Top 10 Solar

The top 10 solar companies

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/top-ten-solar-companies-3794/N3/

WE MOVED!

So as to adequately cater to an ever-expanding set of ideas of as to how information should be shared, I am now officially at:

www.newenergista.com

Friday Frites

TOWNHALL
Focus the Nation is using community organizing tactics to hold townhalls on clean energy. Pretty interesting.

MOOOO-VE: Just by how much does your dairy move ?

According to a report by WorldWatch Institute: The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture famously found that US food travelled an average of 1,518 miles (about 2,400 kilometers) from gate to plate. Yet looking at local markets, such as Iowa, they concluded locally sourced food travelled an average of just 44.6 miles (72 kilometers). They calculated that the” conventional food distribution system used 4 to 17 times more fuel and emitted 5 to 17 times more CO2 than the local and regional (the latter of which roughly meant Iowa-wide) systems.”

Charge your phone using Waste Heat



At Last!
The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday formally declared carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that threaten public health and welfare, setting in motion a process that for the first time in the United States will regulate the gases blamed for global warming.

Nigeria's Thursday

Today's focus is on the Bonny Light Crude Oil producing nation of Nigeria.

- This Day, a leading media empire in Nigeria has released the Oil Outlook report. It is colorful with advertisments but it is worth a read especially the parts that talk about the future of Nigeria with(/out) oil. It is good to see Nigeria thinking ahead and now cutting spending within the government. The 3-tier government structure comes at a cost of 13 trillion Naira ($884 billion) per year.

- Rebel attacjs on the Trans-Niger pipe cut off 200,000 barrels of production per day until now that Shell has started repairing the mess. The global oil demand is about 84.2 million barrels per day. Due to an increasing weak demand in the global consumer market, oil did not rise that much but stayed put in the lower $50s.

- Interesting to follow the committee that has been formed to investigate the $180 million bribery scam involving Dick Cheney leaning Halliburton.

Dear World Bank

Dear World Bank,

I appreciate the fact that you have taken note of Kenya's Rural Electrification Authority that intends to hook up 200,000 customers by July. At the end of the year, you have also noted the ambitious project to cover 2,000 kilometers (~1,300 miles) of wire.

But I am baffled by your offer of $80 million. Is this to cover this ambitious project? Did you note that rural Kenya is actually spread throughout the nation and not just in one area? Did you consider that most of the power from the 7-folk dams or from Ol Karia will be lost en route to Rural Kenya?

What is annoying is that these plans are way too ambitious and smell of the numerous white elephants that dot the country.

So if the 2000 km of wire is built, Kenya does not even have enough electricty to push through these wires. An alternative solution is needed.

I would suggest something that I have created in my head and called it modular infrastructure (M.I)

M.I is the solution to Africa's infrastructure problems. By localizing energy production, local development is encouraged. The reason I say this is that most of rural Africa still needs a small amount of electricity to jump start growth. Bringing in expensive fossil-fueled power to the rural areas, where the costs will be deemed too high, will not change anything. Instead, schools and communities need to team up and foot bills through structures such as a communal solar farm.

As the local economies grow, then that is when we can start thinking of a national grid. The reason why this off the shelf national grid does not fly is the fact that because of the barbaric incidences of tribal violence we have seen in the past, it is only fair that energy production is localized so that one part of the country does not dicate whether the rest of the nation will have power or not.

Just my two cents,

Oduor

28 MW from Mumias Sugar

Though poorly written, this article from the Business Daily highlights how Mumias Sugar Company in Western Kenya is outsmarting the illegal import of sugar that has eaten into its sugar production profits.

The paper shies away from describing the actual bio diesel that would be used to run the plant. But this is the direction that the sugar companies need to go because after all, it would be hard to import cheap electricity from Asia :-)

Why fish farming makes sense for East Africa

The main breed of fish in Lake Victoria is the Nile Perch (mbutaa). The Nile Perch market generates close to 20 Billion Kenyan Shillings annually ($250 MM)

The issue that has arisen, however, is that overfishing, illegal fishing practices and immature harvesting have all seen the decline of this commodity from the lake.

It explains a lot about the conflict that exists around Migingo Island.

The Indian-ran processing plants have also colluded with fishermen, not giving a care about the consequences of this act.

With water and the right education, the arid lands in most of Western Kenya could be easily converted into huge fish farms complete with processing plants. This could up the production that has otherwise dwindled and at the same time, better the economy of those around.

Daily Nation reports on this story here

Nairobi River

At last the Government of Kenya is making bold moves to move people who have settled on riparian and wetland areas around the Nairobi River.

It is embarassing sometimes to watch the settlers fight with the authorities over such issues. It really lights up the fact that Kenyan people need to be adequately educated over matters that really matter.

Read the whole story here from the Daily Nation

Opportunities in Kenya's Energy Sector

Just came across an OpEd by Kiraitu Murungi, Kenya's Energy Minister and thought that it was insightful to look at some of the areas that Kenya needs investments in.

It is also encouraging to see Ministers addressing private businesses through OpEds and such.

