Beer for Breakfast (What time is it anyway?)

Guten tag!  Hello from Frankfurt!

Kali and Sean here.  We have officially begun our (very long) journey to Delhi, India for the International Case Challenge.  Despite a delay at the airport trying to check 50 kilograms of delegate material we have just arrived via Calgary to Frankfurt.  It is 1:24am back home but 9:24am here so we have decided that Germany + time change + long flight = beer for breakfast!

We are so excited that the International Case Challenge in a few days.  We are currently sitting in a restaurant, squeezing our last bit of battery life out of our computers to madly finishing up emcee notes, power points and emails for the Challenge. Gotta run but stay tuned for live blogging and tweeting as we continue our journey.

A Student Energy Interview with Energy for Opportunity

Hi EnerNerds!

On a recent and enjoyable stumble through the internet, I came across a really cool non-profit that has roots in Canada and is pursuing community solar projects in West Africa. We often spend time talking about 50,000 foot discussions such as global policy issues or what needs to be done at COP-17/18/19. It’s important to balance that with passionate people that are on the ground, getting their hands dirty and making change on a local and regional level.

Simon Williams, Energy for Opportunity’s Executive Director, was kind enough to do an interview with us and we hope it will give you all some perspective into their organization.

The aspect of the EFO story I find so interesting is their focus on PROGRAMS not PROJECTS. A one-off project might feel good and make for a good PR snapshot but diving into a long-term program with sustained focus is a great way to impart lasting change.

On to the interview!

Question 1: Tell us about Energy for Opportunity. What is the overview and mission of your organization?

EFO’s mission is, Creating greater opportunities for the people of West Africa through the  implementation of solar energy projects.

Question 2: Why did you create Energy for Opportunity?

EFO came out of work that Paul and I had done in Uganda and Sierra Leone with other local organisations. We saw the potential that solar power had to bring energy to the most isolated locations and the impacts that this power could immediately have on peoples lives. There were other organisations that were working with solar power in their project work but there was a lack of an organisation that specialized in solar power and we thought that by focusing, we could maximise the impacts and develop a needed skill set within the development community. A big part of what we are trying to do is bring the utilisation of solar power into the mainstream and we are starting to see more and more  organisations working with us as our organisation grows.

Question 3: What have been your most successful projects? Why have they been successful?

One of the things we are proud of is that two years on, everyone of our installations is still working as sustainability is such an elusive goal in this field. This is more a result of a program, rather than a project model, which we try to stress. Our work in Kamabai is a good example of how this works. We started with a CCS and through the effective management of that site, the community has been able to contribute to installations at their clinic and secondary school as well as support maintenance along the way. This year, 10 students from the school passed the standardized test to get into university, the first time in the history of the school. (Sean’s Note: AMAZING!)

Question 3a: What have your biggest lessons learned been?

The program concept works and can be extremely effective in promoting solar and ensuring that the initial projects operate and can be maintained after the project funding is long gone. We have in-country training that has developed our own staff and those in the communities we work with, the CCS model is successful at generating revenue that can then be used to expand projects and for maintenance. This approach is much more effort than simple drop in projects but helps ensure that the projects are linked, are needed and wanted and can be providing benefits years after the funding is gone.

Question 4: Why has your organization selected solar power as your primary source or electricity for projects?

We felt it was the most appropriate technology for providing energy in the areas we work. Every technology has its pros and cons and they have to be considered before any application. In our case solar is modular, low maintenance and doesn’t require any real ongoing costs, which means it can reach and impact isolated communities immediately.

The frequent criticism of solar power is that it is expensive but compared to generator power, the payback period is only 1-2 years and with prices dropping so rapidly in the past year this is making the case for solar even stronger.

Question 5: What have been some of the most interesting and unexpected impacts of EFO projects?

The success of the students in Kamabai was certainly beyond our expectations and highlights the importance of energy! One thing we have seen in the communities we work in, is that the CCS changes the phone charging operations as prices drop and hours expand due to the presence of the solar.

Question 6: What do you see in store for EFO over the next 5 years?

We have established a strong group in the solar electricity field in Sierra Leone and we hope to make a two prong expansion over the next five years. Firstly, we want to expand our expertise into other alternative energy sectors and have started working on issues around fuelwood and micro-hydro. The other goals is to establish and expand into other countries in West Africa. We know the demand is there and we have some good partners we can work with, it is just a matter of funding and timing.

Question 7: What resources or readings would you recommend for students interested in developing world projects?

