Africa Green Collar Project

Part 2! Chloe Coral & Adam Mwangaila!

How can young people work to accelerate the Africa’s energy transition towards a sustainable energy future? The answer? Sustainable Energy Education and Fostering Mutual Growth. This month’s podcast showcases the experiences of three students, Christina Merkai (Part 1) and Chloe Coral (Part 2) from Engineers Without Borders (KTH), Sweden and Adam Mwangaila from the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. They worked together on a project to electricity a school in Singida, Tanzania. Through the podcasts, they share with us their experiences whilst working on the project, we talk about the challenges they faced, the advantages that they had through their collaboration, and they provide us with pointers on what one needs to think about when embarking on such a project!

Correction* it is estimated that “according to historical trends about 515 million people will still lack access to electricity by 2030” (Dagnachew, et al., 2018).

Check out Christina’s article on phase one of the wind energy project that they did in Tanzania!: https://www.greencollarafrica.org/blog/wind-power-for-tanzania-ewb-kth

Manual for building a wind turbine: https://www.scribd.com/book/228828204/2F-Wind-Turbine-Construction-Manual

References

Dagnachew, A. G., Lucas, P. L., Hof, A. . F. & van Vuuren, D. P., 2018. Opportunities and Challenges in Achieving Universal Electricity Access in Sub-Saharan Africa. [Online] 

Available at: www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-conte…09/OEF-115.pdf

[Accessed 09 February 2019].

Part 1!

How can young people work to accelerate the Africa’s energy transition towards a sustainable energy future? The answer? Sustainable Energy Education and Fostering Mutual Growth. This month’s podcast showcases the experiences of three students, Christina Merkai (Part 1) and Chloe Coral (Part 2) from Engineers Without Borders (KTH), Sweden and Adam Mwangaila from the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. They worked together on a project to electricity a school in Singida, Tanzania. Through the podcasts, they share with us their experiences whilst working on the project, we talk about the challenges they faced, the advantages that they had through their collaboration, and they provide us with pointers on what one needs to think about when embarking on such a project!

Correction* it is estimated that “according to historical trends about 515 million people will still lack access to electricity by 2030” (Dagnachew, et al., 2018).

Check out Christina’s article on phase one of the wind energy project that they did in Tanzania!: https://www.greencollarafrica.org/blog/wind-power-for-tanzania-ewb-kth

Manual for building a wind turbine: https://www.scribd.com/book/228828204/2F-Wind-Turbine-Construction-Manual

References

Dagnachew, A. G., Lucas, P. L., Hof, A. . F. & van Vuuren, D. P., 2018. Opportunities and Challenges in Achieving Universal Electricity Access in Sub-Saharan Africa. [Online] 

Available at: https://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/OEF-115.pdf

[Accessed 09 February 2019].

So what do entrepreneurs and clean energy have in common?

Well we actually do not know, which is why are hosting this podcast!, so today’s podcast was actually very interesting, we had an initial view into energy from an investor’s perspective, however Tony Tiyou Founder of a 2 in 1 company Renewables in Africa who joins us today gave an alternative view into this.

We have mentioned countless times that currently more 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity, we have also acknowledged that provision of access to electricity based energy services in the region can only be achieved by integrating on-grid and off-grid electrification solutions. Accelerating the move towards energy service access requires that we also include the private sector, as we need money. So what goes on in the mind of an investor when they are looking to invest in an energy project? Why is renewable energy an important factor in this conversation? And ofcourse where do young people fit in this conversation?

Meet Renewables in Africa! A 2 in 1 company offering clean energy engineering consulting services and also operates as media company that is spreading the "green gospel" of renewable energy in Africa -raising awareness about renewable energy industry in Africa.

Renewables in Africa details! Website: www.renewablesinafrica.com/ Linkedin:www.linkedin.com/company/renewables-in-africa/ Twitter: twitter.com/renewablesafri?lang=en

Stay in touch with us! Check out our website: www.greencollarafrica.org Follow us on: Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/1127... Instagram: www.instagram.com/greencollar... facebook: www.facebook.com/greencollara... twitter: twitter.com/GreenCAfrica

