EarthAction

Pay-as-you-go Business Innovation Makes Renewable Energy Accessible

Written and Researched by EarthAction Intern Larry O'Connor

The Economist magazine recently published an article about a company that has developed an interesting way to profit from providing electricity to poor, sunny regions around the world. The company is based out of London and called Eight19, which refers how long it takes sunlight to reach the earth - 8 minutes and 19 seconds.

The Economist article focuses on Eight19’s “Pay as you go” solar program, where a family will be able to pay an upfront deposit of $10 US to purchase a solar cell and battery that have the ability to light two small rooms for 7 hours per day while charging one cell phone. The users then must purchase "scratch cards" using their cell phones to receive a reference number that will activate the devices. The "scratch cards" and reference numbers are sent via text message. Users can purchase any amount that they can pay for: a day, a week, or a month. These small purchases work toward paying off the cost of the device. After purchasing approximately eighty dollars’ worth of scratch cards, the customer will have paid off the entire cost of the battery and will have complete ownership of the unit.

Customers can then use their $80 US investment on a down payment to move up the "Indigo Energy Escalator" to obtain a larger solar battery unit, or they can just keep their solar unit and not spend any money on electricity. This energy escalator has four different levels, ranging from 3 to 80 watt capacity. The 80 watt solar cell generates light for a phone, four rooms, a radio, a TV, and a sewing machine.

 

This process was recently tested on a few hundred Kenyan families. Over the next two months Eight19 plans to release 4,000 solar kits in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia. Many people in this region already have light and some electricity fueled by paraffin - a harmful waxy substance that comes from hydrocarbons used for lighting candles (pictured aboved). The most important aspect in this process is that these incremental payments are similar to what potential customers currently pay for paraffin to light lamps and the cost of charging a cell phone at a store.

Potential Implications of “Pay as you go solar”

Spreading The Word On Biochar

by: Alexandra Reissig

What if there existed a material that could help solve world hunger, fight climate change, and offer a solution for energy shortages to boot? Recent studies on biochar say that it may be just the product, and here’s the kicker: it has been around for at least 2,000 years. It is a solid material produced from the carbonization of organic waste. Extremely high in carbon content, its uses range from replenishing exhausted soil to sequestering excess CO2 out of the atmosphere. Recent discoveries into its uses, both locally and globally, have shown it to be a viable material for an environmentally sustainable future.

Biochar is essentially charcoal, produced when biomass is heated in a low oxygen environment in a pyrolysis process. This process takes dry biomass and heats it at extreme temperatures and at a very low oxygen level. It is very similar to what happens naturally to soil that has been exposed to forest fires: the charred remains are more healthy and nutrient rich. Of the total amount of carbon that goes into the pyrolysis process, half goes into an energy carrying system that can be generated into biofuel. The other half of the carbon is fixed in biochar: a charcoal-like material that can be used as fertilizer to help increase crop yields, prevent run-off of nutrients and fertilizers, retain moisture in the soil and replenish exhausted soils with organic carbon.

Join us in Northampton, MA to End Holyoke Coal

Special Local Action: Retire the Coal Plant in Holyoke, MA

We at EarthAction don't typically send out emails about local campaigns. However, we thought this one was so important to the Pioneer Valley that we decided to send it to our Western Mass partners. Please see the email below from our friends at the Northampton Sierra Club. Tonight is the kickoff for their Beyond Coal campaign to finally retire the dirty, aging coal plant in Holyoke, MA and replace it with clean, renewable energy. We hope that you'll join us for tonight's meeting!

                                                 - With Peace and Love, Lois Barber

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Do you care about clean, healthy air? How about creating local green jobs?

Then join us for…  

Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Kickoff Meeting!

Tuesday, September 27th
7:00 – 8:00 PM

@ the Media Education Foundation

60 Masonic Street #A
(next to Woodstar Cafe)
**Refreshments provided**

Coal is dirty, dangerous and outdated. The Mt. Tom coal plant in Holyoke, MA is over 50 years old and releases toxins like mercury and sulfur dioxide. These toxins are a threat to our health and environment. In Holyoke alone, where the plant resides, asthma rates are more than double the state average and everyone that lives within 30 miles of the plant is at risk. Northampton, Amherst, Easthampton, Hadley and South Hadley are all high risk communities. The Pioneer Valley has the right to clean air and water, and deserves renewable energy and clean jobs. Right now, the Pioneer Valley has the chance to transition from coal to further investments in energy efficiency, wind and solar—and the Governor is a key actor.

Pioneer Valley supporters of clean air are working to replace coal with renewables in Western Massachusetts, and are hoping to convince Governor Deval Patrick to join them. Join us on Tuesday to learn more about the local Beyond Coal campaign to move the Pioneer Valley beyond coal and how to get involved!

