Tactical Solutions Needed to Deal with Climate Disruption
Apparently, United States Secretary of State John Kerry said recently that the U.S. is considering making a major contribution to a fund that would help developing countries deal with both the causes and the effects of climate disruption. Money would go to developing methods of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving methods of handling droughts and floods.
This sounds good in principle, but, obviously, the fund is subject to mismanagement—even if all intentions are good and corruption is entirely absent. If I were directing this effort, I would take a very tactical approach, targeting a large number of small villages in many regions of the third world with a very simple toolkit:
• Microgrids based on distributed generation and storage, e.g., solar PV and batteries. (In places that have adequate feedstock, I’d substitute waste-to-energy systems.)
• Highly efficient lighting and computing for homes and schools, and refrigeration for medical clinics
• Aeroponics, a highly cost-effective approach to sustainable agriculture that minimizes the consumption of water and other resources associated with growing large quantities of produce
There are numerous benefits of this “one-size-fits-all” line of attack, and they fall into two groups. In the first group are all the ways in which this approach is highly efficient, i.e., reasons that a very large percentage of money is made available to address the problem. Minimizing the complexity of the solution greatly reduces the amount of administration required for decision-making, purchasing, executing on logistics, training, installation, and maintenance. It also removes a great deal of the potential for pork-barrel spending on items of dubious value. Simultaneously, it maximizes the pace with which we move through the learning curve and develop economies of scale.
In the second group are the numerous social benefits, as the effort “kills many birds with one stone”:
• Reducing deforestation by providing a clean alternative source of energy
• Removing toxic fumes from the burning of kerosene lamps and improving health generally
• Improving education, thus raising human productivity and prosperity, while reducing women’s fertility in the places with the highest rates of population growth
If Mr. Kerry wants to look me up and invite me to participate, I’m not that hard to find.
A big pot of money is attractive to fraudsters as flies to honey. Distributing the hardware reliable nonprofits that are already operating successfully in these regions can cut through a lot of the start up pains that would be inherent when new logistic channels are opened. Of course inspectors are needed to keep the non profits on task but much less administrative costs should result. You are right about keeping it simple to avoid large training costs. I like your choice of projects.
There have been way to many big installations that lie idle all too soon when the benefactors leave and the locals have no incentive to keep equipment serviced.
Population world growth and the demands to sustain the quality of life has overloaded the balance and created climate disruption. The small villages are not the cause but counties, large cities and industries that are motivated by growth and wealth. If we identify and develop solutions to STEM education, clean energy, water, food, clean environmental management we can have managed economic measured growth not at the cost of the climate and mother earth. We are always motivated in natural disasters to set aside political practices find the resources and to aid others in need. We are at that point today in the world with climate disruption that requires a structured program and action plans that create an alliance for all Nations. Yes, we will have to have a reward incentive program to be good stewards and penalties for those who break the rules. Remember it only took 100 years for man to destroy and disrupt our sustainable life support planet, so far we are still only talking about Band-Aids!
Robert,
There is no “Mother Earth”, nor are we required to be “good stewards”, to anyone but our own best interests. There is no “apocalyptic” crisis about to engulf the earth, and never has been. (Meteorites excepted).
Life on earth has always been pretty precarious, what with disease, predators, climate change, wars, etc.
When the Romans under Claudius, landed in Britain in 43 AD, the beach on which they landed, is now several miles inland, as ocean levels were higher at that time. The local population was pretty poor, and the local diet suffered from poor nutrition, and even hunger.
Within 70 years of the Roman occupation, better agricultural technology, organisation, and distribution, allowed Britain to produce an export surplus.
Far from ” destroying our sustainable life support planet” in the last 100 years, we are now producing more food the at any time in history ! In addition, we have beaten back the ravages of disease, multiplied prosperity, communication, technology, and education.
We are at the beginning of a new golden age, where amazing achievements in technology, have far outstripped mankind’s, ability to adjust evenly, or without disruption to older concepts.
