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Tackling gender issues in renewable, sustainable energy

By Miriam Humbe, Abuja
23 February 2016   |   11:10 pm
Concerns over the safe use of energy especially for domestic purposes have been expressed at different fora, with stakeholders speaking on the pros and cons of the topic. Of the sources of energy for domestic cooking, coal (firewood) ranks highest when compared with gas and kerosene. Yet traditional sources of domestic energy combined with commercial…
A woman cooking with firewood

A woman cooking with firewood

Concerns over the safe use of energy especially for domestic purposes have been expressed at different fora, with stakeholders speaking on the pros and cons of the topic. Of the sources of energy for domestic cooking, coal (firewood) ranks highest when compared with gas and kerosene. Yet traditional sources of domestic energy combined with commercial gas flaring continue to contribute significantly to environmental pollution and depletion of the ozone layer, leading to global warming. Power generation is another cause of air pollution and a huge source of global warming emissions. The energy choices we make today have enormous consequences for our health, climate, and economy for generations ahead.

For a better understanding, Wikipedia explains that renewable energy (sources) or RES capture their energy from existing flows of energy, from on-going natural processes, such as sunshine, wind, flowing water, biological processes, and geothermal heat flows. The most common definition is that renewable energy is from an energy resource that is replaced rapidly by a natural process such as power generated from the sun or from the wind.

Most renewable forms of energy, other than geothermal and tidal power, ultimately come from the Sun. Some forms are stored solar energy such as rainfall and wind power which is considered short-term solar-energy storage, whereas the energy in biomass is accumulated over a period of months, as in straw, or through many years as in wood.

Capturing renewable energy by plants, animals and humans does not permanently deplete the resource. Fossil fuels, while theoretically renewable on a very long time-scale, are exploited at rates that may deplete these resources in the near future.
Renewable energy resources may be used directly, or used to create other more convenient forms of energy. Examples of direct use are solar ovens, geothermal heating, and water- and windmills. Examples of indirect use which require energy harvesting are electricity generation through wind turbines or photovoltaic cells, or production of fuels such as ethanol from biomass.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported about the dangers of cooking with firewood, saying over 98,000 women die yearly from exposure to firewood smoke. With the intermittent availability of petroleum products such as gas and kerosene for domestic use, the use of alternative sources of energy such as firewood becomes imperative especially for the rural women and girls saddled with the responsibility of cooking for their families.

“If a woman cooks breakfast, lunch and dinner using firewood, it is equivalent to smoking between three and 20 packets of cigarette a day. The death from this sector contributes to 10 per cent of global annual death and it is bigger than tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS and malaria combined, and it is only killing women,” an official of the Federal Ministry of Environment and National Coordinator, Renewable Energy Programme (RUWES), Ms Bahijjahtu Abubakar, told newsmen at the RUWES official launch and 4th Annual Nigeria Renewable Energy Day in Abuja recently.

She lamented the energy poverty in Nigeria, especially in the rural areas where the vast population depend on firewood as a major source of energy for cooking, saying the ministry has launched a Rural Women Energy Security (RUWES) programme to prevent the trend and to create awareness on the dangers of using dirty energy, which is coal, (firewood), the worst offender, an energy source that produces nearly 80 percent of all carbon emissions.

“We are reaching out to faith-based organisations such as the Federation of Muslim women and the Catholic Women Organisation, hoping that through the market women organisation and all the women- based professionals, we are reaching out to every nook and cranny of Nigeria,” Abubakar said, adding that the cooking stoves provided under RUWES would be affordable and attract only a single digit interest rate for repayment.

“The women have two years to pay back. All they need is to belong to cooperative and they are given lighting, cooking and heating solution facility to use. A woman can get a stove and pay over seven months and we know that the poorest woman will be able to afford it.”

The one-day consultative forum on gender issues in renewable energy management and options in Nigeria, themed: Women as Drivers of Climate Change; Roles for Women in Renewable Energy Process hosted by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, (FMWASD) in Abuja recently, emphasised the need for availability of safe energy for domestic use, particularly for cooking in order to protect the womenfolk who are at the forefront of the dangers resulting from use of firewood.  

The representative of the Minister of Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, who said gas flaring was central to renewable energy management in Nigeria, added that “Come 2020, we should put an end to gas flaring but the World Bank is telling us to extend it to 2030. We are looking at 2020 to be able to conserve our gas which will be used for domestic and commercial purposes”. 

Re-echoing this stand, Women Affairs Minister, Senator Aisha Al-Hassan said, “Gas flaring during production should be conserved and used as an alternative to firewood so that our women and children can be saved from dying. They said that about 98, 000 Nigerian women and children die yearly as a result of smoke from cooking with firewood that is why we put up this meeting to come up with ways of reducing this mortality rate, and a roadmap for gender and energy in Nigeria”.

This is a most worrisome trend and a reproductive health concern as women are the reproductive mechanism for present and future generations. Fears are that this unwholesome trend has the tendency of bringing the entire human race to extinction.

“If the renewable energy sector is to effectively contribute to equitable and sustainable development, it has to take a more holistic view of the sector and a good starting point would be to embrace gender analysis as a tool for gaining an understanding of energy needs of the entire populace and the context in which different population groups operate”, Alhassan suggested. She explained that gender is not just complaining about what women are suffering compared to men but rather, it is about reaching a better understanding of how communities work from the perspective of relationships between men and women and their different roles.

Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs. Binta Bello, said the forum was convened to address the gaps and explore potentials for increasing women’s role in energy management, adding that women need renewable energy in addressing their critical need for cooking energy, and to improve profitability and safety in their energy-intensive micro-enterprises and to save labour.

The debate rages on as to the energy source which is more suitable and safe. Cases of domestic kerosene and gas explosions have been reported. Victims in these incidences are mainly women and children. There have been efforts to discuss safe energy sources including solar energy, but this must urgently get to the rural dweller to have an effect.  

Truly, energy availability in the economic growth, social and political development of every nation is of paramount essence. Affordable and reliable energy is essential for sustainable development which calls for an efficient, reliable and decentralised energy economy, based on local and clean energy sources, in which the price paid by the consumer, ultimately reflects the real cost of energy products to the economy.

It is estimated that the power crisis in Nigeria may persevere except government diversifies her energy sources and adopt new technologies to reduce energy wastages to save cost. Energy ranks among the most fundamental issues for sustainable development thereby eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, promoting gender equality and empowering the populace. Due to the scarcity of safe energy sources, the unjustifiable felling of trees for firewood holds sway, leading to deforestation. The tree planting campaign to end desertification cannot be achieved as the traditional method of cooking with firewood persists.

For urban dwellers, access to other sources of energy such as kerosene and gas for domestic and commercial purposes is no longer an issue. But for the rural woman, cooking with firewood, the only available source of energy, which is time-consuming and hazardous, is the only way out for family sustenance.

Experts have suggested that in order to achieve safe and sustainable energy, Nigeria must urgently utilise the abundant sunshine to produce solar energy for her teeming population. This must be made available at the grassroots where over 70 percent of the population dwell.  
 

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