Will 3 billion people ever see this? …on this?… … or this? This week 150 heads of state and a Who’s Who of global celebrities will gather in New York to make a last push for the Millenium Development Goals (MDG), the UN’s flagship antipoverty campaign which aims to improve conditions by 2015 for more […]
The big win: energy efficiency for the BoP Read More »
We found this letter from Acumen Fund’s CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz, poignant and important, which is why we’ve chosen to share it with you. Pakistan needs all the help it can get. Please do what you can to help. Kim & Nina Dear Kim & Nina, I just spent five days in Pakistan with my husband,
A personal report and appeal on the devastation in Pakistan Read More »
Back in January the World Bank set out on a “listening tour” to ask people what they thought should be included in the Bank’s Energy Strategy, which is set to be released next year.
Now, six months and 1,700 comments later, the people have spoken and the results are probably raising more than a few eyebrows inside the World Bank.
World Bank gets an earful on its plan to tackle energy poverty Read More »
Best of the Web, Monday, 13th September (Click on the titles to read the full story.) 1. If you’re trying to sell stoves or briquettes to the energy poor, then this one’s for you! Marketing to the bottom of the pyramid – Almost a third of the world’s population earns $2.50 or less a day.
Marketing to the BoP, the death of appropriate technology, and false green solutions Read More »
Folks, We’re back from Labor Day, the long weekend that marks the unofficial end of summer and the start of the rest of the business year here in America. Before we launch into a new, fresh round of stories about energy poverty alleviation and energy efficient biomass combustion solutions, we want to share with you
X PRIZE, Govt. of India, and the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) Announce Partnership to Create Global Competition to Develop Clean-Burning Cookstove.
Initiative would combat the serious problem of indoor air pollution, which kills more than one million people each year
First the good news: Jeffrey Sachs Charts the Way Forward for MDGs Ahead of UN Summit World-renowned economist calls on leaders to arrive at the New York meeting next month “with the agreed plans, partnerships, and financing to accelerate our progress.” Professor Jeffrey Sachs has outlined eight “major gaps” which need to be overcome if
The missing MDG goal: energy poverty alleviation Read More »
It occurs to us that Mr. Bill Gates’ description above of how the market treats (or not) infectious diseases could easily apply to energy poverty and the 3 billion people who depend on biomass as their primary fuel. For one, the socio-economics of the victims are similar. Second, there is no natural market for clean cookstoves.
So, could a Gates-ian approach to combating infectious disease work for poverty alleviation? Maybe, but there are major, maybe irreconcilable differences, between the two.
We published last month an interview with Dennis Tessier of ARTI-TZ, a Tanzania-based non-profit working to promote the manufacturing and marketing of briquettes made from the char produced in improved charcoal kilns. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Tanzania’s forests are disappearing at a whopping rate of 4,200 square kilometers (1,620
Tanzania: Charcoal-making in five easy pieces Read More »
Can it be that the emphasis on finding market-based solutions to energy poverty alleviation and the large-scale deployment of improved cookstoves is just not practical? “Probably,” say a group of researchers investigating the pressures placed on grass-roots NGOs to adopt market-based approaches to solving household energy and health issues in the developing world.
Why the market alone cannot solve the clean cookstove gap Read More »
We’ve received the following appeal from Acumen Fund
Pakistan has been affected by the worst floods in living memory. 13.8 million people have been displaced by the floods in Pakistan and 6 million of these require immediate help according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Aid to Pakistan via Acumen Fund Read More »
A Yale University workshop says improved cookstoves may not be the best solution to reducing the global warming effect of black carbon.
“Stop throwing stoves at black carbon” Read More »
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