The statistics are alarming and heart breaking. More than 50 years after independence and despite numerous development projects, 79% of people in sub-Sahara Africa do not have access to electricity. And most of the 21% that have access do not have constant reliable 24hr a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year access.
It is estimated that the amount of energy consumed in one day in all sub-Saharan Africa, minus South Africa, is approximately equal to the daily consumption in New York City. The problem is most acute in sub-Saharan Africa, with several entire nations there effectively non-electrified. In 11 African countries, more than 90 percent of people go without electricity. In six of these -- Burundi, Chad, Central African Republic, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone -only 3 to 5 percent of people can readily obtain electric power.
Energy drives everything and without access to electricity, people will be unable to harness the full benefits the exponential technologies that is changing our world and would accelerate more changes in the near future. African countries should therefore focus on providing access to energy for all citizens. Opportunity exists in green technology to provide decentralized off the grid clean energy solutions. The success of the cell phone revolution in sub Sahara Africa points to the viability of standalone decentralized systems in the region. This model be deployed for energy and the use of solar, wind and biomass energy sources for home and community power generation should become ubiquitous.
Approximately every two years, the cost of a laptop is halved while the speed is doubled, observing and utilizing this trend, it is possible that solutions in the clean energy space could mimic this growth. Sub-Sahara Africa cannot afford wait until a solar panel costs $10 but we should start now to utilize this solution and build our economy so that in the future we too can contribute to technology and benefit from the growth of technology. Without addressing the energy problem, we cannot fully participate in the development trends and opportunities available to the world at this time.
Showing posts with label Sub Sahara Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sub Sahara Africa. Show all posts
Friday, July 23, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Exponential Technologies and Sub Sahara Africa
Today I made a presentation at Singularity University, NASA Ames California about the 6th goal in the MDG. Target 6B states in summary: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals) As of today, it is estimated that only 42% of people worldwide who are living with HIV/AIDS have access to treatment.
In sub-sahara Africa, there are many USAID and other NGO initiatives to grant access to treatment but most candidates do not avail themselves of the opportunities because they do not know their status. Most people only get tested when they already have symptoms of full blown AIDS. Despite the spread of the disease, people living with HIV/AIDS experience stigmatization and inadequate support from society and even loved ones and thus they sometimes lose the fight for their lives when they need it most.
I believe that we are experiencing exponential growths in technology and the dissemination of these technologies would be global because to global access to the internet. As Sub Sahara African (SSA) countries fix their energy problems, the use of internet services including smart phones will become ubiquitous.
Sub Sahara Africa is uniquely positioned to benefit from the green energy revolution due to the lack of on-grid electricity in most areas. By 2020, solar and wind energy solutions will come cheap and in a box. Solving the energy problem will grant SSA cheap access to internet networks and platforms where people can get world class education from the comfort of their homes.
Innovations in 3-D printing and rapid automated manufacturing (http://www.weareacasa.com/) would revolutionize home construction and by 2025, the average time to build a functional home in SSA would be seven (7) days.
Trends in bioinformatics and biotechnology will produce biovores- disease eating cells- which will work with white blood cells to actively target and destroy disease bearing viruses and organisms. Respiravores - red blood cells- and regenerative cells will be created by bio engineering to replace damaged cells and speed up healing and regeneration of damaged tissues. By 2025 crowd sourced platforms like GoogleHealth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Health) would have user reported health information and high value medical information that people would make intelligent medical decisions on common problems.
Building off these technologies, artificial intelligence through robotics and super computing, would allow the creation of intelligent primary care doctors who can diagnose illness with the aid of reports from user home test kits and symptoms analysis over smart phones. All these and more would be available by mid 2030's but to be part of this revolution SSA has to make tremendous progress in fixing her energy problems within the next decade.
In sub-sahara Africa, there are many USAID and other NGO initiatives to grant access to treatment but most candidates do not avail themselves of the opportunities because they do not know their status. Most people only get tested when they already have symptoms of full blown AIDS. Despite the spread of the disease, people living with HIV/AIDS experience stigmatization and inadequate support from society and even loved ones and thus they sometimes lose the fight for their lives when they need it most.
I believe that we are experiencing exponential growths in technology and the dissemination of these technologies would be global because to global access to the internet. As Sub Sahara African (SSA) countries fix their energy problems, the use of internet services including smart phones will become ubiquitous.
Sub Sahara Africa is uniquely positioned to benefit from the green energy revolution due to the lack of on-grid electricity in most areas. By 2020, solar and wind energy solutions will come cheap and in a box. Solving the energy problem will grant SSA cheap access to internet networks and platforms where people can get world class education from the comfort of their homes.
Innovations in 3-D printing and rapid automated manufacturing (http://www.weareacasa.com/) would revolutionize home construction and by 2025, the average time to build a functional home in SSA would be seven (7) days.
Trends in bioinformatics and biotechnology will produce biovores- disease eating cells- which will work with white blood cells to actively target and destroy disease bearing viruses and organisms. Respiravores - red blood cells- and regenerative cells will be created by bio engineering to replace damaged cells and speed up healing and regeneration of damaged tissues. By 2025 crowd sourced platforms like GoogleHealth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Health) would have user reported health information and high value medical information that people would make intelligent medical decisions on common problems.
Building off these technologies, artificial intelligence through robotics and super computing, would allow the creation of intelligent primary care doctors who can diagnose illness with the aid of reports from user home test kits and symptoms analysis over smart phones. All these and more would be available by mid 2030's but to be part of this revolution SSA has to make tremendous progress in fixing her energy problems within the next decade.
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