COP23 Despite Rick Perry

As COP23 (The 23rd Conference Of the Parties) approaches, this absurd episode occurs!  

The United States' Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, decided to drop a bombshell just a week before the event.(►click here◄) And to be honest, if he hadn't brought Africa into his absurd argument, I would have simply just laughed for a few seconds and let it go.  

The Perry Episode

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will commence in Bonn, Germany on November 6th 2017 and will last until the 17th. 
This meeting of world leaders and leaders in business seeks to continue in its resolve to (at the very least) remind its members about their commitments to take action that will reduce, prevent, and manage the effects of excessive CO2 gases in the earth's atmosphere. 

However, Secretary Perry felt this was the best time to launch his misplaced campaign for fossil fuels, and decided to involve something that is very dear to me in the process.

Now, the funny thing about this is that I normally wouldn't have written anything about this man's absurd comments if he hadn't mentioned "Africa" in his twisted logic.

But in order to let you know why I didn't find it all that funny, here is what he said: And here is a video of him saying it:

"It is gonna take fossil fuels to push power out into those villages in Africa, where a young girl told me to my face...[blah blah blah]....when you have light, it shines the righteousness, if you will, on those acts [the acts of sexual assault.] "

Hold On! Rapists Can Be Repelled By Fossil Fuels???

Well, that is amazing!
So, I really want to talk about why COP23 matters to us in Digital Africa, but let me just quickly unpack this man's depressingly disappointing argument for one moment:

1) Let us even assume that light (produced through electricity) can actually save this "mystery" girl from sexual assault. You know, let's assume that sexual assault cannot happen at noon in any part of the world.....Did she specify that she needs fossil fuel powered light, specifically, to save her?

2) If SHE did not say it was going to take fossil fuels per-se to protect her, but Mr Perry thinks this is the right solution, then how did Mr Perry arrive at this messianic ability of fossil fuels? 
I'm curious. Is it possible that Mr Perry could simply be using this young lady's fear to conjure up an illogical argument for justifying fossil fuels a week before COP23?

3) Which is more likely to penetrate African villages today?  Is it fossil fuels OR solar energy? Ask Akon. 

4) Now.
Please, can somebody tell me this man was joking?
Because if he is serious, then these folks weren't drinking the same schnapps he was. 

You know? I actually find it a bit odd that he choses to repeatedly use the term "fossil fuels" to classify them.
Considering the circumstances, I would imagine it is probably wiser to say, "power from natural gas or coal". I dunno.  

Anyway, back to the more important matter that should be trending at this time:
Why Africa needs to pay attention to COP23.
But quickly, a background.

What is COP23?

The 23rd Conference Of the Parties - a meeting that involves all of the member nations (or parties) that form the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 
Their purpose is to collectively and individually tackle human-influenced global warming. It is important to note that in the opinion of the parties, a historic milestone was achieved in the 2015 edition - COP 21; the much talked about Paris Agreement.

What Happened At The Paris Agreement?

Although it is widely regarded as a historic success, COP21  features commitments and promises to reduce carbon output and limit global warming to lower than 2%.
It should interest many of you reading this that a lot of the recent announcements by some countries to ban the sale of gasoline-engined cars, while at the same time investing heavily in a cleaner electric grid, can be traced back to their need to honour these commitments.  

What Is Happening Now?

A significant event that was initially expected to have a mostly adverse effect on the COP21 resolutions was US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the agreement.
However, something else seems to be happening as a result. This. 
In fact, some would argue that Trump's decision is only going to make governors, mayors and corporate leaders in the country more resolved and more fired up to do what they believe is the right thing.

The Renewables Revolution Is Still In Full Swing

Regardless of what Secretary Perry says, the world is embracing this change, and therefore, everyone of us members of Digital Africa must be alert to this. 

Rick Perry's voice is certainly not loud enough to affect this global tide. Therefore, it will not likely be fossil fuels, as he thinks, that will "rescue" African girls from "sexual offences". (tongue-in-cheek btw) 

On a more serious note, the evidence is strongly piled up on the side of solar energy and storage (google the hashtag #StoredSun) having greater penetration in rural areas in Africa. 

But I am, however, going to warn that solar may not easily or quickly overcome the role of fossil fuels in African cities and larger towns that are served by an electricity grid.

We should understand that the revolution in Africa will start outwards and slowly extend inwardly. 

Take Away For Digital Africa?

I keep saying, "Be informed. Stay in the know. pay attention."