Read the full article here

Fuel Prices

Will the supposed 2007 gasoline demand peak be the last we see of the high demand for oil and its high prices?
There is a lot of weight to this claim because if every car that Americans drive becomes more fuel-efficient and if America thus ceases being the biggest consumer of gasoline, then the price of gasoline would go down. Very interesting.

Read the article on the Wall Street Journal

Lake Albert , DRC and East Africa

Tullow oil was recently reinstated to explore for oil in Lake Albert. Rene Isekemanga Nkeka, the Democratic Republic of Congo oil minister, said this at the back of a year-long debate.

The concessions are really on the border of the DRC and Uganda - which I think brought in the irregularities. But also, Tullow Oil is responsible for the oil in Uganda (Buffalo-Giraffe oilfield is the largest onshore oil deposit discovered in sub-Saharan Africa in more than 20 years) and of the off shore oil of Ghana.

It will be very interesting to see how the rest of the Eastern Africa nations shape up to accommodate the flow of this oil.

Kenya - already has a pipeline to Uganda which I believe is bi-directional. But there has been resistance on using it from the Ugandan side. There is a lot of political risk in Kenya as the pipeline passes through all regions of Kenya.

Tanzania - is pretty peaceful and could be the answer to political risk in Kenya. The port at Dar could use some boosting.

Congo - could export it to the rest of Central and East Africa. But Congo is Congo, there is too much political risk that makes Kenya a better looking option.

The rest of East Africa could actually be net importers of the oil from Lake Albert and use it for domestic fuel. Kenya and Tanzania have to shape up to allow for the flow of this oil if it is to be exported via vessels. Tanzania, if it could improve its infrastructure, would be a good option. Kenya, if it improves its politics would be the most executable option since the infrastructure is already there.

Kenya Fuel Prices

Are all bound to go up and it is funny, because the factors involved are all part of a vicious cycle.

ELECTRICITY

The Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) incurred an electricity bill of 1.2 Billion Kenyan Shillings last year; in today's exchange rates - this would equal $15 Million (this is a huge dent to any form of operation)

You can relate this to the post I had yesterday about rain. Quoting from Nation's Business Daily: (read article here)

For oil products delivered to Nakuru, marketers will pay 70 cents more per litre and 90 cents more per litre for Kisumu-bound products.
This really sucks, if you ask me. That marginal price has great effects down the line especially on industrial production that requires fuel.

ELECTRICITY II

So, if the fossil fuel prices go up, and the price of fuel is raised because of this uptick, won't the price of electricity just go up again and encourage this cycle to continue?

Let it Rain

The drought that has struck major parts of Kenya (& East Africa) in the past year will have its full effects felt in the next months if rain fails again.

Masinga Dam (40 MW Capacity) is in the danger of being shut down if water levels fall below the 1036 meter mark. It is already operating at 18 MW :- 45% of Capacity.

Some Education

1MW can power about 800 *American* homes. If you use my arbitrary conversion rate of 1 American Home Power Consumption = 8 African Homes Power Consumption, then we are looking at an equivalent of about 250K Kenyan homes. (These figures are guesstimates that rely on practical residential power usage and might in fact be conservative).

So what happens?

The water will thus have to be passed over to Kindaruma Dam, which is next in line among the 7 Folks dam that supply much of Kenya's electricity. The water would be used to maximize capacity.

Water, Water, Water...

It is of importance to note that it is actually water that is the "fuel" here and since May 2007, water levels have been low such that the dams have not been able to operate at full capacity or will not be able to operate at all.

I referenced an article from the Daily Nation. Access it here

Green Africa: Slum Cooker

I have always insisted that Africa is the easiest place to "go green".

Read about the slum cooker below - Toggle to Full Screen for a better view.

From the Sunday Talking Heads

I think that Fareed Zakaria's piece in this week's Newsweek is worth a read. I like the perspectives that Fareed often takes with current issues.

Read here: Fareed's take on how to achieve energy independence.

Friday Frites

Mau Forest, Rift Valley, Kenya
The Task Force that was put together by Kenya's Prime Minister, Raila Odinga revealed today the inappropiation of the land in Mau Forest.

This is disgusting because of the fact that Mau Forest itself is an important water catchment area for the rest of Kenya. I think people need to drop the notion that a forest is just a forest and all what it is good for is makaa (charcoal)

Read the rest of the story from the Daily Nation

Disputing the speed at which earth is warming up
The Cato Institute use major dollars to dispute the need of urgency to combat climate change. Hmmmm... see the ad here

Using Less energy is not turning into a Hippie
This is perhaps the most brilliant article that I have read regarding energy use reduction. The assumption that people SACRIFICE to use less energy is bogus. For most part, it just means efficiency. Read the article here

Talking of efficiency... This is efficiency: Fishing in Lake Naivasha

Maker Faire

Just the kind of conferences we need; I am starting to really like the role Koffi Anan is playing.

http://makerfaireafrica.com/

Designer Clothing

It is April already, wow!


