THE CARBON WAR

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The Winning of The Carbon War
SolarAid remains a worry. A proposal for our Phase 2 of African
solar-lighting market-catalysis has gone to key targets, and we are apprehensively
awaiting the outcome. This will probably take a few months to come.
Meanwhile, we have learned that we are short listed for the Zayed Future
Energy Prize, the winner-takes-all prize of $1.5 million, for the second year
running. We are on a short list of four this time: the only organisation shortlisted
last year to make it to this year’s list.
So, I have another sweaty palmed day to look forward to in Abu Dhabi
in January. Meanwhile, I am hoping that the possibility of winning the prize
doesn’t detract foundations from what I am hoping are the attractions of our
proposal, notwithstanding our continuing problems on the solar-lighting
frontier in Africa.
The latest setback is that a cadre of our Uganda team have been caught
with hands in the till. The police are involved.
Try not to worry, I have told Caesar, SunnyMoney CEO. The same happened
at Solarcentury. An employee we trusted totally stole a pallet of solar
modules and sold them on. The police were involved there too.
I talk with the foundations doing my level best to understand the world
from their perspective: just how many worthy projects there are, and how very
difficult it must be to decide priorities, and make choices. But then I think of
all those endowments languishing in investments of every shape and size – so
many billions, that will become valueless if global warming runs out of control.
It is difficult not to become a little frustrated at that thought. We need so much
more of what SolarAid has done to date. We need it done so very quickly, on
so many fronts. And here I am grubbing around for a few million dollars in a
world where any holder of a fortune made in Silicon Valley, or for that matter any
holder of a fortune based on a historically high oil price, could write a cheque
from small change that would in a heartbeat free SolarAid and SunnyMoney
up to catalyse more African solar lighting markets, and so speed up the solar
revolution at the bottom of the pyramid.
The latest report on global warming impacts, published earlier this week,
shows that the Middle East may suffer heat beyond human tolerance towards
the end of this century, on a regular basis, if greenhouse-gas emissions are
not cut deeply, quickly. I cannot read such developments without feeling like
finding a soundproofed room and having a good scream.
I catch the CalTrain back to San Francisco. There is no sound proofing
on this train, and California is partying. I had not realised that Halloween is
such a big deal here. The train is heaving with witches, wizards, zombies, and