Energy for change

Ashden Awards showcase innovative low-carbon solutions from Tibet to Truro.

High in an upland pasture, 14,000 feet above sea level in China’s Qinghai province, a Tibetan herdsman lashes a small solar panel to his tent. For the first time, he and his family have electricity. Its clean, clear light outshines their dim, smoky butter lamps. There’s power for a radio-cassette too, and a charger for a mobile phone. Now, he says, they feel in touch with the outside world… And all for the price of a yak, which he sold to finance the purchase.

“For the first time they have electricity. And all for the price of a yak.”

Their solar system is one of 360,000 installed as a result of the work of the Renewable Energy Development Project, which has helped Chinese companies sell a whole range of systems at prices which are affordable for local people in remote areas. Many of these are members of China’s minorities, mostly Tibetans and Mongolians.

A restaurant owner in Kerala, India, lights the stove to cook his dhosas and breathes a sigh of relief. Unlike his old stove, it burns cleanly, using much less wood. That not only keeps his customers happy – it helps keep the threatened forests of the Western Ghats intact. It’s been developed by TIDE, a local NGO which is helping local entrepreneurs sell a huge range of ‘clean burning’ technologies to southern India’s small businesses.

In a narrow, wooded valley in Brazil’s deep south, an engineer opens a valve and sets free a cascade of water. It surges into the blades of a turbine and sends them spinning, generating electricity which is fed into local farms and villages. It’s unobtrusive, ‘run-of-the-river’ hydro power – far preferable to the huge dams which have blighted Brazil.

CRERAL, the regional electricity co-operative who developed it, are confident that they will eventually be able to meet all their customers’ demand from this local, sustainable source.

In a refugee camp on the Ethiopian border, a Somali woman lights a small cookstove.

It’s simple technology, using ethanol produced from molasses – a by-product of Ethiopia’s sugar cane farms – as fuel. It means she no longer has to walk for miles to harvest firewood – an activity which not only strips bare the fragile soil in this arid region, but also puts her at risk of assault and even rape.

The stove is the brainchild of the Gaia Association, which is now starting to supply it for use in refugee camps elsewhere, as well as for new housing in the capital, Addis Ababa.

These are among the winning projects in the international category of the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy. Founded in 2001, the Awards celebrate innovative schemes which provide clean, affordable energy for local communities, while at the same time tackling climate change and other pressing environmental threats. Al Gore, who presented the prizes to last year’s winners, described the Ashdens as “a forceful reminder that simple, practical and often inexpensive ideas can make a great difference”.

This year’s UK winners include:

• Kensa Engineering, Cornwall, which has come up with a design for a simple ground source heat pump, capable of being installed by plumbers and builders, so bringing this highly effective technology within reach of a wider, non-specialist market.
• Ringmer Community College, East Sussex, where pupils play a leading role as ‘Eco Reps’ in monitoring energy use. They also encourage schoolmates and teachers in this part-solar and wind-powered school to cut energy consumption.
• Leeds City Council, which is reaching 25,000 homes a year with major improvements to insulation, glazing and heating.
• Global Action Plan, for training workplace teams to get energy-saving messages across to over 86,000 employees.

According to Sarah Butler-Sloss, executive chair of the Awards: “These amazing finalists embrace a sense of urgency that needs to be reflected more widely in energy policy and practices – before it’s too late. With stronger financial incentives and streamlined planning processes, we would see a lot more initiatives like these.”

Winners receive prize money of between £10,000 and £40,000, as well as business and technical support to help them take their work further. Applications are now open for next year’s Awards at: www.ashdenawards.org

Martin Wright is Editor (at large) of Green Futures.

28 June 2008

Martin Wright

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