devices that use local resources, so communities can reproduce her efforts and ultimately help themselves. Smith hatches her ideas at D-Lab, the MIT unit responsible for coming up with some of the coolest technological fixes for two thirds of the world’s population. If her ideas are Continue reading
Can briquettes save Africa's mountain gorillas?
Virunga National Park in the DR Congo is home to the largest population of the critically endangered mountain gorillas. In a recent visit to New York, the park’s Chief Warden, Emmanuel De Merode, told us that the greatest threat to the survival of the gorillas was the persistent destruction of habitat at the hands of the charcoal producers that ring the park. Every year thousands of acres of forest are cut to produce the wood charcoal the local population depends on for cooking and heating. In his most recent dispatch on the subject, Emmanuel writes: Replacing Charcoal with Briquettes – Continue reading