Practical Action

Make the Call: Energy for All

AndyBrace — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:13:53 +0000

Would you like to help us end energy poverty?

There are positive signs coming from the European Commission that they genuinely understand the importance of energy access in enabling development.

Energy for All – and Bob!

AndyBrace — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:05:57 +0000

Bob the Builder once said ‘Can we fix it?’ and in reply everyone listening cried out ‘Yes we can!’
We need Bob’s attitude to our world.

We don’t need to bury our head in our hands or take an increasingly narrow view of the world to fight off panic. We need to look up, we can make a difference and the world can be a better place.

Hasta la vista, energy poverty!

AndyBrace — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:28:54 +0000

Now I’m not a regular blogger, but I bet Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t made it into many development blogs. That may be about to change. After Mr Universe, Terminator, and Governor, Arnie takes on his most exciting and demanding role to date… Champion of Sustainable Energy.

The Good, The Bad and The Outrageous – the UN climate negotiations in Bonn

AndyBrace — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:34:59 +0000

Every time I talk about a session of the UN climate change negotiations to someone who wasn’t there, it occurs to me that I sound like I’m describing the plot of a film that’s part of an ongoing saga. The scene is set in stuffy, often windowless rooms packed with people (mostly middle-aged men) in suits, gabbling in different languages.

From energy generating shoes…

AndyBrace — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 10:16:05 +0000

to water saving showers, we’ve had lots of fabulous designs submitted from students who’ve entered our Small Is…Challenge.

Should climate change remain in the school curriculum?

AndyBrace — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:27:31 +0000

Absolutely.

Energy policy – where our priorities should lie

AndyBrace — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:42:18 +0000

There are all sorts of widening fault-lines on energy policy within today’s Green Movement.

Why do we care about carbon?

AndyBrace — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:47:42 +0000

In 2007 we committed Practical Action to the goal of cutting our overall carbon emissions by 25% by 2012. Why did we do this? Well, we saw that the impacts of climate change were already being felt around the world and that it was the poorest and most vulnerable people who were being affected first and who will suffer the most in the future.

Can we fight poverty AND climate change?

AndyBrace — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:54:56 +0000

WWF has published an interesting and well-argued report (The Energy Report) outlining a vision of a world in 2050 that’s 100% powered by renewable energy.

Energy for all – part 2

AndyBrace — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:05:50 +0000

This concept of Total Energy came out of another successful initiative in 2010 – the Poor People’s Energy Outlook report.

Energy for all – part 1

AndyBrace — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:03:21 +0000

As petrol prices head towards record highs at the pumps once more and we hear on the radio news that yet another electricity utility has announced a 10% increase in its charges this winter, there are reasons enough for one’s thoughts to turn to energy. But for more than half the world’s population it’s not price rises but lack of access to any modern form of energy at all that is the most pressing problem.

A climate agreement is concluded!

AndyBrace — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 22:59:03 +0000

The final plenary session got underway at 9.30pm in a hall packed to capacity. The President of the conference, Patricia Espinosa, in response to emotive calls from outside the hall, allowed far more people into the room than was probably safe – but we all wanted to be there, not just watch on a screen outside! She herself received a standing ovation as she came into the room.

UN Climate talks – what a difference a day makes …

AndyBrace — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 22:54:48 +0000

Just 24 hours ago civil society, press pundits and a number of
negotiators were anticipating the failure of the UN climate talks (and
no hopes for a deal to meet the needs of the worlds poorest people).

There was talk of “the death of multi-lateralism” and yet, at (quite
literally) the last minute the Parties took a gamble.

All bets were off … The stakes were incredibly high … And the
unexpected winners look to be developing countries …

UN climate talks – UK – 60 by 30?

AndyBrace — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:53:19 +0000

To be clear, I don’t really see myself as having a national identity or loyalty.

UN Climate talks – ‘if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with’?

AndyBrace — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:01:50 +0000

I’m a romantic and an optimist.

I don’t believe you should settle for second best and I hold the same principle for the UN climate talks.