Observe this cycle: Farmers toil, farm hands get exposed to pesticides, poor Asians toil in sweatshops, one buys clothes in the west, the clothes are disposed and then the clothes are returned to the poor in Africa.

Are Africans too poor and second-class to rely on handouts? Even worse, are African farmers not worthy earning money from the cotton and yarn that they produce?

This system is clearly broken and I think that the end result should actually be in the recycling of used clothing instead of giving it back to Africans. Moreover, organizations that donate all these clothing should do a better job at tagging on the supply chain instead of transporting the clothes back to Africa.

If the farmers are empowered and given more money, then I do not think that the farmer plus those around him/her would need to be begging for clothes. This is just part of the thought that the more the world recycles, the better it is for Africa as it it will no longer be just another trash can.

Question Time Tuesday: Sustainability

Today, I want to talk about sustainability because as a word, it might be misused but in reality, it is what is going to save any significant investment that is made in Africa.

There are a lot of charities out there that for years have been digging up wells or creating water sources in Africa.

London-based research organisation the International Institute for Environment and Development said about 50,000 water supply points across rural Africa had failed, representing a loss of 215 to 360 million US dollars.

This in my opinion is a lot of money to be wasted. Wells dry up and changes in weather seem to have influenced this. A problem might be the lack of expertise or just the need for donors to spend money, which can be used in a better way.

So below, are some impressive cases of sustainability in Africa:

1. Oserian Development Corporation in Kenya: I recall Oserian from growing up in Naivasha, but what is very amazing is the fact that they use geothermal power to power the farms and the growing flowers directly under the sun means that even though most of the flowers are flown to Europe, the emissions are less than for those plants grown in Europe. (Read article here from Capital News)

2. In Ghana, an Indian company is eyeing the alternative energy sector. China and India, I have repeated are the places that Africa can learn from the best. More of the article here

Zimbabwe

Once the food basket of Africa but now deteriorating with hyper-inflation, cholera and political strife, Zimbabwe seems to be thinking beyond the cloud and bringing up the issue of where the source of fuel will be.

The National Oil Company of Zimbabwe has announced plans to use jatropha to produce up to 10 percent of its fuel needs or 100 million litres of biodiesel per year by 2017.

What is Jatropha?

- A non-food crop whose oil can be used to produce biodiesel.
- Can grow on semi-arid land and poses less of a threat to food production than other biofuel feedstocks such as grains and vegetable oils.
- This creates a huge potential for the use of fallow land that is often arid in African countries.


Zimbabwe & Biofuels

Zimbabwe produced ethanol in the '70s but then stopped because of drought.
This sucks because one can imagine the amount of feedstock that could be extracted from the country.

From Africa...with creativity.

LIBERIA'S BLACKBOARD BLOGGER
(Source - WhiteAfrican.com)

Advertising works here too. It’s $5 to be on the bottom level, $10 to be on the sideboard and $25 on the main section. He doesn’t get a lot of advertising, and but he manages to scrape by.

His plans for the future include decentralizing his work, this means opening up identical locations in other parts of Monrovia, and in a few of the larger cities around the country. I don’t put it past Alfred either, he’s a scrappy entrepreneur on a mission to bring information and news to ordinary Liberians. He’s succeeded thus far, and I would put my money on him growing it even further.

Very Interesting!

RECYCLING & ELECTRICY IN KENYA

(Source - AfriGadget.com)

Franco Mithika works in Gikomba, an industrial area in greater Nairobi. His job is to take scrap metal tin cans and a soldering iron to fabricate paraffin lamps. Paraffin lamps are used by millions of Kenyans, especially those who cannot afford or get electricity into their home for lighting.

It costs about 110/= Kenyan shillings to make, and it sells for around 150/= ($1.90). You can buy them wholesale for 1550/= ($20) for 24 pieces. It takes about a minute to make one (less for the truly gifted fabricators).

Saving Kenya's Wetlands

This is an issue I will be producing a lot of material on in the next few weeks, otherwise - there is a nice video to watch from Nation TV below:

Protecting & Respecting Kenya Wetlands

If wishes were horses...

If only Nigeria was serious about its energy supply, then this would be welcome - the whole Nuclear power training for scientists and engineers

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/31972/79/

Monday from the Frontlines

- Recent Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative 2nd Carbon Credit Auction raised $117 million last Friday. Total amount comes to $263 million. (The Fed government is watching)

- Spoke too soon!? EPA now moves towards regulating greenhouse gases, as published in the New York Times.

- Wondering how a Federal Plan is going to look like? Here is a look at the East Coast and West Coast plans, side-by-side.

The East Coast Plan is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative while the West Coast Plan in the Western Climate Initiative.

Emissions Covered
RGGI - CO2
WCI - 6 gases including CO2, methane & sulfur hexaflouride

States
RGGI - 10 in the East, led by NY
WCI - 7 in the West led by Cali; 4 Canadian Provinces


Effective Date
RGGI - 2009
WCI - 2012 for power plants and industry. 2015 for transportation.

