Forget about Kyoto, solve climate change on the production side
Posted by: fvleuten on: December 5, 2011
I remember Callantsoog May 1998, when with a number of lead experts from around the world we tried to understand the implications of the Kyoto protocol, the world’s first modest step to prevent climate change. We discussed, analysed and played role games to understand the logic and reveal the flaws and escapes in the Kyoto protocol. In general we felt that it would not bring much more than a signal that the world wants to take on climate change. As experts with a development and environment perspective, we saw lawyers and economists coming in to take over the debate. I personally lost interest.
Today, in December 2011, politicians discuss the Euro crisis by looking back at the conception of the euro. They seem to suddenly realize that the Euro has had severe design flaws, because the stability criteria have been almost impossible to enforce, especially in times of real need. Involved experts mention they already saw this coming at the time of the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997.
I am following the news with particular interest to see if any expert makes the connection with climate change, for instance with the European Emission Trading Scheme. This instrument seems to work well now. But will it still work well when the total emission ceiling will become painfully low, when fossil fuel use will have to be denied to important sectors of the economy, and the stakes become serious in a time of real need?
More importantly, I am curious to see if anyone feels prompted by the situation to think again about the fundamental direction of international climate change policy: Are we on the right track with our orientation of emissions reductions? Should we not reconsider the alternative direction to to regulate fossil fuel production?
In 1998, I had a beer with an expert from Bangladesh who pointed out that, in order to understand the political will, you should just check if measures are being taking on the supply side or on the demand side. It all has to do with dominant political interest in production or not. For example, cocaine is attacked mostly on the production side, weapons on the consumption side, ozone depleting HCFCs were (successfully) attacked on the production side, ¬CO2 emissions are attacked on the demand side. Guess why ! Still the question remains if the dominant political interest have been right, and if they have not shifted?
Imagine approaching climate change from the perspective of production of fossil fuels. The simple logic would be, that to prevent dangerous climate change, less carbon based fuels need to be extracted from the earth. Irrespective of some minor time delays due to the complex petro-chemical sectors, all carbon based fuels extracted from the earth will lead to greenhouse gas emissions. This calls for regulated reduction of extraction of oil, gas and coal.
On the government side, this is a topic that is very closely linked to the energy security topic that dominates geopolitics and is already a national priority for many countries. Surely, it should be possible to integrate access distribution and equity concerns in the energy security policies? On the private sector side, this topic means a cap on the business of a limited number of companies that already have close ties to government, and is partly already organised in the OPEC cartel. NGOs could monitor irresponsible production by private sector and play their role as counter-veiling power to strong brands and governments.
This focus does not even require a multilateral treaty. Economic blocks like EU and US could simply take these measures as part of their campaigns to modernize their internal economies: simply put a cap of fossil fuel production and net imports.
It seems to me that this strategy would be much easier and more focused than regulating the emissions from trillions of engines, motors, boilers and fires in all countries of the world, trying to mobilize the transformative power of relatively young, SME dominated sectors like energy efficiency and renewable energy, trying to restrain fossil fuel intensive economic development.
In 2011, what is happening? More subsidies are given to fossil fuels than to renewables. The major private sector players are worried about gas reserves, shale gas, unconventional oil. Even coal seems a fuel of the future. Is any player preparing for a cap on fossil fuel production? And will not almost all produced fossil fuel end up in the atmosphere?
What I don’t understand: limiting production would raise prices and thereby margins for the producers, right ? Why would this not be a perfect allignment between the interests of the producers and the world’s environment?
Slow solar in Uganda
Posted by: fvleuten on: August 9, 2010
Today, I felt the spark of a small innovation in the marketing of solar lighting in Uganda.
I guess that I have been coming for short visits to Uganda almost every year since 1999. From the beginning I thought the market for solar lighting products was underdeveloped, certainly when I compared it to Kenya.
When I look back, we have over the years tried so many different things: partnering with distribution firms to develop a depot network, partnering with MFIs to start solar loan schemes, partnering with lead a importer to develop a franchise distribution network, looking for ways to support up-country dealers with promotion, road shows, developing dealer/MFI partnerships, ppp approaches. In my perception, especially the work with entrepreneurs in rural towns had an impact, although like the other efforts it did not lead to a transformation of the solar sector in the country into a mass market. Maybe that would also have been too ambitious.
