Renewable Energy

Nigeria may soon take a remarkable step toward embracing renewable energy if an initiative being undertaken in the country eventually sees the light of the day. According to former Environment Minister, John Odey, he is involved in a venture to produce diesel from non-petroleum, renewable agricultural source – ostensibly from a Jatropha farm he is cultivating in Okpoma in Cross ...

New guidance for lighting efficiency programmes will save government resources, speed the transition to energy efficient lighting, boost economies, and mitigate climate change. In a recent letter, the head of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), Naoko Ishii, announced the availability of the new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/GEF en.lighten initiative’s Toolkit “Achieving the Transition to Energy Efficient Lighting.” The book ...

Against the backdrop of the official launch of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SE4ALL) a couple of months ago, the Federal Government of Nigeria, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has stepped up action towards developing a National Action Plan that will lead to the realisation of the initiative. President Goodluck Jonathan had in August launched the SE4ALL, which is ...

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), civil society and community-based groups across the country have called on the Nigerian government to demonstrate commitment to reducing carbon emissions and deforestation by developing a national programme on renewable energy and promotion of non-grind energy that local communities should be integrated into. The groups made the demand at a recent ...

The Energy Commission of Nigeria’s (ECN) head offices building in Abuja is to wear a new look – albeit energy consumption wise, thanks to an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that will see the multi-storey edifice cut its power utilisation by 15,021 watts at peak period. It represents about 50 percent of the amount of energy spent ...

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria, his ministers, and Kandeh Yumkella, the Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and co-Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Group on Sustainable Energy for All, havelaunched the Sustainable Energy for All initiative in Abujaand discussed the challenges and opportunities for the country and the region. In the keynote address, which was delivered on ...

A new Worldwatch Institute report examines the rise in subsides for renewable and fossil fuel-based energy production. Total subsidies for renewable energy stood at $66 billion in 2010, but are still dwarfed by the total value of global fossil fuel subsidies estimated at between $775 billion and more than $1 trillion in 2012, according to new research conducted by the ...

According to Ewah Eleri, Executive Director, International Centre for Energy, Environment & Development (ICEED), the Financing Pro-poor Energy Access project that his organisation is involved in seeks to reverse the declining Federal Government funding of pro-poor energy access by campaigning for the expansion of the scale of government, private sector and donor funding for pro-poor and gender-sensitive sustainable energy options. He spoke ...

Despite Nigeria’s large oil reserves, energy poverty appears to be one of the most striking characteristics of the citizenry, with the formal power sector consistently failing to deliver. With per capita electricity consumption falling below 150kwh, the situation looks dire. Rural communities, however, seem to suffer the most deprivation – even as a national programme to expand power to the ...

To address the persisting energy poverty on the African continent, national and community energy needs should be prioritised over global economic models. This formed part of a range of resolutions from a recent gathering of stakeholders, who urged civil society organisations (CSOs) to advocate for decentralised alternative energy with a focus on affordable and environment-friendly renewables. At the end of ...