Knowing what the leaders of the world are up to is never a waste of your time. Neither is knowing how your leaders in Africa are responding to these policies and changes.
Digital Africa is, among other things, a community of Africans who are future oriented. We do not want to be left behind. We want to know what direction the world is headed. 

So if you have been following the stories from the UNFCCC since COP21, you would know that the major climate policy topic that was found to be the most important to African leaders, was that of "Capacity Building".


Therefore, as many of you that have been listening to my advise; either here on this blog, or in real life, my tip for you (for now) is to tune in to the COP23 Youtube channel.
Also consider doing google searches like, "COP22 Capacity Building in Africa" or "COP22 Capacity Building in Nigeria".
Also consider taking a look at my previous article about Climate Change. 

Always learn to variate your keywords when using Google. Reading one document is never really enough to get the full gist of a topic/idea. Always try to converge information on that topic from several different sources. 

Tell me what you think in the comments section.  
Also link up with me on LinkedIn or on Twitter.
You already know where to find me on GooglePlus.
And click here to keep up with this blog.

Here Comes The Sun

Electricity is the biggest challenge we have in most of Africa. And yet right now, the rest of the world is transitioning into using electricity as the only source of power for everything. Electric cars like Teslas, are quickly becoming the norm.

So what would Africa do when the only cars left to import are electric cars?


Let us start with an illustration that I like to use to explain my case for solar energy to my fellow Christian brothers and sisters.

So, my favorite illustration for renewables is as follows:

Above VS Below

Do you remember when Jesus said the following statement to the Jews who did not believe in Him?

And He said to them", “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world." John 8-23

Now, let's take the two types of energy sources used these days, renewable sources (mainly solar and wind) and fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas). We can also talk about hydroelectricity which still supports my argument, but I'll leave it out for time.

BENEATH:
One type of energy source comes from deep under the ground. 
4000 to 7000 feet.
We dig into the ground in order to extract the dead. 
I meant that literally.

Fossil fuels are actually the remains of dead creatures and plants. Hence "the dead".

Anyway, it turns out that men have been powering the world using the dead for a long time now. 
Men dig up the dead from around 6000 feet beneath the earth, and BURN them to use as energy and transportation.

Wait! Did you catch that? 
We burn them. 
The dead. 
And we get them from way beneath the earth. 

But you never thought of it that way, did you? 
And then how about the evil things that have accompanied oil and gas for all these years?
How about the wars? How about the Niger Delta in Nigeria?
How about all the suffering and poverty that has come out of conflicts related to oil and gas?

No?

Not enough?

Okay, let's move unto the counterparty.

ABOVE:
What is physically above all within the realm of this Earth? 
Good guess. The sun. 
A gigantic ball of blinding light. "Unapproachable light" when you really think about it. 
A "consuming fire" if you will allow (Bible reference: book of Hebrews).

We are talking of a kind of fire that was not "discovered" by men, because it has ALWAYS been there. Hahaha! 

Again, it was put there long before there were men. 

...AND science also tells us that it is the sun's heat that is even responsible for the large winds that also produce another kind of renewable power. (see John 3:8).
The Sun causes the winds to blow. 

Hmmm! Coincidence?

So it gives us light to see, keeps us warm, and also causes the winds to blow the clouds that give us rain. Trifecta! 

And NOW, my brethren, I tell you, it promises us unlimited, sustainable, and somewhat FREE energy.

A photo of the sun as a mighty and giant angel. Picture credit: https://www.guideposts.org/inspiration/angels/angels-escort-a-loved-one-to-heaven

So once again, one power source comes from beneath the Earth, and is made up of the dead that are burned.

The other power source comes from above. (GEN 1:16) It gives light and life freely every day.

I am sure that those of you who are bible-reading Christians understand why I kept emphasizing the words "dead" "below" and "burn") Lol. 

Anyway, let us leave bible class, and look at the global understanding of the problem...

The Scenario

Paleontologists teach us that the crude oil, natural gas and coal, that most of the world uses for energy today, are derived from fossils. Fossils are the remains of dead animals and plants that died millions of years ago. Don't shoot the messenger.

Scientists tell us that when animals die, they very slowly decay,  and as they are exposed to heat, along with plants around them, they are gradually broken down into large deposits of carbon and hydrogen - called hydrocarbons. The stuff that we get from coal, oil and natural gas.

This is why they are called fossil fuels, because the remains of prehistoric living things are burned in order to generate electricity for our use.

