The Charcoal Project & the creation of a global market for renewable energy & efficiency solutions

Dispatches from:

Emerging Solutions for the Energy Poor.

Technological, Entrepreneurial & Institutional Challenges

NOVEMBER 5 and 6, 2010

Wittemyer Courtroom
University of Colorado Law School
Wolf Law Building
401 UCB, 2450 Kittredge Loop
Boulder, CO 80309
USA

The 2010 Conference is designed to be a sequel to the 2009 World Energy Justice Conference (WEJC 2009) which began examining ways of mainstreaming safe, clean, and efficient energy for the world’s Energy Poor (EP). The EP number two and a half billion people who live on less than $1-2 a day and have no access to modern energy services. The 2010 conference will more fully develop these themes.

Apologies for the silence these past few days.

The reason is that we (Nina and I) were participating in a fascinating conference called Emerging Solutions for the Energy Poor, sponsored by the Law School at U. Colorado in Boulder.

The conference is the brainchild of environmental law professor, Lakshman Guruswamy Ph.D., Director of the University’s Center for Energy and Environmental Security and perhaps the world’s leading advocate for global energy justice.

What most appealed to us at the conference was the focus on setting the foundations for a practical and actionable blueprint for the creation of a global market in “Appropriate Energy Technology Solutions” (ASETs) for the energy poor.¹

The September launch of the UN Foundation-backed Global Alliance for Clean Cookstove was an excellent first clear step towards making ASETs a legitimate sustainable development strategy.

The range and caliber of the speakers at the conference reflected the growing interest in this issue on the part of business, government, non-profits, think tanks, and the impact-investment community.

Highlights from the Participants:

* Dan Shine, Senior Advisor in the Office of Science and Technology at USAID. Shine, who joined the agency from the private sector, explained how the agency’s revamped investment model — which focuses on funding “Development Innovation Ventures” — could help support the the expansion of ASETs in key markets.

* Michael Potts, President and CEO of the “think & do”-tank, the Rocky Mountain Institute, gave a fascinating presentation on RMI’s vision for navigating the transition out of fossil fuels in the US. In his view, the transition should be a two-step process. The first step is to improve efficiency across the entire energy supply chain.  RMI estimates between 75 and 90% of the energy derived from fossil fuels in the US is lost in the various steps in the energy supply chain. The second step should be the transition to renewable fuels.

* TATA Chemicals, India’s top conglomerate, fielded Mr. Sabaleel Naandy, General Manager of group’s water purification business. Mr. Nandy discussed the conglomerate’s approach to the development and marketing of the Swach water purification system, of which they’ve already sold several hundred thousands to the poorest of the poor in India. Their goal is to expand to other parts of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa. It was interesting learning about their marketing strategy for the Base of the Pyramid.

* Evan Haigler, President of Impact Carbon, gave an enlightening presentations on the role of carbon finance in funding ASETs and on ideas for reform of the Kyoto Protocol’s carbon market-making rules. These reforms are of course the subject of intense debate right now in preparation of the big UN CC meeting in Cancun later this year.

* The International Energy Agency, perhaps the single most vocal institution out there that has consistently called on greater global action on Energy Poverty, was excellently represented by Rafaella Centurelli, an agency analyst who works directly under Dr. Fatih Birol, the agency’s Chief Economist and leading voice on this issue. The IEA is set to release Wednesday the 2010 World Energy Outlook. The report estimates that by 2030 indoor air pollution from inefficient stoves will result in 1.5m premature deaths each year (over 4000 per day), greater than estimates for premature deaths from malaria, tuberculosis, or HIV/Aids

Breakout sessions were interspersed in the program to allow time for substantive brainstorming and discussion of practical solutions to the obstacles facing the global creation and deployment of an ASET market.

Nina and I presented our views on the major challenges facing marketing and communications of Energy Poverty solutions. We’ll share our thoughts with you in another blog post shortly.

Nina and I are very excited at have been part of this first step towards the creation of a global market for energy poverty solutions. We’ll definitely keep you posted as progress is made.

We are also grateful to the Dean of the Law School, the students, and Professor Guruswamy for inviting us to participate in this inspiring event!

And now, back to work!

Kim & Nina

¹ The energy poor are the 3 billion people at the Base of the Pyramid who lack access to improved biomass cooking technology and fuels, electricity, clean water, and efficient mechanical power. Among the technologies included in the ASET category are:

* improved stoves that cut emissions and biomass fuel consumption

* water purification, pumping, and irrigation systems

* electrical energy generators from photovoltaics and other sustainable fuel sources

* efficient mechanical technologies

* communications technologies