Posts Tagged by third world
Biomass-to-Energy: Renewable Energy in Tanzania
| July 20, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Biomass |
Ever hear of a “Croton?” You know, the oil-bearing tree, indigenous to Tanzania? How familiar are you with babassu?
Don’t be ashamed if you’ve never heard of either. Besides the two people who brought me business plans that promote biomass-to-energy projects using the fruits of these two exotic trees, I’ve yet to run into a single person who’s ever heard of either one.
The former bears nuts about the size of walnuts; the latter, found primarily in another but equally wild part of the world (northeastern Brazil), provides something akin to a small coconut. Harvesting neither affects the world food supply, and both have characteristics that make them very attractive for biomass feedstock. Suffice it to say that 2GreenEnergy is a great place to work if you want to learn about life forms that you would have been extremely unlikely to come across in any other way.
More to the point, the people forwarding these two business plans are both fantastic human beings — engaged on incredible missions. Want a great experience? Talk to Joe Scali of African Biofuels and ask him about his plans for the Croton — actually Croton megalocarpus (locally called muhihi). This tree grows robustly in semi-arid climates on marginal lands, produces 25-50 kg seeds annually with 32% oil content. In a few minutes, you’ll get a background on a magnificent project — one that actually will, I’m completely convinced, provide a positive (if perhaps a bit longer-term than some) return on investors’ money. And you’ll be more than a little bit tuned into the what’s happening in Tanzania with respect to renewable energy.
The people of Third World countries contribute far less per capita to the production of greenhouse gases and other pollutants than those in developed nations. But they contribute far more per Watt-hour of energy consumed, since their access to energy tends to be rather low-tech, e.g., cooking over open wood fires.
So, for anyone wishing to make a difference, let me ask you, does it make more sense to improve the MPG rating of the cars we Americans drive a few percent, or eliminate 90+% of noxious emissions that come from the way of life of an equal number of Africans? If you’re interested, go to the African Biofuels website, and talk to Joe. Tell him Craig sent you.
Renewable Energy in the Third World
| July 27, 2009 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
Sadly, only a few of us who grow up in our western civilization really consider an alternative to becoming a part of the traditional economic machine. While we try to choose a career path about which we feel a certain spark—a spark that may come from helping others—only a few of us make enormous sacrifices and take on lives of pure compassion.
For a moment, I’d like you to reflect on the story of Steven Bloomstein and his friend Bob Albert who met as classmates at Harvard in the late 1960s. Like all products of top universities, the boys realized they had been groomed to become legislators, doctors, captains of industry, etc.—but when they recognized that none of these pursuits held any real attraction, they decided to go in another direction altogether.
After graduation they bought an abandoned hacienda in a remote part of Sucre, a state in the eastern part of Venezuela—a 3½-hour hike from the nearest road. They built an organic farm, and hired on the local campesinos (rural slash-and-burn subsistence farmers) who were uniformly illiterate, unspeakably poor, and previously unaware of sustainable agriculture practices.
In 1995, Steven and Bob registered a Massachusetts-based non-profit organization that they named The Turimiquire Foundation, after the nearby mountain range, and began to formalize the delivery of a variety of services in education, medical care, and reproductive counseling. Along with dozens of devoted volunteers, including Steven’s younger brother Willie, who runs the administrative operations in the U.S., they’ve dedicated themselves to helping tens of thousands of poorest of the poor to lead healthier, happier lives.
From the standpoint of renewable energy and environmental stewardship, the relevance is obvious: slash and burn, as the name implies, is horribly debilitating to the environment. Not only does it reduce the amount of vegetation that consumes CO2 and produces oxygen, but it pumps CO2 and other far more noxious chemicals into the atmosphere. Thus the presence of Turimiquire has been a considerable boon to the world in which we live in a great number of ways.
To me, the story of Turimiquire serves as a reminder that there are hundreds of different equally valid ways of life. We’re not here forever, and we shouldn’t waste our time foolishly conforming to other people’s ideas of success and meaning.
Please visit http://www.turimiquire.org/. I know you’ll be as impressed as I am by this story of passion and beauty. Unfortunately, the meager donations that my wife and I have been able to make over the past six or so years haven’t been terribly meaningful, but we’re proud to be supporters nonetheless.
PS: Here’s an infographic that depicts the history of renewable energy at a glance.