However, scientists believe that burning them is causing a dangerous problem known as climate change.
And if you haven't heard about this phenomenon before or have never paid attention to it, they warn that it is really bad!

So here is a big picture intro from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,  along with my own layman's explanation of how climate change is happening:

Illustrating The Problem:

Adaeze is hungry. She decides to start cooking bitter-leaf soup with a kerosene stove. Kerosene is gotten from refined crude oil (a fossil fuel).
As she cooks, Adaeze's room gradually starts to get warmer and warmer.
She quickly opens her two small windows and the door, and the room quickly cools down as a reasonable amount of the heat escapes from the small room, and some cool breeze enter.

Unfortunately, two minutes later, her sister and her 2 cousins enter the room as well. And they are also hungry. So they start to cook their own food with a larger pot and a larger burner.

Despite the fact that the door and windows are open, there is more heat being generated by the larger fire (since it is a larger heat source), and also by 4 people breathing in the remaining cool air in the room and breathing out their warm CO2 in that small room that Adaeze lives in.


This is a caricature of what scientists tell us is happening to the earth through Global Warming. The CO2 that we are pumping into our atmosphere is growing rapidly as more and more people burn more and more fossil fuels to create more and more electricity and to drive more and more cars. There are other generators of CO2 (like belching livestock) but those are not important for this particular article. 

The Solution

Because mankind has finally realized that we cannot go on destroying the earth with excessive CO2 gases, and because we also know that these fossil fuels will eventually run out, mankind is now moving aggressively towards renewable energy generation.

Massive scale use of clean renewable energy to generate electricity, plus a massive shift to people using electric powered vehicles is the revolution that is desired. And there is strong political will around the globe driving this change.

And eventhough a lot of people still erroneously think that renewable energy sources like wind are solar are too expensive, those who are paying full attention to the details are marching on fearlessly into the future. 
I want you, young Africa (Digital Africa), to be a part of that march.

Your Role In The Revolution?

Okay, so now that you are on board, let me tell you what you need to be doing...

As a young woman or man (boy or girl) who subscribes to the Digital Africa way of thinking, who is future oriented, and who is always eager to learn, you need to be actively keeping up with what is happening in the renewable energy industry around the world, in modern energy storage, as well as in the world of electric vehicles.

Whether or not our governments in Africa, or our big businesses are paying adequate attention to these three massive future arenas should not affect your resolve to take this piece of advice.
Because, if you think about it, when has the rest of the world ever asked for Africa's permission or input before it moved on to the future?

So I am asking you to prepare yourself.
Now, some of you that are not yet familiar with my writings may ask, "why should we prepare?" or "prepare ourselves for what?" 

Well, it's not that easy to explain....

Think back to 1990 or thereabouts, when you first heard some people in Lagos going around saying that everybody needed to become computer literate or be left out. 

Or, around 1996, when many people started talking about the internet, the global village, and the "information super highway". Many of those folks never truly understood what they were talking about, because many of them did not actually practice what they were preaching back then. 

But imagine if your parents or older siblings had heeded their call, or if you yourself immediately got up and worked very hard to learn all you could possibly learn about computers and about using the internet. 
Imagine if you applied yourself day and night to the idea that what you were learning then was going to help you get some strategic advantage in that time's future.......i.e. TODAY! 

What if you had already learned HTML and CSS to a competent level by the year 1998? Imagine how good your web design skills would be by now? Most likely, you would have gone way beyond web design to adding other skills like Python, Javascript and SQL to your arsenal by now. And perhaps you would not feel even the least bit intimidated about Machine Learning by now- which is regarded as the highest paid skill in the developed world today.

This would have made you in very high demand all over the world, and a candidate for some of the highest paying jobs on the planet. 

Yes, what if?

So again, I am asking you to prepare yourself. Because what is happening now in the energy and transportation world is similar to what happened with the dawn of the internet.

Revolution simply means change!

How To Key In To The Revolution

Use the free information on the internet to dive into the facts behind the fiction that fashions the future.
Go beyond the superficial layer. Beyond the hype. Learn about what is really happening. I can't stress this enough.
This is one of the reasons why, for those who know me, I am so passionate about Tesla. I have been paying attention! Most other people have not! Especially many of those that you see on TV claiming to be experts.

Don't just be like the majority of people that like to state meaningless cliches like, "Oh, for sure, solar is the future", without actually knowing what they are talking about. 
Be eager and determined to get a clearer picture of what are these things that are supposedly coming. This will, without question, lead you to a massive wealth of entrepreneurial ideas and economic opportunities. 

