RE Alternatives (WWF-Ug)

2020 ENERGY WEEK MOMENTS

#	Description	Media
1	2020 ENERGY WEEK LED BULBS 2 ENG S Download
2	2020 ENERGY WEEK PETROLIUM GAS 2 ENG S Download
3	2020 ENERGY WEEK SOLAR 2 LUG S Download
4	2020 ENERGY WEEK STOVE 2 LUG S Download

ARTICLES (NOV, 2019)

These articles have been compiled by members of the Renewable energy CSO Network (RECSO-Network). This is a loose semi-formal Network that brings together civil society organizations, academic institutions, individuals and Networks engaged in the promotion and development of activities and practices in the Renewable energy sub sector at all levels (i.e. national, local, sub-regional and community). These CSOs and Networks are currently being mobilized and coordinated by Environmental Alert for structured engagements with Government through the relevant Ministries, Authorities and Departments.

Below is the list of published articles:

#	Title	Author	Organization
1	Efforts To Support Clean Energy Cooking Technologies In Uganda Are So Wanting	Nabakooza Sherifa Program Assistant officer,	AGEs CONSIDERED (ACO)
2	Clean But Not Attractive Enough: Why Clean Cooking Technologies Are Not Popular?	Lwegaba John Program Officer AGEs CONSIDERED (ACO),	AGEs CONSIDERED (ACO)
3	Promote sustainable biomass energy production and utilization	Racheal Nalule, Program officer, Environmental Alert,	Environmental Alert, Secretariat
4	Overcoming The Odds To Cheap Domestic Biomass Energy Production	Phillip Kihumuro, Research Associate, World Agroforestry	Research Associate, World Agroforestry
5	Encouraging Switch To Biogas Through Prayer	Kimbowa Richard, Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development / INFORSE East Africa	Uganda Coalition for Sustainable Development / INFORSE East Africa

PROMOTING THE USE OF EFFICIENT, CLEAN COOKING AND LIGHTING ALTERNATIVES AT NATIONAL LEVEL (DEC, 2018)

Environmental Alert is working with TRAC FM and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Uganda Office to implement a data-driven advocacy radio campaign on promoting the use of efficient, clean cooking and lighting alternatives at national level; and in at least 20 districts in the Albertine Graben

The overall goal of this project is to ‘promote access to and sustainable utilization of renewable energy alternatives for efficient, clean cooking and lighting at national and sub-regional level’.

Currently, only about 26.1% of the households in Uganda have access to electricity (Sustainable Energy for All Action Agenda for Uganda, 2015). The limited access to modern energy coupled with high levels of poverty incidence has resulted in over-reliance on unsustainably produced biomass and use of rudimentary lighting and cooking technologies with serious implications on the environment and the health of the people.

Uganda’s energy balance is comprised primarily of biomass (92%), followed by fossil fuels (7%) and electricity (1%). Uganda is richly endowed with a variety of renewable energy resources which include: plentiful woody and non-woody biomass, solar, wind, geothermal and hydrological resources. Presently, with the exception of biomass, only a small fraction of the country’s renewable energy potential is exploited. It is estimated that other renewable sources of energy, excluding large hydropower, contribute less than 20% of Uganda’s total energy consumption.

Biomass (firewood, charcoal and crop residues) plays a very significant role in Uganda’s energy supply. It constitutes over 90% of total energy consumption in the country. It provides almost all the energy used to meet the basic needs of cooking and water heating in rural and most urban households, institutions and commercial buildings. Wood fuel, which represents the bulk of domestic fuel in Uganda, is burnt in inefficient traditional stoves. Improved stoves, kilns and substitution fuels (LPG, kerosene) for cooking are not extensively spread due to their cost, lack of awareness and other different socio-economic barriers. Therefore, Uganda’s energy dependence on woody biomass will continue for the foreseeable future due to population growth, urbanization and an absence of affordable alternatives. National Development Plan II (NDP II) has emphasized the need to invest in reliable renewable energy sources to meet the growing demand and to increase access to electricity.

However, Uganda is one of the developing countries with the highest rate of deforestation (total forest loss) rates. Uganda had 5 million hectares of forests in 1990, declined to 3.5 million by 2005 and between 1990 and 2015, forest cover declined from 30% to l0% of total land area. On, average between 1990 and 2015, Uganda was losing 1.8% of forest cover per year (about 200,000 hectares per year). At that rate, it is projected Uganda will have no forests by 2050.

The use of biomass, combined with rudimentary technologies for cooking and lighting such as the three stone stove and kerosene lanterns exposes family members especially women and children to numerous pollutants causing health problems such as acute respiratory infections.

TALK SHOWS (DEC, 2018)