Comments on: How to Light Up Africa? http://eco-chick.com/2007/09/886/how-to-light-up-africa/ The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous. Mon, 21 May 2012 11:53:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Courtneyhttp://eco-chick.com/2007/09/886/how-to-light-up-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-1388 Courtney Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:35:13 +0000 http://eco-chick.com/?p=886#comment-1388 I don't mean to nitpick, Remy, but I have to disagree on at least one front ... maybe solar in the US is oil company owned (actually, not maybe; it's not a huge number anymore - not since Shell was bought out by Solar World; and though BP's marketing team might have you believe they've got a huge market share, their PV panels were randomly catching on fire and they dropped the ball on fixing these problems so many installers in the US won't use their panels anymore)... but in the rest of the world, where many of these solar companies are located, the manufacturers and installers aren't owned by oil companies. Past technology was derived from oil money but that's just not the case anymore. The two largest PV manufacturers in Germany (billion Euro industries) are Q-Cells and Solar World, both independent. And utilities don't have a stranglehold on PV - the silicon industry and political processes do. Until governments subsidize the added costs of renewable energies and stop subsidizing the construction of nuclear power plants (the US lists nuclear as renewable, unfortunately), PV remains a world away... I don’t mean to nitpick, Remy, but I have to disagree on at least one front … maybe solar in the US is oil company owned (actually, not maybe; it’s not a huge number anymore – not since Shell was bought out by Solar World; and though BP’s marketing team might have you believe they’ve got a huge market share, their PV panels were randomly catching on fire and they dropped the ball on fixing these problems so many installers in the US won’t use their panels anymore)… but in the rest of the world, where many of these solar companies are located, the manufacturers and installers aren’t owned by oil companies. Past technology was derived from oil money but that’s just not the case anymore. The two largest PV manufacturers in Germany (billion Euro industries) are Q-Cells and Solar World, both independent. And utilities don’t have a stranglehold on PV – the silicon industry and political processes do. Until governments subsidize the added costs of renewable energies and stop subsidizing the construction of nuclear power plants (the US lists nuclear as renewable, unfortunately), PV remains a world away…

]]> By: RemyChttp://eco-chick.com/2007/09/886/how-to-light-up-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-1387 RemyC Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:04:26 +0000 http://eco-chick.com/?p=886#comment-1387 There's one thing you can't argue about, it's the need for reading light... PVs and LEDs go together... they both function at peak in DC mode... New PV nano-chemistries are making them cheaper, much more C2C kinder in manufacture... Sadly, most PV companies are owned by oil companies, and don't share the green life style changes that also needs to take place with the use of renewables. Energy independence is also necessary for a paradigm shift taking place. Clean water, refrigeration... but yes, I really appreciate the story about the sabotaging the pump. New Urbanism, where city centers are in fact kinder to the eco-system, allowing vast tracks of land to return to their natural state, restoing forests on a grand scale. Saving Africa is necessary to keep out oil, coal and nuclear... as more and more solar industries loosen the stranglehold oil and utilities have on them, regions in ways of development stand a chance of putting their best green foot forward. There’s one thing you can’t argue about, it’s the need for reading light… PVs and LEDs go together… they both function at peak in DC mode… New PV nano-chemistries are making them cheaper, much more C2C kinder in manufacture… Sadly, most PV companies are owned by oil companies, and don’t share the green life style changes that also needs to take place with the use of renewables. Energy independence is also necessary for a paradigm shift taking place. Clean water, refrigeration… but yes, I really appreciate the story about the sabotaging the pump. New Urbanism, where city centers are in fact kinder to the eco-system, allowing vast tracks of land to return to their natural state, restoing forests on a grand scale. Saving Africa is necessary to keep out oil, coal and nuclear… as more and more solar industries loosen the stranglehold oil and utilities have on them, regions in ways of development stand a chance of putting their best green foot forward.

