Electricity – The Green Tau

Counting on … day 96

26th June 2025

Expanding access to clean, affordable and sustainable electricity to everyone is one of the UN’s development goals.

The following comes from a report by the Prometheus Institute

“Delivering universal access to “affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030 has become a prominent global target under goal 7 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Great progress has been made in recent years according to the 2024 State of the Global Mini-Grids Market (SOTM) Report, which found the number of people without electricity fell by 466 million between 2010 and 2021. Mini-grids have been a key driver towards greater energy access, with installations in 2024 set to be over six times higher than in 2018.

“The UN has nonetheless predicted that 660 million people around the world will still lack access to electricity by 2030, with Sub-Saharan Africa particularly in need of accelerated efforts.” (1)

Projects to meet these goals need to be financed.

This month the United Nations Development Programme noted that:-“As the global community prepares to convene in Sevilla for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) later this month, one question looms large: how can we mobilize the capital needed to deliver sustainable development in a world of constrained public finance?

“Africa offers a critical part of the answer.

“This week, UNDP launched the Fourth Africa Investment Insights Report—a data-rich guide to 250 real, investable opportunities across 20 countries. These projects span sectors such as renewable energy, health care, agriculture and inclusive infrastructure. Each one combines strong commercial potential with measurable development impact.

“This is not charity. It is strategic investment aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).” (2)

Whilst Climate Home News reported:-

“Climate negotiators in Bonn have been tasked with taking a “deep dive” into how a roadmap to boost climate finance for developing countries should look, so that it can be finalised at COP30 in Brazil –

“… At the start of the mid-year talks, UN climate chief Simon Stiell advised governments that the roadmap for mobilising $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 should not be “just a report, but a how-to guide with clear next steps on dramatically scaling up climate finance and investment”.

“That will mean reconciling widely divergent views among countries about what sources of finance the roadmap should draw on – and what form the money should come in…The “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T” was launched as part of the new climate finance goal (the NCQG) agreed at COP29, with a commitment for donors to raise $300 million annually – largely from the public purse – at its core.

“One main unresolved rift is that developing countries wanted the $1.3 trillion to consist of public money from rich nations – In general, developing countries have requested that the $1.3 trillion should consist of new money that is not re-labelled from other budgets, with public grant money as the bulk of it, excluding loans and other forms of debt.” (3)

Knowing what needs to be done – and knowing how it can be done – is not the same as being willing to pay for what needs to be done.

Counting on … day 94

24th June 2025

Solar Aid is a charity that aims to provide people in developing countries with access to lighting (using LEDs) to communities that a) do not have access to the grid and b) cannot afford household sized solar panels. They describe their project as follows:-

“Just as mobile phones have revolutionised communications across Africa, leapfrogging the need for landlines, picosolar lights (aka small solar lights) are now helping to bring light and power to millions of people across the continent.

“While grid electrification is not going to reach most of rural sub-Saharan Africa in our lifetimes, the solar light revolution is taking place right now, helping light up millions of homes, which would otherwise be kept in the dark.

“The concept is simple: Small solar panels, which can be as small as the palm of your hand, convert sunlight into electricity. This in turn charges small batteries, which are used to power efficient LED lights…For the first time, families can stop using dangerous, polluting kerosene lamps and candles.” (1)

That many communities cannot even afford this form of lighting, is the reason that this charity looks to people like us to provide the money.

https://solar-aid.org/bright-solutions/the-solar-light/

Living sustainably with electricity

22nd June 2022

What does sustainability look like in daily life? I thought I would share our (me and my husband) experiences. We buy our electricity from a green supplier – Ecotricity – as well as producing our own from solar panels. We are currently investigating installing batteries so that we can make greater use of what we generate.

Living sustainability with electricity is about not using it unless needed.

no dishwasher and no tumble dryer – clothes dry on the line outside or a clothes horse inside when wet – and no freezer
Hand turned burr coffee grinder
Hand whisk
Broom and dust pan for most floor cleaning and vacuum bedroom carpets
Hand sewing machine
When we buy appliances – fridge, washing machine, cooker – we look for those with AA ratings. For a television we also opted for small rather than large screen.
Ditto small rather than large fridge
Our regular wash cycle is the 20 minute express programme with 10 minute extra soaking time.
Only washing clothes when needed – a shirt will last 4 or 5 days, trousers and jumpers even longer.
I use an iPad rather than a laptop and an iPhone and where possible charge them when our solar panels are producing energy. Ditto for recharging bike lights.
Only filling the kettle as needed and only heating to the temperature needed – 94C for coffee.
Plan baking bread and cakes to fill the oven. Use these days for an oven baked dinner
Planning meals to minimise number of hot plates needed. Turning hot plates off before cooking finishes to use the residual heat.
Using the microwave to cook porridge, vegetables and fruit
Turning off lights when not in use and using low energy bulbs
No electric garden tools

Our metered electricity consumption for the last 12 months was 1542 KWh