IEA: By 2040, SSA will see a 40% increase in bioenergy consumption and a burgeoning $70 billion USD industry.
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VIDEO: The charcoal problem in Tanzania compellingly explained
Dar es Salaam consumes the equivalent of 16 olympic pools in charcoal every day. This figure is increasing daily as rural populations migrate to urban centers. At $350 million per year, charcoal is big business, too.
This great video produced by the World Bank last year (2010) lays out the issue in a way that is well-documented and visually compelling.
The Road to Sustainable Charcoal — What world figures tell us and not.
Today we begin posting the first of a dozen paper’s presented in June at a symposium in Arusha, Tanzania, on Sustainable Charcoal. The event, co-organized by The Charcoal Project, heralded the launch of a year-long initiative that will culminate in an International Conference on Charcoal and Solid Biomass in 2012.
Today’s topic focuses on the absence of reliable data on woodfuel and charcoal use from a national and global perspective.
Hot Tip: this is sure to be a top-shelf priority at next year’s conference!
Foreign investment to protect Ghana forest not keeping up w destruction
NEWS: Indiscriminate felling of trees for firewood and charcoal to either sell or for domestic use is a routine for most locals in Ghana.
At the same time it’s a major contributing factor eating up the forests.
About 69 percent of all urban households use charcoal for cooking and heating and the annual per capita consumption is around 180 kg. The total annual consumption is about 700,000 tons, 30 percent of which is consumed in the capital Accra, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
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