You will understand that one might become cynical about the development of the solar sector in Uganda. Still, I had that strange wonderful feeling today, that “things are cooking” that are worthwhile.
It happened in one of our projects, where an organisation that supports farmers groups in adoption of sustainable (livestock) farming tries to connect their groups to vendors of solar lighting systems. Maybe it is because, after a hesitant start, enthusiasm with the farmers is growing now that they recognize that solar/LED solutions are actually affordable to the majority of them. Maybe it is because the people in the partner organisation as well as the solar vendor are surprisingly competent and focused people, working on improvements on the ground (and ignoring the solar donor circus in the country).
So, rather than becoming cynical, I have concluded that it is important to enjoy these small innovations by committed people. It does not have to be big immediately; more important that progress is real. It seems that solar comes slowly.
Batteries … versatile rural power
Posted by: fvleuten on: December 5, 2009
In September, I joined the EASE partner meeting in Cambodia. During the field visit, the first thing we saw was the battery charging station on the photo.
Although we were being guided by partner NGO Geres, the battery charging station was not part of any project. In fact, it was a spontaneous local business activity, and during the day we would see many other. The family that operates the battery charger also rents portable diesel generators as well as sound systems.
The interesting question is of course, how people use the batteries. There seem to be many different applications. Like I have in other Asian countries and in Africa, there is the 12 Volt television. People also use the car batteries to power tube lights.
So what about the smaller moto-cycle batteries? There seem to be many applications that I was not aware of. The most surprising one is that people use batteries for fishing. The following picture was sent to me by a colleague from and NGO in neighbouring Vietnam: this man has connected his battery to two electrodes: all you need to do is stick the electrodes in the water and the fish come floating up.
Iwill keep collecting more examples of interesting uses of batteries.
serious electricity
Posted by: fvleuten on: August 16, 2009
PCASER Touba, Mali, originally uploaded by elFrank70.
The photo shows the powerplant of the Touba electricity company, set-up by Mr Bakary Doucoure in Touba village, Mali. When we first met, Doucoure had already been importing solar panels for many years. Although hardly anybody was aware of this, he was one of the biggest solar distributors in west Africa.
While the typical solar company in Bamako had a nice showroom and IKEA type furniture, Doucoure’s shop was not at all like that. It was really a shop in bustling downtown Bamako. Customers from as far as Niger and Burkina Faso came by bus to Bamako to buy his solar merchandise. I would see them waiting in the shop for a day, sometimes two, before catching the bus back. Sitting on one of the chairs, sleeping on the ground, praying, eating. I would see them carrying boxes with small panels, big panels, lights, electronics, batteries. For me, Doucoure’s shop became the essence of the West African solar market.
About 5 years ago, spurred by Mali’s PCASER program, Doucoure started thinking about putting a serious investment in the electrification of his home village of Touba. He developed a local power plant with a “centrale” with two diesel generators, he put up electricity lines, and started serving somewhat far off homes with solar. Customers had to come every month to his cassier to pay their bills.
I visited Touba again early this year. The minigrid in Touba now serves about 500 households. Currently the grid is being upgraded, with a new generator house a few kilometers outside the village, with a new generator of 500kVA (next to the two existing gensets), and with new distribution lines with high concrete masts instead of metal poles. This was needed because the centrale building would become too hot for the engines, people had started complaining about the noise. The original metal masts were too low; trucks had repeatedly broken the power lines. The new power station will have sufficient capacity to start serving also the neighbouring village.
Seeing all this, I realised that running a rural power company needs the type of commitment, as Doucoure has towards his home village. Without this, the necessary follow-up investments would probably never be made.
During the upgrading, power was down for a few weeks. I could see that in this village that had never seen electricity before, this was not any more acceptable to the local population. When we sat for a few hours in the shade, as is so common and pleasant in rural Mali, at least five customers came in, by foot of by bicycle. Each of them would come with a friendly, funny question about the power outage. We could all feel the serious undertone. Power has become a necessity.
(to see the whole set of pictures on flickr … click on the photo)
the family bike
Posted by: fvleuten on: August 16, 2009
We met Mme Mulindwa late in the evening in her shop in the trading center in a little village near Masaka (Uganda). She sells general items as well as home made chapattis and milk. At the end of every evening her husband, a farmer, still comes to pick her up to walk home together. She has a happy marriage.
