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An incredible reforestation story from Brazil

Ayoub Hameedi

The story that I am going to share in this report is from Brazil and in my opinion is amongst the most incredible stories of our times. It shows what we as humans are capable to accomplish once we pursue something with sheer will and determination. Nothing seems impossible and nothing appears to be unachievable provided we follow the chosen path and do what needs to be done. Most importantly, this story gives us a strong hope that we can reverse the damage done to nature and environment by taking much needed steps in the right direction at right place and time. We can achieve goals outlined in Paris Climate Agreement. We can limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees to reduce the negative effects of a changing climate on countries across the globe. This story is about hope and what we as humans are capable of once we set our minds to accomplish something.

This wonderful story is about Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado and Sebastião Salgado who took this excellent initiative to replant an entire forest on their family farm that was suffering from deforestation and land degradation. Sebastiao Salgado together with his wife Lelia planted 2.7 million trees on their family farm that Sebastiao Salgado inherited from his parents. Once the forest was regenerated, the surrounding ecosystem quickly benefited from this. Close to 168 species of birds that had previously abandoned the place due to deforestation made an elegant comeback. The same was the case for 30 species of mammals and 15 species of reptiles too that now considered the regenerated forest as their home. The family farm “Bulcao Farm” that once went completely dry, now had flowing streams again. It is important to point out here that trees are the nature’s finest invention. Trees are home to numerous species of birds and insects and play a crucial role when it comes to rain occurrence and resulting flow of water in the form of streams on the ground. Most importantly, trees are the nature’s carbon capture and storage solution that helps us to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in our atmosphere. Trees are just like room temperature controller systems we have for our indoor spaces. A place with dense forest cover will certainly be cooler in terms of temperature and have a regular flow of water than a place with no forest cover at all. In fact, the wonderful story of forest regeneration by Lelia and Sebastiao is an excellent example of this case.

Lelia and Sebastiao have also formed a non-governmental organization “Instituto Terra” with the primary aim to increase environmental awareness among masses in general. Through Instituto Terra they also operate a nursery that facilitate farmers in the surrounding region when it comes to forest regeneration on their lands as well. It is vital to point out here that the nursery has saplings only from native species of trees which then ensure sustainable socio-economic development for farmers and local economy. The below video from Instituto Terra gives us a quick insight of the whole story:

This video is an intellectual property of Instituto Terra

Summing up all, there is no other planet in our solar system that has the right conditions for us to survive and thrive. It is only planet Earth that offers us this delicate balance that enables life to survive and flourish.  It is our primary responsibility to protect and preserve nature. We must understand that we share this beautiful planet with millions and millions of other species that also have a right to exist and thrive. In-fact our own existence is associated to a healthy planet with well-functioning ecosystem services and products in place. A healthy planet means a more resilient planet that would have a high chance to withstand climate change and to maintain the delicate balance needed by us all to survive and thrive in a sustainable manner. Nature has an excellent ability to bounce back to a healthy state provided given a chance. We must all do what needs to be done to give mother nature such chances regardless of either we live in an urban area or in a deforested rural landscape. One by one, these mosaic pieces will help us all in limiting temperature increase to 1.5 degrees and to capture and store enough CO2 via reforestation efforts. Together we can all make a positive difference.   

© Copyright 2023 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.

Chile is introducing electric buses in Santiago to fight pollution

Ayoub Hameedi

Excessive reliance on fossil fuel powered public transport system is causing smog problem in Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The greenhouse gases emission reduces the quality of air in Santiago and also adds more to the health budget of the Chilean government as its citizens suffers more and more from respiratory problems. In order to mitigate the environmental issue of pollution, the Federal government in Chile is taking an ambitious step by replacing fossil-fuel powered buses in the capital city of Santiago with electric buses, that are an eco-friendly option to operate in the city. 

To enable the swift transition, the Chilean government has purchased 200 electric buses from China out of which 100 buses were delivered in November 2018 whereas, the remaining 100 electric buses will be delivered in near future. An excellent feature about the newly introduced electric buses is that it provides public with free Wi-Fi that helps the passengers to stay in contact with rest of the world through internet. Apart from free Wi-Fi, it also provides masses with charging ports, so that the people can charge their electronic gadgets, just in case, if they are in the middle of an important telephone call and they are also in short of the battery.

