A new $500-billion project known as Desertec will harness the power of the sun in North Africa’s Maghreb desert to produce power for much of Europe.  The project is based on solar thermal technology, as opposed to photovoltaic cells.   Essentially hundreds of thousands of mirrors will be place in the desert to heat water, generate steam, and drive turbines in a local power plant.  The electricity will then be transported via high-voltage transmission lines to markets in Europe.

There are so many variables for disaster within this project, it’s hard to know where to begin. The Maghrab desert spans North Africa’s bastion of security, including Algeria, Mali, Niger, Libya and Mauritania.   Conservative critics argue that “If this project is built, Europe will shortly become dependent on it, and the Islamic world will have a second, and much tighter, noose to add to the oil one.”  While the project could provide stability for the region by providing income, jobs and the creation of a new industry, it also has a certain neo-colonial flavor, where European investment is for the benefit of Europe at the detriment of Africa.

Moreover, the mere notion of transporting electricity such distances when it can be produced cheaper at home seems, well, senseless.  The foundation of the environmental movement lies in regional solutions.  Perhaps that doesn’t bode well for development initiatives overseas, but perhaps local development initiatives are more successful anyway.  This plan sounds about as stable as the geo-engineering research that suggests we should fight global warming by shooting sulfur disks into the atmosphere (everyone loves a good bath in acid rain, right?)

But perhaps there’s something more at play here.  Not only will Desertic provide up to 15 percent of Europe’s power, it will also provide a place to claim all those lovely CDM carbon credits required for Europe to fulfill it’s Kyoto commitments. Two birds, one stone. Now that’s innovation.

That’s right, now you can follow all the action of a real live refugee camp from the comfort of your own home! In honor of world refugee day, the UNHCR has created a live stream for one day only. According to the website you can now personally witness:

*A refugee mother cooking a meal for her children using refugee rations.
*Meet teachers and children in their school setting.
*Observe UNHCR front-line staff talking about their work.

Web 2.0 at it’s finest or poverty voyeurism?

Want to learn more about refugee’s?  Why not take this refugee test.

Hat tip to ourman for the heads up!

According to Kofi Annan.

“The world’s poorest are also the world’s most vulnerable when it comes to the impact of climate change, and the least equipped to deal with its consequences. Today you find cell phone towers in almost every part of Africa. We have never been able to establish weather monitoring on that scale, until now.”

Makes sense, given that most of the continent relies on subsistence agriculture (more than 70 percent according to the BBC).  Knowing when and if the rains are coming is essential.  Unfortunately, at last check, the accuracy of weather data is dubious at best, at least in Toronto.