African Unification Front
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NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY
WOOD FOR ENERGY
Most of the Africa Union's charcoal export and per capita use of wood for fuel is highest in eastern Africa. Over 80% of Kenya's energy needs in rural areas are supplied by firewood. For many years now Kenya has had projects to grow Kenya's trees fast enough to replace the country's galloping consumption of timber and firewood. However, nearly 90% of the demand for domestic fuel is met from wood, and the demand is destroying the environment. Solutions (other than deforest-ation and rapid growth of trees in a region that is mostly semi-desert), have to be found in order to reslove the energy crisis. See Great Lakes Region
There are few restrictions on trade in charcaol from the state of Somalia. Vast areas of bush have been depleted to feed an enormous appetite for charcoal in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. The Arab states - where restrictions to prevent domestic desertification are strictly in place - have taken full advantage of Somalia's lawless condition.
The main ports of exit for the export of charcoal are Kismayo, Bossasso (Puntland), and El Mayan port in Mogadishu. The volume of charcoal that goes out of Kismayo exceeds what goes out of Mogadishu - although there is no systematic documentation of volume and frequency. The main markets for African charcoal are Saudi Arabia and the Arab-Gulf states.
THE CHARCOAL MANUFACTURING PROCESS
Charcoal is made by chopping down trees, setting fire to a closely stacked pile of branches and trunks, and covering it with earth so that the amount of oxygen and air is limited. This transforms a process that would otherwise take years to achieve naturally.
In the past, the making of charcoal was limited to a small group of cutters who used hand axes and responded to an internal - and very localised - demand. Most Central and East African households use it for cooking. But since charcoal became a lucrative export trade to the Arab states, battery-powered chain saws have taken the place of hand axes and are rapidly depleting the woodlands of Africa.
In Somalia, cutting has spread beyond specialised groups and been taken up by the major clans. There is no documentation of the volumes being exported or the amount of trees being cut down in Southern Somalia where most of the charcoal is made, between Brava and Kismayo. Much of southern Somalia is typically sparse savannah with few forested areas, apart from around the Sakow area which has large trees. But Jilib near Kismayo and Brava have areas of thick vegetation, some too dense for livestock to pass. More than 80 percent of the trees used for charcoal are types of Acacia.
Most of the charcoal comes from Wanla-wein, Bur Hakaba, and from around Jowhar, and Gal jeel country. The profits are significant. A bag that costs about 35,000 Somali shillings a bag in Somalia (about US $3-4 dollars) sells for about $10 in the Gulf states, said traders. Normally a ship takes about 70-100,000 bags, which takes about two months to put together.
Purchasing charcoal for export is more expensive for traders during the rainy season, but during the dry season. It is sold by the bag - instead of by weight - and that the price varies according to the weather (cheaper in the dry season and expensive in the wet season).
Charcoal wars:
After 1996, some local administrations tried to halt the cutters. In Dusa Mareb, Galgadud, central Somalia, chiefs and clan elders prohibited charcoal cutting in certain areas in 1997; but it led to conflict. "People were caught cutting and shot at, there were deaths, and it started wars", said Shirwa, who was in the region doing research at the time. Negotiations between elders and chiefs were needed to settle and pay 'Al Dia' (blood money).
THERMAL POWER GENERATION
Thermal power is electricity produced by burning fossil-fuels, including coal, coal-bed methane, natural gas and diesel to produce steam to turn turbines. However, it is coal that is mostly utilised by the basin countries in thermal power production. As such, once coal is exhausted, the thermal plant seizes to produce electricity. The major thermal plants are located in Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Virtually all known, exploitable coal reserves for: Malawi (three million tonnes); Mozambique (2,422 million); Zambia (69 million); and Zimbabwe (1,187 million) are found in the Zambezi Basin (1988 estimates). Angola and Namibia do not have known coal deposits. Coal reserves within the basin are utilised mostly for thermal power generation, domestic uses such as cooking and heating; industrial uses such as smelting and the making of chemicals; and commercial uses such as tobacco curing and railway traction. Coke oven gas is also produced from coal-burning and is used in industry, and of late, has replaced diesel as a start-up in thermal power generation plants.