An introduction of electric buses in the existing transport system also requires further modifications and improvements in the transport network. First and foremost of the needed improvements would be the availability of enough charging plugs so that all of the introduced electric buses can get enough spots for recharging. Another important point to mention here is that an introduction of 200 electric buses will certainly push electric buses towards maturity in Santiago city in Chile. This means that in the coming years, more and more electric buses would be added in the existing fleet. Therefore, the demand for electric charging plugs will exponentially grow. Keeping this in mind, the city administration of Santiago and the national government of Chile should install more electric charging plugs in the coming 5 – 7 years. Apart from the installation of plugs, the national government also needs to focus on increasing its installed renewable electricity generation capacity. The introduced project would only prove to be sustainable in nature, if it is powered by clean electricity. Therefore, the Chilean government also need to exponentially grow its installed clean power generational ability in the coming decade. Another likely outcome to bear in mind is that the snowball effect of electric buses will certainly expand to other cities in Chile. An ideal situation for Chile would be that by 2050, practically every public bus in the country would be powered by clean electricity. A successful launch of electric buses in Santiago city would certainly motivate other cities in South America to replicate the same in the coming decade or two. Thus, whole of the public transport sector in Latin America would be steered in the direction of sustainability.

All in all, an introduction of electric buses in Santiago is a right step in the right direction to increase the implementation of sustainability in the transport sector of Chile. The need of hour is that the addition must by supported by an increase in the number of charging plugs along with an increase in the installed clean power generational ability of Chile. It is quite possible that few years from now, all of the other cities in Chile will deploy electric buses too. Thus, the presence of a strong clean power generation sector along with an adequate facility to charge buses will increase the successful implementation of electric buses project in Santiago and in rest of the Chile. With adequate policy attention and financial resources, the suggested recommendation can easily be implemented in  the span of 5 – 10 years. It will not only steer public transport sector in Santiago in the direction of sustainability but will also create an excellent example for the rest of the Chile to follow.

© Copyright 2019 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.

Moser Lamp – A low-cost innovative solution for indoor lighting

Ayoub Hameedi

Poverty is certainly the biggest hindrance to overcome for governments and policy makers to implement sustainable development goals (SDGs) in true letter and spirit. According to World Bank (WB), poverty statistics has significantly improved since 1990 however, we need to take more concrete actions to mitigate the existing poverty ratio. Three decades ago, 1.85 billion people used to live on less than USD 1.9 a day whereas, in 2015, the same statistic was 736 million people. Thus, there is a significant decrease in poverty statistics however, uplifting 736 million people out of USD 1.9 trap is still a big challenge to resolve. There are many factors that are responsible for poverty to exist across the globe. In my opinion, lack of access to electricity is the most important reason. It minimizes the academic and job perspectives of an individual and thus forcing either him or her to stay in the same financially tight situation for years. There is a dire need to develop an idea that would supply indoor lighting in an inexpensive manner. It is equally important that the developed idea could easily be produced locally with available resources and have the least impact on environment. One such idea is known as “Moser Lamp”.

Moser Lamp is quite the opposite to a traditional lamp as it is a lamp made out of a plastic bottle. A mixture of water and bleach is filled in a transparent plastic bottle. The filled solution then turns plastic bottle into a light reflecting device with an ability to produce indoor lighting equivalent to 40 – 60 watts. The developed idea requires no electricity supply and grid connectivity and thus can easily be installed in remote areas in countries across the globe. Moser Lamp is an effective solution to reduce in-door pollution in households, where wood-stoves are used for purposes like lighting and cooking. The idea was originally developed by a Brazilian mechanic Alfredo Moser in 2002 and was thus named after him as Moser Lamp. As already spoken, a transparent plastic bottle filled with a mixture of water and 10 ml bleach produces brightness equivalent to 50 – 60 watts. Once the bleach is mixed properly in water, seal the cap and install the plastic bottle on roof top with bottom half  inside the room while the other half outside the roof. The light that is then produced through the refraction of sunlight is sufficient enough to brighten up a room. It is really important that the plastic bottle should be crystal clear as the amount of light produced directly depends on how clean the bottle is. Philippines can be considered as a case-study for the use of Moser Lamp and how its positive impact is transforming the lives of extremely poor in areas across the country. A short video clip reflecting the same is as follows:

Moser Lamp is an extremely inexpensive solution for indoor lighting and can be made easily with the minimum available resources. There is a dire need to upscale the implementation of this solution and to provide it to the ones in need. It is quite unfortunate to mention that less than a billion people in the world have no access to electricity. The aforementioned figure can be reduced further through the provision of Moser Lamp. Micro-finance can prove to be an efficient financial tool to supply Moser Lamps to ones in need. The availability of indoor lighting during daytime would help masses to use their time more productively to mitigate poverty. The provision of Moser Lamps would be a right step in the right direction at the right time that would help both policy-makers and governments to create jobs and foster economic growth in areas that are in desperate need of economic progress.