They have five children. Since they obtained a cow from “Send a Cow Uganda”, their life has improved a lot. Now they have five cows, a big chicken barn, and function as model farmer for StJude.
Mme Mulindwa was willing to show us the 5-light solar system on their house. Three lights are inside, two outside. The outdoor lights are important as security lights. If there is a noise at night, they switch on the lights briefly to scare away the animals (She actually mentioned “dog or man”). The system also powers a small television. Mme Mulindwa found out about solar through a promotion by local NGO St Jude, and obtained it through their credit scheme. She is sometimes paying back in vegetables and milk.
She is very happy with the system. Especially because she feels more secure now to leave the children at home in the evening, and is not worried anymore about possible accidents with the kerosene lanterns. The husband especially appreciates the possibility to watch TV. With the exterior lights, they are now able to rise earlier, at 5:30, to take care of the cows. This means they can go to the field earlier and have sufficient time to prepare the chapattis.
Once the system has been paid off, she wants to obtain a 2 light system for her shop, and for charging mobile phones. Now she uses a hurricane lantern and a wick lamp.
In the picture, you can see one of the indoor lights in the house, fixed to light different rooms. The wedding photo has a very prominent place, as has the motorbike. When I asked if the motorbike is used as “boda boda” taxi, she had to laugh. No, the bike is only used on sundays, for going to church.
(to see the whole set of pictures on flickr … click on the photo)
the famous Lister
Posted by: fvleuten on: August 8, 2009
- In: Strategy | Visits
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The Lister engine is famous in rural Africa. Almost everwhere I travel for projects that want to improve rural livelihoods with solar, biogas, or improved cookstoves, the Lister engine has already found its way.
The engine in the photo is used to power a maize mill in the Engeruka basin in Tanzania. I was visiting to support the planning of a jatropha powered MFP. In the small villages of Engeruka Chini and Engeruka Juu we found at least 8 of these machines.
Typically, the owner gives it to an operator in return for a weekly fee. The operator buys diesel in distant Mto wa Mbu (where he travels by minibus) and runs his own maize milling businesses.
According to Wikipedia, the design of the Lister engines dates back to Lister company in England, 1929. Although they officially stopped production in 1987, there are several Indian companies that started producing similar engines on a large scale. Reportedly, the engines are getting more popular again, due to their reputation of longevity, reliability, and ease of maintenance. They are also reputed as suitable for a large variety of alternative fuels (including pure Jatropha oil).
Whenever I meet a Lister engine, and see how it is part of local development, I wonder why development money intended for energy access for the poor is not used more to support applications of this machine. Its added value for development seems to be much greater and more sustainable than that of solar or biogas technology.
Back to the engine operator in Engeruka, I would propose to consider the biofuel powered MFP project a success, only if it makes enough sense for the Lister engine operator to start using locally pressed biofuel instead of diesel.
(to see the whole set of pictures on flickr … click on the photo)
one tree school
Posted by: fvleuten on: July 31, 2009
Meet the children of the Mti Mmoja Primary School in Monduli district Tanzania. Their uniforms are blue instead of white, because it is always windy and dusty, and the parents wouldn’t succeed in keeping the clothes clean. The feeling of the teachers is that the Maasai do not care much about the education of their children.
The school had two challenges when we first came: no electricity and no cooking.
The electricity was needed for lighting classrooms, teacher’s houses and charging mobile phones/powering radios. With a private sponsor, we succeeded in donating a few small solar systems for this.
Cooking was a bigger problem. During the day schoolchildren should be fed by the school. The children walk huge distances in the morning, study all day and towards the evening travel back home. Little Maasai kids. But in this school they did not get any food. The reason: the parents did not contribute enough firewood. Therefore we used the same sponsoring mechanism to install an efficient cookstove.
The installations happened towards the end of 2006. When I visited a year later, the school looked much better, you could feel that the motivation of the teachers and especially the lady headteacher was much improved and the children were better taken care of in the school. They were now getting lunch.
At the of last year I stopped again at the school. Now the situation was worrying. The lady headteacher had left. The new headteacher seemed frustrated and not much involved with the children. The solar system on the teachers houses was working, but the school lights did not function. The improved cookstoves showed no sign of useage for a long time (no ashes, no soot in the fireplace).
