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Silicon Valley and Global Energy Poverty

Silicon Valley & Global Energy Poverty
Over one billion people around the world do not have reliable access to electricity. Furthermore, 2.6 billion people are reliant upon biomass to cook, which causes harmful indoor pollution. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately four million people die each year due to habitual inhalation from these toxins.

The Silicon Valley is at the apex of technological achievement and is inhabited by some of the brightest and most creative minds on the planet. There has been a mounting international appeal to Silicon Valley to use their intellectual tech brilliance for philanthropic efforts.

There has been criticism for focusing on solutions to micro problems that intend to only service the individual, as opposed to global humanitarian issues. Responsibility, however, cannot rest solely with the entrepreneurs themselves. Widespread global issues do not always necessarily lend themselves to the venture capitalist system.

Tech entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa notes this struggle: “Investors believe that the quickest hits come from building apps or games that go viral, or from creating websites that automate business processes. This was surely the case in the social-media era, when even children who had not completed their college education could write apps. But we’ve built enough messaging and photo-sharing apps, and have bigger opportunities now. It is possible for the young and the old to solve real problems, to great effect.”

Continents like Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, have limited access to electricity and are being viewed as a possible new frontier for tech consumption. In some parts of the continent, Africans walk miles to the nearest power grid just for a cell phone charger. Even then, because of the demand, it can take hours and it is expensive. For this reason, solar energy has recently seen a boom in usage particularly by telecom companies being funded by tech investors. The rationale is that broadening electrical access across the continent will hopefully cause a surge in mobile phone usage.

Tesla has created a Powerwall home storage 10kwh battery that is capable of powering 1,000 watts of current for 10 hours. In comparison, the U.S. Department of Energy estimates the average American household uses 1,200 watts, 24 hours per day. The battery is capable of recharging via solar or wind energy. The only downside is that the battery unit costs $4,000, which does not include installation. The average per capita income in Sub-Saharan Africa is well below $3,000, making the unit well out of most price ranges.

Nonetheless, the Powerwall home storage stands as a promising, albeit a rudimentary example of Silicon Valley creativity and ingenuity being applied for a global purpose.

– The Borgen Project

Sources: National Geographic, Huffington Post, Wadhwa, Forbes
Photo: Silicon Beat

Wind Power in Africa

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Construction has begun on the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, which will become Africa’s largest wind power farm. It is estimated to be finished by 2017 and the farm will produce a fifth of Kenya’s total energy. Additionally, Kenya Power has signed a contract to purchase energy from the farm for the next 20 years. The 40,000-acre farm has 365 turbines and will take advantage of a low-level jet stream known as the “Turkana Corridor Winds,” which blow year round.

Regarding the powerful wind speeds and the energy potential, Carlo Van Wageningen, director of the Lake Turkana Wind Project, states, “On average, we obtain 11.8 metres per second. Now, if you make a comparison with onshore wind farms in Europe, you’re looking at a good wind site being about 7.5 to 8 metres a second at best.”

Investors from the European Union have financed the USD $690 million project with the African Development Bank. The program is a milestone in a broader global effort to maximize Africa’s wind power production. Wind power has taken off already in many African countries, such as Morocco, Sudan and South Africa. More than two thirds of Africa’s total population does not have access to electricity. These efforts aim to provide universal access for impoverished Africans living in both urban and rural areas.

In January, a transmission line failure caused a power outage that left over half the country without electricity for four hours. It is absolutely necessary for a country of 4 million people to have a more reliable and accessible source of energy. While power interruptions are becoming increasingly less common, these blackouts can have severe implications for families living in poverty.

The wind farm’s completion is coming at a crucial time for the country. Approximately 80,000 South Sudanese have taken refuge in Kenya to escape their civil war. This massive migration has greatly increased the need for electricity, both for native Kenyans and for refugee camps. Less than 25 percent of Kenyans have access to electricity, but it is estimated that the farm’s energy will provide the majority of the population with access to electricity.

Additionally, the farm will provide temporary construction work for almost 2,500 Kenyans and will employ 200 full-time upon completion.

The outlook for the future is quite promising as well. Eight African countries have the most wind energy potential among developing world nations. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that sub-Saharan Africa alone could produce twice the energy that Africa as a continent currently consumes.

The IEA estimates that by 2040, wind power capacity in sub-Saharan Africa will increase by 12 gigawatts. There are one billion watts per gigawatt and a single LED light bulb requires approximately 15 watts. For a continent that is so severely energy-deprived, a seemingly basic amenity like a light bulb can make a monumental impact.

