Renewable Energy

Rethinking Africa's Solar Market

Friday, December 1, 2006
A sea change is needed to get solar power widely distributed in Africa. An article by a solar expert in Kenya, from World Rivers Review, December 2006. Mark Hankins I was struck recently by an industry graph showing global demand growth for solar photovoltaics (PV). It revealed sharply rising sales in Europe, America, Japan and China – but Africa sales didn’t even register. In the heady early days of PV market growth, Africa was an important market and there was much talk about how PV would help solve the low access to power throughout rural areas of the continent. Today, Africa does no

Energy Solutions

Photo: Shannon Graham
Millions of people globally live without the benefit of modern energy services. Renewable energy technologies produce clean energy, can be better scaled to meet demand than large dams, reduce dependence on problematic energy sources such as fossil fuels and large hydro, and can be used in rural areas far from the grid, where most of the world’s un-electrified communities are located.

World Bank "New Investment Framework" A Great Leap Backwards for Sustainable Energy

Tuesday, December 6, 2005
The World Bank is failing to live up to its clean energy mandate, agreed at the 2005 G8 Summit, figures in a new report from the bank reveal. The revelation comes as the World Bank is taking an increasingly high profile and controversial role at the UN climate talks currently underway in Montreal. The Bank hopes to control several global funds and initiatives supposed to help solve the climate crisis. But the World Bank’s own energy report exposes the institution’s failure to act on its mandate from G8’s Gleneagles summit to "take a leadership role in creating a new framework for clean e

World Bank Energy Framework Sells Climate and Poor People Short – NGOs

Sunday, September 17, 2006
Singapore -- The World Bank’s promise to seriously support alternative energy sources remains unfulfilled, according to a new report published today to coincide with the World Bank’s annual meeting. The report, published by international environment and development organizations, concludes that the World Bank’s new Investment Framework on Clean Energy and Development will not be effective at combating climate change and expanding energy access for the poor. The World Bank’s Investment Framework presented in Singapore today proposes raising $10 billion for conventional e

Business as Usual Will Not Achieve Climate and Development Goals

Tuesday, April 11, 2006
A Critique of the World Bank Paper, Clean Energy and Development: Towards an Investment FrameworkPrepared for the Development Committee Meeting Introduction At the Gleneagles G8 Summit held in July 2005, the World Bank was given a twin mandate. It was asked to propose a strategy that will facilitate a global transition to a climate–friendly, sustainable energy future, and that will support energy sector development for economic growth and poverty reduction. In response to this mandate, the World Bank just submitted a report, Clean Energy and Development: Towards an Investment Framework,

How the World Bank's Energy Framework Sells the Climate and Poor People Short

Friday, September 1, 2006
As the World Bank unveiled its new Investment Framework on Clean Energy and Development at its annual meeting in Singapore in September 2006, a coalition of environment and development organizations charge that the strategy will not be effective at combating climate change and expanding energy access for the poor. The World Bank proposed raising $10 billion for conventional energy technologies such as fossil fuels, while selling renewable sources of energy short. The strategy will do little to slow global climate change or bring energy services to the 1.6 billion people that currently lac

World Rivers Review – Focus on Renewables – December 2006

A special focus on renewable energy developments around the globe.What's Inside: Africa: A sea-change is needed in getting solar power to Africa.Commentary: A sensible energy future seems far off, and yet we're at the tipping point on a number of technologies.Wind: A look at India's wind energy boom.Microhydro: Lessons learned from around the world.China: A new push for renewables and efficiency is wide, but is it deep?Nepal: After defeating a major dam project, local energy activists and engineers have taken Nepal into a more sustainable direction.US: A renewable future for the US is achi

Renewables Yes! Big Hydro No!

Tuesday, June 1, 2004
This summary of the report, “Twelve Reasons to Exclude Large Hydro from Renewables Initiatives,” has been prepared for distribution at the International Conference for Renewable Energies, Bonn, June 2004. This summary has been endorsed by 247 groups and networks in 61 countries. Funds to reduce the climatic and other environmental impacts of energy production and consumption, to advance sustainable development, and to increase energy security should be used for the promotion of “new renewables.” The most important “new renewables” are modern biomass, geothermal, wind, solar, ma

A Geothermal Development Guide for Uganda

Saturday, January 1, 2005
Executive Summary Despite the enormous geothermal potential in Uganda, harnessing of this resource potential has for some been an issue of contention in the country. The major reasons that have hindered the development of the resource have mainly been the cost of geothermal development in relation to the cost of large hydropower, the lack of political will on the side of government and to some extent the environmental concerns related to the development of resource. Government of Uganda has for some time expressed interest of developing this resource potential although, for several decades thi

Beyond Dams: Options & Alternatives

Saturday, May 1, 2004
By design, dams alter the natural flow regime, and with it virtually every aspect of a river ecosystem, including water quality, sediment transport and deposition, fish migrations and reproduction, and riparian and floodplain habitat and the organisms that rely on this habitat. The purpose of this report is to provide stakeholders and decision–makers with an overview of low–impact and non–structural alternatives to dams. It is designed as a reference for anyone interested in exploring options for replacing a function served by an existing dam or replacing a function to be served by a dam

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