Number of regulated polluters:
RGGI - 233 Power Plants
WCI - TBD

Emisison Cap Level
RGGI - 10% reduction by 2018 below 2009 levels
WCI - 15% reduction by 2020 below 2005 levels

Distribution of Permits
RGGI - about 90% auctioned
WCI - minimum 10% auction by 2014, min 25% auction after 2020

Offsets
RGGI - Limited to 3.3% of a generator's total emissions
WCI - No more than 49% of total emission reductions from 2012 to 2020

Urban Wind

I came across an interesting website: http://www.urbanwind.net/wineur.html

The website is interesting (especially its extensive reading material that I have been perusing) in the fact that it outlines what could be used to power urban areas.

This is one of those orthodox methodologies that I believe will be key in shaping infrastructure development in Africa.

Real Estate and Going Green

For those that are in the West, I think this link from the New York Times is good.

But then as we think of developing real estate in the developing world, one wonders whether there are policies being put in place to accommodate environmentally friendly constructions.

Al Gore on Smart Grids

Still building out content to address what is actually viable within the next 5 years. Al Gore's explanation on smart grids is below. I like the way he covered the various links that come into play.

IBM dives into Water Technology

An interesting article about IBM's venture in water technology. Water, which we take for granted would certainly be the resource to fight for in the future:

http://www.businessgreen.com/vnunet/news/2238567/ibm-makes-splash-water

Biodiesel from Coffee

Are you part of the 41%

I like numbers because they speak louder than words..

In today's Gallup Poll:-

Increased Number Think Global Warming Is “Exaggerated”

No thoughts just yet.

The Challenge for Africa

We Afropolitans give very academic, high-level views on Africa. I think it would be interesting to read Wangari Maathai's book that is informed by over 3 decades of walking the talk in Africa. Her book, "The Challenge for Africa", hits the shelves in April 9th.

Because she found The Greenbelt movement, I would like to see how she will incorporate the green revolution into her argument. I am looking forward to getting my copy.

About the book:
The challenges facing Africa today are severe and wide ranging. Yet what we see of them in the media, more often than not, are tableaux vivantes connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation. Wangari Maathai presents a different vision, informed by her three decades as an environmental activist and campaigner for democracy. She illuminates the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, and offers "hard-headed hope" and "realistic options" for change and improvement. With clarity of expression, Maathai analyzes the most egregious "bottlenecks to development in Africa" occurring at the international, national, and individual levels—cultural upheaval and enduring poverty, among them—and deftly describes what Africans can and need to do for themselves, stressing all the while responsibility and accountability.

Amazon (US)
Amazon (UK) - I like the UK cover better :-)

Thinking twice: Can South Africa serve as a model for a Green Africa?

South Africa just held its Climate Change Summit of 2009 (Check it out here)

The only other summit that has been held that looks like this was the UNEP summit in Nairobi, though it was of international magnitude.

Wangari Maathai spoke during my commencement in 2006 and I have always wondered what role she could be playing in looking at making Africa more sustainable as it builds up.

The reason is that South Africa is looking at 2012 being the year when most of the laws will be passed (2012 seems to carry a very special significance everywhere). But with vast resources and a huge mining and heavy industrial sector, I wonder if the steps that they are taking might be as a direct result of these very resources. But the major question is whether the rest of the African nations can mimic the nation.

Changes

Newenergista was formed because of the lack of information that existed within the African energy space. It is with this in mind, that the site will be tackling more issues of that nature...As the site expands, there should be more interaction and more news. We are excited about the direction.

Refinery Build Slow Down Because of Funding
OilMoz Lda, founded by Leonardo Simao, Mozambique's former foreign Minister was to build an $8 billion refinery capable of delivering 350,000 barrels of oil per day upon completion in 2014. Other essential statistics of this build include:-

• 15,000 workers during construction
• 2,000 workers upon completion
• Only refinery in Mozambique. The previous refinery shut down in 1974. This will give it a tremendous opportunity to export oil to other nations in the Southern African Development Community (SADCC), which are generally energy hungry.

This is interesting because a lot of projects have been standing on the side because of the credit crisis. My hopes are that this project continues, especially by the fact that there is a 500MW plant that will be built. This should really help out in the constraints that exist in Southern Africa.

Somaliland
Somaliland is the breakaway semi-autonomous country carved out of Somalia in 1991.
The president, Dahir Rayale Kahin, seems to cozy up to Americans and is actually thinking of making good of some of the oil concessions that US oil companies have held since 1980.

This will be another story to watch.

Uganda
I am currently investigating the facts that Uganda will choose to transport its oil from Lake Albert by train in place of by pipeline. I am not sure why but it might have to do with the Kenyan Pipeline Authority. More on this later.

From Pariah to Savior

It was only recently that some of my American friends would say that they never divulged the fact that they were American while on a foreign trip because... "they hate us"

The UK, for starters, which may as well represent the former commonwealth at this point, is looking for leadership from the US of A. I am not even talking about Gordon Brown and the Global New Deal. Tony Blair is now out urging Obama to tackle Climate Change despite the financial meltdown.

You can read the article here on the Daily Beast. The mixed reactions in the Comments section range from outright ridiculous to interesting.