Petroleum and Natural Gas
Shell Fuel Station in Banjul
Although there are no petroleum plants in the Zambezi basin, indications are that the thick extensive sedimentary rocks in the basin have potential for petroleum deposits and natural gas. This has led to the extensive exploration of the basin by oil companies in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
West Africa has several oil projects under construction; the West Africa Gas Pipeline Project and the Chad Export Project. The West African Gas Pipeline Project is designed to link Ghana and Ivory Coast and will eventually connect with Nigeria. The Chad Export Project is developing oilfields in southern Chad, and the oil will be transported approximately 1,070 kilometers (663 miles) by underground pipeline to a marine terminal near Kribi on the coast of Cameroon. As much as one billion barrels of oil will be produced over the 25 to 30 year life of the project.
A consortium comprised of affiliates of ExxonMobil, Petronas and Chevron has agreed to sponsor the project with an ExxonMobil affiliate designated as the operator of the Chad Export Project. Project construction costs are estimated at $3.5 billion (2,100 billion FCFA). When completed the Chad Export Project will produce at its peak 225,000 barrels of oil per day. The project is developing 3 oilfields in the Doba Basin (Southern Chad) with 300 oil production wells, 25 produced water injection wells, a system of flowlines and gathering pipelines, produced fluids treating facilities, a power plant, cargo airport and operations control center.
Nigeria currently has four refineries, all subsidiaries of government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. Together, the four facilities have a total installed capacity to refine 445,000 barrels of oil per day. But they have failed to meet Nigeria's domestic requirements, forcing the oil-rich country to depend on imports.
METHANE
If the African Union exploited 100 mm cmpy of gas found in lake Kivu, it could earn $ 56 mm a year from it and cut its fuel-import bill by $30 mm. The experts who carried out the assessment said they believed that Lake Kivu's methane gas could help solve the energy-related problems of the countries of the sub-region. Thus far, the gas has been used experimentally. The Rwanda Brewery and Lemonade Company, BRALIRWA - whose factory is located on the shores of Lake Kivu - has used it to heat its beer vats. Kivu's methane has also been tested on a vehicle as a substitute for petroleum fuel.
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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY
Charcoal plays an important role in both the energy and the economies of most African countries place a heavy strain on local wood resources. Charcoal traders out of Mogadishu take advantage of the shipments to do more business: "When we take the charcoal to the Gulf States we normally don't come back with money, but buy up sugar, flour, or whatever the local market needs
The highest price will be the long-term effect in desertification; but the traders laugh this off. "I remember as a child watching the cutters chop down trees in my area, and if you go back there now to the same place, the trees are even bigger than they used to be", declared one trader.
This in turn has severe environmental consequences" warns the Energy Practice Management Office (EPMO), which works in conjunction with the World Bank. In a publication issued in 1995, the EPMO said the demand for charcoal was increasing and warns that international organisations and planners should hope fuel "substitution takes place before wood resources run out".
Coal-mining and use impact on the environment in various ways: fine dust, gases and smoke pollute the air while the excavated spoils piled up in dumps are unsightly. Open-cast coal mines such as the Maamba in Zambia and Wankie in Zimbabwe experience problems of spontaneous combustion. This, coupled with coal burning in thermal power plants, lead to air pollution from sulphur dioxide. The gas significantly affects asthmatic patients, resulting in severe coughing and corresponding effects. The public in Kitwe and Mufulira in Zambia has in the past complained of breathing problems due to sulphur dioxide pollution.
Southern Africa has undergone a great deal of industrialization in recent decades. Five of the world's 10 largest coal-burning power plants reside in the region, operating without benefit of the pollution-reducing "scrubbers" required in the West. When acidic gases such as sulphur dioxide combine with rain, the result is ‘acid’ rain. Acid rain damages plants and soils. It even corrodes vehicles and steel roofing. Coal mining in the basin countries contributes thousands of tonnes of sulphates to the atmosphere annually.
Brack water, which is extremely rich in natural sulphates derived from the sulphur and alkaline metals in the coal layers, sometimes flows into streams. Mine dumps too, are washed away into watercourses during storms, leading to waste pollution from sediments and dissolved harmful substances. In areas of extensive domestic use of coal, morning smoke greatly reduces visibility, increasing the chances of road traffic accidents. Coal-fired power stations also consume large quantities of water needed in the cooling process. Top
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