By Andrea Goldman

Recently, the UNFCCC concluded its convention in Cancun and what was determined, among other things, was that a fund needs to be set up by the developed nations of the world to provide money to developing nations to bring alternative energy technology to these nations and to help them deal with the after affects of deforestation and other things that affect climate change.   The developing nations agreed to provide for a $100 million superfund. However, it was not determined where the money actually was going to come from to fund the initiatives that are sorely needed around the world.

On the heels of the close of this convention, bringing alternative energy to rural areas of Kenya was written about in the New York Times by Elisabeth Rosenthal. This well written article portrays  a vivid example of what bringing alternative energy to developing nations would look like. In her article, Ms. Rosenthal follows Sara Ruto, a woman from Kiptusuri, Kenya and her quest to find electricity to charge her cell phone.  A cell phone is a lifeline for functioning in Kenya by facilitating functions like “receiving small money transfers, contacting relatives in the city or checking chicken prices at the nearest market.”  Ms. Ruto purchased her cell phone a  year ago and was on a quest for electrical charging closer to home.  Normally, she had to walk a couple of miles to find motorized transportation to take her to the nearest town with electricity that was hours away.  She would drop off her phone at a store that provided charging service, a service so great that she had to leave it there for several days.   Imagine having to charge your cell phone by traveling several miles to a store and leaving it there for a few days before traveling back to get it.  Not even a thought for most of us.

All of this effort was dispensed with, according to Ms. Rosenthal, when Ms. Ruto’s family sold some of their possessions, in this case animals, to buy a small solar power system that mounted on top of their tin roof to power the phone and some lights inside of their home. While charging the battery on her cell phone was the driving force behind bringing solar power to her home, Ms. Ruto has experienced other benefits such as her teenagers’ school grades improving, reduced risk of burns to her younger children from a kerosene lamp, and reduced costs for kerosene, batteries and travel costs for battery charging. In a reversal of roles, she provides cell phone charging services to her neighbors.

For rural areas that are located away from the grid lines of electricity, things like small scale solar energy equipment have an enormous impact on the lives of the people using them.  Being able to light a home with a small amount of wattage provides energy to poor folks at a manageable price giving them safety, light to learn by and the possibility of starting their own, home-based business.  People from developing nations are willing to pay for equipment to bring their lives into the modern age, yet there is no supply chain management that has been developed to deal with delivering bulk equipment to developing countries so that the people in Africa or Inner Mongolia can have access to electricity.  Whether it is solar, wind or hydroelectric power, the story of Ms. Ruto underscores the need for electricity and getting the UN fund implemented to bring power to huts, yurts and shacks around the world.  To read the entire, fascinating article written by Elisabeth Rosenthal please go to http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/25/science/earth/25fossil.html