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.