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
Regions
Tragedy in the DRC’s Virunga National Park
It is with extreme sadness that we received today’s announcement that three park rangers and five Congolese soldiers were killed during an attack on their patrol vehicle in Congo’s Virunga National Park. (Read the blog post by Emmanuel de Merode, Chief Park Warden and member of the Board of Adviser of The Charcoal Project.) Illegal charcoal production in the park is the single greatest threat to the survival of the mountain gorilla. Virunga National Park, which has implemented a successful briquette program in communities surrounding the park, has been a partner and supporter of The Charcoal Project since day one. Continue reading
TANZANIA: Economic recovery hurting energy poor; shift to charcoal from kerosene
The prices of kerosene, cooking gas, and electricity have gone up by 6, 20, and 18.5 per cent respectively. Experts say this leaves most households in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and other urban centres with little choice but to shift to charcoal.
NYT: Energy poverty on the agenda for 2011
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
ETHIOPIA: Land grab fears for rural communities
BBC | 15 December 2010 By Ed Butler (Reporter, Business Daily, BBC World Service, Ethiopia) A controversial new farms policy has led to a political clampdown in a remote lowland region of Ethiopia, the BBC has been told. Opposition activists claim that a number of arrests and the killings of 10 local farmers are as a direct result of the new policy. “You cannot speak freely about the land issue now,” one local man told me on condition of anonymity. “You can be arrested or even killed for this. “This is a dark period for all indigenous people living in Continue reading