Category Archives: Economics

Odds and Ends

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Whis brought up an important issue on the last post – CFLs in Uganda. Namely that CFLs contain mercury, a heavy metal that is quite toxic and dangerous if not disposed of properly. A common concern is mercury in fish which results in the advisory for pregnant women to avoid eating fish. I decided to buy a CFL since my desk lamp light blinked out and in the process try to answer Whis’ question about disposal. Home Depot, $5 dollars for 1 40watt bulb and i was set.
CFL front DSC02393

CFL back DSC02394

Desk lamp with CFL DSC02396

And voila! Light! DSC02398

What i was able to find on the package no less, is that in North America, lamprecycle.org is a great resource, it has the state and EPA regulations for disposal of spent lamps. It also points to Earth911 where you can enter your zip code and it gives you the location of your local recycling center.

As for Uganda: I am afraid Whis i do not know…couldnt find a website for now, the other ministries appear to have a site but not the Energy ministry. Info from anyone there on the ground is greatly appreciated.
Daud in Kenya also pointed to the launch of PANARECC

Panerecc Launched at the Grand Regency on Thursday 26th April 2007

The Parliamentary Network on Renewable Energy and Climate Change (PANERECC) is a proposed Parliamentary network to promote renewable energy and climate change policy and particularly the synergy between New and Renewable Energy (NRE) as a tool for combating climate change

As of this posting I am getting a 401 error on their site, so check it again later.

Other Stuff

Tech/Internet – Its a bad URL world out there i.e malicious code can found on the URLs of sites …so get Finjan secure browsing addon for firefox. (Yes i know that attempt at channeling 3-6 mafia was lame oh i will say its maxi priest “Uuu baby its a wild world ” Bugger, that aint it either, i am leaving it in the post despite its hobbliness.)
Econ -2 links to articles by James Shikwati, he is one of the speakers in the upcoming TED Global. Link 1 on harmonisation of tax laws in the EAC with the somewhat hilarious question â??Will the East African Federation increase the size of matoke on our plates?â?ť Link 2 – “Urbanizing Kenya to fight poverty”. Speaking of urbanization and poverty, Atanu Dey has excellent posts on this very issue.

Music and TV (Diaspora US): VH1 soul has a cool program One Planet One soul, airs on sundays. Soul from Africa and aroung the world. Likes of Les Nubians, Somi etc. This was also mentioned over at Annansi Chronicles, a very cool blogger and designer, check out the blog here and the cool afrocentric tshirts here. If you arent subscribed to Benn Loxo yet and you are a world music fan…what you waiting for?! Gems on that site i tell you.
Annoyances: SMSs asking you to not buy gas/petrol on May 15th. Here is the snopes entry debunking that urban legend.
Last but not least, thanks for reading this far… and Happy Mothers day to all moms, especially our fellow bloggers who are new moms, KP, Mrembo and Medusa.

DSC02403

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Uganda- Encouraging Energy Efficiency (CFL’s)

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UG energy saver program posterPic by Bankelele.(Thank you!)

The Ugandan energy resources department has a program where regular light bulbs are exchanged for higher efficiency CFL’s (Compact Flourescent Lamps). CFL’s last longer and are energy efficient. They are guaranteed by the department such that if they blow out within three months, they are replaced at no fee.

While on the topic of energy efficiency, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) issued its report which you can read the pdf here.

The economist had an article summarizing their take on the above report. Relevant to this post -

In some areas of economic activity, emissions could be cut with no cost to consumers or taxpayers. The heating and lighting systems of many buildings, for instance, are startlingly inefficient. Improving this would cut both emissions and bills. Economists are troubled by this, for it implies that people and businesses are not maximising their economic self-interest; yet the low take-up of energy-efficient lightbulbs suggests this is indeed the case. Governments are therefore beginning to tighten regulations on the energy efficiency of buildings, and to talk about, for instance, banning incandescent lightbulbs. The IPCC reckons that such measures could cut 30% of projected emissions from this sector at no extra cost.

