What country had, in 2002, some 7000 homes powered by rooftop solar, but which has since passed their goal of one million homes, more than 18 months ahead of schedule?

It is Bangladesh, and they are now well on the way to meeting their new goal of 2.5 million solar-powered homes by 2014.

Across the border, their larger neighbor India is host to small and medium-sized private companies such as Mera Gao Micro Grid Power, selling affordable rooftop solar systems to families eager to stop burning wood or kerosene for light.

What will be the impact in a few years, as millions of Indians and Bangladeshis move into the workforce after years of doing their homework by solar-powered lights, and perhaps even with hands-on experience, from helping to maintain and upgrade the systems? If we continue to rely on our centralized 20th century coal-fired power plants, these forgotten villagers will be leading the way, and we’ll be playing catch-up.

A previous CAUSE post titled “India Leapfrogging with Renewables in a Smart Grid”, on July 21, 2011, describes a state-supported initiative developing wind, solar and biomass power together using smart grid technology to supply affordable, reliable power in remote areas.

And why are we not doing the same thing in Canada’s North...?

When highly reflective white snow in Canada’s Northern communities gets spotted with fine soot from the ubiquitous generators burning expensively-shipped diesel fuel, the climate changing impact is depressingly high. Aggressively developing hybrid diesel / wind power systems is a simple way to get a lot of bang for our energy buck.

On September 28, 2011, eight Nobel Peace Laureates sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling on him to ensure that Canada moves towards a clean energy future—and halts the expansion of the tar sands.

In their letter, the Laureates—which include Archbishop Desmond Tutu (South Africa), Jody Williams (USA), President Ramos Horta (Timor) and Shirin Ebadi (Iran)—argue that it will take strong leadership to make the tough choices required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change.  They note that this is a “profoundly moral decision—one that deserves to be placed alongside any other major struggle in human history”.

The Canadian tar sands have been called a ‘ticking carbon bomb’ by NASA scientist James Hansen, who also says that if they were exploited as projected it would be ‘game over for the climate.’

Photo Credit: Elke Wetzig

 The letter came two days after Canadians from across the country gathered on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to risk arrest in an act of non-violent civil disobedience to protest the rapid expansion of the tar sands and Prime Minister Harper’s inaction on climate change (and one week after Mr. Harper said U.S. approval of a new oil sands pipeline should be a “no-brainer”). The Laureates recognize the power of peaceful civil disobedience in advancing many of the great moral challenges in human history.

The Laureates told the Prime Minister that Canada is well positioned to be a leader in the fight against climate change, and noted that the Province of Ontario is scheduled to phase out the use of coal by 2014, and has adopted “what is probably the single most effective piece of legislation promoting renewable energy in North America”.

Two weeks ago, the Laureates also wrote to US President Barack Obama, calling upon him to reject the permit for a pipeline that would bring tar sands oil from Alberta through the US to the Gulf of Mexico.   The Natural Resources Defense Council, a prominent US environmental group, recently published the letter as a full-page ad in the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Both letters were coordinated by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, an Ottawa-based organization created by women Nobel Peace Laureates to support women around the world working on climate justice and other issues related to peace and security.

By a Calgary blogger and CAUSE supporter:

Dear Ms. Redford,

You were the only one in a company of a Walking Dead to mention during the campaign probably one of the most important words that many need to hear in North America, as it pertains to the global new economy context.

That word is: "renewables."

Those of us close to the renewable industry in Alberta (especially microgeneration), who have working expertise and global connections to what in many parts of the world is now on rails (more renewables coming on line than coal and nuclear -- combined), will need to hear this word again. And again.

The "externships" idea is brilliant -- IF it parlays existing institutional linkages, such as the connexion U of C engineering has with the Freiburg, Germany solar cluster, into good RD&D on the ground here.  Otherwise it's a greenwash that will NOT sell.

One exceptionally bad idea would be to extend the influence of structures put in place by your predecessor to be the "voice" of new technology in the province.  For a political party so vehemently opposed to government interference in the marketplace, it is simply dumbfounding that groups like Alberta Council of Technologies have been mandated to dictate to and suppress entrepreneurs and visionaries seeking alternative and organic models of micro-generation technologies specifically.  This goes against everything we know about complex systems -- like economies, societies and communities -- and it will destroy and drive away innovation, not encourage it.

Please don't blow this. It could be a new day (and century) in Alberta. Have fortitude.

And -- Godspeed.

Ray Anderson was the founder, Chairman, and CEO of Interface Inc., the largest carpet manufacturer in the world. He has also been a giant in the world of business sustainability. Ray Anderson died on August 8, 2011 after a 20-month battle with cancer. 

Many of us will remember him from his interviews in the 2004 Canadian documentary The Corporation. Here he is at the TED Talks, speaking on "The Business Logic of Sustainability".

Anderson often spoke freely of his "spear in the chest" epiphany while reading Paul Hawken's book "The Ecology of Commerce". Sixteen years later, according to Amory Lovins in his eulogy, "... more than 100,000 tons of carpet had been diverted from landfills to remanufacturing, recycling, and energy recovery. Eight of Interface's nine plants ran on all-renewable electricity. Two-fifths of the firm's raw materials input was biobased or recycled. Energy intensity was down 43%, waste to landfill 82%, water use 82%, and absolute greenhouse gas emissions 35%. Waste costs were down 42%, saving $438 million and growing. Interface has the greatest independence from oil, the lowest energy intensity, and the strongest customer position in its industry." 

Paul Hawken, with less numbers but far more poetry, in a touching eulogy reprinted by Andrew Revkin in the New York Times...

"His physical presence has vanished into a mystery we will all follow but never fully understand. His dream, his yearning for commerce that regenerates life and does no harm, his intention to re-conceive what it means to be a manufacturer, to bring industry and biology together into one entity, burned in him, a flame that never seared or ceased, and it will live on in his company and thousands more. Ray has now traveled to a new forest. We who gather know that the greatest man of industrial ecology, the businessman who defined and showed us how commerce will be for centuries to come if we are to continue our life here on earth, was our friend, patron, and teacher, and we are the most blessed people in the world for having known him."

And finally, the tributes, blogs, editorials and videos just keep rolling in, on the website of Interface Inc. How many CEOs are remembered like this, at the corporation they leave behind?

"We are better people and a better company for having been a part of Ray’s inspiring and rewarding life... The entire Interface family misses Ray dearly. We will keep striving to meet Ray’s goal—our goal for sustainability—and honor his memory. Ray leaves behind a noble legacy at home in Georgia and throughout the world."