While we at ICTworks focus on information and communication technologies to change the world, even I would agree that football has a larger impact on African adoption of ICT than any other activity - just vist any country during the World Cup and you'll see a nation fixed to TV, radio, and Internet to keep up with the action.

Making football history in Africa

And now Phillips has introduced what might be a revolution in African football - dedicated solar-powered LED floodlighting for football fields:

Using the very latest energy-efficient LED lighting technology, the system can illuminate areas up to 40x20m with bright white light. Advanced battery cells provide up to eight hours of floodlighting on a single solar charge – the equivalent of two or three full evening football matches or training sessions.

Better yet, we're not talking about some fragile immobile system - its fully mobile and highly sustainable, with a rugged design able to withstand the extreme rigors of life in some of the more challenging and remote terrains in the world - the football pitch in any African community!

At this year's Development Marketplace 2009 (DM2009) finalist event at the World Bank, I was asked a challenging question: What's the impact of ICT on climate change?

Of course, information and communication technologies help people learn about climate change and share ideas and responses, but ICT actually has a greater, and more direct impact than you might imagine. According to Gartner:

The global information and communications technology (ICT) industry accounts for approximately 2 percent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a figure equivalent to aviation, according to a new estimate by Gartner, Inc. Despite the overall environmental value of IT, Gartner believes this is unsustainable.

We at Inveneo agree - the developing world cannot continue to rely on dirty and expensive fossil fueled gasoline and diesel generators for the electrical power to run communication equipment.

Wayan Vota's DM2009 interview

That's why I answered the question like this:

@Inveneo's climate change impact: reducing reliance on diesel generators w/ energy efficient computing & access to green knowledge

How do we do that? By certifying and deploying energy efficient computers that are specifically designed to operate on renewable energies like wind and solar power. That's also why we certify Power Partners in addition to ICT Partners - clean electricity is just as important as the information it facilitates.

So the next time you are thinking about ICT deployment, especially in a rural or undeserved area where electrical power is an issue, remember that you do have a choice. You can reduce the impact of climate change directly and immediately, even before the community develops an awareness of global warming. When you choose renewable energy sources, not fossil fuels, to power your knowledge sharing ICTs.

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Last week, there was a countrywide blackout in Kenya. The electrical authority, KPLC, took the national electrical grid offline from around 6pm to around 11pm, local time due to a generator failure.

As you can imagine, this was a shock to the country and its national pride. Kenya thought itself immune to blackouts due to its hydropower system, which is now under duress after a multi-year drought. But amidst the chaos, there is an ICT lesson to learn. Just listen to what Moses Kemibaro did when the lights went out:

The first thing I did was whip out my smart phone and decided to get on Twitter and Facebook via Safaricom’s 3G connection that was working in spite of the blackout. In a matter of seconds, I had replies that it was not just in Westlands and Kileleshwa that had a blackout but that it was indeed countrywide!

This is kind of “peculiar” since even though I did not have access to television or radio the whole time, here I was able to get the latest news via the Internet on Twitter and Facebook on the extensive Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) blackout.

Alternate Kenyan power generation

So here we have a case study in how information and communication technology can delivery timely and needed news during a national crisis. Safaricom's voice and data systems were able to spread knowledge of the event via the Internet when traditional media were unable to, thanks to their backup distributed power systems.

And the surprise there? Many mobile phone operators generate their own power from wind and solar, as much as diesel generator. Inveneo ICIP WinAfrique and other power partners are equipping cell towers with alternate power solutions that work even with the national grid (or the sun) is down.

The national blackout might have another surprise as well - a Kenyan baby boom nine months from now. But only with non-geeks. Those wired, like Moses, didn't take advantage of a great opportunity to say:

"Hey baby, how you doing?"

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Buying solar power equipment for Africa is often a challenge. First, the USA runs on 110V, so most of the equipment here will not work with the 220V standard common to African electrical systems. Then, shipping to you, then to Africa often vastly increases costs. Last but not least, is the long reach of 419.

If you are trying to buy the Xantrex TR Series 1524-230-50 Inverter/Charger, a very common inverter for solar power deployments, you'll find few companies willing to ship overnight. Most require a day's wait between payment and shipment. Why?

The Long Reach of 419

The Xantrex TR1524 is often the target of online scams. Fake or stolen credit cards are used to buy it for overnight shipment, getting it delivered before the credit card companies or solar equipment distributors can stop delivery.

