Lilongeni Unoovene
With the proverbial energy poverty that rural communities are faced with, it is safe to say that it has adverse impacts on the social well-being of women and children living in those areas. It is a common truth that limited access to clean, or rather, green energy has detrimental effects on women’s health and economic opportunities. This can be witnessed as their living conditions and their productive time use are compromised due to the utilisation of conventional biofuels.
The main producers and consumers of household energy are women and children. Contextually, women and girls in African culture are regarded as the main custodians of a household’s well-being and maintenance. Women in general are burdened with the task of collecting firewood to produce heat energy for the preparation of food, and this process involves strenuous walks over long distances coupled with heavy lifting. The time used in search of firewood reduces the time that is essential for the improvement of their living standards. Women are prone to social evils such as sexual harassment because they often have to collect energy resources during dawn or early morning hours, which increases their vulnerability. On that note, energy serves as a tool of development and a source for both economic and environmental problems.
In addition, the gases emitted by the biofuels, like firewood, pose health risks and hazards to the consumer. These dangers could increase the risk of contracting respiratory problems such as bronchitis and asthma, let alone the negative environmental impacts of air pollution, which is the main factor in global warming.
Establishing loose standing solar energy systems like the EnergyDocks’ in these areas where there is a huge population of women and children would spur household electrification, which will improve school attendance for the girl child. The odds of employment opportunities for women will increase exponentially, since there will be a dramatic increase in the number of learners completing their primary and secondary education. One of the major benefits of household electrification is that it frees up the productive time spent on household chores, owing to the use of electrical appliances, which improves tenfold the rate at which work is done. When women in rural areas have access to lighting to perform homework, they could have access to educational material disseminated by the education ministry through USB and viewed on the TVs that are powered by these solar systems. The presence of refrigeration to store wet food and medication will improve health.
Also, the tensions that arise from gathering firewood and other resources from community lands that overlap would go down, since competition over limited resources is common in some areas. A study found that in Chad, nearly half of the 673 refugee households surveyed reported incidents of GBV during firewood collection over a period of six months (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 2016). With the introduction of solar cookers, which are devices that convert direct sunlight energy to heat energy through a process of conduction, they proved to be a viable alternative source of energy production. This device could reduce the rate of deforestation and air pollution, with the main emphasis on uplifting and empowering women. Finally, to have a significant impact in our communities, the private sector needs to collaborate with government institutions to accelerate the implementation of these initiatives.
*Lilongeni Unoovene is a Renewable Energy Consultant
