Earlier this week I saw a post from My Modern Metropolis about a
Sustainable Micro Home the Costs
Less than $30,000. First of all, that is a lot
of money, and the promotion of these homes could have done without the price
tag. This dollar amount is important, because while the idea of micro homes can be a selling point for individuals in an urban environment, they also are a source
of opportunity for advancing sanitary and health promoting environments in low
economic areas in developing countries, especially if there is the opportunity
to begin making and selling the home’s components in the area where they will
be placed. The home is built by NOMAD, and a Vancouver-based designer named
Ian Lorne Kent. As I mentioned, it is his intent to supply the home, which can
be mobile, for an affordable price that is less than $30,000. If it becomes
cost-effective the residence integrates all of the basic rooms in a standard
home—into a 10' x 10' space. Beyond residence, this design of the Micro Home can eventually be used in developing countries for mobile health
clinics and other vital services. Additionally, the opportunity to great an energy station from solar power or alternative energy production tools could create additional benefits if the home is used in the context of the developing world.
This IKEA type model, which has a direction of a luxury
feel, should begin to transform itself away from the niche of design, and reach
for the need for function that a mobile building, that is quick to build and
has amenities, can do in a developing country. It is the designer’s goal to produce an efficient home, which he has done. Whether he has set the ground work for a potential new wave of housing in the developing world will be up to him.
With joint support from the Climate Development Knowledge Network and the Energy and Environment Partnership with Central America,
and in close cooperation with the INCAE Business School, the Worldwatch Institute has
completed a study that is a “roadmap of a roadmap”—it scopes the improvements that need to happen with regard to the key components of a sustainable energy system and establishes the necessary methodology and groundwork for comprehensive national energy strategies in Central America.
It also analyzes the
conditions necessary for their advancement. The report identifies important
knowledge and information gaps and evaluates key finance and policy barriers,
making suggestions for how to overcome both.
Below are the report's key findings:
Central America, long a frontrunner in hydropower and
geothermal energy, is exploring its potential for expanding these technologies
in a more sustainable manner while also developing other renewable energy
resources such as wind, solar, biofuels, and agricultural waste. Costa Rica is leading the world in its ambition to be “carbon neutral” by 2021.
As Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama expand, use of fossil fuels is on
the rise, while the use of fuelwood, primarily for cooking, continues to be
unsustainable and high.
Across the region, an estimated 7 million people still have
limited or no access to electricity services. Renewables are the only
convincing and affordable solution to provide underserved communities that are
far from existing grids with access to modern energy services.
Central America’s non-hydro renewable electricity share is
13 percent, impressive when compared to the global average of only 5 percent.
The urgent challenge for the region is to build on past successes and avoid
locking in economically, socially, and environmentally costly fossil fuels for
decades to come.
The potentials for renewables are enormous: Geothermal alone
could satisfy nearly twice the region’s predicted electricity demand through
2020. Existing regional wind power installations currently use less than 1% of
the available resource potential. Solar and biomass have enormous potentials
throughout the region.
Despite their sustainable energy ambitions and policy statements,
the seven countries of Central America have been unable to comprehensively
design, synchronize, and implement the program of work necessary to promote
sustainable energy solutions to their full potential.
In Conclusion, in all Central American countries, a rapid transition to
100% renewable electricity generation is both technically possible and
socioeconomically beneficial. To support this transition, the report suggests four areas
for improvement in knowledge and communication as well as four areas for
improvement in finance and policy:
Produce additional, detailed assessments of renewable
resource potentials in the region and make them publicly available.. This is something Crowd Energia is interested in working toward.
Assess renewable resource technical potentials via an integrated
energy planning approach
Assess and communicate widely the full socioeconomic impacts
of different energy scenarios, including impacts on local economies and job
creation; and
Increase efforts to support national and regional renewable
energy research; boost public awareness of renewables; and strengthen the
related knowledge and human resource capacities of the government, banking, and
private industry sectors.
Overcome the following finance and policy barriers:
Evaluate existing policy instruments related to renewables
and, where necessary, refine the policy mix;
Streamline administrative processes for developing new
renewable energy projects and make them less costly and time intensive
Establish clear indicators for measuring, evaluating, and
reporting progress on renewable energy policies and investment environments
Central America can power its economies in large part with
renewable energy sources, helping the region and the world to address some of its most
pressing development challenges. What is needed now is the continued,
collaborative effort of researchers, governments, and the private sector to
help realize this goal.
