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dam-l Renewable energy report/LS
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/oct99/1999L-10-28-01.html
Renewable Energy Promises to Supply Rural Needs
LONDON, England, October 28, 1999 (ENS) - There
is a clear link between energy poverty, hunger and
ill-health for nearly one in every three people
on Earth, says a new report by the World Energy Council (WEC) and
the United Nations' Food & Agricultural
Organization.
"The majority of these two billion people live
in the rural areas of developing countries, so the publication of this
report marks an important step for us and sets a
challenging agenda," says WEC secretary general Gerald Doucet.
"We cannot alleviate hunger without solving
issues of energy supply and use."
The report examines a number of options for the
generation of electricity, including biomass, wind, photovoltaic,
solar thermal, micro-hydro, hybrid systems and
energy storage.
The key to solving the massive energy problems
of people in the rural areas of developing countries without access
to commercial sources of electricity is to
change the mindset of developed nations, the report concludes.
Prepared by a
steering committee drawn from seven countries and four
international organisations, the report advises that the people who will
use
the
power should play an influential role in the planning process. The
needs of rural residents must be considered when planning and
implementing new power projects, to ensure that investments are not
squandered.
Citing the attention given recently to the
importance of poverty reduction by the International Monetary Fund and
the United Nations, chairman of the steering
committee, José Malhães da Silva of Brazil, said, "It is vital for world
stability that globalisation not leave the
poorest behind. That risk is particularly acute for the rural poor in
developing countries."
Rural home in the Brazilian state of
Pernambuco supplied with solar power
More than half the world's population lives in
rural areas
using wood, dung and crop waste for fuel. "This
combination barely fulfils the energy
requirements of the
basic human needs of nutrition, warmth and light, let
alone the possibility to harness energy for
productive uses
which might begin to permit escape from the cycle of
poverty," the report points out.
It is estimated that seven percent of current global
electricity generation could meet the basic
human needs of
rural people in developing countries "but, in an
age of
apparently advanced technological and management
skills,
we have failed this relatively modest
challenge," the report says.
Most developing nations have rural
electrification programs that promote renewable energy sources or grid
extension.
"In principle,
renewable energies, such as photovoltaics and wind power,
should find good
application in rural areas, but they play a minor role at
this time," the report
concludes. The costs of electrification are
underestimated while
the benefits are overstated, and switching to modern
energy systems costs
more than rural households can afford.
The report examines a
number of renewable energy technologies and rural
electrification,
including solar home systems in Indonesia, leasing of
solar systems in the
Dominican Republic, financing of solar systems in
India, and solar rural
electrification in Morocco.
The London based World
Energy Council is a global multi-energy
organization with
committees and activities in 100 countries, including
most of the largest
energy producing and consuming countries in the world.
Initiated in 1923 as the international
association of the electricity industry, the WEC has evolved to cover all
forms
of energy from oil, coal and gas, through
uranium to hydro and renewables such as solar power and wind as well as
energy efficiency and energy conservation.
Throughout its history, the WEC has been non-governmental and
non-commercial.
© Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All
Rights Reserved.
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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