Lighting Up the Darkness in Rural Africa

As a reporter, I am subject to all manner of hyperbole from corporate executives wishing to put their companies in the best possible light. Which is why I figuratively rolled my eyes when Gerard Kleisterlee, the chairman of the Dutch company, Philips, told me last summer that their work in LED lighting would “change the world.”

Lower power consumption, longer life, yes. But change the world in the grand sense? Please.

Based on a project now being introduced in Ghana, Mr. Kleisterlee may be right.
Lighting Africa

Philips has partnered with KITE, a not-for-profit Ghanaian organization, to bring artificial light to villages that have no electricity.

According to Harriette Amissah-Arthur, KITE’s director, only 19 percent of rural areas have electricity. The rest use foul-smelling kerosene lamps to light their huts, which pollute, provide little light and are major fire hazards. In addition, the low light levels makes it difficult to see scorpions and snakes that make their way into people’s homes at night.

As in any non-electrified society, life is defined by the sun; little is accomplished once it sets around 6 p.m. she said on the telephone from her office in Accra. And with children helping out withchores during daytime, it leaves little chance for them to study.

Philips developed three different products for the villagers: a solar-powered lantern, a reading light and a wind-up flashlight. The products work because they all use LEDs; their low power consumption means that the lantern charged during the day will light for seven hours.

The flashlight’s bulb will for all practical purposes never burn out, and the reading light’s lower power consumption dramatically reduces the need to change batteries.

The products are costly — at $50 for the lantern, that represents two months’ salary for many people. But Ms. Amissah-Arthur hopes to get tax relief from the government, which could cut the price by 40 percent.

KITE is not the only organization attempting to bring light to Africa. Lighting Africa, a World Bank initiative, is also working to bring low-cost illumination to the continent.

There is no doubt, according to Ms. Amissah-Arthur that the Philips initiative is changing peoples’ lives. “People can now do things in the evening,” she said. “If you could only see the joy these products bring the villagers. You look at their faces; you have to see it to believe it.”

Source - New York Times

Miliband 'not in control of 80% of domestic energy-saving target'

Minister has no say over building regulations and environment-friendly goods that form bulk of meeting obligations, warns public accounts committee.

Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, has no direct control of 80% of the savings needed to meet challenging European Union demands for huge cuts in household energy consumption by 2020, a report by MPs says today.

It warns that the bulk of savings will need to come from the enforcement of building regulations and obligations on electrical, heating and building suppliers to provide energy-efficient goods. None of this is under direct ministerial control, yet the supply and regulation of energy-efficient materials and goods will account for the vast majority of savings to meet the 2020 target of a 36% cut in household consumption.

According to the report, hardly any checks are made to see if new homes meet building regulation standards and very little work has been done to see if installed insulation does not leak heat or whether homes are poorly constructed.

The report says consumers are also confused by the wide variety of energy advice they receive from government departments and MPs called on ministers to simplify the system.

Although energy consumption by households has started to fall, it is still 8% higher than it was in 1990 and is well below Dutch and Swedish levels.

Edward Leigh, the chairman of the public accounts committee, said: "The seemingly good news that household energy consumption fell between 2004 and 2007 is confounded by two sobering facts. One is that households in 2007 were still using 8% more energy than in 1990. The second is that household energy use will continue to rise, a function of the need for extra housing, rising expectations about how warm dwellings should be and an ever-rising use of electrical appliances.

"The hardest thing will be to persuade people to stop paying lip service to concerns about climate change, to change their behaviour and to enable them to take real steps, based on reliable advice, to make their homes much more energy-efficient."

Source - The Guardian