Africa’s energy crisis needs urgent radical intervention
Sep 08, 2011
Professor Mahmood Mamdani raised important issues in his analysis in the New Vision of Thursday, Sept 1, on Libya and the implications to Africa.
Professor Mahmood Mamdani raised important issues in his analysis in the New Vision of Thursday, Sept 1, on Libya and the implications to Africa.
That Africa is once again at the frontline of an economic war: This time, between a contemporary domineering West and the emerging East. And that through our lack of democratic reforms, Africans are busy stoking the flames like in days of yonder. Although I do not entirely agree with him on ‘democratic’ reforms because I think it is again lack of cohesion and of a technology base that we might be recolonized, I will, in this article, share reflections on a recent proceedings at an academic meeting touching on Africa’s energy problems in Cape Town, South Africa.
I will relate these to the possibility of being taken over again through our territorial fragmentation and lack of unity.
First, we were discussing a device being designed to help rural Tropical Africa residents to harvest more energy directly from the sun as compared to using current devices available anywhere else on the planet. The main concerns motivating the design were the low per capita energy usage by Tropical Africans, the low labour productivity in the region, the rapid environment degradation and the poor health resulting from chronic use of poor combusted biomass. The charts below illustrate two of the concerns.
The main design issues here were cost, ease of installation, operation and maintenance for a ‘typical’ peasant home. Research issues included weather/climate in the target region across the year, materials, processes and tests in target area. There were engineering academics originating from western, eastern, central and southern Africa regions together with some from European countries.
What was most striking was the difference in relative sensitivity to the 500-800 million African peasants’ plight and what could actually happen (or is already happening) if nothing radical is done to address the continent’s energy crisis. On one hand was a small vocal group entirely unconcerned about this problem.
They would rather, the device was adopted to solve western problems (for example, in transport of refrigerated foods to old age homes). On the other, were a silent majority western educated and influenced engineers.
While the latter appreciated the problem in Africa’s villages, many were oblivious of the business potentials that may be availed by the design – and of the need to look at the continental peasantry as a potential block market. This might have been because of the differences in perspectives on business in different countries.
Thus while in many African countries, for example, business may be left for the so-called ‘less educated’, in others like Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, educated people are making inroads into business.
In summary then, one sees a continent largely deprived of educated engineering entrepreneurs. Yet even her few engineers’ efforts can very easily be channelled elsewhere as a result of differences in business environments created by the 19th Century balkanisation.
This leads to an unpalatable result of continuing to depend on outsiders for our own future survival. Given that the world’s natural resources are becoming scarcer amidst a ballooning population, it may not be long before the rule of the jungle: survival of the fittest (read most technologically advanced) takes over.
Look at the energy charts above: If the Chinese, Indians and Brazilians (constituting the bulk of the rest of the world) grow to consume as much as the developed OECD populations, there would be virtually nothing left for Africans. And re-colonisation seems almost inevitable! – unless of course we wake up now and urgently do a few things: rework our education curricula to motivate science, engineering, entrepreneurship and continental integration; consolidate markets; dismantle the nineteenth century borders and form perhaps two to three giant countries on the continent.
If we can achieve these through western determined democratic means alone which I am convinced is impossible.
That Africa is once again at the frontline of an economic war: This time, between a contemporary domineering West and the emerging East. And that through our lack of democratic reforms, Africans are busy stoking the flames like in days of yonder. Although I do not entirely agree with him on ‘democratic’ reforms because I think it is again lack of cohesion and of a technology base that we might be recolonized, I will, in this article, share reflections on a recent proceedings at an academic meeting touching on Africa’s energy problems in Cape Town, South Africa.
I will relate these to the possibility of being taken over again through our territorial fragmentation and lack of unity.
First, we were discussing a device being designed to help rural Tropical Africa residents to harvest more energy directly from the sun as compared to using current devices available anywhere else on the planet. The main concerns motivating the design were the low per capita energy usage by Tropical Africans, the low labour productivity in the region, the rapid environment degradation and the poor health resulting from chronic use of poor combusted biomass. The charts below illustrate two of the concerns.
The main design issues here were cost, ease of installation, operation and maintenance for a ‘typical’ peasant home. Research issues included weather/climate in the target region across the year, materials, processes and tests in target area. There were engineering academics originating from western, eastern, central and southern Africa regions together with some from European countries.
What was most striking was the difference in relative sensitivity to the 500-800 million African peasants’ plight and what could actually happen (or is already happening) if nothing radical is done to address the continent’s energy crisis. On one hand was a small vocal group entirely unconcerned about this problem.
They would rather, the device was adopted to solve western problems (for example, in transport of refrigerated foods to old age homes). On the other, were a silent majority western educated and influenced engineers.
While the latter appreciated the problem in Africa’s villages, many were oblivious of the business potentials that may be availed by the design – and of the need to look at the continental peasantry as a potential block market. This might have been because of the differences in perspectives on business in different countries.
Thus while in many African countries, for example, business may be left for the so-called ‘less educated’, in others like Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, educated people are making inroads into business.
In summary then, one sees a continent largely deprived of educated engineering entrepreneurs. Yet even her few engineers’ efforts can very easily be channelled elsewhere as a result of differences in business environments created by the 19th Century balkanisation.
This leads to an unpalatable result of continuing to depend on outsiders for our own future survival. Given that the world’s natural resources are becoming scarcer amidst a ballooning population, it may not be long before the rule of the jungle: survival of the fittest (read most technologically advanced) takes over.
Look at the energy charts above: If the Chinese, Indians and Brazilians (constituting the bulk of the rest of the world) grow to consume as much as the developed OECD populations, there would be virtually nothing left for Africans. And re-colonisation seems almost inevitable! – unless of course we wake up now and urgently do a few things: rework our education curricula to motivate science, engineering, entrepreneurship and continental integration; consolidate markets; dismantle the nineteenth century borders and form perhaps two to three giant countries on the continent.
If we can achieve these through western determined democratic means alone which I am convinced is impossible.