Africa's Energy Bedfellows

Quietly, 2008 marked a turning point for some relationships that Africa has with the East.
There was the influx of Chinese workers in the mines in the Congo and Zambia. But a more important relationship that has developed, almost unnoticed (well, through the media) has been on the energy front.

Trans-Sahara Scheme
Last year, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua of Nigeria was enthusiastic about the EU's offer of assistance on the proposed construction of the $21 billion Trans-Saharan gas pipeline from Nigeria to Algeria.

The project, which stretches a distance of 4,300 kilometers across the Sahara desert - Nigeria (1,050km); Niger (750km), and Algeria (2,500km) when completed will connect Nigeria's gas reserves to Europe via Algeria's Mediterranean coast.

Nigeria
Nigeria does not have a real gas infrastructure to speak off and this has been because of the reluctance of the international oil companies to fund the project. So Nigeria has looked at other players and one of them is Gazprom.

This March, there should be a 50/50 $2.5 billion Joint Venture between Gazprom and Nigeria. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) signed, in September 2008, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Russian gas export monopoly on joint venture projects.

It is not surprising to see Gazprom continued effort to dominate gas supply in Europe especially by tapping into Nigeria's gas, which did not have any domestic/international market.

There has been a myriad of activity in Nigeria though. The LNG terminal built on Bonny Island plus other terminals under development and the additional promise of the West African Gas Pipeline to to Benin, Togo and Ghana.

Kenya
On Facebook & Twitter last week, most people living in Nairobi had a theme going on in their messages: power outages / black outs.

Demand outstrips supply in Kenya by a huge margin. Kenya has only about 1200 MW of power in its grid. To put this in perspective, this would be enough to supply about 960,000 US homes. If that is hard to imagine, South Africa has 40,o00 MW of power. So, there is a quagmire right there: a country cannot grow without increased capacity.

Kenya has not had loyalty to any particular country and has been looking all over the place for partners to help in the development of the energy sector. There is a big push for nuclear power and it is not surprising that President Mahmoud Ahmednajad jetted in the country last week to sign pacts on energy and trade. During the visit, Kenya signed 12 trade pacts with Iran on roads, water, oil and nuclear energy among others.

Now what is needed is a clear energy policy regarding nuclear energy especially since from the past month, we are aware how Kenya is ill-equipped to deal with emergency disasters.

Bio-char: Black is the new Green

The inspiration for today's post comes from this past weekend's Financial Times article, Can You Dig It ? (Subscription might be needed - contact me - oduorb[at]newenergista.com - if you need me to forward it to you).

What is Bio-char?
Charcoal made from plants for the sake of storing land. The paradox of soil as a carbon capturing medium is that the carbon gets released as soon as one ploughs the ground.

So what is so attractive about Biochar?

• Carbon stored in Biochar can be stored for hundreds of years.
• By-products from char production have many uses: 1/3 could go to create char, 1/3 to produce syngas that could be used to generate electricity and the other 1/3 to create a crude product substitute (Plastic is still here to stay :-))
• Biochar is actually fertilizer and so could reduce the use of nitrogen based fertilizers that
  

There is an excess of 4bn tonnes of carbon each year so there needs to be a method to help in absorbing some of that carbon. To quote the article:

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, emissions have to peak in the period 2015 to 2020 if we are to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. On present projections, that will be impossible - unless a way can be found to make available cheap, easy methods of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and of generating clean electricity in ways that can be adopted around the world much more quickly than current renewable technologies.

According to Johannes Lehman of Cornell University, Biochar could reduce between 5.5bn and 9.5bn tonnes of carbon from the air each year. But this is assuming that there is the ability to produce so much biochar from the world's land resources.

Another issue is as quoted from the article:

The problem is twofold: developing a model for biochar production that reliably reduces greenhouse gases but is easily replicable in small farms in poor countries; and in the developed world, changing the business model of large farms so that collecting and cooking their waste is a better option than not. The huge US agribusinesses may be good candidates to start using their waste to make char but they are likely to need financial incentives before they begin to see the point. The poor farmers of the developing world might be glad of the husbandry advice and techniques that would help them revitalise their own soils with biochar, but how to reach them all? That may prove impossible.

But the thing is that this might be an actually viable technology and I think that communication and rolling it out, especially to poor farmers in the third world should be tackled.

Friday Frolics

The New York Times stepped up with a brand new Energy & Environment section.

Nigeria needs between 30,000 and 40,000 megawatts of power but President Yar'Adua will still not declare an emergency as he had promised in his inaugural address.

For those who want to match to Washington, PowerShift is organizing the biggest lobby day in front of Congress this coming Monday, March 2 (It is March already!). More information: Power Shift 2009. The Youth Summit runs from today (Feb 27) through Monday (Mar 2nd).

We reached the bottom: I am not a fan of this: Reusable toilet wipe

The reality coalition, that has been running ads against the notion of "clean coal" has recruited the Coen Brothers' off-kilter sensibility to the campaign:




CO2 Famine: This is an interesting Senate hearing...this scientist is slumped, claims the world is short of CO2 gases and even more some of his paychecks were from Exxon-Mobil

Is Water the New Oil ?

