by Caiphas Chimhete This is the third in a four-part series on Solar Energy
As natural forests and woodlands continue to be depleted in southern Africa, the “solar option” seems to be one of the renewable energy solutions to environmental degradation in the region. However. Without governments subsidies, deforestation will continue as many people cannot afford a solar installation.
Although the trend today is to move away from government subsidies, a tax incentive has been proposed on all purchases related to solar energy. Such measures could help to reduce deforestation by encouraging more such purchases.
The unavailability of conventional sources of energy in southern Africa has contributed to environmental degradation as peasants, who form the majority of the population. eke out a living from the land through unsustainable means.
According to the State of the Environment in Southern Africa, a report by the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) in collaboration with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Environment and Land Management Sector, most urban areas in southern Africa are surrounded by cleared land, the result of intensive woodcutting to supply urban demand for fuelwood.
The report says although most households in the region cannot afford to pay the US$500for a biogas unit or US$2S0 for a solar heating system, there is potential for solar energy systems.
Commenting on the excessive use of firewood and its effects on the environment, Tanzanian president, Benjamin Mkapa says, “over-exploitation of this source of energy leads to environmental degradation … I cherish the hope of using the sun to improve the quality of life of the millions of our poor people while, at the same time, safeguarding the environment against all forms of pollution, degradation and destruction.”
Mkapa, however, says the available institutional capacity for solar energy development and utilisation remains weak and is characterised by poor linkages — domestically, regionally and internationally.
Much of the fuel wood cut in Angola. Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia is converted to charcoal for urban households. In southern parts of Mozambique, trees equivalent to those found in an area covering 150-200 square kilometres are cut every year to supply fuel wood to the country’s capital city, Maputo.
Environmentalists argue that the use of solar in both urban and rural areas would not only reduce deforestation but will also foster development, and in the long-run improve living standards. For instance, lighting in rural areas would enable more children to study and get good grades unlike a situation where lack of lighting compromises their school performance. So too, can industrial or any other work continue into the night.
sub-Saharan Africa’s population is increasing rapidly and is expected to double in the next 35 years, putting a further strain on the already limited resources. Solar energy is so far the easiest alternative to non-renewable sources of energy with the abundance of sunlight in the region.
Wood fuel accounts for 75 percent of SADC countries’ total energy consumption, putting tremendous strain on forests and woodland reserves.
In most countries in the region, however, solar energy is still being used on a smaller scale. In Namibia, especially in rural areas, biomass is the main source of energy mainly used for cooking and in rural industries such as brewing, drying of fish and pottery.
Biomass is energy from fuelwood, charcoal and crop residues such as maize stalks. Eighty percent of the total energy consumed in SADC comes from biomass. Malawi and Tanzania get over 90 percent of their energy from biomass while South Africa. Swaziland and Zimbabwe get below 50 percent each.
Fuelwood saving and afforestation programmes are being implemented in Namibia, Botswana. Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
However, Zimbabwe’s target to achieve a more than five percent afforestation rate each year, the same rate at which deforestation is taking place, is proving impossible to date as the rural people continue to cut down trees without replacing them.
In Tanzania, 85 percent of the people live in the rural areas and firewood is their main source of energy. Charcoal, mainly used in urban areas, together with wood accounts for 92.83 percent of the country’s energy consumption.
To save the environment, SADC countries have increased efforts and private initiatives for the development and dissemination of various alternative energy technologies such as solar energy, fuel alcohol, biomass and wind mills.
Some foreign and local private firms in the region are selling solar energy devices such as photo voltaic panels, solar cookers and solar heaters, a move welcomed by many environmentalists.
However, the most restrictive factor on the use of solar energy is cost of installation. In view of this impediment, world leaders who met in Harare during the World Solar Summit in September recognised the “need to provide sufficient energy services at affordable prices and the adoption of energy conservation measures a essential for the progress of all countries to meet current and expanding needs in ways that would minimize environmental damage”.
Analysts say unless governments within and outside the region live up to their Solar Summit commitments and make solar energy accessible to the poor, saving the environment will remain a dream.(SARDC)