Solar Energy International is a USA based organisation that provides training in all types of energy technologies. I think it is critical that students, well anybody, who wants to work in this field has a solid tech base. We stress that our projects be done to international standards or more, so that they will be durable and have maximum benefit and this requires a solid understanding of the technology you are working with.

Question 8: How can students help Energy for Opportunity?

We are always looking for international partners that want to implement projects in Sierra Leone or West Africa in general and we appreciate the links that students can provide. Unfortunately we don’t take interns as we are a small organisation and it is hard to ensure they have a full experience with the resources we have.

To read more about Energy for Opportunity, please visit:

http://www.energyforopportunity.org/en/home/ 

EFO Program in Sierra Leone

A Journey to India

Hiyo!  Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year.. yes I know it is late but hey, better late than never right?  Sorry we have been so quiet on the blogging front the past couple weeks.  I would normally chalk it up to the holidays and say that we were relaxing, and although we did do SOME of that, we actually have been way more preoccupied making sure everything is in place for our event in INDIA!!

Yes, you heard right, we are taking Student Energy to India!  To be clear this is NOT our biennial International Student Energy Summit, this is a special one-time case challenge where we are having students tackle one of the world’s largest problems… how to bring the developing world out of energy poverty without jeopardizing the environment.  We are so excited to work with a whole new group of students to see what kind of brilliant and innovative ideas they can come up with. 

Many of you are probably wondering… how did this come about? Isn’t this new for Student Energy?  What about ISES?  How come I didn’t hear about this sooner?  Here’s the story…

In June 2011, we held our second and very successful International Student Energy Summit in Vancouver, Canada.  At the event our featured keynote was Dr. R.K. Pachauri, who is a Nobel Prize winner and the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He also happens to be a phenomenal human being and someone who “has tremendous faith in the youth of today.” Dr. Pachauri was very intrigued by ISES and told us about an event that he hosts every year in New Delhi, the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.  Somewhere in the conversation we arrived at an idea… what if Student Energy put on a youth event the day before DSDS!?  As soon as the idea was planted we knew we were going to make it happen (like most ideas in Student Energy). 

We got to work planning in early September.  What were we going to do?  Who would attend?  How would we coordinate it all?  That’s when we found out about the YUVA Meet.  YUVA stands for Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action and they host a meet just prior to DSDS every year.  So it was settled, we would host an event with select students from YUVA and then attend DSDS.  But then we had another idea, what if we also tied it back to Canada?  What if students in the developed and developing world could tackle the exact same problem?  We are a global community and we are all tackling the same climate and energy challenges, so why not pull that into our event?  That’s where ISEEESA came in.  ISEEESA is a phenomenal student run group out of the University of Calgary that puts on phenomenal events and programs related to energy, environment and economy.  We approached them to run our Calgary event as their own and they agreed (because they rock).

That brings us to today…  We are less than a month away from leaving for India and could not be more excited.  This is a great opportunity for us to try a new type of event, and more importantly reach a new group of students.  ISES will always remain our pinnacle event but that doesn’t mean we can’t do smaller, regional events in between!  This International Case Challenge will be a huge learning and growing experience for our organization.  Perhaps if it is successful we will do it annually and have a challenge on every continent? Who knows what the future holds… 

Stay tuned, we will be live blogging, webcasting and tweeting our experience

Funding Ethics

Hi All,

As I’ve blogged before, I oversee a lot of the fundraising, marketing and strategy stuff for Student Energy and in the wonderful world of Energy, funding is a topic that comes up over and over again.

How are you funded? Who will you accept funding from? What sort of limitations do your funders place on you?

All valid, intelligent and rational questions. A few weeks ago, we got together as a board and hashed out EXACTLY what our Funding Ethics strategy was. With the strategy being focused completely around transparency, we wanted to make it publicly available to all of our followers. This is something we take very seriously and we’d love to hear any questions, thoughts, comments or suggestions.

Student Energy Funding Ethics:

The mission of Student Energy is “to open the eyes of the worlds students to all perspectives on energy” and we take this to heart regarding our approach to seeking funding . We seek and encourage all organizations to sponsor and fund the incredible work of Student Energy.

Student Energy does not advocate any agenda; therefore if we were to exclude any funders, this would be taking a specific stance that we do not agree with their organization or purpose. This would go against a core value of our organization. Transitioning our world to a sustainable energy future will take the collective action of industry, government, non-profits and students and as such we actively seek support from every possible stakeholder group and have done so for all previous events we have held.