We all desperately want Cancun to be a success – it’s in the best interests of every one of the 6 billion of us on the planet.

So, Practical Action, with over 200 other NGOs is pushing to ensure that, at the very least, a fair ‘Global Climate Fund’ is launched during the negotiations. A tangible sign of progress.

UN climate talks – dont go Zombie …

AndyBrace — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:22:25 +0000

Zombie films are scary.

So are zombie negotiations.

As we enter the second, and crucial, week of the UN climate talks we need to see a step-change in the ambition and commitment of all 192 countries here in Cancun.

If not, there are fears that we could see a ‘zombie scenario’ – where talks continue but are effectively dead.

We can’t afford for this to happen. Nor can the millions of women, men and children living uncertain futures on the front-line of climate change.

UN Climate talks – … and the survey says …

AndyBrace — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 02:13:10 +0000

Yes, that’s right, I’m alluding to the popular Saturday night gameshow, ‘Family MISfortunes’.

Communications giant, Ogilvy, commissioned a survey on the attitudes of attendees at the UN Climate talks in Cancun. The results made for interesting reading so I thought I’d share a few with you:

UN Climate talks – Bolivia bites back …

AndyBrace — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:34:48 +0000

So, I hear it’s snowing in the UK.

Well, there’s a chill in the air here too.

Outside, the Mexican sun is pushing temperatures to a heady 28c but inside, around the negotiating tables, it must be feeling a bit frosty.

Yesterday we heard that Bolivia (the poorest country in Latin America, one of the lowest global CO2 emitters yet hard hit by climate change) is taking a tough stance.

UN Climate talks – ‘the heat is on’ …

AndyBrace — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:17:23 +0000

… no, that’s not a cue to start dancing to the sounds of 80s synchroniser pop music.

It’s a cue to face up to the reality of the impacts of climate change.

Yesterday at COP16 (the UN Climate talks in Cancun), experts from the Royal Society reported that we should expected an average rise in global temperatures of 4c. Not by the end of the century but by 2060.

50 years.

Just 50 years before our planet and the lives of its people are changed unimaginably and irreversably.

UN climate talks – superpower scuffles …

AndyBrace — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 19:26:39 +0000

The G2 dilemma is dominating much of the conversation in Cancun.

‘G2’ refers to China and the USA – locked (in fact, dead-locked) over crucial climate change issues.

The G2 relationship reminds me of my childhood. For years I was secure with my sibling ‘super-power’ status when, without me noticing, up crept my younger sister – suddenly stronger, leaner and more ambitious than before.

The same has happened with the USA and China – whose rivalry could end up holding the whole process hostage.

UN climate talks – don’t write the obituary just yet …

AndyBrace — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:11:52 +0000

So the world’s journalists have descended upon Cancun in search of stories. Right now, the most prevalent seems to be the death of the UN climate talks and its sibling the Kyoto Protocol.

But it’s all a little premature …

It’s true that nobody is expecting to see the ‘fair and binding’ deal agreed in Cancun. The emphasis is more on pragmatism this year: identifying and focusing on the areas where we can see real change and commitment through the UN process.

UN climate talks Cancun – matrimonial bliss?

AndyBrace — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 15:55:54 +0000

For many, Cancun is the ultimate honeymoon destination.

Well, for the next two weeks, Cancun will be home to the UN climate change negotiations – 192 member states, the world’s journalists and the NGO community – but the prospect of a honeymoon period seems slim.

That’s because the ‘wedding day’, where binding and solemn vows are made, has never taken place. The world’s poorest women and men have been jilted and are still waiting at the aisle.

My Energy and Development seminar at the University of Brescia

AndyBrace — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:50:55 +0000

From the 2^nd to 5^th November I ran a seminar on Energy and Development in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Brescia. The seminar was titled “Energy Access for the Poor – Opportunities and Challenges”, and the objective was to give a wide view of the different issues, regarding energy access to the attendants. The audience was primarily PhD students, doing their research work in the areas of waste management and waste to energy, including a diversity of technologies related to energy and electricity generation at small scale.

