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.