A Critical Conversation on Climate Change ... - Green Choices

278 development dialogue september 2006 – carbon tradingbe factored into PacificCorp/SELCO’s carbon accounts. There is noindication that this was done.)Added to all of this was inequality within the community of estateworkers themselves. One consequence of Neeyamakola’s focus ongetting more out of its workers was that many estate residents whosework is productive for society in a wider sense were ineligible for thesystems.One example is the primary school teacher in the Tamil-mediumgovernment school that served the estate population. The daughterof retired estate workers, the teacher received a reliable monthly salary,could have met a monthly payment schedule, and was willing topay, but was ineligible for a system because her labour was not seen ascontributing directly to the estate’s economic productivity and profitmargin. Retired estate workers and their families were excluded forthe same reason. SELCO, a firm new to Sri Lanka, was unable to ensurecommunity-wide benefits or distributive equity within the communityas a prerequisite in the design of the pilot project.On the Vijaya estate, in short, the decentralised nature of solar power– in other contexts a selling point for the technology – had quite anotherimpact and meaning in the context of Sri Lanka’s estate sector.It provided the company that was controlling the ‘technology transfer’with a new technique to exert control over its labour force andensure competitive advantage, while exacerbating underlying conflicts over equity.It’s interesting to note, incidentally, that solar projects in Sri Lankaoften fall short even at the household level, where many families endup reducing their consumption of kerosene by only 50 per cent. 119There are many reasons for this. Kerosene use is necessary to make upfor faulty management while household members become acquaintedwith the energy-storage patterns of the battery and system operation.Households also face problems managing stored energy, with childrenoften using it all up watching afternoon television. And localweather patterns and topography likewise take their toll. In somehilly areas with multiple monsoons, solar can supplement kerosenesystems at best for a six- to nine-month period, depending on thetiming and duration of the monsoon.This section is based onthe research of Dr CynthiaCaron. After completing herPh. D. at Cornell University inthe US on electricity sectorrestructuring in Sri Lanka, DrCaron moved to Sri Lanka.She has been awarded agrant from the MacArthurFoundation and has beenresearching forced migration,resettlement and Muslimnationalism and its relationwith Sri Lanka’s ethnicconflict, as well as workingon development and healthprojects.Did Pacifi cCorp’s electricity customers – or the Oregon legislature – knowabout all this?Given the geographical and cultural distances involved, it would havebeen difficult for them to find out. On the other hand, it seems unlikelythat Northern consumers of electricity – if they are informed of