This is where i state the obvious – consider changing your light bulbs to CFL’s, if i had changed mine already i would say something like, “Please change your light bulbs to CFL’s”.
For those in Kenya, i would interested in knowing where you can buy CFL’s, please leave a comment if you notice them next time you are shopping, I will list the locations if we get enough feedback. What is in this for you? How about this, i have 2  Joost invitations up for grabs.

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Use of Solar Vs Kerosene in cameroon

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This is an article from Cameroon by Sylvestre Tetchiada, reporting on solar energy use for rural electrification. Interesting stats. Not entirely clear on whether actual use of solar has ‘muscled’ out kerosene, 60% of the 17 million population still use kerosene, what percentage or what stats point to the ‘muscling’ out of kerosene by Solar any increase in the last couple of years? If so by how much? I do realize that getting specific data on stuff like this can be problematic, so please pardon my ‘reading between the lines’. It is still a very good article, it points to the benefits of solar vs kerosene use – No smoke in the eyes of teachers grading papers at night, better quality of life, and the myriad uses of solar. Good stuff. The other good thing pointed out in the piece is the transfer of knowledge from the notable Barefoot College in India. This is the classic ‘showing someone how to fish’ rather than giving someone the fish which they will eat for a day. It is also an example of good use of aid money from UNDP – the training and involvement of women in this program.

Solar power is not without its own costs. “In our country, you need on average 500 to 1,000 dollars to equip a home (with solar electricity systems), and most do not have the money,” Yves Ngouala, an economist based in YaoundĂ©, told IPS.

But, this hasn’t stopped the Association for the Support and Assistance of Women (Association pour l’appui et le soutien Ă  la femme, ASAFE), an NGO based in the economic hub of Douala, from sending four women to India for six months’ training in solar power technology.

The women were briefed at the Barefoot College, an organisation founded in 1972 to equip rural people with various skills, which has branched out across India.

“The women we sent to train in the technique of solar powerâ?¦will return to electrify 100 houses each in their respective villages, where inhabitants made use of kerosene and wood for cooking and heating until now,” says ASAFE President Gisèle Ytamben.

It will be interesting to find out how the program goes. Obviously i am biased here but you know if women are involved…It will surely be something successful.

The Cameroon government has some catching up to do, by eliminating import duties on solar panels just like Kenya did June last year.
Thank you Whis for sending me the story.

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The Long Tail by Chris Anderson

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longtailbookcover
I am still reading this book at this point, but just had to recommend it, and if there are any of you reading it right now, i would welcome your thoughts on it as well.

Chris Anderson is the editor of one my favorite magazines – Wired. He started blogging his book in 2004, i remember reading the piece about it but paid it no mind (I should have).

The book is similar to the hugely popular freakanomics. In just the first 2 chapters of this book are observations about current trends in business, specifically citing the entertainment and online bigwigs such as google, yahoo, ebay etc.

From what i could garner so far[I am grossly simplifying this, but do check out his blog and the book for more detail]…the idea is that there is money to be made by providing more choices, the internet provides the framework for offering and delivering these choices to many many consumers.

Increasingly the mass market is turning into a mass of niches

The strategy of successful companies such as google, is in realizing this important fact
He went through gobs of data from the above named companies, and notes on pg 12 that ‘data gives clues to how consumers will behave in markets of infinite choice.
“As companies offered more more, demand followed supply”
longtailghaphic
Looking at the above graph, the long tail in yellow – It does not reach zero…when examined closer as he does in the book, is the realization that this is where, as an aggregate, the bulk of the money is made.

It made me think of another book i have been meaning to buy, C.K Pralahad’s ‘Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid’ (Though this is on a different tip) but i would like to think of the ideas presented by both Pralahad and Anderson, though more geared towards Africa (as apparently my heart and mind always gravitate)…This might take awhile but hey this is a marathon, not a sprint eh?

AOB: Pics from Reggae on the River Festival held over this past weekend in california will be coming up. Quite an experience it was…complete with a Solar ATM. I am not kidding you. There was a solar ATM! oh, and Sean Paul too.

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