Zambia: Need to use alternative sources of energy
By Lilian Museka
If there is any section that largely needs ICT in sub-Saharan Africa, it is the rural based community. This is because infrastructure and services for education in these parts are poorly developed. E-learning very much depends on modern ICT infrastructure for it to take place, while ICT requires electricity to power this.
Most rural areas however lack electricity and therefore unable to access ICT enhanced services, including eLearning.
Most fixed electricity lines are concentrated in urban areas where the better part of population is most found. Also areas covered by fibre optics are largely those along the line of rail and ocean. Other areas remain disadvantaged and other means of linking such areas have to be applied.
Supply of power to eLearning facilities is cardinal. Absence of power in areas not served by existing power grid is one of the big factors hindering establishment and offer of internet services in the affected areas.
Currently, some power sources used in non-grid areas include solar panels and electric generators using fossil diesel or petrol. While electric generators are relatively simple to maintain, the fossil fuels used are expensive, especially bearing in mind that fuels in many sub-Saharan countries increase the further away one is from major urban centres.
Peak oil issues have also generated oil supply insecurity which in turn has become a major factor behind the ever rising fossil fuel prices. The problem is even worse known within oil industries. Notable researchers projected that the peak may be within 2005-2011 range using much varied methodology
However, whether we have passed the peak or not, a significant question may be: What will be the future of decline of oil production? Nations depending on imports are likely to find that their access to oil will fall at a far sharper rate than the global decline rate. During shortages, higher oil prices stimulate the economy of exporting nations which in turn increase their internal consumption, thereby still creating a shortfall. This is why there is need to find an alternative source of energy to cushion against an impending oil crisis.
In Zambia, for instance, the Zambia National Vision 2030 for the energy sector has a tagline that goes: “To provide well developed, managed, reliable and sustainable energy services for the improvement of the quality of life of Zambians”.
Professor Thomson Sinkala, a retired miner says the government has an energy policy that aims to create conditions that will ensure availability of adequate supply of energy from various sources, which are dependable, at the lowest economic, financial, social and environmental cost consistent with national development goals.
“Most households use biomass energy, in particular firewood and charcoal, agricultural wastes and forestry waste. However, to improve the standard of living, there is need to switch from these low quality energy sources to better quality such as bio-fuels and biogas which can be used as household fuels”, says Sinkala.
The professor says the energy policy seeks to ensure environmentally sustainable exploitation of the biomass resource by ensuring efficiency through better management and introduction of new sources such as bio-fuels.
In view of this, electric generators fueled by renewable energies such as straight vegetable oil (SVO) can be used to supply electricity to the eLearning facilities. A likely prime for this would be the Jatropha plant that has spread all over the country, due to its promotion for bio-fuels.
Extraction of oil from Jatropha seeds is relatively simple and can be done by already available equipment like the Yenga and screw presses. Professor Sinkala, who is also a retired lecturer at the University of Zambia (UNZA), says about 25 percent of oil by weight, can be extracted from the seeds but more advanced techniques would achieve oil extraction of more than 30 percent.
Professor Sinkala, who owns a Jatropha plantation takes this writer through the process of extraction at his farm.
The seeds, after harvesting are dried in the sun then taken for extraction. The collected oil is kept for at least five days to settle then the fine one is collected from the residue. It can either be used in a generator or lamps to light up the environment. The oil may also be used in tractors and vehicles using diesel engines by using a pre-warmer to be at the same temperature level as diesel.
Meanwhile, after oil is collected, the remaining cake may be used as organic fertilizer in farms, act as charcoal or generating biogas.
The Jatropha carcus is part of biomass which has been considered to be a clean, renewable energy source that can help to significantly diversify transportation fuels. Professor Sinkala says the industry will help transform the nations’ renewable and abundant biomass resources into cost-competitive, high-performance bio-fuels, bioproducts, and bio-power. He hopes that African countries can adapt the process in future to reduce on energy costs.
In May this year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to US$11 million in funding over three years for research and development in the area of thermo-chemical conversion of biomass into advanced bio-fuels that are compatible with existing fuelling infrastructure. The objective of the funding was to improve the conversion of non-food biomass to liquid transportation hydrocarbon fuels via pyrolysis, a process that decomposes biomass using heat in the absence of oxygen to produce a bio-oil that can be upgraded to renewable diesel, gasoline, or jet fuel.
The intent of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to quantify and understand the environmental impacts of different strategies for producing large quantities of energy crops and other crop residues at the watershed scale. This is part of DOE’s commitment to expanding domestic bio-energy without negatively impacting environmental quality, biodiversity, and the availability of food, feed, fibre, and water.
Biomass will play a significant role in a renewable energy future, especially for the production of liquid transportation fuels, as well as bio-power and bio-0products.
Earlier on in March, the U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Cathy Zoi announced that the Department's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory would build an advanced bio-fuels process development facility aimed at speeding the commercialization of advanced bio-fuels by allowing researchers and the private sector to test and integrate innovative technologies. The facility—funded with nearly US$18 million from the Recovery Act—will be a publicly available facility where researchers can integrate process steps and test innovative technology pathways, such as those being developed at DOE's Office of Science Bio-energy Research Centres.
“This shows that bio-fuels play a very important role in the alternative sources of energy. And currently, the government has a law in place to legally recognize bio-fuel and is working in conjunction with Bio-fuels Association of Zambia on how best to implement this, in an effort to promote alternative sources of energy”, says Sinkala