After insisting, the teacher finally answered my question as to whether the kids are now fed at school: no, we can’t. Can’t you arrange support for us to buy food ?
The story still follows me in my work on energy access for the poor: are we really focusing on the vulnerable with our solar systems and improved cookstoves ?Why can’t we get these technologies to have impact on one tree school ? How can we succeed in getting the children a simple meal during their long day?
(to see the whole set of pictures on flickr … click on the photo)
Fred removes a led
Posted by: fvleuten on: July 27, 2009
On the picture you see Fred, one of Uganda’s best solar technicians, removing a 1,5Watt LED lamp and replacing it with a 5Watt CFL in the village of Namulonge.
The lady of the house had received a mini solar home system with two LED lights through a small pilot project. Although the pilot project was internationally presented as an interesting breakthrough, the lady was not happy at all. According to her the light output was too low. As you can see, the lights are mounted in the empty space between the walls and the roof, so that in principle they should be able to light all rooms of the house. We tried it ourselves, and indeed, the light was very dim.
The reception in the home had been somewhaty cold. After replacing the LED with the CFL, the lady was very happy and friendly. The supplied 14W solar panel was large enough to power the 5W CFL (or in fact to help recharge the car battery that almost every second house operated to power their TV).
Although the solar system had been supplied at a 50% subsidy, still I wondered why she had ever paid at all for the system . She explained that she was a demonstration farmer. That she acted as a point of reference for new developments to the other villagers. The system added up to her social capital.
And as to the project, we had to conclude it was a dead end.
(to see the whole set of pictures on flickr … click on the photo)
Christine
Posted by: fvleuten on: July 19, 2009
One of my favourite stories is the story of Christine. I first met Christine in Masaka, Uganda in June 2006. We were working on a small project to develop the solar home market out of the target district (instead of out of Kampala that had proven so difficult). We chose Masaka because there was no existing solar market. Christine was introduced to me as the sales assistant of trained solar technician George. Together they had been helped by our small project to start the company Ultrasolar Masaka to develop a model dealership in a franchise formula.
That was the plan. George had been doing small numbers of larger solar home installations, and out of Ultrasolar Masaka continued on the same level. Christine was in the shadow, friendly but without appearing to be very entrepreneurial. In the beginning of 2007, I understood from our partner in Kampala that George had left the company. I assumed that would be ” end of story” . Still, we tried to define a follow-up effort.
Apparently at about that time, Christine decided that she would not go back to being a teacher, that she had the potential to make this company a success, on her own. We helped her in getting a basic stock of solar products and in developing a cooperation with micro finance groups in the region.
It was Christine, who did a wonderful job. Her business started growing fast. She traded the original corner in the Shell gas station for her own rented shop. She started building a reputation of speed and reliability. If you look at the picture now, you can see a well stocked shop, managed by a professional business woman. What I like most about the picture, is that you can recognize in her face the treats of a strong and self-confident person.
Masaka has become an expanding solar market. Christine has started working in neighbouring Rakai district, and has even been asked by one of the micro finance companies to start working in the east of the country, hundreds of miles away. Her main question now: should I take on everything ?
(to see the whole set of pictures on flickr … click on the photo)
a biogas stove for tea
Posted by: fvleuten on: July 19, 2009
This picture is good for explaining kitchens. The most important feature is the presence of the little girl in the kitchen. We know from research that smoke in the kitchen would be the second biggest cause (after infected water) for health problems and death, especially of little kids spending much time with their mothers in the kitchen. So often you can encounter red eyes and running noses.
The second important feature is the fact that you can see at least two stoves being used. In fact, in this kitchen in Masaka Uganda, there were even three types of stove: a woodstove (without chimney) for cooking the national favourite banana dish Matooke, a charcoal stove for cooking meat, and a biogas stove to prepare a pot of tea.
In the corner of the picture, you can see the biogas burning with a clear blue flame. The biogas system has been installed as demonstration of a clean energy solution. The kitchen itself seems to be a demonstration of African reality.
(to see the whole set of pictures on flickr … click on the photo)
elfrank70
frank, inspired by Joan Miro's statue in the courtyard of Reina Sofia in Madrid.