Guiding Principles:

1. No sponsor or funder will ever be permitted to control our program and content.

2. Should a potential funder place conditions on their funding that would prevent us from sharing all perspectives on any topic, this request will be flatly refused.

3. All partnerships will be held to the triple win test. The triple win test is that the three stakeholder groups of Student Energy, Funders and Students must directly benefit from any partnership that is formed. This means that Student Energy will receive direct contributions to support our operations, the funder will receive high-value exposure and most importantly, the partnership must benefit our students through offering them new perspectives a high-value experience or unique content.

Transparency Policy:

Information Sharing: Should any individual wish to know the organizations who has supported or been approached to support Student Energy, all information will be freely shared. To ask any questions of Student Energy’s funding approach, please email our Funding Manager, Sean Collins via: scollins@studentenergy.org . Note: No personal contact information collected by Student Energy will ever be shared with third parties for any reason.

To view funders from our previous International Student Energy Summit events, please visit:

ISES 2009: http://ises2009.com/calgary Click on Key Partners on the navigation bar

ISES 2011: http://ises2011.com/partners

Budget: As a registered non-profit, all funds must be re-invested to fulfill the mission of our organization. To continue the theme of open transparency, our financials, received funds and expenses will be detailed and openly published annually in our Annual Financial Report. The first Financial Report will be compiled and released in December 2012.

We will refer future partners, sponsors and EnerNerds back to this post and appreciate any and all comment on our Ethics Strategy.

Cheers,

Sean Collins

The Bids Are In!

December 1st was the last day for all schools to submit their bids for the 2013 International Student Energy Summit. A great thanks to all the schools that submitted formal bids!

Name of Potential Host Institution	City/Town	Country
University of California Berkeley	Berkeley	USA
Makerere University	Kampala	Uganda
Alabama A&M University	Huntsville	USA
University of Ghana	Accra	Ghana
Norwegian University of Science and Technology – NTNU	Trondheim	Norway

All of the submissions are very impressive, and we are surprised by the diverse strengths and perspectives each institution has to offer! We can already tell that the evaluation process will be difficult, but can’t wait to start the process with the Student Energy Bid Committee. The successful school will be notified in January and the decision will be officially announced publicly in March, so stay tuned!

Blog Slackers

Hey EnerNerds!

As you can see we have been slacking a bit on our blogging the last couple weeks but there is no way I am letting two full weeks go by without a post, so here is an update on what the Student Energy team has been up to this November.

Fuelling Change

Early in the month we found out that Student Energy was selected to compete for a grant  through Shell Canada. We are eligible for $25,000 that will go directly to helping us build our new web portal, one of our biggest initiatives at the moment.  The contest is one of those online voting forums, where we need to convince people to sign up and vote for us.  We took the opportunity to release our new video with this challenge!  Student Energy came out in a commanding lead proving just how awesomely supportive our enernerds are.  We have since slipped to 4th but we are cool with that because voting goes until April 30, 2012 and we just have to finish in the top 8.  Tonnes of time

One thing that always amazes me about the students who are engaged with Student Energy is their amazing ability to ask tough and very valid questions.  When we launched our campaign for Fuelling Change one of our ISES 2011 delegates asked us if we were comfortable accepting corporate money and if that in any way could sway the mission and vision of the organization.  This is a great question and something that we are very transparent about because it is crucial to our foundation.  I won’t go into too much detail in this post as we have another post that explains fully and you can read my direct response here.  I will also add that on December 4 the Board of Directors has a full day strategy session focused solely on funding strategy and our ethics guidelines so that we can put all these values in writing and be as open as possible.

Meetings Galore

One of the reasons we have been so quiet the last month is because we have been hitting the pavement and have been in non-stop meetings!  Sean, our funding and strategy director, has been traveling like mad working to secure us funding for our super sweet and secret project (see below) as well as talking to potential “Student Energy Visionaries”.  We are currently looking to secure a board of 10-12 entrepreneurs and philanthropists that will support Student Energy both financially and with their advice and wisdom.  The progress has been great and we expect to have big updates on this front early in the new year.

We have also been having many great internal strategy meetings.  We have met this very talented marketing specialist, Michelle, who agreed to help us define our engagement strategy.  We came up with an amazing shell of a framework that will allow us to better educate, inspire and unite students.  We are meeting again next week to continue building on this to make it more detailed and comprehensive.

