By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Wed, 2008-11-05 11:12
A new training package on “Sustainable Energy Regulation and Policymaking for Africa” is now freely available via the REEEP website. Developed by UNIDO with contributions from a number of organisations, and co-funded by REEEP, it provides an introduction to the key issues relating to the energy market and energy regulation as they affect sustainable energy.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Mon, 2008-04-28 10:17
President Barroso announced an interesting shift in the Chinese attitude to the post-Kyoto agreement when visiting Beijing last week. The Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is said to have indicated that China could participate fully in an international agreement provided that the old industrialised nations promised to reduce their emission until 2020 and a financial mechanism for technology transfer is established.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2008-04-18 13:15
By D Nchelatebe Nkwetta et al
Sub-Saharan African countries are today confronted with the problem of urban and demographic growths thus needing to reach a sustainable rate of positive economic growth. In order to meet this sustainability, many reforms are being carried out among which is the energy sector which will lead to future energy supply in an open globalised energy market as well as providing the basic energy needs.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Mon, 2007-11-05 08:00
Almost one third of the global population does not have access to electricity. It is predicted that this rate will reduce in the years to come, but also that the nominal amount will remain roughly the same - i.e. 1.5 - 2 billion people, the majority of them living in Africa and on the Indian peninsula.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Mon, 2007-02-19 08:00
The January issue of African Business has a section on sustainable energy from an African perspective that could be useful to consider also for Europe. Especially so since Europe wants to be the leader of the postindustrial revolution, according to Mr Barroso. In the article they are considering several options including fancy large scale technologies and come to the conclusion that decentralised renewable resources must be the more realistic one. Both for Africa and for sustainability.
This is also a chance for the rest of us! Consider the study made by Stuart Hart and C.K. Prahalad "The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid" in which they show the enormous market power to supply needed goods to low-income household (see figure below).
This power could drive a technology development that is much more useful, in all senses of the word, than some of the large scale that are portrayed in the EU energy package. African business rules them out easily because they will require an economic power and an infrastructure that few African countries can provide.
Then there is the moral aspect. As they ask "Why should we pay for the sins of the industrialised world?" Or in other words why should the African people be deprived from the blessings of the industry goods just because we have already exhausted the resources? We (together) just have to find a better solution.
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By Hans Nilsson / Published on Thu, 2006-10-12 05:08
The International Finance Corporation, a branch of the World Bank, has launched the project "Lighting the Bottom of the Pyramid" aimed at the replacement of kerosene lighting with solar-powered LED units in Ghana and Kenya. The project cuts into a 40 BUSD-market that the 1.6 Billion people who does not have access to electricity spend on kerosene every year.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2006-09-30 16:08
There are 2 billion people without access to electricity, but for villages located near to transmission lines, there is now an innovative solution, developed by the Montefiore Institute of the University of Liege, Belgium. The Makola village electrification is working perfectly since more than 4 years in deep sub-saharan Africa, with almost no maintenance and completely managed by local authorities. It gives acces to electricity to a very poor village of 1000 inhabitants (167 families) in a virgin forest.
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