The event is free and open to the public. Speakers include Jane Andresen of the Alliance for a Healthy Holyoke, Drew Grande of Massachusetts Beyond Coal, and more.

What You Can Do

Please RSVP for the Kick-Off Meeting by clicking here.

Send the Governor an email right now! Check it out here: 
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=7053

To learn more about how you can get involved, please contact:
Savannah Sullivan
p) 513-317-1456
e) Savannah[at] greencorps.org

 

Nuclear Weapon States to meet June 29-30. Time to end the threat from nuclear weapons!

The foreign ministers of the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China (the P5 Permanent members of the UN Security Council) are scheduled to meet in Paris from 29 to 30 June 2011 to discuss nuclear security. Together they possess more than 20,000 nuclear weapons, capable of destroying all life on Earth many times over.
 
In May last year at a meeting of the States Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, they agreed that stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons to additional countries would be impossible if they continued to hold onto nuclear weapons themselves forever. They thus committed to a number of initial steps to reduce their nuclear stockpiles, lower the role of nuclear weapons in their security doctrines and to work with non-nuclear weapon States to build the framework for a nuclear-weapons-free world.
 
This will be their first meeting to start implementing these commitments. However, like smokers addicted to cigarettes, they will not give up their nuclear weapons easily. We must be assertive in helping them stick to their commitments.  
 
Join us in sending a loud and clear message to them—It’s time to stop threatening the world with these weapons of terror, and start negotiating a treaty to outlaw and eliminate all nuclear weapons globally.

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Take Action

Send an email to the leaders of the P5 countries:

• President Barack Obama (United States)
• President Dmitry Medvedev (Russia)
• Prime Minister David Cameron (United Kingdom)
• President Nicolas Sarkozy (France)
• President Hu Jintao (China)

Join an action on Nuclear Abolition Day – June 25

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Sample letter—Please change this letter a bit so that all the letters they receive don’t look exactly alike. Personal letters have more influence. Add why you think it is important to abolish nuclear weapons.
 

Dear President/Prime Minister,
 
I welcome the fact that for the first time ever the five Nuclear Weapons States parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are meeting at ministerial level to discuss nuclear disarmament - and in particular to fulfill the promise made at the 2010 NPT Review Conference “to achieve the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.”
 
I encourage you to use this opportunity to commit to further reductions in numbers of nuclear weapons in your stockpiles, reinforce the practice and norm against any use of nuclear weapons, and announce a start to multilateral negotiations on a global treaty banning nuclear weapons worldwide under international verification and control.
 
The abolition of nuclear weapons will provide security for your nation and for all nations. It is a duty you owe to present generations, and to future generations. It is a step that will enhance peace, cooperation, stability and prosperity. I urge you to do everything in your power to take this fundamental step to protect our nations, our environment and our future.
 
Yours sincerely,
[Your first & last name, and at least your country]

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For more information see:
Abolition 2000 Global Network for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons www.abolition2000.org
Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament www.pnnd.org
Nuclear Abolition Day www.nuclearabolition.org

 

I (do indeed) Love Mountains.org!

If you too are a mountain lover I highly encourage you to check out www.ilovemountains.org, a comprehensive site where you can find all the latest news on mountain top removal in the United States.  You can see how you are connected to the devastating coal extraction method, watch videos of "America's Most Endangered Mountains,"  read stories of the people MTR most affects, join a blogger's challenge, and learn about what else you can do.

Here at EarthAction we've been campaigning for REPs, Renewable Energy Payments (also known as feed-in tariffs.)  Clean renewable energy is an utmost priority for this nation, and we believe that REPs are one of the quickest and surest ways to stimulate the growth and development of renewable energy.

For more information on REPs, click on the "Power to the People" Icon to the left under Current Campaigns, or go to The Alliance For Renewable Energy. Together, we can put an end to harmful practices like mountain top removal!

(The photo is of my friend Lauren and I loving the mountains in Colorado.)

Washington International Renewable Energy Conference: Canadian Viewpoint

We met an outstanding group of York University graduate students at WIREC. They have since written a fascinating article on the conference. We are honored to share it with you on our blog...

"At the 2008 Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, Dan Reicher, CEO of Google, stated, “Policy can make or break this revolution”. This is a powerful message for the renewable energy movement, and a dominant theme at WIREC, along with the necessity for collaboration and commitment. It is clear that investors need a stable policy environment that guarantees a long-term return on investment, and it is imperative that networks are expanded and sustained to share these best practices worldwide.