– The Borgen Project

Sources: QZ, AFKInsider, CNBC
Photo: Flickr

Mobile Technology to Provide Energy in Africa

Mobile Technology to Provide Energy in AfricaKenya’s national energy grid reaches less than 20 percent of the country’s population, leaving millions of people in remote locations without access to energy in Africa. Because of this, many turn to alternatives sources of energy that are much more expensive and harmful to the environment, such as kerosene and diesel.

Developers have strived to solve this problem with solar micro-grid technology. However, in remote areas, it is difficult to keep a system working reliably and keep customers paying regularly. Recognizing Kenya’s utilization of mobile technology, the founders of SteamaCo have created technology that eliminates the necessity for constant outside intervention. SteamaCo’s development allows remote-management capabilities of monitoring, control, and payments for micro-grid owners via mobile technology.

This technology allows micro-grid operators to monitor grid performance via SMS updates on their cell phones and allows customers to manage their payments over mobile payment plans. Over 1,000 households and businesses currently depend on this technology, which is used at 25 sites in East Africa. The company’s software, Steama, facilitates 100 mobile payments and 4,000 messages regarding data per day.

While the company initially focused on the production and installation of renewable energy systems, it strayed to micro-grids in order to increase electricity access on a broader scale. Micro-grid owners buy the hardware and then SteamaCo licenses them the software on a monthly basis.

The company’s hardware switches on and off services remotely, while the operators can watch and control the system remotely in real-time using the cloud software. Steama processes monitoring information and payment notifications from mobile-money providers, updating the hardware accordingly when payments are made.

The software allows operators to view their micro-grids and extract data from the Steama dashboard, which provides them several options to observe and analyze system performance. Steama sends data regarding individual power usage, overall system performance and individual payments. It can also be programmed to send custom alerts. SteamaCo sends data via SMS messages because it is known to be one of the most reliable forms of communication off the grid.

These features allow micro-grids to function much more efficiently. The technology allows micro-grid owners to troubleshoot problems before they grow too serious, therefore saving companies time and money. It also helps them better analyze system capacity to see how they can expand the services they provide.

The technology provides consumers a cheap and reliable energy alternative to diesel, kerosene, and other popular systems. While in-home solar energy platforms are available to provide lighting and charge mobile phones in many locations, it is too expensive for most individual users to manage these off-grid systems. SteamaCo provides flexibility for customers who can prepay using mobile money programs in small amounts. The software also provides free balance checks and reminders when credit is low, all via SMS.

Payment depends on the micro-grid owner, but most customers pay a connection fee of approximately 10 U.S. dollars and then pay between two to four U.S. dollars per kWh used. By enabling customers to provide prepayments for small increments of power using mobile money, SteamaCo is opening up many possibilities for poor people in remote locations.

Along with increasing household convenience, increased access to energy in Africa also opens up many new business opportunities in remote areas. The technology allows high-power equipment to be used, including music systems, televisions, irons, and hair-dryers. The increased access to power has enabled local entrepreneurs to open up hair salons, electrical repair shops, and night clubs, all boosting the economy.

Not only does this technology bring more reliable energy to current users in Africa, but this reliability also provides a solution to a large issue seen by many potential investors in micro-grid technology. Because of this, Ashden International awarded SteamCo the Ashden International Gold and Business Innovation Awards for the company’s success in building technology that helps investment in micro-grids, therefore expanding the potential reach of electricity access significantly.

“SteamaCo’s innovative product is helping to take energy access in off-grid rural areas to the next level,” the Ashden judging panel stated. “By developing hardware and cloud-based software to remotely monitor energy use and payments, it has overcome one of the key barriers to making micro-grids investable.”

In its two years of installing these systems, SteamaCo has partnered with several micro-grid investors to increase grid efficiency. The company designed the hardware to be used with various types of technology, so several SteamaCo management systems are used in many off-grid areas. The company is looking to expand its opportunities in other remote areas to increase its reach and impact.

– Arin Kerstein

Sources: Ashden, Global Energy Network Institute, The Guardian, Reuters, SteamaCo
Photo:The Sunday Times

World Bank Delivers Electricity to Rural Zambia

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In rural Zambia, schools have no access to electricity and work is often done in dimly lit rooms. This is a story lived out by thousands of teachers in the country, including Josephine Munkombwe, the head teacher at a rural primary school in Naluja village.

Munkombwe has taught in darkness for over 15 years, often waking up with painful red eyes due to the emissions caused from the paraffin and diesel lanterns made from old tin cans. Consequently, she has developed poor eyesight.

The life of Munkombwe and her pupils has been drastically changed with the introduction of the $1.5 million World Bank-funded project working to bring electricity to Najula.

