Cape Town — Energy. Who has it, who doesn't, where it comes from and the consequences of its use are some of the greatest challenges we face.
African countries in particular have profound challenges with access to energy for its citizens. According to a report by the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), about 600 million people do not have access to electricity and nearly 900 million people have no access to clean cooking fuel, while power access rates in 24 countries are below 50%.
Coupled with the high rates of population growth, young populations and urbanisation, policies and infrastructure are struggling to keep up with the demand for energy - and it will only continue to increase.
Another important part of this puzzle is where this energy comes from, its cost and the health and environmental consequences. Ahead of the recently concluded COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres emphasised that "the old, carbon-burning model of development is a dead end - environmentally and economically". Coupled with the cost of fossil fuel subsidies which according to International Monetary Fund estimates amounted to U.S.$6 trillion in 2020 - 6.8% of global GDP.
IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva said: "The right prices must fully reflect both supply costs and environmental costs - especially carbon emissions and local air pollution. Underpricing fossil fuel undermines domestic and global environmental objectives, hurting people and the planet. It is also a badly targeted policy that predominantly benefits higher-income households and deprives governments of precious fiscal resources".
So how do we supply energy to the people who need it most, without causing more climate chaos?
Jeremiah Thoronka and Optim Energy have an idea. The 21-year old Sierra Leonean has harnessed piezoelectricity to create a sustainable source of electricity for rural communities. Simply put, this form of electricity makes use of kinetic or movement energy when pressure is applied to certain materials. So for example, when mechanical pressure is applied to a crystal, which is a piezoelectric material, it generates a current.
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Thoronka's design uses heat, movement and pressure. It absorbs the vibrations from pedestrians and traffic to generate an electric current and create clean and affordable power. This invention won Thoronka the Varkey Foundation's Chegg Global Student Prize 2021 in November.
According to the World Bank only 23% of Sierra Leone's population are able to use electricity. Having grown up in an informal setting in Sierra Leone, Jeremiah knows firsthand the challenges of daily life without access to electricity. More especially, the challenges children face when trying to study with improvised lamps that release fumes. "As a young energy enthusiast I wanted to bring a sustainable system that can stop the overuse of natural resources", Thoronka says.
Optim Energy has already supplied 150 households and 15 schools with power free of charge. In 2019, the local grid in the rural area where Optim operates experienced a 5% improvement in energy access - and in 2020, the company was among 98 leading energy startups listed by the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth.
Thoronka will use his U.S.$100,000 prize to expand energy access for communities in Sierra Leone. "Over the last few years, I've developed a mission, a five-year plan to touch the lives of 100,000 people in the most remote of places. And make sure that regardless of the geographic location that they find themselves, their economic level or their backgrounds, access to energy is a guarantee ... and that local community solutions become sustainable".