In fact, several dealers I called recently said that the 1524-230-50 model is the most common target of such thieves. To the point that any request for it raises alarms.

Yet another example of how honest commerce is degraded by 419 scams.

In a New York Times article Bringing Solar Power to Africa’s Poor, there is a great quote on how to bring sustainable solar power to Africa:

SolarAid does not give away its micro-solar kits. "It’s not a hand out," Ms. Bliss said. "We want to encourage a viable trade. Solar has a huge future here, and anyone we have trained with solar skills has a good chance of finding employment. We also encourage distributors to take solar products to rural villages."

Here's a video of a similar organization, Solar Energy Foundation:

Here is an interesting video from the Barefoot College solar program in which they've trained illiterate women from African villages to be solar engineers for their communities in just 6 months:

Barefoot College makes four key points about their program model:

1. Work with the community to make sure they are willing to accept the woman as a technician before she travels to India for the training
2. Do not include "paper certified" technicians in the process, they cannot be seen as equals by the communities or the local technicians
3. No certificates - its the community that certifies technicians. Certificates only promote leaving communities for city jobs.
4. Partnership models work in rural areas - the government or donor buys the initial solar equipment and the community pays technician for ongoing maintenance

Using the numbers in the video of 60 women trained and 40 villages solar electrified for $1.4 million, or $35,000 per village, I would say that the Barefoot Engineers have a pretty cost effective program. I would only suggest that training the women in Africa, rather than flying them to India, might even generate a greater cost/benefit scale.

While there is an explosive growth of mobile phone usage in Africa, there has not been a corresponding growth in the national electric grid to support these phones. In Kenya, there are more than 17 million cell phone subscribers but only 1.3 million have access to constant electricity.

So how can entrepreneurs fill the gap between the demand for mobile phone recharging and the limited supply of grid electricity?

Battery-based mobile phone charging

At the most basic level, small-scale entrepreneurs have been devising ad hoc mobile phone recharging solutions that span the gamut from pedal-power electricity generation to many homemade dry cell battery powered systems.

The best are recharging stations that take the ubiquitous 12 Volt car battery and wire a number of phone chargers to it for community usage. Yet these stations are still ad hoc, with no standardization or scalability of the solution, which is a market opportunity.

Solar powered handset solutions

Big mobile phone operators are looking at that opportunity with solar powered handsets. Safaricom has just introduced solar powered cell phones that retail at only Kes. 2,999 ($40 USD).

While this phone is locked to the Safaricom network, one 8 hour charge lasts for a several days and as an added bonus, its made with all recycled materials.

Solar power business opportunity

It also gives me an idea for another business opportunity in Africa. I can see an African entrepreneur designing a simple yet durable solar power recharge station.

Imagine a solar panel and change controller designed specifically to sit atop and recharge a 12V battery under African conditions. Incorporating voltage meters and other electrical indicators it would be a distinct advantage over the current charge status guesswork.

Models for different countries would have alignment instructions just for their geo-solar conditions, and would come with ports for all the major mobile phones recharging adapters. The whole unit would be mall enough for a single person to carry - the entrepreneur who would sell charge time for 12V battery owners.

During a Inveneo Business Training, we interviewed Sam Okwiri about his new solar power company, Lebra Solar Technologies:

Sam, who used to work for WinAfrique, has started Lebra Solar Technologies to satisfy the power needs of Kenya. With rolling power outages due to reduced KenGen capacity, Sam has chosen a great time to offer his services.

His company is currently in the queue to become a Inveneo Certified ICT Partner.

This year, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have had to introduce power rationing, with industrial areas losing power intermittently for a day or a few hours at a time and residential areas losing power for up to three days in a week. In Kenya, it is estimated that the power outages will have negative effects on economic growth and that lower bandwidth prices will not benefit the small companies based in residential areas.

"The situation in Kenya is very ironical, I have a friend who shifted his offices from Nairobi city center to one of the residential areas; offering technical services locally and abroad, now he is experiencing blackouts for three days in a week," said Tony Ng'eno, managing director of WinAfrique, a renewable energy company operating in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Angola.

"Lack of regular or sufficient power delivery has a negative impact on the ICT sector; it increases costs for both providers and users alike by (requiring) additional sources of power like generators, which increases both capex and operational costs," said Dobek Pater, telecom analyst at Africa Analysis.

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