The government of Zambia has partnered with the World Bank’s Increased Access to Electricity Services (IAES) project to electrify areas across rural Zambia that currently have no access to the national grid. The project will be delivering solar power and other alternative energy sources to four rural areas in three provinces including Kalomo 1 and 2, Lukulu, and Isoka provinces.

At the completion of the project, 23,000 households and 88 public facilities will have access to electricity. 202 public streetlights will also be lit, as well as 367 staff houses belonging to schools, health centers, and other public facilities.

This project is a beacon of hope to a country in which a mere 3 percent of people have access to electricity.

Munkombwe noted, “When the equipment arrived and our village was transformed from darkness to light, our whole community was energized.”

The project has greatly motivated both teachers and students, causing some to enroll in long distance education to further their studies now that they can read at night.

Naruja is the first of many villages to celebrate the arrival of electricity.

Secretary for the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water, Charity Mwansa, recently toured the new solar facilities and exclaimed excitedly, “This is no doubt a winning ticket in development.”

– Mollie O’Brien

Sources: World Bank, Lusaka Times
Photo: Flickr via photopin CC

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Bringing Electricity to Rural Pakistan

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Residents of the Upper Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan have been walking in the dark for as long as they can remember. However, that is beginning to change, starting with the installation of a micro-hydropower station that will bring electricity to the region.

Electricity Benefits the Economy

The introduction of electricity in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Malakand Division has provided residents with benefits that most people take for granted. They can now walk safely at night without worrying about tumbling off steep paths. The 80-kilowatt power plant also allows residents in the region to continue working after sundown. A town elder, Zareen Gujar, said, “We in Serai have never seen any development activity since this country came into being, as we had no roads, no middle school or high school, not even a dispensary. We have been living a life of deprivation.”

Resources from Pakistan 

The power plant cost $105,000, of which about $9,000 was raised locally. It provides electricity to about 700 households. Micro-hydropower stations require less water than conventional hydropower stations, and can produce five to 100 kilowatts. It is estimated that 30% or more Pakistanis have no electricity, and those who do are subject to frequent blackouts. In a country with a severe energy crisis, the people must turn to their natural resources. The massive water potential in the Malakand Division, when used properly, can help alleviate energy problems in the area.

Living in Multidimensional Poverty

As many as 58.7 million people in Pakistan live in multidimensional poverty, including 46% of the rural population. The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) measures poverty on five dimensions: education, health, water supply and sanitation, household assets and satisfaction to service delivery. In the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 33% of households live under the poverty line.

Developments like the micro-hydropower station help households attain access to energy, and therefore allow adults to work more efficiently in the evening and children to study into the night. Similar power plants are in the works for the area, a step that could lead to solving Pakistan’s energy crisis.

– Haley Sklut

Photo: Maati
Sources: Tribune, United Press International

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Akon Lighting Africa Project

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Every day, 600 million Africans live in the dark with no access to electricity, which is making it difficult for students to read, clinics to properly store vaccines and businesses to operate outside of natural light hours.

The energy crisis in Africa, particularly in the Sub-Saharan countries, leaves many people in poverty. In a place where work stops when the sun goes down, it is hard to advance in the workplace, which is making employment opportunities scarce. And, when power is available, it is often unreliable and can cause power outages.

Senegalese pop-star Akon, in partnership with Give1 Project and Africa Development Solutions Global Corporation, aims to give electricity to one million households in nine West and Central African countries by the end of 2014.

The Akon Lighting Africa project involves installing solar equipment in rural households in Senegal, Mali, Guinea Conakry, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo and the Ivory Coast.

Originally from Senegal, Akon, whose real name is Aliaune Badera Thiam, is on tour of the beneficiary countries to meet with presidents and leaders.

“We wanted to focus the project on rural areas because we often forget that our parents in these remote areas need electricity,” Akon was quoted saying after meeting Burkinabe President Blaise Campore.

The project also aims to improve education quality and sustainable infrastructure. Improved electricity would lengthen hours of education, allowing students the opportunity to succeed.

Akon was born in St. Louis to two musician parents; he spent much of his childhood in Senegal. Despite living in the United States, Akon keeps his homeland in the forefront of his business ventures.

He started a charity in Africa that aims to empower youth by promoting health and education. The Konfidence Foundation concentrates its efforts in Senegal and West Africa, but Akon hopes the foundation will serve as an international platform to empower individuals, communities and nations.

Akon Lighting Africa is the pop star’s most recent project that aims to help Sub-Saharan African countries become self-sufficient. The sustainable energy project has a mission to help the infrastructure, education and economy of the beneficiary countries.