The drive to improve energy access in many areas in Sub-Saharan Africa and the growth in investment in renewable energy technology has fueled the conversation on how electricity can be used as a tool for change and impact.Rachel Kyte, CEO of SEforALL, and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All in her opening remarks at the Sustainable Energy For all forum held in Lisbon in May 2018 of this year highlighted that “… we need to think differently about how we deliver affordable, reliable and clean energy services. “On our podcast today, we want to ask ourselves, how can we re-think how we use energy as a tool for change and impact? Our focus is on developing countries.To do so we are joined by Dr. Scott Kennedy, Executive Director of Energy Action partners speaking to us from Boston Massachusetts, USA. Energy Action Partners is an international organisation that works to provide access to sustainable energy internationally with focus on regions with limited energy infrastructure looking at off-grid or weak grid environments for providing electricity access.Links to our previous podcast with Morwesi Ramonyai: Off-Grid Electrification in African Cities - https://www.greencollarafrica.org/podcastsSome of the topics we explored today:

• How can we ensure that the mini-grids and other projects involving electricity access are sustainable (they will continue to operate and function in the future) with significant long-lasting impacts, and generate new innovations locally on how we use energy?
• Energy Action Partners Mini-grid game: a digital tool being used to get communities involved in the implementation of electrification solutions.
• The importance of community involvement in the implementation of electrification solution

We are excited to be launching part 2 of our podcast which follows up on our previous exciting podcast (Precision Agriculture: building climate resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa) with Dr. Kassim where we learnt about Precision Agriculture and also talked about the challenges faced by small scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

On part 2 of the podcast we engage International Technologist, Brendan Moroso where we look at how we can enable small scale farmers to gain better predictability and visibility using technology! Imagine the possible benefits to small scale farmers if they could get information on when to plant crops based on weather! So listen in! engage us and learn something new!

Photo courtesy of: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2018/05/03/using-big-data-to-link-poor-farmers-to-finance/

Welcome to another podcast on our Sustainable Sundays series. This month we are joined by Dr Dènes Csala a Data scientist, energy expert and a lecturer at Lancaster University.  In this podcast Dr Csala speaks about how to use energy data to find better ways of teaching people about energy and sustainability. He shares details on a project he is currently working, which aims to educate high schools in  on renewable energy and sustainability. This podcast promises to be an interesting one. Do not miss out.  

Offgrid electricity solutions are coming into cities? What?!!!

We are so excited about this month’s podcast. Today we are engaging an energy entrepreneur Morwesi Ramonyai where talk about the future of energy in African cities. We had a chat around off-grid electrification in cities and asked ourselves, why is this strange trend is being observed? We talked about business models that are working for off grid energy solutions, we explored the opportunity for mini-grids in Africa and of course we had to ask, how youth can get involved in this space? So listen in engage us and learn something new.

Links:

Morwesi's company: www.borena.co.za

Photo courtesy: https://whyelectricitymatters.com/2017/10/12/electricity-matters-words-small-business-owner/

We are excited to talk to Michael O’Brien-Onyeka! We begin by talking about Michael's career and his journey on becoming the Senior Vice President of the Africa field division at Conservation International.  We also talk about the benefits  and challenges facing partnerships specifically between the private sector, government and civil society, and Mr. Onyeka also shares his thoughts on what the youth should keep in mind to get involved insustainability.  Our first podcast of the year promises to be a good one make sure not to miss it.

Why podcasts? #They chow (consume) less data! #You can listen to it anywhere!

Welcome to another Sustainable Sunday brought to you by The Africa Green Collar Project. On this podcast, we speak to Dr. Olufolahan Osunmuyiwa, a development professional and researcher at the Institute for Environmental studies in Amsterdam. Our conversation focuses on sustainable energy transitions in developing countries more specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Osunmuyiwa discusses the political and cultural drawbacks and how these factors influence the energy sector. More importantly we look at how the ripple effects of such struggles in the energy sector can influence other economic sectors. We also talk about the influence of energy interventions on households, gender relations and power structures!

To get some insight on some of the topics we discussed:

1. Low Carbon Energy and Development Strategies: https://goo.gl/7y1Ekj

2. Africa needs a new energy plan: https://sustainableafrika.com/2017/10/23/africa-      needs-a-new-energy-plan/

Our first ever podcast is ready! We hope you are as excited as we are at #greencollarafrica. To kick off our Podcasts, we introduce to you Brian Kakembo(IG: @travelfreak256); the champion of the Waste to Energy Youth Initiative in Uganda (WEYI).

His project involves the production of eco-friendly briquettes which are produced from agrowaste. He has been able to train over 600 youths since 2015. A graduate of commerce specialising in finance, he says "Energy is something I picked up along the way".

Tell us your thoughts! 

links: Student Energy Summit: www.studentenergy.org/ Bryan's Youth Initiative video: youtu.be/z0sb1MAsz5o