adminup in the Harare-Mutare highway scheduled to cover the 45 kilometres distance between Kushinga- Phikelela to Headlands.
The 2011 Walkathon, which took off from Harare last Sunday, has been characterised by pain, endurance and excitement.
The rains have been pouring since Sunday and participants have had to contend with swollen feet, open wounds and bruises, strained muscle and sore limps.
A look in the faces of nearly all participants indicates an identical story of endurance and determination. Despite the pain, no one is ready to give up in this worthy cause.
The support from communities is unbelievable. Business is coming to a standstill as the walkers approach the little towns along the way. Residents are lining up the highway to greet and cheer the walkers on. This year’s walkathon is the second of Friends of Environment annual activity that is expected to continue for the next 15 years as they push to achieve the 500 million-tree target by the year 2025. As the walk progressed the gospel that people should desist from cutting down trees is reaching far and wide.
But people who have always looked at trees as their main source of energy keep asking this pertinent question: What options are available? In order to conserve our forests and plantations, here are some alternative energy sources that can be explored.
Wind Power
Wind is one of the oldest and cleanest types of renewable energy sources. It is extracted by harnessing wind to propel the blades of windmill turbines. No pollution is created by wind power. As a result wind power is regarded as an environmentally friendly energy source.
There is no chance of wind energy being exhausted, only it is seasonal. Our wind season is around August to September.
The Global Wind Energy Council is forecasting that “the global wind market will grow by over 155 percent of total installed capacity by 2012”.
Solar Power
Zimbabwe like many African countries, is blessed with plenty sunlight all year round.
There is need to tap into this free and clean energy source to light up urban and rural homes. For rural communities, solar may turn out to be the best option especially for those areas that may be too spread out to be linked to the national electricity grid.
Electrifying rural settlements poses unique challenges, as in the majority of cases they are remote and scattered.
Unlike urban homes whose settlement is planned, most rural settlements are haphazard, making it costly and impractical to connect them to the national grid.
Solar may provide the best alternative to rural families who are desperate for an efficient means to cook and light their homes so as to serve the few remaining trees.
Solar panels can generate enough power to run stoves, pump water, light clinics and power televisions. At the same time, the sun is free and inexhaustible. Solar technology – photovoltaic panels -converts the sun’s radiation directly into electricity with no pollution or damage to the environment.
The challenge with solar energy is the initial installation costs. Because we have one of the best climatic conditions to benefit fully from this energy source, options can be found to mitigate the effects of costs.
Hydroelectricity
The major source of energy in Zimbabwe is hydroelectric power which is supplied through a national grid that runs throughout the country from Kariba Dam.
Reports say that the current capacity is 1 266MW. Full generation capacity is said to be around 7 200MW of which 4 200MW can be jointly developed with Zambia.
Built in 1955-1960 the hydroelectric power installation is shared by the two countries. Water inflows into the lake have been progressively low since the early eighties, with the drought of 1992/93 negatively impacting on the water levels almost rendering the power station inoperable.
By August 1993 the lake level was about one metre above the power station intake level. Unpredictable rainfall patterns have resulted in a change of preference towards thermal power plants, which are less subject to the vagaries of nature for instance, the Hwange Thermal Power Station.
Fossil fuel
Coal, a fossil fuel, is the largest source of energy for the electricity generation worldwide. It is extracted from the ground, either through deep underground or open cast mining. Coal is primarily used to produce electricity and heat through combustion. World coal consumption was about 6,78 billion tonnes in 2006 and is expected to increase to 9, 98 billion tonnes by 2030.
Zimbabwe has proven coal reserves of more than 700 million tonnes. With many trees being felled today for use in cooking, heating and curing of tobacco, coal provides another alternative energy source.
As the anti-deforestation campaign gathers momentum, it is imperative that people learn and know about alternative sources of energy so that aforestation can be effective.
Paraffin, another of the fossil fuels, is usually limited to lighting and quick cooking purposes by some households particularly in urban areas. The usage of coal and biogas for cooking is very minimal.
Other communities especially those in peri-urban areas where wood is difficult to access, now use cow dung.
In such areas, people make cow dung cakes and leave them to dry, or they collect dry cow dung from grazing pastures.
During dry seasons, when there is not enough grass for grazing, dung also becomes scarce. The major enemies of deforestation are tobacco farmers and rural and urban households. A plan to supply them with coal will go a long way in solving the long-term effects of deforestation. A Government and private sector partnership with incentives to encourage the use of coal instead of wood especially for tobacco curing and daily energy needs could be arranged. Unsustainable harvesting of trees for tobacco curing threatens the country’s indigenous and commercial woodlands and the environment at large.
All these diverse energy sources are available for use, however, it is the difficulty in access that leaves most people with little or no option but just to use firewood.
More than six million tonnes of wood are consumed annually by mainly rural and urban low-income households.
This is equivalent to clear felling of 100 000 hectares of woodland. Demand for fuelwood exceeds supply in Manicaland, Mashonaland East, Masvingo and Midlands.
Having said this, electricity remains the major source of energy in urban areas with 80 percent of households connected to the national grid. The current power outages in the country have reduced electricity use in cooking and heating resulting in increased demand for firewood. In urban areas firewood selling has become brisk business for vendors who cut trees in nearby farms thereby accelerating deforestation. It is heartening to note that in Zimbabwe, we have many environmentally friendly alternative energy sources that can help us combat indiscriminate deforestation.
About FOTE
FOTE comprises like-minded organisations – from the corporate world, government, non-governmental organisations and individuals – that came together in 2010 to support the idea of reforestation through a non-profit-making Trust Fund.
The organisation works with the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe, along with other environmental organisations, with the support of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management.
- E-mail: [email protected]; Telephone: 04-791372
The abundant deposits of coal, the inexhaustible sunshine and the ever-flowing waters of the Zambezi River are some of the readily available alternatives, which if harnessed properly could provide the much-needed solution.
For many, the switch to alternative energy sources is a matter of finding the type of alternative power that works best in their particular geographical location.
No single alternative energy source alone will solve the problems posed by global warming.
Wind energy has potential, solar is available to us right now and coal we have in abundance.
The realisation that deforestation accelerates global warming among other ills must help us make urgent decisions to turn to these alternative energy sources despite the challenges presented by each one of them.
With more investment and better technology, the solution will come from a combination of all these options.
About FOTE
FOTE comprise like-minded organisations – from the corporate world, government, non-governmental organisations and individuals – that came together in 2010 to support the idea of reforestation through a non-profit-making Trust Fund.
The organisation works with the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe, along with other environmental organisations, with the support of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management.
l E-mail; [email protected]; Tel: 04-791372
Online Reporter