WE live in a solar-powered world, yet nearly two-and-a-half billion people are desperately short of energy with which to improve their existence. There are two energy crises: the one we know about, in which 21% of the world’s population guzzles 70% of the world’s commercial energy output, mostly in the form of pollution-causing fossil fuels. The other energy crisis is barely perceived, and the proceedings of the United Nations World Solar Summit, which grappled with it over two days last week, have barely been reported. It is the crisis in which 40% of the world’s population still live at a basic subsistence level without any form of electricity. This is just as big a challenge as tackling the new world food shortage or the greenhouse effect – and is linked to both of them too.
Meeting the energy deficit for the poor 40% of the world by conventional means is vastly expensive and will only add to pollution. Nuclear power is prohibitive for a poor country and we are now well aware of its hidden costs. To provide fossil fuels to this huge clientele would run down resources and increase environmental damage: poor countries cannot afford the pollution- reducing frills of the developed world. The use of wood and charcoal has already devastated forests, but can only be slowed down if there is an affordable substitute. The most obvious resource is the enormously powerful one above our heads, and the related renewable sources of wind and tide. Yet investment in renewable energy research is marginal.
The list of heads of state and government attending the World Solar Summit in Harare was a roll-call of deprivation. The United States, Britain, Germany and other Western nations were only represented by diplomats based in Africa, although China and India sent ministers. The conference suffered from being organised by Unesco, against which the US has been waging a vendetta. Except for the high-profile Rio Conference, most international environmental campaigns fail to be noticed, and then fail.
The Harare Summit has identified 300 projects already under way in 60 countries which need support. Funding for renewable energy technologies takes up only 3% of lending by the World Bank and other multilateral banks. Yet the value of the emerging worldwide market for these technologies, if it were encouraged to develop, could reach $40-billion a year. Small is beautiful, but it can be complex and expensive. Unesco’s new vision needs new cash as well.