Definition:
Virtual Water
Virtual water is the amount of water used in the production of food and fibres. Our external water footprint is the total amount of virtual water we use in other countries when we import their goods.

Facts:

• Two thirds of the water needed to produce the UK's food and clothes is used in other countries.
• Pacific Institute: Droughts "attributable in significant part to climate change" are already causing "acute water shortages" around the world, and pressure on supplies will increase with further global warming and a growing world population.

My thoughts:
In 2008, when Crude Oil futures ramped up to a record-setting $147, I read an extensive research report that explained the rise of crude oil prices in a very macro-economic sense.
In sum, a growing world middle-class (BRIC nations, South Africa) demanded more oil for their newly-acquired vehicles and demand for power. But there were financial "technicals" that also showed that the levels could not hold.

However, the facts about an increased global demand for commodities holds and one of the things that cannot really be speculated upon is water. As the developing world becomes more urban and as the West requires more goods from these nations, water is definitely going to be a scarce commodity.

Question is... will it be the new oil? Causing economies that have it to boom and those that need it to wage war?

Hidden Costs

Don't we all hate those hidden costs/fees on our telephone contracts that suddenly bump up our payments to some undisclosed level?
Apparently, so is the true cost of climate change. One can look at my post below to see the study done by Tufts University. But there are some other numbers that I have been reading up on and thought that I might share. All these numbers are American and I can only imagine what the real cost is for the rest of the world. (Courtesy of the Environmental Defense Fund)

According to a University of Maryland study, costs already accrued include:

• $1.3 billion – the amount of damage associated with crop loss as a result of Georgia’s drought in 2007
• 300 million – reconstruction costs for the damage caused to rail transportation by Hurricane Katrina
  
• $272 million – insured catastrophic losses in 2007, as a result of increasing flood damage
• Four global warming impacts alone – hurricane damage, real estate losses, energy costs, and water costs – will come with a price tag of 1.8 percent of U.S. GDP, or almost $1.9 trillion annually (in today's dollars) by 2100, according to the same study.
  
• Losses will be massive to state economies. The impact of global warming on three sectors – tourism, electric utilities and real estate – together with hurricane damage would shrink Florida’s GDP by more than 5 percent by the end of the century.
  
• Delaying just two years will require twice the effort. An analysis of 2008 climate legislation shows that waiting just two years to tackle global warming would require more than double the annual cuts in emissions to achieve the same cumulative goal – 4.3 percent in annual cuts versus 2 percent
  
• We should not delay investment and job creation. Companies are waiting for new rules before they invest billions in new power plants and other projects. A cap is necessary to unfreeze this investment. A cap will also create new manufacturing jobs, like making steel for wind
  

Cutting Emissions is A Bargain: Check the %-ge of the GDP a cap-and-trade system would have.

Cap and Trade it is...

Obama's speech tonight highlighted the climate and the budget, and a 'sneak preview' of the budget tells us that the carbon emissions system that will be in place will be the cap and trade system.

This was obviously the way that things were going. When I attended the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative meetings here in the Northeast, everyone was fussing about what system the Federal Government was going to adapt.

Tufts University put out a publication showing the costs of global warming and it really tells one story: It is imperative for the US (+ China) to act immediately. The Environmental Defense Fund also releases some interesting numbers that I am going to write about tomorrow.

The New Co-op Capitalism

This is an article that I found interesting, especially in light of the times we are in now and as we think of the next step:

Paradigm Shift from The Daily Beast

The question I have is:

Are these global 'watchdogs' going to be responsible for the developed world watching over the developing world?

Uganda to be among top 50 oil producers

Courtesy of Sam Rugunda - From Uganda's New Vision Newspaper.
Will research on the sentiments this week... but should be good for Uganda and the larger Eastern Africa in economic terms.

Read story here.

Map-py Friday

1. Purdue University has used the brilliance of Google Earth to map CO2 emissions (plug-in needed) in the United States. The scalability of Google Earth has certainly not been fully utilized. In my former job, I recall it being employed to display real time power prices in the Northeastern US, which is useful for basis trades. I'm just thinking of the potentials and what comes straight to mind is actually: Ushahidi.com
2. Credit Crunch much? It seems that the heftiness of the lack of capital is eating up on the West's pledge of $18billion to developing nations to combat climate change. Only $1 billion has been paid out.
3. Today is Map Friday so here is another map from the Environmental Defense Fund that shows the effect of caps on Global emissions reduction.

Happy Friday!

Quantifying Energy Efficiency in the Developing World

CAFÉ standards and Energy Star labels in the United States are beginning to look weak in comparison to Indonesia's adoption of UN auto energy efficiency regulations, for example, and Ghana's household appliance standards (Dear Africa, Ghana seems to be setting precedences that maybe we should emulate?)

Report from McKinsey Global Institute finds that efficiency gains are inhibited by:

• Market Failures
• Informational barriers

The report suggests ways in which these barriers could be overcome.