– Haley Sklut

Sources:  Africa Review, World Bank, Konfidence
Photo: Trace

Poverty Vortex

Poverty Vortex
If you live in the United States or have been paying any attention to global news over the past week, you have probably heard a lot of discussion and speculation about the icy weather phenomenon that meteorologists are calling the “polar vortex.”

According to Mark Fischetti of Scientific American, the polar vortex is a wind pattern that circles around the Arctic, essentially keeping cooler air flowing North rather than South. The icy temperatures that are being felt all over the United States are a result of this polar vortex shifting South and taking icy gusts along with it.

Meteorologists all over the country called the icy conditions “life-threatening” and warned Americans to stay inside and stay bundled. Unfortunately, several cities experienced widespread electricity outages and frozen pipelines, causing schools to close and many people to temporarily evacuate their homes.

It is often during times like these when it is important for us to think to ourselves: what about those who live like this every single day?

Icy temperatures aside, a similar panoptic pull and tug of the polar vortex can be compared to the sweeping destruction of extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is not isolated within one particular arena of life rather it affects each and every facet of daily life for almost 1.2 billion people.

Although many citizens of developed countries are aware that extreme poverty exists, it often takes a drastic event like the polar vortex to happen in our own lives before we stop and consider how it must be like to never have basic daily needs met.

Consider these statistics:

  • Approximately 190 million Americans felt the effects of the polar vortex.
  • 1.22 billion people felt the effects of extreme poverty in 2010.
  • 40,000 people in Indiana suffered through an electricity outage during the polar vortex.
  • 589 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa do not have reliable access to electricity.

The dictionary defines “vortex” in several ways. One of these definitions states “something regarded as drawing into its powerful current everything that surrounds it.”

While America quickly learned that the polar vortex did indeed draw everything into its powerful current, the “poverty vortex” in the developing world functions in a similar manner.

Electricity is a great example of this. While 589 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have electricity, this does not mean that it only affects the energy sector within a given country. Rather, a lack of reliable access to electricity affects health care standards and educational accessibility. The cyclical nature of extreme poverty is its own poverty vortex.

However, just as icy temperatures began to subside after a few days and most of America started functioning normally again, the same relief is possible for those in the developing world by breaking the poverty vortex.

By drawing upon our own struggles as a chance to learn more about how people in the developing world live on a daily basis, we can begin to understand how and why the cycle of poverty must be broken. Pick up your phone today and call your members of Congress: tell them that the poverty vortex exists and must be broken.

– Brandi Geurkink

Sources: RT USA, Scientific American Blog Network, The Clarion-Ledger, The World Bank, The Dictionary
Photo: International Business Times

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Empower Playgrounds Harnesses the Power of Play

empower_playgrounds_ghana
With the tagline­, “Lighting the world with recess,” U.S.-based nonprofit Empower Playgrounds has developed electricity-generating playground equipment that channels the unbridled liveliness of children in rural communities. So far, their merry-go-round and accompanying science kits have been brought to sixteen schools in Ghana.

Empower Playgrounds was founded in 2007 by ExxonMobil Research and Engineering’s former Vice President of Engineering, Ben Markham, and developed in partnership by Brigham Young University’s (BYU) engineering department. The team at BYU worked to design Empower Playgrounds’ merry-go-round so that the equipment captures the kinetic energy of the kids playing on it. This energy is then stored in a car battery that recharges several dozen portable LED lanterns. These lanterns were originally camping-grade models, but in 2009 Energizer became a sponsor of Empower Playgrounds and provided the organization with specifically designed LED lights. These new lights have a shelf life of five years and provide the equivalent of a 25-watt light bulb that lasts for over 40 hours.

Now, what is the big deal about these lights? Why is this technology so valuable?

Ghana’s location just above the equator does well to explain this need. Its location causes the country to experience around 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness each day. This means that Ghanaians are forced to spend around half their lives in the darkness. This affects the country’s young people in particular, because they are usually part of the daily agricultural work force while also trying to attend school. With a limited amount of daylight, young people are often forced to sacrifice their studies to help on the family farm.

Empower Playgrounds is providing these young people with the light they need to carry out their schoolwork after the day turns dark. The children at each school are divided by neighborhood into “lantern groups,” where they can study at night around the same lantern.

In addition to providing a valuable source of light, Empower Playgrounds’ equipment serves as a practical science lab, through which teachers can demonstrate concepts in mechanics, physics, and energy transfer. In collaboration with science equipment manufacturer Loose in the Lab, Empower Playgrounds has developed a science kit and lesson plans to teach these concepts using demonstrations on the merry-go-round.

