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ANNUAL REPORT CONTACT SCI |
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SUNSPOTS — Winter Solstice 2009
Content
Message from the Board
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| Honey Walters |
In Africa, where traditional three-stone fires for home cooking produce the bulk of emissions, replacing primitive methods with more modern technologies (e.g., solar cookers) represent an easy carbon savings that provide a big bang for the buck. This is also considered a win-win situation as the use of solar cookers results in public health benefits of reducing premature deaths and other devastating effects associated with black carbon exposure (e.g., respiratory inhalation). SCI's new carbon offset campaign provides a meaningful way for donors to help reduce global warming and bring the many benefits of solar cookers to families immediately.
Prior to the 1950s and the utilization of advanced control technologies, major sources of black carbon emissions were in developed areas of the world such as North American and Western Europe. Currently, developing areas (including Asia, Latin America, and Africa) are responsible for the majority of black carbon emissions in the world. The total estimated inventory of black carbon emissions is approximately 42% from open biomass burning, 18% from residential biofuel burned with traditional technologies, 14% from transportation-related diesel engine use, 10% from industrial-related diesel engines use, and 6% from residential coal burned with traditional technologies.
Scientists have found that warming is not only associated with the release of black carbon into the atmosphere, but also with its deposition onto snow- and ice-covered areas. Specifically, black carbon contributes to warming of the Earth's climate by absorbing radiation, converting it into heat, and releasing heat energy into the atmosphere. Black carbon has a particularly detrimental impact on snow- and ice-covered surfaces, such as the Arctic and the Tibetan Plateau, by reducing surface reflectivity (i.e., albedo). Deposited emissions (i.e., soot) absorb sunlight rather than allowing the underlying snow and ice to reflect sunlight. This chain of events warms the surface of the snow and ice and accelerates melting. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading body for the assessment of climate change established by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization, estimated the direct radiative forcing (i.e., the amount of energy per unit area per unit time absorbed that would otherwise be lost to space) from black carbon emissions at + 0.2 watts per square meter (W/m2) with an additional + 0.1 W/m2 from the associated indirect effects on the surface albedo of snow and ice. Since this 2007 report by the IPCC, more recent findings indicate the radiative forcing from black carbon to be on the order of three to four times greater in magnitude (e.g., 1.0-1.2 W/m2), resulting in its emergence as the second greatest contributor (18% of all emissions) to global climate change, behind only carbon dioxide (40% of all emissions).
Black carbon has a relatively short lifetime that is on the order of several days to weeks in comparison to carbon dioxide emissions, which can persist in the atmosphere for more than 100 years. Thus, reducing black carbon emissions is currently being viewed as a strategy to quickly slow the effects of global climate change and achieve stabilization levels linked to preventing catastrophic interference with the climate system (e.g., significant sea-level rise from the melting of Greenland or Antarctic ice sheets). Calculations show that reducing fossil fuel- and biofuel-generated black carbon emissions could eliminate approximately 40% of the net observed global warming.
All of these points were recently recognized in a bill (i.e., the Black Carbon Emissions Reduction Act of 2009) introduced in March 2009 requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to report to Congress on black carbon emissions, including : (1) a summary of current research identifying major sources, control technologies, quantifying metrics, and public health and environmental benefits associated with additional controls; and (2) recommendations regarding emissions monitoring techniques and capabilities, areas for additional study of technologies, operations, and strategies with the greatest potential to reduce emissions, and actions the government may take to encourage or require emission reductions.
Honey Walters
SCI Board of Directors
The Aurora
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Offset your carbon by providing solar cooking kits |
With expertise from its board members, and the enthusiasm of Progressive Source Communication's Jonathan Greenberg, SCI recently created and launched a carbon offset campaign to help donors offset their own carbon footprints in the most meaningful way: with solar cookers.
When you participate in this campaign, you will not only offset one ton of carbon per year, but you will be helping a family thrive! The humanitarian benefits from helping people switch to solar cooking are enormous. They include:
• Reducing deadly air pollution
• Reducing deforestation
• Providing clean drinking water
• Reducing rape and violence against women
• Reducing territorial disputes over firewood
• Reducing health problems from wear and tear on the body
• Increasing time for school
It costs just $50 for SCI to provide a solar cooking and water pasteurization kit to one of the neediest families on earth. Each kit includes essential training, a simple solar cooker (CooKit), a cooking pot, a water storage container, and a water pasteurization indicator (WAPI) that lets users know when deadly microbes have been removed from drinking water. Solar cookers emit zero carbon, and reduce the ongoing need to continually gather and burn firewood in deforested environments.
This innovative program has already attracted supporters who previously knew nothing about solar cooking! We hope to report to you soon the number of families helped by this campaign as well as the amount of carbon offset.
Rene Hamlin
SCI Resource Development Director
Solar Synergy
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| James Odaba |
James Oketa Odaba has been named SCI's eastern Africa Volunteer of the Year. Odaba has a degree in organic agriculture and has worked at several farms in Kenya. He has been an SCI volunteer since 2007.
Odaba serves a number of important functions at SCI's Nairobi office, including many day-to-day office duties like answering telephones, sorting mail, filing documents, and greeting visitors. He also makes and packages solar cookers, and assists staff members in leading workshops and trainings.
"For three years I have enjoyed fulfilling SCI's mission of 'promoting solar cooking and solar water pasteurization systems to benefit people and environments.' I have acquired valuable experience in training people on how to cook different foods using solar cookers, and I have sharpened my computer skills and developed excellent communication skills.
"Though I studied organic agriculture ... working at SCI makes me feel like I qualify for a degree in community development and technology transfer. I have met different people and interacted with varied organizations in exhibitions and conferences. I have used these occasions to gain valuable ideas that have assisted me greatly in my research work.
"I am grateful to SCI staff members, who have really developed me to meet the challenges in life and work hard to achieve my future goals. I will continue to spread solar cooking and promote energy conservation and use of clean energy technologies even after leaving SCI.
"Best wishes on a wonderful holiday season and happy new year!"
The Heliograph
SCI in the News
The Daily News | September 2009
"Climate Heroes: Gini Mitchem Cooks Up Energy Savings with Every Meal" (1.5 MB PDF)
National Geographic | November 2009
"Apollo's Oven"
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | November 2009
"With the stroke of his pen, the president can act against climate change right now"
SELF | December 2009
"Charities we like"
Home Power | December/January 2009/10
"The Circuit - Returns: The Power of Solar Cooking"