Is "Green" Dead ?

There is much debate as to what extent the word green should be used and what it should mean.

To me, it bothers me when green is slapped everywhere for the sake of it. Instead, I think the paradigm needs to shift as to how we think of this word and instead just build energy efficient / sustainable things and call them by the name that we call them now.

Thomas Friedman summarizes it this way:

Ultimately, he said, the word "green" should disappear.
Instead of a small number of energy-efficient buildings and cars, he said, all should be built that way -- eliminating the need for a "green" designation.
"It won't be a green car, just a car," he said.

You can read about Friedman's speech here.

Wishlist

The profligacy that became en vogue among my peers in the past few years has left a peer group close to naked following the economy going belly up.

But as in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, life is always about sojourns away from, and back to, where we began.

In my sojourns, always in unfamiliar and new surroundings, growing older has always left a familiar emotion within me. An emotion that has led me to turn reflection into therapy enabling me to look back in order to stay grounded while also looking forward in order to be bold in my steps.

Turning 26 years of age today, these are some of the things I look forward to doing in the better half of my 20s:

1. Looking at this long list and recalling Salman Rushdie's words, "Always try and do too much..."
2. Advocating and championing the case of creating out of the box solutions when it comes to capital transfer to Africa and development of energy sources in Africa.
   
3. Building a framework to transform some of the learning in Africa from rote learning to critical analysis.
4. Contributing to a better election year in Kenya's 2012 General Election in whatever way or form I can.
5. Trying to publish an overdue African food cookbook whose recipes sit idle on my hard drive.
6. Employing my passion in the creation of more positive African media - news, music, video.
7. Moderating more open discussions on tribalism & ethnocentrism in Kenya.
8. Learning about and how to play more American sports.
9. Mentoring more at-risk kids in the inner cities.
10. Making better use of my passport.

"Why Rockstars Aren't Africa's Solution to Poverty"

I am a fan of Bono. Not that I am just an avid U2 fan but I like that he gave voice to millions of voiceless people. I am not so sure about the extremes of the argument below:

"So what of the rock and Hollywood stars, who have appointed themselves advocates of making poverty history? She is withering: “Most Brits would be irritated if Michael Jackson started offering advice on how to resolve the credit crisis. Americans would be put out if Amy Winehouse went to tell them how to end the housing crisis. I don’t see why Africans shouldn’t be perturbed for the same reasons,” she replies, exhibiting a feisty side that occasionally accompanies a chatty, self-assured style."

This comes about 2 weeks late, but Zambian-born Dambisa Moyo outlines the failure of Western Aid in Africa and calls for alternative forms of capital, especially bonds. Her book, Dead Aid, is $16 on Amazon.com and you can also read her FT interview from two weeks ago.

Global Ministerial Environmental Forum

Happening in Nairobi, 16th to 20th of February: http://www.unep.org/gc/gc25/
- A call for 1/3 of the global stimulus mullah to be spent on 'greening' the economy.
- Maybe the only thing that President Kibaki has said and makes sense this year.

Friday 13th

So much for superstition, a lot more is happening:

- Dell is nailing the intersection of everything I could possibly care about: Education, IT & Energy. Dell YouthConnect is working in India, Brazil and Mexico (Did I hear Africa, anyone?)

- No more money for Clean Coal in the Stimulus Bill. Grist has more details on the Stimulus' stimulus on energy.

- More power to the Internet. A green start up that is profitable in today's environment?

- Videos:

Charity Water



- A match to Washington anyone? Susan Sarandon wants to bring Global Warming to the forefront:

The Demise of the Corn Fields

W pushed for Ethanol production, especially to fend off the Brazilian ethanol machinery that has been running for years.

What we saw in the past 18 months or so was a rise in food prices globally (with food strikes in some parts such as Egypt). But now... despite the capital that went into building all these plants, E85 remained constantly at a premium to petrol.

What is even more sad is the fact that many of the plants are being shut down because the plan did not factor in the fact that with an economy that is going tits up, less people will drive and even those who drive will not be driving cars that run on E85.

My thought is that going for the tough scientific possibilities should be done gradually and as long-term undertakings instead of getting excited and being way too short-sighted.

More on the failure from the New York Times

The Saudi Oil Minister has It all wrong

Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, said Tuesday evening at an oil industry conference in Houston that a push to develop more renewable fuels might jeopardize investments in conventional fuels.

al-Naimi might have a point, but I don't think that the argument should be as simplistic as he puts it. He has gone ahead and argued that the Western views will hamper their long-term investments in oil and oil infrastructure. I beg to differ.

What al-Naimi and his cronies should be looking at is providing leadership, not hiding behind sand dunes and crying wolf. What the oil industry needs to do is to use it enormous capital (both social and monetary) and show some leadership as so where the business of fuels is going. Instead of b*tching consistently about the leadership of the Western nation, al-Naimi needs to show some leadership and let us know how Saudi Arabia is going to deal with the fuel question.

