Conclusion of Date With History!

FORCE Blog series 2: I Love Windpower Brings Energy and Identity to Mali

“If I had to sum it up in one word, I would say identity,” says Piet Willem Chevalier, owner and operator of I Love Windpower. “On my first trip to Mail, I saw this group of people that were really shy, that didn’t want to ask questions, they had no confidence. After we made that first turbine, we threw a party and it was quite amazing to see how this sense of identity grew.”

One day Piet literally drove off the road, transfixed by a set of wind turbines. He couldn’t have known at that time that this incident would change his life. In a few years he would be bringing wind power to Mali where the poorest communities often pay the highest rates for energy. 

One thing led to another and Piet started working as an engineer for Siemens wind. After about a year he discovered the work of Welsh engineer, Hugh Piggott. Mr. Piggott is the inventor of an open source, affordable, small-scale wind turbine design. Piet invited Hugh to come and teach a workshop in the Netherlands. It took some convincing, but Mr. Piggott finally agreed.

That workshop taught Piet how to build these turbines, and in doing so it changed Piet’s life. Piet knew that he needed to take this new skill and technology to a place where it would be most beneficial and he could pass it on. One of his best friends was from Mali and he figured that Mali was as good as anywhere else to get started. He founded I Love Windpower. Designing a course that was easy to teach, transcended language barriers and used readily available materials, Piet flew to Mali. In two weeks, he and a team of 10 people, 5 who couldn’t read or write and 5 who couldn’t speak any French, built a better turbine than Piet himself had done.

The windmills deliver energy to local homes, but they also had some unexpected impacts. Two men participating in the workshop were from different tribes that for the last 20 years had not spoken to each other. During the workshop the two men became great friends, and now the tribes are talking again. The sense of identity and ownership derived from this windmill project has been remarkable.

“This is something that I never realized when starting this. Even if this project is going to fail completely and they never make a business out of it - which I still believe is possible and just takes some more time - every investment has accomplished so much from a social and identity perspective.”

Recent events in Mali have threatened I Love Windpower’s projects – not only because of the military coup and the rebel unrest, but also due to an impending food crisis. Piet recently wondered whether his little amount of money would be better used feeding people. After much debate with his team, they decided to keep the project running. They thought giving these people something to be proud of, and which one day may become a financially sustainable business, was deemed equally important.

Piet is now also working with Wind Empowerment, a group dedicated to small turbine development across Africa and the globe. He will be attending Rio+20 and setting up windmills around the conference. Some of his volunteers have taken the skills gained with Piet even further, and in one case started the Tanzania branch of I Love Windpower.

As for the Mali project, it is too early to see where it will go, but one thing remains certain, small-scale windmills are helping build community and identity while providing much needed electricity to Mali.

This blog post is part 2 of a series of wind energy stories from photographer Robert van Waarden. Next week meet Amrit Singh Thapa, an engineer from Nepal who has a big wind energy vision.

Climate Change And Health Adaptation Podcast

(To listen online, visit http://daraint.org/2012/05/11/3513/podcast-climate-change-health-adaptations/)

The Adaptation Performance Review of the Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2010 assesses over 50 key measures that can be taken to reduce dangers and harm to communities and the planet across the four main impact areas of the Report. Highly cost-effective actions exist for minimizing nearly every type of impact assessed in the Climate Vulnerability Monitor.

There are a variety of measures that can be taken to prevent deaths due to climate change, and many of them are very affordable. Since outbreaks of disease related to climate change are concentrated within certain regions, age groups, and socioeconomic groups, good targeting of these diseases is feasible. Lifesaving measures to address these health problems are some of the most well-documented and effective measures we have in fighting the negative effects of climate change.

Many adaptation measures for Health concerns are highly or very highly effective. Two especially effective adaptation actions are School health and nutrition programs and basic sanitation facilities.

School health and nutrition programmes rate highly on costeffectiveness, co-benefits, feasibility, and scalability. This programme is among the least expensive of all health measures assessed here. Improving child health can also lead to better educational results. Such programmes can roll out quickly using existing educational networks and have an especially high impact on the poorest and most undernourished children.

Evidence shows that the number of children reaching school age (defined as 5 to 14 years of age) is increasing due to such child survival programs. In Kenya, treatment of Helminth infections reduced absenteeism by one-fourth, with the youngest children (who typically suffer the most ill health) showing the largest gains. The evidence base for school health and nutrition programmes is high -- we have several well-documented examples from various geographical regions. However, not all types of intervention are relevant to all situations or locations, so it is essential to assess the needs of a community prior to each implementation.

Basic sanitation facilities programmes rate highly on costeffectiveness, co-benefits, and scalability. At a construction cost of $60 per capita for basic sanitation facilities and a lifetime of 5+ years for a latrine, this programme remains among the least expensive of the health measures assessed here. Lower-cost models are possible in areas that lack infrastructure or where more complex sanitation systems are not feasible, making such a programme highly cost-effective even where construction costs are high.

The programme is beneficial to all groups in a community lacking sanitation and reduces the spread of diarrhea while also producing socio-economic and cultural benefits. However, it is unclear whether we can attribute the positive effects to the installation of latrines alone, since benefits have only been measured in combination with improved hand-washing habits. Benefits are highest where a clean water supply is also available.

The World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the World Bank have already developed technical specifications and guidelines for low-cost sanitation projects, and many well-documented case examples exist.

Other health adaptation measures analyzed in 2010 included breastfeeding, oral rehydration therapy and zinc supplementation, immunization programmes, improved water supply infrastructure, insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor residual spraying, and excessive heat event notification and response programmes. To learn more about them and their effectiveness, read the Health Impact section in the Adaptations Performance Review within the Climate Vulnerability Monitor.