Feed-in Tariffs
We left WIREC with a genuinely positive sense that countries around the world are rapidly moving in this direction. Much discussion revolved around the need for policy stability, and what is commonly referred to as Feed-in Tariff’s (FITs) took centre stage as the desired policy. This policy guarantee’s that producers of renewable energy, from a  family home to a large business, can sell their power to utilities for an established price over a specific period of time.  Presently, 65 countries promote renewable energy, with FITs established in 45 countries and regions. FITs bring financial security, remove price risk, and guarantee return on investment – exactly the support that investors and community power projects need."

To continue reading the article, click here.

 

A Taste of the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference

Get ready for the Revolution! One thing is clear from being here at the Washington International Renewal Energy Conference (WIREC) - the Renewable Energy Revolution is on its way. Hermann Scheer, a German Member of Parliament—and the ‘father’ of the ‘Feed In’ legislation—told the several thousand participants from all over the world at the Ministerial Session of the Conference, “The main aim for us being here is to help each other to accelerate the shift to renewables.”

Speakers pointed out many of the things that need to change as part of this revolution, first among them: “Our way of thinking.” It is clear that a shift to renewables is already creating jobs, strengthening economies, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and increasing energy security. There were lots of stories and examples of how the revolution is beginning, and challenges for all of us to get on board.

Gotta go, today’s first session just started. I’ll post more later about the buzz of being on the edge of change.

Lois  Barber

(Lois asked me to post this, as she was on her way to a session. -Ananda)

Exciting Notes from Washington DC Feed-In Tariff Workshop

Greetings from Washington DC!

Yesterday I spent the entire day at the “FIT for the Future” strategy workshop. It was absolutely fascinating, crammed with information and fascinating speakers. Co-hosted by the World Future Council, Heinrich Boll Foundation, and the Worldwatch Institute, the event brought in speakers from France, Germany, and Spain to speak about the Feed-In Tariff programs in their countries, as well as U.S. legislators working towards FIT laws, and organizations in favor of the policy. It was fascinating to be sitting in a room full of so many highly intelligent people who were eager to discuss the possibilities and issues surrounding bringing FIT legislation to the U.S.

Tellingly, Oliver Schafer, from the European Renewable Energy Council, ended the third panel by noting that many Europeans think that U.S. energy policy centers around the question, “How did our oil get under their sand?” However, this conference has opened his eyes – let’s ensure that this workshop results in meaningful action!

I will not go into detail about the substance of the workshop, as we will hopefully have more detailed blog posts in the near future, but for now I thought I’d give some highlights.

Chris Flavin, from the Worldwatch Institute, opened the day challenging us to think up a new name for FIT, something that does not have a negative subcontext. Some of the ideas brought up throughout the day were “energy freedom act,” “fair and efficient rates,” “standard offer program,” and “microgeneration.” What do you think?

One issue brought up was, “How do we, from a political standpoint, convince Americans to vote to increase their electricity bills?” Of course, there were the normal replies about emphasizing the environmental and karmic gains, and emphasizing how any type of energy or change in energy source policy will probably add to the bill, but I found the answer given by Hugo Lucas Porta, who works for the IDEA in Spain, to be the most creative. He said that in Spain they intend to give incentives for citizens to reduce their electricity use so that their electricity bill will go down, and thus, even with the FIT in place, their bill will probably still be even lower than before. Pairing these two policies makes quite a difference.

I don’t want this blog post to drag on, so I will just end with a most compelling idea from Paul Gipe’s speech: With FIT laws, we move from being a nation of consumers to being a nation of producers.

(I took the photo of the Washington Monument- I’ve been indulging in a bit of sightseeing, as this is my first time ever in DC!)

Rhode Island Introduces Renewable Energy Sources Bill

Rhode Island is the first state on the East Coast to introduce a Feed-In Tariff renewable energy bill, which is an exciting step forward in EarthAction's FIT campaign. According to Wind-Works.org's Paul Gipe, "The tiny state's move could have a big impact on other states on America's eastern seaboard." To learn more, and view the text of the entire bill, please visit this link.

Photo of the Clingstone house, a historic home which has been renovated to include a wind turbine and solar arrays, is courtesy of Flickr user G.E. Long, shared under a Creative Commons license.

Minnesota Feed-In Tariff Bill Introduced

Minnesota is the third state in the Midwest (after Michigan and Illinois) to introduce Feed-In legislation! Interestingly, "unlike other states considering feed-in tariffs, Minnesota's proposed law limits feed-in tariffs to "community-based" projects connected at distribution voltages. Nevertheless, the definition of what constitutes a community-based project is broad and can include projects with outside ownership up to 49% of the equity." To learn more about the specifics of the bill, please click on this link.

This photo of Minnesotan windmills is courtesy of Flickr user Payton Chung, and shared under a Creative Commons license.