We also had our first full team meeting.  Although our team is currently only 6 people we do feel it is crucial we are all in the loop and therefore have committed to have a monthly update meeting. Given that we all live in different cities across Canada we have these virtually and will continue to as our team grows to include students from all over the world.  If you are interested in being a part of Student Energy sign up for our newsletter and we will keep you posted on volunteer positions as they become available.

Super Sweet Secret Event

For the last 6 months we have been working on a very exciting event that will be taking place early in 2012.  I am sworn to secrecy because we have agreed to release the details the first week of December however let’s just say that this one is going to blow your mind! I will give you a hint… what do you get when you mix the Taj Mahal, solar panels and the IPCC? We’ll tell you soon, stay tuned!!

ISES 2013

In a recent post, Janice Tran Vice President of Student Energy gave an update on the progress of the bid for hosting ISES 2013.  We are so excited to see the bid submissions as they roll in this December 1.  We plan on announcing the winning institution and location or the next ISES in March.  Exciting stuff!

We also have a transition team that has been working like mad to put together a “How to Plan ISES” manual as well as gathering and organizing the thousands of documents that have been prepared for past ISES events to help make the job easier for the next team.  The transition team is two rockstar EnerNerds… Rosie Pidcock, the chair of ISES 2011 and Dan Fipke, a key member of the ISES 2009 team.  They are going to begin blogging in December to highlight some of the interesting work they are undertaking.

That’s all folks!

I think that’s it for major updates.   We of course have been busy with other day-to-day tasks – some exciting, others not so much – EnerChats, legal agreements, insurance, designing our new approach material and business cards, creating bid assessment criteria, the list goes on and on.  We are making some great progress on building a strong foundation so that we can properly support all the amazing initiatives we are planning in the next year. Thanks for your ongoing support, fuel the future!

Getting a little silly – EnerNinjas

For Student Energy, we spend a lot of time being serious, having intense discussions, emailing/calling/skyping/writing and general busy work. Sometimes though, you run across some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles masks and you just have to capitalize on the moment and get a little silly. Enjoy!

Kali and Sean in Calgary

For a real bonus, check out the original TMNT theme song – Cowabunga!

COP 17 Interview with Dr. R. K. Pachauri

For our third and final interview for our COP 17 series we are privileged and honoured to have Dr. R.K. Pauchari, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provide his answers. Thanks for tuning in everyone, please feel free to share your comments on how we can fuel change at COP 17 in Durban.

SE: COP15 & 16 received substantial media attention, do you feel these events were successful in progressing solutions to the global climate issue?

RKP: I think one of the biggest gains of the work of the IPCC and the negotiations carried out under the UNFCCC is the enormous awareness that has been created on climate change issues worldwide. While we do not have a global agreement beyond the Kyoto Protocol, there is at least now an understanding of climate issues far beyond what existed earlier.

SE:With Kyoto commitments expiring in 2012 what do you feel is the right course of action, renewal or a new agreement?

RKP: To my mind a new agreement or an old one are not as important as action in the field of climate change based on knowledge which exists on the subject.

SE: What do you see as the biggest barriers to achieving a global climate agreement?

RKP: In the 4th Assessment Report we had stated in the context of mitigation actions in the energy supply sector “Resistance by vested interests may make them difficult to implement”. Another important finding that we had come up with, was the pricing of carbon as a means to mitigate emissions of GHGs. These are two issues that are important in the context of removing barriers to action.

SE: Do you have any ideas for how these barriers could be overcome?

RKP: The best way to deal with the challenge of climate change is to create public awareness with scientific findings of the IPCC. Einstein rightly said, “Problems cannot be solved at the level of awareness that created them”.

SE: What role do you see Students playing in the future of global energy and climate cooperation?

RKP: Students can play an extremely important role in ensuring that the future of this planet and human society is based on sustainable production and use of energy.

SE: What single outcome would you like to see come out of COP17?

RKP: I really have no single outcome that I would expect from COP17, except actions that reflect an understanding of the science of climate change and the great challenge that we face.

SE: If you could express a message to the delegation of COP17 what would it be?   

RKP: My message to the delegation would be, to make your presence felt in ensuring that people look beyond the immediate future and beyond easy means to generate profits.

COP17 Interview with Dr. Bob Page

To keep with our theme for the week, we have interviewed another leader in energy and then environment – Dr. Robert (Bob) Page.  Bob was the former VP Sustainability for a large Canadian electricity producer and is now a professor, the chair of the Government of Canada’s National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) and chair of the management committee for the ISO 14000 series.  We are honoured that he was able to take time out of his busy schedule to weigh in on COP17 given that he has been part of the Canadian delegation for many years.