News from Nagoya – Biodiversity, Agriculture and Climate Change

AndyBrace — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:31:51 +0000

I was not able to go to 10^th Conference of the Convention on Biodiversity,CBD/COP10, in Nagoya , the first COP I’ve missed since 1996, but have been following its proceedings closely online and kept ukabc.org/cop10.htm up to date.

A solar lamp ends the history of the world

AndyBrace — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:33:00 +0000

If you haven’t already heard the final episode in Radio 4’s ‘A history of the World in 100 Objects’, I’d urge you to listen right now. The final object selected was a solar powered lamp

Sustainable Bamboo Energy in Ethiopia

AndyBrace — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:18:34 +0000

I didn’t know much about bamboo, beyond it being a plant that grows in China and Panda Bears like to eat, until a recent trip to Ethiopia.

What access to energy means to one little girl

AndyBrace — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 13:23:39 +0000

When I visited Zimbabwe, the different community representatives I met may have varied in age to the extreme but their views on why energy is vital remained very similar – apart from the man who jokingly said that having a hair salon would make his wife more beautiful!

Energy is vital for poverty reduction and fundamental for community development. Even the children recognise this, as illustrated beautifully in just one of the entries from a school essay competition in a village where we are working.

Africa-EU Energy Partnership Day Two

AndyBrace — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:15:29 +0000

Access to energy was the focus of discussion on the second day of the High Level Meeting of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP). Having formally adopted the day before a target to provide access to modern and sustainable energy services to an additional 100 million Africans by 2020, the Partnership is faced with the question [...]

Africa-EU Energy Partnership

AndyBrace — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 08:46:32 +0000

The Hofburg in Vienna, once an imperial palace, has no doubt witnessed many political declarations in its long history. This week it was the turn of the High Level Meeting of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership, which agreed a Declaration that sets political targets for co-operation between the European Union and the African Union up to [...]

Sustainable energy in action

AndyBrace — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:23:44 +0000

Practical Action is participating at the “Vidulka” exhibition organized by Sustainable Energy Authority and the Ministry of Power and Energy of Sri Lanka.
The official media sponsor of the programme Sri Lanka Rupvahaini Corporation team featured Practical Action stall today at 11a.m.
Vidulka exhibition was part of the energy week programme declared by the Minstry of Power [...]

Tanzania energy

AndyBrace — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:14:05 +0000

Following my visit to Practical Action’s Kenya office, I travelled overland from Nairobi to Arusha in Tanzania, with 2 colleagues from Kenya and Sri Lanka. We got a first hard view of the extensive major road works being undertaken between the two countries, which turned the 250 km journey into a 7 hour journey, as [...]

Climate change: Talking about the elephant in the room

AndyBrace — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:49:23 +0000

Here in Bonn at the UNFCCC talks there has overall been rather little going on – not many arguments between governments, yet not a lot of progress on agreeing a text for negotiation, and no sense of urgency. So I went for a change of scene to Klimaforum, organised by Friends of the Earth Germany, [...]

Two steps forward, one step back towards a climate agreement?

AndyBrace — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:59:12 +0000

I am in Bonn for the first substantive meeting for climate change negotiations since the debacle in Copenhagen. We are back in the gloomy and grandiose Maritim hotel where the conference takes place and yesterday felt very much like Groundhog day – so much of what was being said both by us NGOs and delegates [...]

Europe needs to step up on climate change!

AndyBrace — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:44:48 +0000

The European climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard did her best yesterday with the Commission to show that European business and national interests would benefit from Europe setting a target of -30% reductions in emissions. The additional investment costs would only be an additional €11bn a year – with long term benefits in terms of leading on [...]

Climate change – what climate change?

AndyBrace — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 14:53:50 +0000

For many of us in the UK climate change is a bit of an abstract concept. We know it’s going on but we can put out heads in the sand, pretend it’s just not happening and just get on with our day to day lives.
The people of Nepal don’t have that luxury. For them climate [...]

Dying from climate change

AndyBrace — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:54:54 +0000

People living in the Andes mountains of Bolivia are among the lowest contributors to climate change and yet they are suffering some of the most severe effects. Instead of blaming others they are learning to adapt to the changes in their environment through the help of Practical Action.

How can the poor benefit from solar power?

AndyBrace — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:13:27 +0000

To ensure the benefits of solar power are felt by the rural poor in remote communities at least two things need to happen. The technology needs to be more efficient and cheaper but also more innovation needs to be applied to the business models that favour decentralised, off-grid, small solar systems over centralised, fossil fuel-based solutions.
Beyond [...]

Students voice their opinion on climate change

AndyBrace — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:05:50 +0000

Do young people care about climate change or even know what it is?
Some people are concerned that they don’t but that wasn’t what I experienced at the Big Bang Fair in Manchester today. Thousands of school children from all over the country attended the first day of the event and many took part in the Science [...]

Energy in developing countries

AndyBrace — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:02:18 +0000

My first trip away with Practical Action, to East Africa, has been with a focus on our energy work, and it’s already been quite an eye-opener to the challenges and opportunities for our organisation in the region. Practical Action is aiming to develop energy sources that can meet the needs of the very poor, while being [...]

Influencing government policies on climate change adaptation

AndyBrace — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:57:43 +0000

This is the fifth full day of the conference on Community Based Adaptation in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and my head is full of the experiences that people have presented, and of the plans people have developed in small groups meeting late at night or over breakfast for working together on particular topics. I [...]

Taking a lead on energy for poverty reduction

AndyBrace — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:45:28 +0000

I want to talk about the Prince of Wales and how great he is for taking a lead on issues – ones that are often unpopular and sometimes old fashioned.
In my mind he championed good architecture when badly designed concrete was seen as a modern ideal, he encouraged us to take a wider view of [...]

Living without energy?

AndyBrace — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:49:31 +0000

As I was slowly waking up, reading the Guardian yesterday morning, waiting for the kettle to boil and the toaster to pop, suddenly the lights flickered and went out. “Damn, another power cut” I thought, “not to worry, it’ll come on again in a minute.” We live at the far end of the energy distribution [...]

Climate change diaries: Zimbabwe

AndyBrace — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:20:46 +0000

Hello, I am Lasten Mika.
You may have heard a lot about Zimbabwe in the media in recent years, yet an often unreported side of life here is the changes that are taking place in our climate.
Did you know that in the last twenty years, we have been hit with the extremes of weather? And [...]

Can new technologies help reduce the impact of climate change?

AndyBrace — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:00:13 +0000

A day after climate change talks ended in deadlock in Bangkok one of the richest men in the world, George Soros pledged US$1 billion as an investment in clean energy technology. Will this make a difference in terms of reducing carbon emissions? Yes, probably…But a further question is: Will the clean energy technology be adopted [...]

Climate change diaries: Kenya

AndyBrace — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:35:01 +0000

Hello, my name is George Kamau. In my country, Kenya, Maasai’s herdsmen and agro-pastoralists are being displaced and loosing their traditional livelihoods as global warming destroys their rangelands. It is important to realise that the damage caused by climate change is not a distant concern in Kenya – it is here now and will be [...]

Are plastic solar cells going to be important?

AndyBrace — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:24:30 +0000

Researchers at Canada’s National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) and the University of Alberta have developed an approach that could lead to improved performance of plastic solar cells (hybrid organic solar cells). Conventional solar cells require materials that are expensive or in short supply, such as silicon, thus there is a great interest in the development [...]

To BEE solar powered or not to BEE

AndyBrace — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:12:18 +0000

Today the drums are beating about BEE and worker BEE a newly developed solar powered communications hub/system. BEE has been “developed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in conjunction with their partners, to provide connectivity, information, and opportunity to people and communities in remote or emergency situations”. Queen BEE and Worker BEE come in [...]