© Copyright 2019 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.

Solar photovoltaic technology can help Argentina to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels

Ayoub Hameedi

Argentina is aiming to generate 20% of its electricity from clean sources by 2025. In 2017, the central government launched its renewable energy program RenovAr to attract investors to promote clean sources of power production in Argentina. It is important to mention here that an installed GW capacity of clean source would help the central government to save USD 300 million in terms of expenditure on fossil fuels. Thus, in 3 years and 3 months, the central government would save around USD 1 billion and would reduce greenhouse gases emission by 6 million tons. It would also allow the central government to mitigate poverty and to meet the targets of Paris Climate Accord. In my opinion, deploying solar photovoltaic panels would be an extremely effective strategy to replace fossil fuels with clean sources.

Argentina needs a comprehensive plan that would help the investors, business sector, government and general public to visualize a future powered by clean sources. The plan should be considered as a revolution that would open new window of opportunities for businesses and would help government and masses in general in mitigating climate change and to protect environment. The steps that central government would take between 2017 – 2025 to generate 20% of electricity through clean sources would further paved the way to generate an even large share of electricity from renewable resources. Beyond 2025, the central government should aim to generate 50% of electricity from clean sources by 2037 and 100% electricity by renewable resources by 2050. The President can offer tax relaxation to companies working to expand the installed capacity of clean sources in Argentina. Likewise, the same relaxation should be given to companies that are meeting their electricity demand through renewable sources. The central government must increase carbon tax for companies, industries, businesses and cities that are using conventional sources of power production. It will increase the revenue for government and would also encourage every stakeholder to consume electricity from clean sources. Unfortunately in 2016, effective carbon price in Argentina stood at €3.7 per tonne of carbon dioxide and it was much lower than majority of the countries in Europe. A 100% increase in effective carbon tax in Argentina will be in the best of interest of central government as it will increase the revenue and would also encourage every stakeholder in the country to consume clean electricity.

It is also pertinent for Argentina to have adequate access to solar photovoltaic panels in order to generate lion‘s share of electricity through clean resources. China can prove to be an effective partner to fill this vacuum as it is certainly the largest producer of the solar pv panels in the world. Simultaneously, it is also the country with the highest number of installed solar pv panels in the world. Thus, it has the right skills and required knowledge to encourage Argentina to produce 20% of electricity through clean sources by 2025 and of-course to produce 100% clean electricity by 2050. The beginning might be the toughest, but once Argentina would achieve the ability to produce 20% of electricity through renewable sources, expanding that to 50% and to 100% would not be that difficult.

The central government needs to make it sure that every roof-top in Argentina must be equipped with solar panels. By doing so, the government can effectively reduce the transmission losses that normally occurs when power plants are located in far-flung areas. The government can offer solar panels to each household via an easy installment scheme that would also be covered by an insurance program to reduce likely damages for households. An installation of solar panels on every roof-top in Argentina can prove to be an excellent source of employment creation and revenue generation. It is equally important for the government to ensure masses that power produced through solar pv would be purchased on priority basis, at a rate mutually agreed to both government and households. The policy makers should keep a keen eye on the purchasing rate, because it can either make or break the expansion of solar pv technology in Argentina. Lastly, an import of solar pv panels from China will certainly open new window of opportunities between the two countries, however, Argentina needs to pay close attention to protect its domestic solar pv producers as well.

All in all, it must be appreciated that the central government of Argentina has decided to produce 20% of electricity through clean sources by 2025. In my opinion, the central government must also aim to produce 50% electricity from clean sources by 2037 and 100% clean electricity by 2050. Solar pv panels can certainly help the central government to reduce its reliance on coal, oil and gas that produced 65.4% of electricity in 2016. There is a dire need that the role of solar pv should be up-scaled to the level of hydropower, so that both sources would collectively produce over half of the total electricity in Argentina. The country has the right environment for solar energy technology and it is the first few gigawatts that are the most difficult to install.

© Copyright 2018 - 2019 Ayoub Hameedi. All rights reserved.