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Pippa Palmer Interim Managing Director

SolarAid A b usiness-based a pproach to an environmental problem. Pippa Palmer Interim Managing Director. The issue: 600 million in Africa have no access to electricity. $15bn aid outstripped by $18bn oil imports Fragile, insufficient energy infrastructure

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Pippa Palmer Interim Managing Director

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  1. SolarAid A business-based approach to an environmental problem Pippa Palmer Interim Managing Director

  2. Theissue:600 million in Africa have no access to electricity • $15bn aid outstripped by $18bn oil imports • Fragile, insufficient energy infrastructure • Mains, smart-, mini-grids = $bns investment • A long time coming – if at all • Top down policies ignore remote off-grid users and lack the local context

  3. Theanswer:Bottom up, demand-led solutions, that fit the end-user context

  4. The reality: kerosene lamps • Prohibitively expensive • Doesn’t support evening work or study • Bad for respiratory health • Hazardous (burns, poisonings) • Environmentally damaging

  5. The environment: black carbon • Wick lamps a greater contributor to global warming (20x previous estimates) • 7-9% BC conversion v wood @ 0.5% • 89% particulate escapes the home • No equalising / mitigating emissions • Responsible for 3% of BC emissions globally

  6. Black Carbon: climate effects • Short life (days/weeks) v CO2 (100yrs) • 1g of BC reflections = 10 black umbrellas • BC warms the atmosphere many times more in days/weeks than 1g of CO2 over 100yrs • 270,000 metric tons BC emitted per annum • Macro and micro climate impacts

  7. Kerosene lamps: “low hanging fruit” There are no magic bullets that will solve all of our greenhouse gas problems, but replacing kerosene lamps is low-hanging fruit, and we don’t have many examples of that in the climate world,” Prof Kirk Smith, UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health / Director of the Global Health and Environment Program.

  8. The answer: “the power of pico” • Cheap • Bright • Durable / warranty • Long lifespan • No tech transfer / red tape

  9. Kerosene lamp Kerosene lamp Solar light

  10. Kerosene lamp Kerosene lamp Solar light

  11. Switch to solar: multiple uplifts • Families save money • Spent on nutrition, schooling, business • Improved educational outcomes • Reduced CO₂ and black carbon emissions • Improved well-being: family socialising, dignity, resilience, safety

  12. A solution: mend market failure • SunnyMoney, wholly owned non-profit • Catalyse demand and seed market • Work with head teachers to promote lights to the parents of students • 1st stage of ‘bottom up’ market-building

  13. Market-building: Challenges • Price barriers ($8 up front v 20c a day) • Trust / awareness of technology • Quality / resilience • Last-mile distribution / lack of retail and transport infrastructure

  14. The big mission: • Eradicate the kerosene lamp from Africa by 2020 • If Nigeria used modern off-grid lighting, it could save over US$1.4 billion annually. Replacing all kerosene, candles and batteries would save Nigeria the equivalent of 17.3 million barrels of crude oil. (UNEP 2013)

  15. Diffusion of innovation: Stages

  16. SunnyMoney: 500,000 lights sold across five countries 200m Other market players Generates 25% of all SSA light sales. Now largest distributor in SSA SolarAid supporting the sector 50m

  17. Two brands: One Mission Building a Market + Influencing Policy = Impact + Sustainability

  18. Trade not aid: anewapproach • A positive example • Combining competition with collaboration; no ‘turf wars’ • Commercial focus on scale / efficiency but otherwise 100% focused on social & environmental goals • Profit making enterprise with perpetually revolving fund • New breed of ‘renaissance company’ - could help the world live within resource limits • Re-writing the approach to finance / grant-funding / aid

  19. Collaborative partners:can you help?

  20. Thanks Website: www.solar-aid.org Email: pippa.palmer@solar-aid.org

  21. Sources • Visible Earth NASA (http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=55167) • Lighting Africa 2013 (http://www.lightingafrica.org/) • A NEW GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP:ERADICATE POVERTY AND TRANSFORM ECONOMIES THROUGH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTTheReport of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda • http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/01/overseas-aid-africa-oil-imports-costs • Black Carbon and Kerosene Lighting: An Opportunity for Rapid Action on Climate Change and Clean Energy for Development: Arne Jacobson, Director, Schatz Energy Research Center, Humboldt State University: Nicholas L. Lam, PhD Student, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of California, Berkeley: Tami C Bond, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Nathan Hultman, Nonresident Fellow, The Brookings Institution and Associate Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland: APRIL 2013 The Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts ave., Nwwashington, Dc 20036

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