Through these practical lessons and the provision of high-quality lanterns, children in Ghana have become more excited about going to school and helping to solve the electricity shortages in many rural areas of Ghana.

– Tara Young

Sources: Empower Playgrounds, Fast Company, Clean Technica, Revolve Magazine
Photo: Treehugger

Electricity In the World, Getting Light to the Poor

Electricity Developing World Helping Poor People
Most people think of food, medicine, and clean drinking water when posed with questions about how to help the poor. But does electricity ever come to mind as a primary tool to reduce poverty? If not, it most definitely should.

Approximately 1.3 billion people are currently without electricity in the world. Such a staggering number seems so hard to believe considering that electricity is always a flick away from those in the U.S. Without the proper access to energy, people are left with inadequate, and often harmful cooking techniques, poor education and health facilities, and narrow opportunities for work and business. The lack of such elements so vital to a healthy life further exacerbates and perpetuates poverty.

More than 3 billion people around the world rely on insufficient cooking fuels to cook meals because they lack access to energy. Most use a variety of harmful solids to fuel their cooking needs, some of which include animal excrement, agricultural residues, and wood. These fuels are also used to provide warmth and lighting, making them even more pervasive and harmful to the individuals using them.

Providing worldwide electricity by the year 2030 requires an estimated $641 billion. There are a number of programs and organizations working toward ending the energy deficit across the globe. Underdeveloped countries in places like Africa and South Asia, as well as low-income urban areas, need modern energy. This need will only continue to grow as urban areas experience influx in the years to come.

ABB (Power and Productivity for a Better World) is a globally active leader that launched an Access to Electricity program in 1999. With India and Tanzania as its focus, ABB has worked with the local governments of those countries to create a system where power can be distributed. Even the slightest access to power can make a world of difference for the local households and farms in these rural areas. ABB has seen tremendous improvements arising from these projects, including increased productivity, higher income, more efficient medical service delivery, and more time for children to study.

Recognizing that extreme poverty cannot end without supplying those in need with modern energy access has come further into the forefront of the U.S. political agenda. During this last summer President Obama announced the Power Africa Initiative. This initiative would essentially focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, aiming to double the area’s access to electricity by strengthening its power in gas and oil. The Power Africa Initiative would provide at least 20 million households and businesses with increased access to electricity.

A mere 15 percent of the population in Africa currently has access to electricity. The Power Africa bill would radically aid a large portion of the continent, and undoubtedly serve as a mile-marker in the fight to end poverty. The initiative needs support both nationally and internationally. Continual political support is key to seeing the mission of the Power Africa Initiative through to completion, thus moving the world that much closer to ending extreme poverty.

– Chante Owens

Sources: Practical Action, The Guardian, One
Photo: Sustainable World Coalition

Biogas Program has Major Benefits for Ugandans

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Heifer International’s Uganda Domestic Biogas Program has drastically changed the lives of many Ugandans. The instillation of the biogas units (12,000 over five years) is not only bringing jobs, revenue, and efficiency to the people of Uganda, it also cutting down on pollution.

The biogas program works with readily available resources to provide Ugandans with essentials to improve quality of life. The units convert animal manure into clean and cheaper energy. This energy can be used as electricity for lighting and cooking. Not only is this a cleaner option than using kerosene lamps and burning charcoal and wood, it is also much cheaper. Households are now able to save the money they would have spent on firewood and charcoal, as well as healthcare expenses they may have been forced to pay from contracting illnesses related to breathing in unclean air.

This program teaches masonry skills and provides jobs to men and women. These masonry skills are transferrable to future jobs and have even attracted many young people. The energy has also afforded new business options for Ugandans small business owners.

The biogas program also benefits environment as it stops deforestation by reducing the need for wood and charcoal. It also cuts down on harmful burning fumes. Bio-slurry, which is a byproduct of the process, can also be uses as a fertilizer as it is much cheaper and more effective than other options on the market. Bio-slurry is organic and has resulted in higher crop yields and better-enriched soil than can continue producing crops in future years. Some households have even been able to sell excess bio-slurry to neighbors and colleagues to gain extra income.

Uganda is one of six African countries in the Africa Biogas Partnership Program (ABPP). Including Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Uganda, and Senegal, the ABPP’s goal is to fund 70,000 biogas units across these countries by the end of 2013 to bring much-needed revenue to people.

– Sarah C. Morris 

Sources: Tanzanian Domestic Biogas Programme, Electrify Africa Act
Photo: The Global Journal