The same applies to other energy companies. The developed world is drunk on oil and for it to get weaned off this fuel, the energy companies themselves are the ones who are going to have to show some leadership and use their clout to move things to a new direction. I am not expecting a start up to come and and immediately influence things. But if the big energy companies continue slacking and complaining, I will not be surprised if they really run out of business.

Article on al-Naimi.

Google your hair dryer

I hold the view and bare the philosophy that the lack of development in the third world is actually a good thing. Not to be insanely optimistic, but I think that the mistakes of the Western world when it comes to energy, education and infrastructure could actually be reversed on the plain canvas that is the third world.

I am obsessed with the development of a new electricity grid in the US. And now good is at it with PowerMeter. Currently, dishwashers have all this computing power that cannot be exploited, which could be exploited in this way:

- You could communicate with your dishwasher to run a cycle at 2am instead of 2pm. Or you could just check the power prices of the day and tell the dishwasher to run when electricity is at its lowest.

I am fawning over this and perhaps having a technological orgasm, but what I am more enthused by is that with smart grids, we will be able to communicate with our home on how it consumes electricity and this could also enable us to off load our homes from the grid when we least need electricity.

But more relevant is that this could be huge when new grids are being built in the developing world. Just the same way that mobile telephony by-passed landlines, smart grids need to be the new thing in the third world. The connectivity that people have already provides the data platform for this.

So far in my chain: Clean/Renewable Energy + Mobile Telephony + Smart Grid = ?

Foreign Policy, Book Bags and Google

- The new spirit of governance in Washington should definitely engulf the Foreign Relations Committee. I applaud John Kerry and Dick Lugar for taking up environmental policy as a key tenet of foreign policy. Africa already has some of the worst democracies and the worst rates of deforestation.
But the questions is: How do you stop deforestation in a country where the very livelihood of its people depends on forests for lack of a better economic option?

- Growing up, my parents often complained why they had to bother buying books that I would finish on the trip between the bookstore and the house. I have since really come to read most of my books on the computer (it is painful at first, but since I juggle up to 3 books at a time, it is useful) and I just discovered the Netflix of books, Book Swim.

But could the future be towards the Kindle? The reason why I mention the kindle is that it could actually be a solution to the perennial problem of schools in the developing world: Outdated & expensive books plus carrying 30+ books in your book bag everyday to and from school.

The government funds could be used to buy updated curricula and machines. It would actually be neater if the $100 latops went towards this direction.

Correlation does not imply causality. So, climate policy might not necessarily guarantee reduction in emissions... it spurs more clean-tech innovation.

Interesting article from: Environmental Econ

Boxer's Brief

Some criticism from the Wall Street Journal on Senator Boxer's (D-CA) "principles for global warming legislation".

http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/02/03/boxers-brief-california-senator-sketches-global-warming-principles/

League Tables

Certified Emissions Reductions, the project-based offsets traded under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), hit record lows this week, pushed lower by tumbling European Union carbon prices.

Benchmark CERs trading on the European Climate Exchange fell to 9.30 euros a tonne on Wednesday, down 62 percent from an all-time high of 24.38 euros in July 2008. EU Allowances for delivery in Dec. 2009 also set a record, dropping below 10 euros for the first time.

The CDM pipeline still shows the disparity that exists between countries (& contintents) that are involved in CDM. You can find this table from the UN's Risoe Center: Table (MS Excel File)

A Push for Jatropha

Some good news especially now that the feedstock from Jatropha seems to not be as toxic...

http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2009/02/04/deg-to-back-11-jatropha-research-plantations-in-kenya-tanzania-and-uganda/

Californication

It is my thought that it is the Californian lawmakers that are going to bring something as drastic as a climate change bill to Washington.

California already dances on its own flow when it comes to environmental regulation and I am of the thought that some of that push needs to be brought to Washington.

This is encouraging news because Madame Clinton's first trip to China is somewhat heavily bent on climate change.

Kenya & The Carbon Markets

As home to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and also as the home to Prof. Wangari Maathai, it has always been in the back of my mind that Kenya needs to be a leader in Clean Development Mechanisms (CDMs) in Africa.

This has especially been the case because of:

- The 7-folk sisters that provide most of the Hydro power in Kenya;
- The Sondu-Miriu Hydropower Project;
- The Ol-Karia Geothermal Project;
- The sugar factories (Mumias, SONY, Muhoroni, Miwani) that produce enough biodiesel to produce electricity;
- The very existence of the Mau Forest and how preserving the forest as a catchment area could actually draw points in how the downstream product is preserved.

Well, my prayers have been answered by Alice Kaudia.

Power Grid 2.0

The best way to describe this new drive to change America's electrical grid of the 60s and 70s into a modern network that uses microprocessors and software to work efficiently and to connect to renewable energy generation, is by quoting Jesse Berst:


"...the smart grid will “spawn new Googles and Microsofts,” and is “akin to the transcontinental railroad, the phone system, the interstate highway system and the Internet.”

President Obama's plan on it: $100 Billion Credit Line

"My President is Black.."

My version, to you Mr. African President:

My President is Black
My granny's hut too
And I will be damned if my vote is split into two.

Congrats 'Bam!