And even if you are not an engineer (let's say you are a bloody social scientist like myself) you can still discover paths within the coming renewable revolution, that do not require you to have engineering skills. 
It is all about using what you have (your enriched mind) to get what you want (a good seat at the table in the future).

I will include this powerful comment that I came across by a gentleman on Facebook...

Okay, you know what? If that didn't make much sense to you.... Or if you think there cannot be any possible opportunities for you in a future energy related industry, then tell me in the comments section below, and I will prove to you that, even if you are an undergraduate in English Department, you can still learn enough about the future of sustainable energy and transportation to give you opportunities when the time comes.

Conclusion

So, going back to my illustration, the next time you see the sun rise in the morning, remember what I told you about energy from above and energy from below.
If you are a Nigerian, consider how much and for how long you have suffered at the hands of NEPA.
Ask yourself, is it so difficult to see a future where the whole world is powered by the sun and the 4 winds of heaven?

My next article would contain more specifics:
I would talk about the solar energy business in America, I would talk about battery storage, and I will talk about the world changing Tesla electric cars.
Do check back here in about 2 weeks.
But until then, you can go through my old article about a statement from Bill Gates that has created a dangerous mistake made by some Nigerian billionaires, even though Gates himself no longer holds the position. See that here ► Article about Bill Gates And Energy.

Also consider following this blog for monthly updates if you are not already following it. Click here  ► to follow the Digital Africa blog

Also connect with me on:

Google Plus (my office) ► Google.com/+RotimiOrims

Twitter ► RealOrims, 
on Facebook ► Solar Plus Power
and on ► Quora

Use my hashtag to keep up with my renewable energy and electric car related posts on social media = #StoredSun

Bill Gates & Africa's Energy Poverty: Good Intentions; Dangerous Interpretations

This is one blog post where I really seek feedback. 
Whether contrary points of view (preferably), or corrections, or any kind of contribution on this critical topic affecting our continent. So please feel free to share your thoughts at the end....

Bill Gates To Help The Poor Get Energy

"These days, I don’t take energy for granted. I know what a difference it can make in the lives of the poorest [people], and I’m committed to helping them get it."                                       - Bill Gates

The above quote came from Bill Gates' blog post entitled "Powering The Fight Against Poverty" and I couldn't be happier with him for it. ♥

I find myself sharing opinions with the legendary computer scientist and entrepreneur on many other thoughts from his blog; like Africa being the least to blame for climate change and yet the most likely to suffer the greatest causalities to its effects. 

I also loved Mr Gates' kind advocacy for Africa where he says,

"Instead of putting constraints on poor countries that will hold back their ability to fight poverty, we should be investing dramatically more money in R&D to make fossil fuels cleaner and make clean energy cheaper than any fossil fuel."

That one came from another 2014 blog post by Mr Gates.  
In fact here is a scrumptious video bonus for you here ► Bill Gates speaking at TED.

Bill Gates' "Faulty" Argument?

Nevertheless, I am going to very respectfully disagree with Mr Gates on one particular point. And emphatically as well because of the gravity of what is at stake:

"We should not try to solve the problem on the backs of the poor. For one thing, poor countries represent a small part of the carbon-emissions problem. And they desperately need cheap sources of energy now to fuel the economic growth that lifts families out of poverty. They can’t afford today’s expensive clean energy solutions, and we can’t expect them to wait for the technology to get cheaper." 

This is indeed very nice and thoughtful from the philanthropist, but I warn against very likely misconceptions that such a statement could very easily generate and has very possibly already generated.


Not all of today's clean energy solutions are too expensive for Africa (And I am referring to sub-Saharan Africa). Solar energy is MOST certainly NOT too expensive for us! 
The rate at which costs of renewable energy solutions is falling is too dramatic to make such dismissive statements at this point in time.

I am very confident that solar will actually be cheaper for us, not just in the long term (beyond 2030), but even in the mid term (from 2020 to 2030) as well. So why wait? Why not begin building capacity right now? 

Feeling The Full Blast Of Africa's Energy Poverty

But before someone gets irked by that claim, and accuses me of being an insensitive son of an ex-military ruler that spends most of his days living lavishly in the UK, let me quickly add that I fit perfectly into the category of those people who Bill Gates says are in desperate need of electricity right now!