But this was always the case. Humans respond best, to self-interest. This isn’t greed, it’s just an innate instinct to prosper. We are a ‘civilised ‘ species. We live in organised societies, that produce sufficient surpluses, to allow specialised labour for art, culture and trade. Those are the earliest elements of economics.
Surplus, is not a dirty word ! Ironically, it’s what allows you time to sit around philosophising against creating surpluses !
vilages in india ,africaan villages still under darkness and to solve this problem i have a simple cost effective solution.Over 90% of the population have no jobs and the their man-hour can be used.Charging batteries by rotating wheels manually by hand or by legs.A simple dinamo can charge the batteries and light up the bulbs in the night .This will create many jobs and maycreate many scientist and doctors.
for details pls contact (gogreenplanets@gmail.com)
few hours in a day by unemployed will light up the whole village.
The effort described in this article seems very promising and the new concept biomass and waste to energy technology my firm is offering to enable this effort is equally promising in as much as it is appropriate for village scale to city scale applications.
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At AAEC we believe humanity needs to urgently repower human activities with cleaner energy on a much wider scale, and that innovation is key to a better future and we aspire to offer home and business owners, towns, cities, counties and utilities a new concept low-carbon pathway to greater energy efficiency, energy security, cleaner energy and economic development. We also believe now that the latest IPCC Report is out and President Obama is moving the climate issue to the front burner these will boost what AAEC is offering to an increasingly stressed planet.
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“It is in our vital interest to diversify America’s energy supply — and the way forward is through technology.”
– President George W. Bush, 2007 State of the Union Address
I’m surprised to see “Removing toxic fumes from the burning of kerosene lamps and improving health generally” in your list considering the the lowering cost and increasing life of LED lights with solar charging and lithium batteries. Kerosene is as expensive as LED’s over their lifetime I expect.
The toxic fumes from the burning of kerosene lamps is a major issue throughout the developing countries of Africa etc. Health issues include lung cancers, severe burns as a result of overturned lamps and eye injuries etc. The poverty cycle as a result of the never ending dependence on a fossil fuel which consumes large portions of income in developing countries. Then there is the continuous emissions CO2 and other pollutants from the burning of fossil fuel and its ongoing effects on climate change. A product which is currently being developed is the Gravity Light which is both an affordable and sustainable lighting solution for millions of people across the developed world. See Gravity Light at ……http://www.greeningsolutionsone.com/blog
Craig,
Your compassion does you credit, but over the years observing Africa and other third world nations, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to help the countries find sustainable development, is to leave them alone !
The prosperity of Europe and the developed world, was created out of centuries of blood, sweat and anguish ! Other nations must go through this process, or the citizens won’t experience, or value, the things that go into creating a stable society, where ideas can be freely debated and implement by general consensus.
All attempts, no matter how well intentioned, to give these populations assistance, results in negative paternalism. Since the idea of colonialism, fell out of favour, most of these nations have fallen back into disorganised, dysfunctional societies, or worse tribal chaos.
Leftist liberals indulging in an orgy of beating themselves up, and hand-wringing about wrongs of the past, and Western “exploitation’ is pointless, and harmful. The Western world isn’t going to cease to exist, nor will it’s influence cease. Under-developed nation don’t want idealistic, quint little solutions, they want the lure of a consumer society.
Democracy, the priceless of the age of enlightenment, efficient civil service, the rule of law, military security, business acumen, and prosperous trade, are only gained after long periods of struggle, failure and sacrifice.
Senator John Kerry , is a good man. But like others before him, he’s making a mistake. The US has caused more hardship, and chaos, by well-intentioned “aid’ programs, than the old colonialists. The 1958 political novel (and film) by Eugene Burdick and William Ledererbook the the Ugly American, should be required reading for Western do-gooders.
Yet, here we are, nearly 60 years later, making the same mistakes, all over again.