SE: COP15 & 16 received substantial media attention, do you feel these events were successful in progressing solutions to the global climate issue?

BP: They were not successful because there are fundamental differences between North America and the EU and between developed and developing countries over targets and schedules.

SE:With Kyoto commitments expiring in 2012 what do you feel is the right course of action, renewal or a new agreement?

BP: There is no chance of extending Kyoto because it has failed and because of basic opposition to it from US, Canada, Russia, and Japan etc.  China and India only like it because Kyoto takes pressure of them to do anything.

SE: What do you see as the biggest barriers to achieving a global climate agreement?

BP: The EU must change its stance as many in the EU want. It is a oil consumer not a producer. We (Canada) are both.  It gets a free ride on the production emissions of Russia and OPEC while it expects Canada to absorb all of our production emissions for Canada and the US. This is basically unfair to Canada and  Australia who export large quantities of fossil fuels for others to consume.

SE: Do you have any ideas for how these barriers could be overcome?

BP: Move to emission intensity targets which allow economic growth for the developing world and canada could  live with them.

SE: What role do you see Students playing in the future of global energy and climate cooperation?

BP: My generation screwed up completely on this and we need new blood and ideas moving into the discussions. Current policy options will not not achieve a carbon constrained future. Canada could do much more at home with federal leadership.

SE: What single outcome would you like to see come out of COP17?

BP:  A time table (five or six years) to achieve legally binding agreement different than Kyoto and a set of priority issues including a viable Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) program and offset credits for international trading to incent developing countries.

SE: If you could express a message to the delegation of COP17 what would it be?   

BP: Be patient and accept that small steps are all that is posible in the current political climate.  Look beyond kyoto to a viable new set of proposals that build on real programs now underway such as the World Resource Institute and International Standards Organization.

COP17 Interview with Andrew Leach

This morning we interviewed Andrew Leach – environmental economist, energy enthusiast, and passionate advocate for good environmental policy.  We asked for his perspective on COP17 and global climate policy.  Read his take  and make sure to check out his blog for more interesting commentary on energy issues of all kind.

SE: COP 15 & 16 received lots of media attention – do you feel they were successful in progressing solutions to global climate issues?

AL: I think COP15 did a lot to emphasize the scale of the challenge, and also importance of a few strategic nations. I think COP16 pulled things in the other direction – showed dysfunction in the consensus-driven process.

SE: Was this dysfunction brought about because of the pull of those few important strategic nations?

AL: I think it was brought about by a general disconnection b/w costs of actions being demanded by some & costs of those actions. I think you still see this today, as the world sees how daunting 2C is as a target, and UNFCC heads calling for deeper still.

SE: It is a daunting target. With Kyoto expiring in 2012, do you feel countries should renew or a sign new agreement?

AL: I think the Kyoto process needs to be re-vamped entirely. The process that started at Copenhagen, with the major players setting goals enforced through trade sanctions seems the only potential solution. See David Victor’s Global Warming Gridlock.

SE: What do you see as the biggest barriers to achieving a global climate agreement?

AL: Apart from the fact that you’re trying to solve the world’s greatest market failure, I’d say the UNFCC process.

SE: Do you think trade barriers are the solution to overcoming this great market failure? Or are there other options?

AL: I think the only way you get global policy is a system of domestic prices, with the field leveled by border adjustments.

SE: “System of domestic prices” does that mean individual nations having their own CO2 tax or cap and trade systems?

AL: Yes – or similar. System in which increasing emissions costs you X, decreasing emissions puts X back in your pocket.

SE: What role do you think Students can take in the future of global energy and climate cooperation?

AL: Be informed, understand the stakes, don’t buy either easy, soundbite solutions or statements that X is impossible.

SE: What single outcome would you like to see come out of COP17?

AL: A credible means of measuring policy stringency/effort across countries, and the end of the 1990 reductions benchmark.

SE: Last question – If you could express a message to the delegation of COP17 what would it be?

AL: Canadian delegation?

SE: Sure, what words of wisdom would you give the Canadian delegation?

AL: To know exactly what emissions abatement opportunities are available at what cost in Canada, and for other G-20 economies. Canada failed, at both Copenhagen and Kyoto, to set our targets so that they require a comparable level of effort to others.

SE: With that we conclude. Thank you for your time & perspective Andrew.

AL: Thanks for the EnerChat.