I do not currently earn enough to power my home any much more than the average Nigerian does. Despite that, I am certain that I have, by far, more need of electricity than any human being I ever met, by reason of the amount of time I spend everyday on the Web - improving my knowledge and skill on Semantic Web technologies, Big Data, digital marketing and Google Analytics. I also obsessively do research on electric vehicles, battery technologies, micro-grid distribution, and most of all, renewable energy generation - including solar, geothermal, biomass, solar thermal, and emerging sustainable energy trends.

Yes, you could argue that all of this boils down to simply powering a laptop, and yet recently when both my laptop battery and my UPS backup system both went bad, I suddenly realized how desperate such a situation was, and how terrible it must feel to live like this all year round.

Add to that the fact that I have to deal with teaching a small (but growing) group of young people to help them acquire digital skills and learn code, yet who live in much harder circumstances than even I ever imagined (and cannot even afford their own laptops).

Side note:
 I didn't start obsessing over renewable energy because I was an environmentalist that wants to save the world (even though I have NOW indeed began to care).
I do it because my commonsense tells me that Africa has to key-into the knowledge economy at some point in our existence, and we can not go back to begin at the stage of the industrial revolution.
I realize that we simply have to START FROM THE FUTURE! And renewable energy, for me, is clearly that future. So as strange as it sounds, our present wretched state of electricity supply is an opportunity for us....

So I can safely say that I am many times more awake to the electricity horror than any other Nigerian right now, and YET, here I am, INSISTING that solar energy should be our NUMBER ONE priority!!! (without necessarily abandoning our natural gas projects of course).

So how could Bill Gates' statement generate misconceptions? 

"... They can’t afford today’s expensive clean energy solutions, and we can’t expect them wait for the technology to get cheaper."

First recognize that I actually found Bill Gates' article during a spirited debate with a fellow Nigerian who had completely bought Mr Gates' argument. Which at the time, wasn't really Mr Gates' argument. But he (Bill Gates) had actually given some sort of endorsement to a certain Bjorn Lomborg. Find that here. 

During the course of our argument, I kept referring him to data from energy related sources (like the US EIA, World Economic Forum and US.DOE). He on the other hand kept referring to statements made by Bill Gates. 

You see, the dynamic at work here is that when the richest man in the world appears to say that Africa should leave clean energy to the developed world, the danger is that many Nigerians would probably not bother with any kind of confirmatory or contradictory research on the matter any longer. Many would just simply fall in line. 

They could very likely dismiss the idea of renewables altogether; in fact some of the elite already are dismissing it.
And knowing my society the way I do, I can guess that even if solar became a hundred times cheaper than fossil fuels, Nigerian policy makers would then still probably need to be struck by lightning first, in order to revisit the argument again. 

Here are two tweets from Nigerian billionaire, Tony Elumelu during the World Economic Forum at Davos 2016:

 

Again, this kind of talk will leave many not-so-informed people with the idea that renewable energy is a kind of luxury that will never be able to replace fossil fuel sources. 

Similar comments have come from Jim Ovia and Aliko Dangote (Nigeria and Africa's richest man) who appears to have been getting very friendly with Bill Gates since the latter brought his admirable fight against polio to Nigeria in 2011. 

Now, compare Koffi Annan's comment:

I should point out that Alhaji Dangote is among the many billionaires who joined Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Coalition that was announced at the Climate Change Conference (COP21) .

Would it be a surprise me to see Dangote team up with Bill Gates sometime in the near future, trying to sell his TerraPower travelling wave nuclear reactor to Nigeria? 
Not likely.

Follow The Truth; Follow What Is Abundantly Clear

The truth is, I have nothing against people who "follow" Bill Gates (I don't mean on Twitter). I just think these issues are much bigger than one man. Regardless of how smart, or how rich, or how generous that man is. 

Africans need to have their own thinkers.
Other parts of the world are fast becoming knowledge economies. Innovation always trumps maintaining the status-quo.
So why must we be different?

Figuring out how to convert all of the free knowledge available to us into location-biased technology, and that technology into location-biased solutions is our only challenge. 

We can overcome this challenge through the use of clear focused government policy that makes solar power generation and solar technology research very attractive in sub-Saharan Africa, and more importantly, attractive to young Africans. If we do not incentivize it, it will never get a fighting chance against the traditional sources (like oil, gas and coal).

