World’s two billion people lack energy

We can and must do better — Greenpeace proposes

“Energy (R)evolution”

“Bringing energy to these parts of the developing world would not only help us address the ongoing issue of poverty but, if done in the right way, we would also be a big step closer to a fairer and more sustainable future. Such a move would also help curb global warming and create millions of new jobs along the way.” Kumi Naidoo

Excerpting and editing by Carolyn Bennett

Under the current system of energy production, distribution and consumption, the world produces “large amounts of energy at a few centralized locations and sends that energy over very long distances to where it is consumed,” Kumi Naidoo writes. “This system is inflexible, often wasteful, and leaves large swathes of the world’s population un-served and without access to any energy.…

“In addition to being centralized geographically, energy production is also centralized in terms of influence with control lying in the hands of a few very powerful energy companies. All too often, these companies operate as monopolies, dictating availability, prices and access.

“Because energy corporations do not cater to the poor, about a third of the world’s population (over 2 billion people) lives with little or no access to reliable energy services.

“… People and organizations have realized that it is in our collective interest as citizens of the world to pursue a green industrial policy. This should start with a re-evaluation of the way we produce and distribute energy.

The Energy (R)evolution calls for decentralized energy, which comes wherever possible from renewable sources such as wind or solar energy and is connected to a local distribution network system. This local “micro-grid” supplies homes and offices, rather than the high voltage transmission system. The scenario would see a huge proportion of global energy produced by such decentralized energy sources – supplemented, as needed, by large offshore wind farms, concentrating solar power (CSP) plants in the sunbelt regions of the world, and other renewable sources of energy by 2050. Creating a closer proximity of electricity-generating plants to consumers will allow any waste heat from combustion processes to be piped to nearby buildings, a system known as cogeneration or combined heat and power. This means that nearly all the input energy is finally put to use.

The Energy [R]evolution is a win not just for the environment, but also for local people. Towns, villages and local communities will be empowered to produce, monitor and profit from their own energy thus bypassing major monopolies.

Properly implemented, the Energy (R)evolution would also create millions of new jobs starting with the global power supply sector which could create up to 12.5 million jobs by 2015 (4.5 million more than the current projection). A significantly increased uptake of renewable energy would create over 8 million jobs by 2020 in that sector alone, four times more than today.

“For developing countries this presents a great opportunity to catch up both financially and technologically with the more developed world. By implementing new forms of energy, these countries could leapfrog the era of dirty energy that the world’s developed countries are just emerging from – and move straight to clean and sustainable energy thereby avoiding rising oil prices, dwindling fossil fuel reserves and the ongoing dangers that come with these types of energy.

“The Energy [R]evolution won’t happen by itself. We need governments and industry around the world to implement the right policies to make substantial structural changes in the energy and power sector.…

“We need an international movement of honest men and women that encompasses environmental organizations, trade unions, development organizations and many others who have not actively thought about how the environment touches all of our lives.”

“History teaches us that real change only comes when good men and women are prepared to put their lives and personal safety on the line to advance the cause of justice, equity and peace.”

Sources and notes
“Talking About an Energy and Jobs Revolution” (Kumi Naidoo), December 13, 2010,

http://www.social-europe.eu/2010/12/talking-about-an-energy-and-jobs-revolution/?pfstyle=wp

http://www.social-europe.eu/2010/12/talking-about-an-energy-and-jobs-revolution/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SEJColumns+%28Social+Europe+Journal+%C2%BB+Columns%29

Greenpeace’s proposal for an Energy (R)evolution at www.greenpeace.org/energyrevolution

The column was first published by the Global Labor University

Greenpeace is present in 40 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Pacific; and has been campaigning against environmental degradation since 1971 when a small boat of volunteers and journalists sailed into Amchitka, an area north of Alaska where the U.S. Government was conducting underground nuclear tests. This tradition of ‘bearing witness’ in a non-violent manner continues today Greenpeace’s and ships are an important part of all our campaign work.

“Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs action.” Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organization that acts to change attitudes and behavior, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace by—

Catalyzing an energy revolution to address the number one threat facing our planet: climate change

Defending our oceans by challenging wasteful and destructive fishing, and creating a global network of marine reserves
Protecting the world's ancient forests and the animals, plants and people that depend on them
Working for disarmament and peace by tackling the causes of conflict and calling for the elimination of all nuclear weapons
Creating a toxic free future with safer alternatives to hazardous chemicals in today's products and manufacturing
Campaigning for sustainable agriculture by rejecting genetically engineered organisms, protecting biodiversity and encouraging socially responsible farming
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/

Kumi Naidoo (b. 1965) became the Executive Director of Greenpeace International in November 2009 and is recognized internationally as a forceful advocate for gender equity and against gender violence. In 1997, he organized South Africa’s first National Men's March Against Violence on Women and Children. Kumi Naidoo is an active board member of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development.

He has said, “In any platform I am given, whether environmental, NGO law, voluntary organizations, whatever it is, at least 25 percent of my time is directed toward the issue of gender equity…I think it is very important that if you support the notion of democracy, then you must also support gender equity.…

“History teaches us that real change only comes when good men and women are prepared to put their lives and personal safety on the line to advance the cause of justice, equity and peace. I believe today that Greenpeace is the leading organization in embracing that approach.”  http://www.africansuccess.org/visuFiche.php?id=441&lang=en

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