]]> By: Courtneyhttp://eco-chick.com/2007/09/886/how-to-light-up-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-1386 Courtney Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:36:02 +0000 http://eco-chick.com/?p=886#comment-1386 I'm a huge fan of solar power (I have to be) - and find it preferable to hydropower - but I do think the issue of utilizing solar energy has to be considered in greater depth than this. It's not necessarily a cost factor that keeps many from acquiring solar panels; rather it's a cultural dilemma. At the PV Conference last year, many of the panel manufacturing companies highlighted their "developing world" projects, which had me really excited until they showed pictures of that electricity in use ... televisions and microwaves are not my idea of progressive necessities. I have to say, I agree with Chris's last comment, even if following that philosophy means that all the off-grid projects my husband's working on don't come to fruition.In one instance that sounded like a beautiful idea because of its functional purpose, where the panels were used to run a well pump to keep women from walking 3 miles a day to get water from a dirty river, the villagers sabotaged the pump because it took away from their gossip hour and they liked that time to walk there and back with their friends. Frankly, I think it's time for us to stop trying to "Save Africa" by introducing Western ways and start collaborating to learn from them (I mean, seriously, without all that light pollution imagine the galaxies you could see each night... and how much energy we'd save) I’m a huge fan of solar power (I have to be) – and find it preferable to hydropower – but I do think the issue of utilizing solar energy has to be considered in greater depth than this. It’s not necessarily a cost factor that keeps many from acquiring solar panels; rather it’s a cultural dilemma. At the PV Conference last year, many of the panel manufacturing companies highlighted their “developing world” projects, which had me really excited until they showed pictures of that electricity in use … televisions and microwaves are not my idea of progressive necessities. I have to say, I agree with Chris’s last comment, even if following that philosophy means that all the off-grid projects my husband’s working on don’t come to fruition.

In one instance that sounded like a beautiful idea because of its functional purpose, where the panels were used to run a well pump to keep women from walking 3 miles a day to get water from a dirty river, the villagers sabotaged the pump because it took away from their gossip hour and they liked that time to walk there and back with their friends. Frankly, I think it’s time for us to stop trying to “Save Africa” by introducing Western ways and start collaborating to learn from them (I mean, seriously, without all that light pollution imagine the galaxies you could see each night… and how much energy we’d save)

]]> By: chrishttp://eco-chick.com/2007/09/886/how-to-light-up-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-1385 chris Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:19:53 +0000 http://eco-chick.com/?p=886#comment-1385 Do we really want to export our sleep-deprived, overworked, pseudo-productive mass-consumerized lifestyle in the name of green progress? Do we really want to export our sleep-deprived, overworked, pseudo-productive mass-consumerized lifestyle in the name of green progress?

]]> By: Joshua Wiesehttp://eco-chick.com/2007/09/886/how-to-light-up-africa/comment-page-1/#comment-1384 Joshua Wiese Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:52:33 +0000 http://eco-chick.com/?p=886#comment-1384 Right on Starre (and RemyC), thanks for the update.While I agree that the prospect of more big hydro projects is scary at best, I'm still stoked and optimistic about the impacts of this initiative. I just read a compelling piece by Ethan Zuckerman in the Boston Globe, which painted a better picture of how energy in Africa could be revolutionized in much the same way as phone communication there (and in fact, how they could be directly linked). Its well worth a read:http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/08/05/building_big_starting_small/Also worth checking out, is a recent TED talk by Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda on aid to Africa. His talk seemed to light some fires in the audience, fueling the debate over the merits and impacts of Western Aid Programs. I wonder what he would think of this particular initiative.http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/159 Right on Starre (and RemyC), thanks for the update.

While I agree that the prospect of more big hydro projects is scary at best, I’m still stoked and optimistic about the impacts of this initiative. I just read a compelling piece by Ethan Zuckerman in the Boston Globe, which painted a better picture of how energy in Africa could be revolutionized in much the same way as phone communication there (and in fact, how they could be directly linked). Its well worth a read:

http://www.boston.com/news/edu.....ing_small/

Also worth checking out, is a recent TED talk by Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda on aid to Africa. His talk seemed to light some fires in the audience, fueling the debate over the merits and impacts of Western Aid Programs. I wonder what he would think of this particular initiative.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/159

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