I cannot say that I am 100% certain that Bill Gates is wrong, but I personally prefer Elon Musk's "sleeves rolled-up", value-chain thinking approach to the CO2 problem. Musk and several other "hands-on" entrepreneurs are tackling the issue from many angles, eventhough they are not all multi-billionaires like Bill Gates and Alhaji Dangote. 
In my opinion, their drive to defeat global warming will soon catch up with our hunger for energy. 

It only makes logical sense that a technology that requires a raw material that is absolutely and abundantly free ( the sun, heat and the winds) will surely become cheaper than the alternatives that need to be extracted and processed before being used to generate power.

So whether it is for Climate Change, or for reducing Energy Poverty, these people's (Elon Musk and co) continuous ACTION will keep doing exactly what the world needs: persist in driving down the cost of solar panels, other renewables and energy storage. 

So Nigerians must quickly realize that we must choose to prioritize on sustainability. And start putting in the necessary action now!
Coal is not sustainable, and I doubt that gas is either. 
America and Europe may have gotten their opportunity with coal during the famous industrial revolution, but things are different now....

Solar is the "new coal". It is also the "new oil". 
We must see this as a revolution for us as well, not just a means of generating electricity. 
We must not utterly fail this lesson!
Sooner, rather than later, we must understand that this is an excellent opportunity for us to aggressively gain a bit of lost ground on that exponentially increasing technological gap between us and the Asians (not to mention Europe and the US). 

DO NOT GIVE UP ON GAS

What I am saying is not meant to take anything away from Africa's traditional power generating projects, like our natural gas projects in Nigeria.
I strongly suggest that we continue to grow our generating capacity with gas, rather than flaring it. 
But why should this slow down any solar aspirations we might have?  

Again, I repeat that the main reason why I am strongly advocating for solar energy is not because I am trying to save the planet but actually because I am convinced that it will not be any more expensive than the traditional sources that Africa is used to.

Let us consider the Grand Inga Dam Project which African leaders came up with. Consider that $80 billion is to be spent on this project that should bring 40,000 MW of power between 2020 and 2025. This number (40GW) is no doubt very good news for Africa, and even more so that that price includes the cost of transmission lines as well. But Africa has only one Inga falls. 

Now, obviously there is no way that any solar project can dream of that 40 GW output number. The largest solar project currently, is in the Mojave Desert in California and it's output is presently less than 400MW. 
Now, It cost $2.2 billion, but there are reports of bigger projects coming up around the world that would be proportionately bigger and cheaper. 

But my real argument is that if we quickly add very large solar projects to this Grand Inga Dam thing, it will start us off on a path that would definitely bring down the cost of future renewable projects in sub-Saharan Africa and in each respective individual country. 

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is a concentrated solar thermal plant in the California Mojave Desert. It has a gross capacity of 392 megawatts.

Let us take a look at the relentless drives being made by developed nations, confederations and agencies (like the IEA and IRENA), and realize that we must also gear up for the future. The world is certainly not playing around with renewable energy, and neither should we. They are not only worried about global warming, they are ALSO aggressively trying to break their shackles from oil exporting nations. (Nigeria, does that mean anything to you?)

We must understand the potential implications of the strides achieved by the State of California, and more recent ambitious goals by China, Oman, Morocco and the City of Vancouver.

Back in 2012, the Barack Obama of the US made a deal with auto manufacturers to reduce fuel consumption to 50 miles per gallon. This is part of a long term goal to reduce fossil fuel consumption of US vehicles by 80% before 2050.

It is sad that at such a time when (reliable) information is free on the Web, many Africans seem to be intellectually lazy. But we must encourage our children to read extensively for their sake, and their children's. 

It is really upsetting every time I read about possible plans to build more HVDC transmission lines that would potentially carry power generated in African deserts to Europe. It doesn't upset me because I think Europeans are greedy - after all, the existing lines have been bringing power from Europe to North Africa anyways. What upsets me is the fact that Europeans have seen the huge potential of Africa's sunny deserts for ages, while we refuse to open our eyes.

I am not an engineer but I have done a lot of research into this power crisis for a few years now. And I have made my conclusions that decentralized distribution is one of the biggest solutions that sub-Saharan Africa will need to truly overcome our energy poverty.

Part 2 of this post will continue with my ideas on decentralized Micro-grids, battery storage, and how sub-Saharan African governments (like our North African counterparts) can attract the best solar energy deals to the continent, and also build local skill and capacity in the process. It is now ready. Find it here.

Now it's time to hear from you.
Do you have any contrary points of view (preferably), or corrections, or any kind of contribution on this critical topic affecting our continent? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments....